SUMMER!

24 MAY 2019

Yesterday was the last day of work! School is out! Time to get back to writing! And picture taking too! 

For writing, I'm working on several stories at once, as the mood strikes. Me and my wife were watching The Amazing Race and one of the challenges inspired me to write a section for my long frontier story about a family moving across the sea to the New Lands. I think it came out pretty well, just have to figure out where to place it in the bigger story and tie it together with what is going on. As far as releasing new stories, I'm continuing on a rewrite of The Killing Parts, still working through some edits from another writer. Thought I was over 10K words but I forgot to remove her comments at the end of the piece. Not that I'm shooting for a nice round number like 10K, just looking at the overall size of the piece. Still have to work on a cover, and I'm also looking at including a few small illustrations with the story, as long as I can figure out the formatting.

The following photos were taken on a recent trip to the local museum, the RW Norton. I had posted some already. Enjoy them and enjoy the summer!

 

This last picture is a Honeysuckle. Not the kind that grew in my backyard as a kid, but a close variety. You can pull out the long yellow parts of the flower and at the other end is a delicate drop of sweet-tasting nectar.

Flower Pictures

18 MAR 2019

Nothing like Spring Break to get me to post more. So here's another post, this one more visual than writing though. We have a peach tree in our back yard, and a magnolia bush as well. So I strolled out with my camera today and took some pictures in the warm sun. 

Oh, before I forget, in writing news I am doing some good editing on the story I picked next for release. It's up over 8,000 words now and while I aim to write a story as long as it needs to be, I'm going to shoot for this one to get up to at least around 10K words. Throwing around some ideas for the cover with the wife as well. Now onto the pictures. 

Love to all. 

Next Story: It's a Trap!

28 OCT 17
So I have decided on my next project. It's a story I wrote a while ago, called "It's a Trap!" I pulled it down from Wattpad, where it's been for a while, and I'm going to rewrite it, with an aim for more imagery and maybe a little more background integration. The story has some grammar issues with it that I've never fixed, and that is the first thing for me to change. I'm also going to throw in a small sketch or two. 

If you've already read the story on Wattpad, you'll be able to see the growth and progression of the story from it's first draft to its final version. The story started out as sort of a western, hopefully that feel comes across at the beginning. I may try to return it to that original western feel.

Here's a piece from the story now, no clue on what the final version will look like though, so don't fall in love with it yet! 

"You bastard!" Black Char snarled as he got up off the ground. He staggered back from the trio and prepared to fight. Jagged Edge still had that horrid knife in his hand. Black Char could see the rough, serrated edge of the blade, covered with his blood. Well, Jagged Edge indeed, he thought. The blade had an oily sheen to it as well. Must be something magical about it. Char had to be careful with this bunch. They were trickier than he thought. He put his hand to his lower back and felt the tear in his clothes.

Murg smirked. "Bastard. Yeah, I'll give you that one. But mind your tongue and remember who is in charge. Now let's go get a sword or two."***

Besides writing, I've also been practicing some of my photography skills. I am not good at low light photos, so I decided to see what I could about that. I went to a haunted house and was allowed to go through it and take pictures. 

Here is one I am happy with for the post picture:

Some techniques I worked with to get around the lack of auto-focus (it doesn't work in low light) were using lit objects (like the exit sign at the end of the hall) to manually adjust focus, also using a monopod to try and maintain a steady image, and trying to use occasional lighting (strobes, flickering lights, a door opening such as with the picture above) when possible to set a dark picture. 

Although a bit early, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Halloween and other 'dark' celebrations. I've read about different traditions from around the world, such as All Saint's Day, Dia de Los Muertos, etc... It's amazing to me the many ways that people have for dealing with the shortening of the days and the lengthening of the nights. 

Magnolia

21 AUG 17
Not a long post today. Just a few pictures of a Magnolia blossom. One might end up as a book cover someday.

These blossoms look like they could be used as a small faerie house!

Photos - Black and White

05 AUG 17 Happy Saturday to all! Here are a quintet of pictures from a recent trip up North. Taken during the summer, these images from a backyard capture views normally hidden under snow or waiting for a warmer clime. A bunch of ancient vehicles and a flower. More photos can be found over at DeviantArt, just search for Montellano or click on the link below: 

My artwork on DeviantArt

Here is a tail light from an old old car. So simple when compared to today's vehicles! I like the roundness of the bulb, so precious and delicate, still protected by the circular metal ring held in place by one screw.

Some things just looks better in black and white.

I have no idea why there are two gas pumps in the backyard, but it reminded me
of old times with my dad at a gas station when I was a kid.

 The focus is on the steering wheel. Its crispness draws you into the picture, contrasted with the mess of blurry tangles and springs in the foreground. If I get some more time to play with the original, I may leave the vibrant green of the trees behind the windshield to draw the eye even more to the right.

This poor car has most of the front end off at an angle!

To finish off this set, a burst of subtle color. One of the many scintillating flowers growing among the old cars. A bright pop of light purple.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures, wherever in the world you are. 

Writing: I hope to do some more writing today as well. The story about the Ice Pirates has been read by two wonderful people, and I have incorporated feedback from one of them, going to look at the other's comments and hopefully throw a final edit on it tomorrow and call it done. It will probably top out just at 10K. There was a recent call for stories with pirates and or thieves in them that I could have submitted the story to (Thanks Dave for finding that!), but it turned out I had to be an Aussie to submit (I've been there, does that count?) and the story length was capped at 5K. So no luck! Will keep looking though.