Poodles and Cosmic Horror?

You may wonder what in the world poodles and cosmic horror have in common. It's certainly not the most typical combination. Unless, of course, you're some who loves their poodles as much (if not more) than you love writing. 

Hi, that's me. I'm sure if you follow me on any social media you know that my dogs are my life beyond writing. I show them, I groom them, and they are my everything. A fan favourite is Fred, my youngest standard poodle. 

She's got a lot of personality that comes through with nearly every picture and certainly every video I make of her. 

So, when I was struggling for an idea to write a short story influenced by the work of H.P. Lovecraft, I searched for inspiration where I could find it. 

And I found it in Fred. 

Now, I won't ruin the surprise of the story because I am happy to announce that it has been published in an anthology by JayHenge Publishing!

The story is titled 'Dog Gone God'. It features Fred in all her wonderful, sassy and sweet glory, and a
creative groomer who got in way over her head. If you want to find out how a standard poodle, a creative grooming competition, and cosmic horror go together then you'll have to pick up the anthology: The Nameless Songs of Zadok Allen: & Other Things that Should Not Be 

Burnout is a Bitch

 If you had read my last post at all, you probably had a good guess at what was coming. Heck, I knew what was coming and I ran head first into it anyway.

Everything came to a full stop and I was simply doing my best to make it through each day as it came. I was exhausted and, even when I tried to create, little to nothing came out. It was terrible, it was frustrating and... was is past tense. If I am being honest with myself, I am still sitting the tip of the tail from that flaming crash. 

I'm trying hard to find my way back to everything. To my podcast, my writing, my editing. It's hard. And, in the fashion of being me, I added new things to my life still. Including playing D&D and trying my hand at digital art.

Last night, actually, was my first attempt at really using my new drawing tablet. I have a very sketchy style of drawing because I tend to have a habit of drawing with ballpoint pens on scrap paper most of the time. 

I'm sure, with practice, I will improve and find a way that works for me, but for your amusement here is my first less than an hour of trying.

This was the very first thing that I attempted to draw by myself.

It's supposed to be Fred and, those that have seen a lot of pictures of her actually realized it was her. So, all-in-all, not a complete failure, but it could have been better. 

I also tried a side profile of her head, but I didn't really like that at all which is why I am not sharing it here. 

One thing I noticed was that this style of drawing on the tablet would make a pretty feather, so that was what I did next.

I liked how the feather turned out well enough to then see what colouring a drawing would be like with the new tablet and art program. I liked how that turned out, but I wanted it better blended. With a little bit of a look around, I figured out how to blend well enough. 

And below the progress of my feather: