I've noticed with my recent browsing habits that I've come across a lot of artwork that looks like it has been done, redone, and done again. I'm not sure if this is because I look at soooo much artwork in a day that I'm bound to come across similar themes or because people tend to stick to their comfort zones and are satisfied with that. It made me curious to know if others value originality in their dA browsing habits. Do certain artworks lose their interest for you because there have been so many others like it? Are you one who values similar artworks because that's just the kind of artwork you like? How much is originality a factor in what you comment on and favorite here at dA? I'm curious to know, so I made a poll. Feel free to comment here or there.



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Hey guys,

I wanted to let you know that my painting/photo manipulation projects will all be on hold over probably the next six months. I'm going to be concentrating on finishing a writing project and, as sad as it makes me, I just don't have time to work on both. I will still be visiting dA though to keep up with things here as best I can.

Dani

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Hey guys I thought it was about time for another update and tell you how I've been spending my days. I have probably mentioned it before, but I've had a writing project going with my best friend since last year. At first, we were just playing around with the idea of writing a book together just to entertain ourselves. It was fun to banter ideas back and forth and come up with interesting scenarios. Well, about 3 or 4 months ago, we decided to get serious about it and start meeting on a nightly basis to put together our story and get to writing it. It wasn't easy at first. Neither of us had ever written collaboratively before, and it took us a little while to get the division of labor right. Plus, our friendship had a tendency to take a backseat to the project. I have a very tight schedule, between my job and my family, so whatever time we would normally have had to just chat and enjoy each other's company was going toward our writing project. We've persevered though, and this week we reached a milestone. Our chapter outline, basically the complete layout of the plot and all the story elements broken down into their chapters, is finally done. This may not sound like a huge deal, but it is to me. I've been writing for years, but my biggest hangup to finishing a story has been the lack of planning. I will just sit down and write about whatever I want until I get bored, then move onto the next project when I write myself into a corner. While this kind of writing is great to generate ideas, it never was very good at helping me complete a whole story. Now all that has changed. I have my outline, the skeletal bones of story on which to hang the meaty parts, so we can make our creation roar to life. I'm extremely excited about the whole thing. As for the actual written text, we're starting chapter 3 tonight! Only about 35 more chapters to go

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I didn't really mean to drop off the planet for so long. I've been caught up in real life activities too much and have neglected my gallery here. I have over 2,000 deviations to view. I can't remember the last time it was that high.

WARNING: Long and boring update

There have been some changes in my life this year. I've decided to become more active in our finances, being the one responsible for doling out the money when and where needed and trying to stick to a budget. This is a first for me as I've always left it up to my husband to take care of, not because he's THE MAN, but because I didn't want the responsibility. However, he was at the end of his tolerance for taking care of things and had just kind of given up, was paying things when they called us wanting their money and threatening to shut things off. Soooo not good. I must say things were pretty messy. We had medical bills out the wazoo clear back from 2006 as well as student loans floating around for both of us to name just a few. It took me weeks to go through all the little bill piles stashed in different places around the house. Once I went through everything and tallied up what we owed and how behind we were, I had two weeks straight where I walked around like a zombie feeling the weight of those bills crushing me down. No wonder he had been ignoring the problem. We were never going to get out of this.

I'm not sure when my mentality changed, but slowly I started to come to terms with things. Nothing had really changed, other than knowledge. I now knew where we stood, and that could only be a first step, not the death knell of doom. Knowledge wasn't going to kill me. However, I started plotting out how to start changing things for the better. I started working more and making the most of my hours of work. I get paid on a production basis, not an hourly. I've always made my production, but I've considered that "good enough" and never really tried my hardest during working hours. That all changed. I now squeeze every drop of money out of my work time every day. That's part of the reason I haven't been around as much, as I used to wander around dA after I'd met my production for the day. I'm making $300 to $400 more every 2 weeks just from doing that! Wow, what a difference that makes! I even have my own tiny office space in the corner of our bedroom now instead of the living room to cut down on distractions. No more Grand Central Station while I'm trying to work.

The next thing that saved us was an income tax return. Since I had organized everything, by the time we had it, I knew exactly what things needed to be taken care of. We completely paid off 2 monthly bills and ALL of the medical bills. I couldn't believe it. We were finally caught up. Now with our budget on track and both of us working, we are looking to be in better shape than we have since having our first child. Ironic too, with so many others feeling the financial crunch. I feel lucky and grateful for both of our jobs. I know it sounds lame, but I even take a lot more pride in my work and am taking the steps to move to the next level within the company.

Not everything is perfect, of course. We still have a leaky roof, one broken car, an unfinished bedroom which forces all 3 of my kids to share a room between them, all of us need to go to the dentist, my youngest needs braces, and 4 of us need new glasses. However, I have hope that these problems can be tackled a small bit at a time.

In addition to the money issues, I started organizing my house. All 5 of us share a tiny 1000 square foot renovated farmhouse, and so space is at a premium. I've let things pile up in corners for too long, so we needed some major reorganization. I started in my room to make room for my computer/little work space and am progressing through the house, going through things and really evaluating what we need and what we just keep around out of habit. I now actually have space under my bed, and I can find my clothes in the closet again. I'm starting to know where things are when we need them instead of having that hour long search through drawers and totes and baskets to find it. Eventually, I plan to take the organization out to the scary barn and playhouse which hold even more treasures of the past that need to be gone through. All in good time though.

Anyway, that's it for now. Sorry for the long update. I didn't mean to go into that much detail, but it just kinda came out that way. I will be catching up over the next week or two. I haven't painted any more on Her Pet and, to be honest, I'm not sure when it will be done. I will eventually get back to it. I always do. I hate leaving things undone.

I hope all is well with everyone. I look forward to seeing what wonderful creations you've made in my absence.

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Another week or so, and I should be done. I'm loooooovin' the lil piggie!

6th WIP

5th WIP

4th WIP

3rd WIP

2nd WIP

1st WIP


Any thoughts on the background? I'm thinking of putting some flowers and patches of grass, but other than that I haven't come up with much.



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