Sunrise over Farksolia, Jan. 6, 2016. The roads were total ice, so traffic was doing about 20mph through this stretch.
And without the wires
Snow earlier in the week (January 3) so I got to work from home that Monday (Jan. 4). It didn’t amount to much, only about an inch and a half, but it stuck around in my area for several days. My backyard was still snowy on Thursday (the 7th) when it was gone from just about everywhere else in the area. The hills of course had it worse.
I can’t believe it’s been a whole month since I posted anything.
I threw in the towel on NaNoWriMo again. I’ve been sick for a week and it sort of took the wind out of my sails. I’m about 10,000 words into a new thing, my first attempt at a YA novel. But fear not, the vampires are never far from my mind and plan to get back to them ASAP because I miss my fanged friends.
Here are a few shots from this month, and I still have more to process and upload.
Breaktaking colors this morning, and a shot of Venus, Mars, and Jupiter in the eastern sky just before daybreak. Venus is the top, brightest one, then little Mars, and Jupiter.
So my latest thing is I’m thinking about doing a newsletter focusing on my book and the upcoming sequel as well as other writing, and offering some exclusive content (backstory on characters, new stuff related to the Revenants series and other projects), contests and giveaways. Yeah I know, like I don’t have enough to do already, right?
If you’d like to sign up you can do so here. Unfortunately with WordPress.com sites you can’t embed the forms so I have to have an off-site page for it. I’ll be moving the blog to a self-hosted site soon, though. I’m not sure when I’ll start sending out the newsletter, and it will be monthly if I can keep up. Otherwise maybe every other month, so you won’t be inundated with stuff every week.
The white flowers below are Oregon’s state flower, the trillium. It’s protected, so don’t pick them if you see them.
Entmoot
Outstanding in its field
The eagle is landing
fine specimen
wild herd of trillium
We’re still getting a lot of fog in the mornings, as you can see.
Chapter 24 is up now on Wattpad! This may be the longest yet, at 12 Wattpad-pages. If you’re snowed in this weekend, or it’s just too cold to be outside, it might be a good time to catch up on your reading. Four more chapters to go, then I’ll give it about a week and pull the story from Wattpad to get the book up on Amazon. It is still available as an ebook from Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Kobo.
Here’s our lonely mountain (sans dragon) at sunset, an eagle perched in the next-door neighbor’s tree, last night’s moon, and a spider web in the power lines under the streetlight.
In case you’re hanging out at home wondering what to do with yourself, you can get my book, Revenants Abroad, for 33% off (so $1.99) from now until December 1 through Smashwords with coupon code QB85F.
I hope my US readers had a lovely Thanksgiving, however you spent it. Those of you not in the US, Happy Friday Eve! I am thankful for all of you who read my blog.
I have swiped this from an email from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, just so you know. I found them after watching “The Big Year” and getting more interested in birding. I still haven’t done much about it, but I do love birds, so…
The Greater Sage-Grouse, by Gerrit Vyn
Just in case you’re grousing (har har) around the interwebs today looking for something to read, here’s the Happy Thanksgiving email from Cornell Labs of Ornithology. I thought I’d help raise their profile a tad:
All of us at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!
The Greater Sage-Grouse, featured above, is one of more than 90 bird species that live in the sagebrush steppe, an ecosystem at risk. This fall, Cornell Lab supporters voted the Greater Sage-Grouse as their favorite sagebrush bird, in a poll we conducted to help bring attention to the region’s conservation issues.
The Greater-Sage Grouse is a cousin of the Wild Turkey, making this regal-looking bird a fitting star for our Thanksgiving eCard to thank you for your support during this special time of year.
Every year, we make great strides in advancing research, education, citizen science, and conservation to benefit the birds. We could not do this without you. This holiday season, our staff at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology would like to express our heartfelt thanks for your participation, support, and friendship. Your help and love of birds strengthen our capacity to ensure that humans and wildlife can flourish side by side. Thank you!