Lucid Waking

Archive for the ‘Updates’ Category

Happy Birthday, Lucid Waking

It’s hard to imagine that I started writing my first post on LucidWaking.com 4 years ago. The very next post was a republished one from my first Lucid Waking blog that was hosted on blog.com. Since then, I have published 386 poetry and prose works. Some were long, others short, some took several days to write and many newer ones only ten minutes, but I have learned a lot along the way and continue to hone my craft.

Those of you who have been paying attention will notice that I did something different for LW’s birthday this year. Usually I have worked on a different template for my blog (for you luddites, this means its appearance, including pictures and colors) and unveiled it on June 17. This year, I felt uninspired. I had no other ideas for the layout than what had been done. So, I made a banner and plan on keeping the current template for another year. Next year will be year 5, so I should have something special for that occasion.

For now, let’s celebrate another fruitful year of writing and reading.

Updates and Reassessments

I decided to practice drawing by doing a sketch every other day, which means:

1. There is a new page specifically for sketches since they won’t be finished enough to be put up in “Paintings and Drawings” page.
2. These will be given their own posts when I can get to it.

Also, I’ve been practicing my writing on the days I am not drawing. Unfortunately, sometimes the work I write is unfinished or not of sufficient quality (in my opinion) to be published. That’s why it has been quiet around here. I hope to have something up this week, but I might just succeed in getting the sketches posted.

Thank you for your patience. I wore out my muse in March by doing different stories every day and I’m trying my best. Hopefully the artwork will tide you over until I get a written post done.

Reorganizing a Bit

I just thought I would draw your attention to some changes I’m administering to make Lucid Waking more visitor-friendly. Expect some organization issues to be fixed and some content to be edited.

Or, just focus on the fiction and don’t worry about what’s happening on the sidebar.

‘Tis the Season

First order of business, please start reviewing the Best of the Blog so that we can get a modest voter turn out in December. Compared to other years, there aren’t many posts, so don’t be afraid to read and vote. I will be posting more between now and December 26, when I will take a break for final votes and maybe making a small buffer. Based on my schedule, this won’t be often, but keep in mind there will be a little more.

Second, I’ve been working on my print shop. Check it out, spread the word, and buy something! I’m still taking commissions, if you’re interested. Again, any art information can be found here. Any money I raise through this will most likely go towards a trip to the UK that my orchestra is planning on going on, so any help would be appreciated.

That’s it for now. Thanks for hanging in there during my busy months. I’m working hard, rest assured.

A Little Art Information

Since I’ve been getting questions and comments about prints, I thought I’d mention my policy pertaining to them and how you can buy some.

1. You can buy prints by following this link or by going to the main page and click the tab at the top that says "Prints."
2. If you do not see a print of your favorite picture, email me and I will make it happen. I will notify you when your print is available for purchase.
3. Click on the picture you want, the size (which will be located at the right), and then "Add to cart"
4. If you want more prints, click "Continue shopping" at the top of the page. But if you’re done,
5. Fill out the form and then click "Place your order."

Note: Commissions will not be made into prints unless I have permission from the costumer.

Basic information on commissions and prints can be found on the "My Art" page as well as a link on the bottom to ask me questions.

A Lot Going On with Nothing to Show

Just thought I’d share a little of what’s going on. I haven’t been neglecting my blog, but a lot’s happening both artistically and not, so here’s the scoop:

1. I have a total of 5 story ideas floating around in my head. While I’d love to start writing all of them, I’ve forced myself to plan my stories out first before writing, so that I don’t get stuck and end up with a lot of loose ends. This means that I have spent less time writing and more time planning, so I don’t have anything to publish as I am busy mapping out these ideas.
2. I might be turning House of Animalia into a graphic novel so on top of planning it, I will be creating a script and working on character designs. It probably will never get on the web as I won’t publish it until I’m finished with the whole thing to prevent having to go back and redraw the beginning or not having pages done on time for a bi- or tri- weekly deadline. But, I’m brewing over that as well.
3. Since I’ve been trying to promote print buying (even in this recession) I’ve been working on taking new picture of my paintings so that you get a high quality print. Which leads to…
4. DeviantArt is having a print sale, so there probably isn’t a better time to buy prints. Email me and let me know what you want, browse what I have, and please buy something. I’m going to be a poor college student soon and it’s always good to have something colorful on your walls that pretty much no one else will have.
5. Yes, I’m going to college which is draining in more ways than one. I’m trying to take advantage of the diminishing time I’ll have with my family as well as shopping, working, and generally having a fantastic summer. Unfortunately, everything I mentioned in this list takes time, and so does spontaneous trips getting me prepped to live elsewhere.
6. However, I’m in the process of writing a prose story, but it takes a while and I’m hoping to finish it before I publish it. My goal is to get it up before the end of July.

Quite. Well, then, I’m off to keep working and editing and sewing and drawing and whatever else it is that I need to be doing. I’ve been quite a busy body this summer, even though I don’t have much to show for it.

What’s This?

Hi, you’re friendly author/artist here. I doubt anyone has noticed so far, but I thought I’d bring up some changes that have occurred recently. In order to get more feedback on my art as well as writing– and to break up all of the text that appears–I’ve decided to put photos and art on the home page, i.e. in the blog. Everything is going on the blog and it will be treated like it is–a log/diary/journal.

This isn’t to say that the rest of the site is going to be lax. My portfolios will be updated when I feel like it, but you’ll know when I’ve put something up because it will be on the home page and in the archives. I’ve gone through and added posts for all of the artwork on the days they were originally published. Stories, poems, and prose that I like will go up on the Favorites page as well as Best of the Blog winners. So if you don’t want to go through the archives, but want more than what’s on the front page, go there for your written work and the art pages for visual stuff.

But that’s not all! Commentary and Site Updates page…gone forever. Anything I have to say will be put in a post on the easily accessible front page. Commentary will be in an Author’s note on the bottom of the post. You don’t have to read it, but it’s there just in case. I’ll still keep a running tab on prose/poetry post numbers as well.

Pages may be renamed or added to make the site easier and more comprehensible. I’m still working, but expect changes–visual and otherwise–for the better.

A Word of Explanation

I don’t usually take the time to explain the posts here, but I thought I should explain a new tradition I thought of starting. Every month, I’m going to write a story or poem telling the tale of a certain work of music. I don’t know how long they’ll be, but the title will refer to the piece of music I was translating. This is just my thoughts on a story that fits the dramas of the particular classical piece and is not the actual story behind or of the piece. If these posts are not published the first of the month, they will be the first post published, whenever that is.

Just a quick question…

So I’m trying to reorganize my posts because I’m not quite satisfied with the way they are now. It’s a bit messy with certain posts in two different categories and other posts barely in one. But, with any category system, there are some that just don’t fit. Regardless, there are three ways that I can do this:

1. I can keep it the way it is categorizing by genre. I suppose this allows you to look for things according to your favorite genre.
2. I can categorize by archetype, i.e. Paradise Lost, Apocalypse, God Teacher, etc. Again, this focuses on content, but is a more specific way to organize my things. If you don’t know about the archetypes this might be a difficult way to find posts, but there is a search bar.
3. A combination of the two. This will put a post in at least two different categories, so I’m hesitant to do this, but if it would be easier, then I will.

Let me know what you think as a reader, because right now, I’m stuck.

And A Happy New Year!

As much as I hate to do this, I’m going to take a short hiatus. I want to give all my readers a fair chance to go over all the posts in Best of the Blog. If I continue writing for the week, it may throw some things off and create stress for people who have yet to vote. If it was me, I would be frustrated if there was a better post later in the week. I also feel that the later posts might not be included in the votes because, well, once you’ve voted, you’re not going to go back to see if there are more posts to vote on, are you? Therefore, I won’t be posting again until December 31. (This also gives me a chance to get my homework done before next week when I can spend my time posting.) So, go over to Best of the Blog and take your time to read and vote. I’ll be back on the 31.