Progress Being Made on New Novel

I have been fighting an RA flare for the past three weeks or so and have not really felt like doing much. Part of RA is massive fatigue that just bogs a body down. Another part is mental fog and trouble concentrating, neither of which is conducive to being able to write a cohesive story. So, I spent the past two weeks doing a series of 12 mini art projects for a framed piece that will be called Thirteen Urns- pen and ink renderings of 13 different draped cemetery monument urns, a favorite subject of mine when walking through old cemeteries and taking photographs. Kelly's recent trip to New Orleans and her hikes through many of the cemeteries there inspired this project. I completed a fourteen 2.5"x3.5" pen and ink drawings on Bristol board artist trading cards- they come cut this size in a packet of 20 cards. The thirteenth picture will be 5"x7". They'll  be put in a frame designed to display 12 small school pictures and a 5x7 graduation photograph. I had to paint the mat pavement gray since the only color I could get it in was white in a black frame. Too much white was distracting. Each little drawing took about an hour to do after the urn was sketched. It was all basically a type of pointillism-  all done with dots for highlights and shading.

When I had good hours I have been working on a new novel- not yet titled. This is the novel that I began writing at least a dozen times if not more over the past few months. I just spent a few days doing a read through of what I've got written (over 120,000 words), and while there are some things I want to change, the basic story is in place. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be with the stop and start writing, the distractions of not feeling well, Kelly buying a house, and an episode of double vision, which, thank God, was brief.

We're in the midst of an on going spell of hot, humid weather with rain showers and massive downpours practically daily. I am not someone who does well in heat and humidity which is why I will never visit Florida or any other tropical location. This weather gives me migraines. Ugh!

So, while I haven't been posting much here lately, I have been trying to keep busy with art and writing. I have Kelly to thank for getting me back into pen and ink drawing. She's been inking RR logos and they look fantastic!

Meanwhile, feeling disappointed by my low energy levels and not being able to promote my writing because of work draining what energy I have each day, plus helping Kelly after work and on weekends with cleaning and projects at her house. Can't wait for fall when I usually start feeling better with cooler weather.

But, at least the read through of the new novel didn't leave me feeling like I need to start another new version. I can work with what I have and make it better.