Why Am I Writing in My Journal?

I'm not really sure why I am writing in my journal. I have a crapload of things to do. The good news is that all my work for silwritersguild is done for the moment. The bad news is that I have stories to read for Antithesis Common, betas to do, and my requisite page to write for the day. Oh, and a stack of "Returned Unserved" warrants to take care of. Returned Unserved warrants are very anticlimactic for me. They are bummers. There is something innately satisfying about closing a case; with those returned unserved, though, it is like admitting, "Hey, we screwed this one up." And I have a whole pile of them. And two phone bills to collate. ::sigh::

Okay, I am totally going to pimp myself for a moment, then I'll resume my normal rambling. I can't believe that I forgot to do this initially anyway. Shame on me. And most of my LJ friends doubtlessly know about this by now, but in case I missed someone....

I have started a writers' workshop/discussion group for Silmarillion writers. If you enjoy the Silmarillion, I would love to have you as a member. There is both an email group and a LiveJournal community (silwritersguild) for posting stories. Links to the email group are available via the community info page.

And...there may be an archive in our future. People have expressed a lot of interest in an archive for only Silmarillion writing, and so I am collaborating with some tech-inclined people to make this happen. But--and there is always a big BUT--we will only accept stories from members to start. The group is only twenty-some strong at the moment (because the owner hasn't gotten around to perusing Pit of Voles and issuing invites ::whistles innocently::) and it would simply be too much to manage free access to all to start.

So what does it mean to be a group member? Group members must be a member of the Yahoo! email group. Then you can post your stories in the archive, when it appears. So go join the Silmarillion Writers' Guild! Because if Feanor was not in Mandos, then he would be a member! (There's my celebrity plug.)
/pimp

( Felak's Rules for Daily Writing )

( Favorite (and not favorite) words and phrases )

( My desk is home to a fully puttied dragon with rider! )

( Not eating makes me dumb; I need to eat more )

Okay, now I must go and do real work. And eat lunch first :)

Meet My Elves! (and a Maia and a fool)

I talk a lot about sculpting and painting without really ever sharing the results of it. My best models sit on a shelf in my study, but few people ever notice them (as they are incredibly small) and fewer stop to look at them (as the study is the only place in the apartment tending towards clutter). Still, I thought it a shame to spend up to one hundred hours per model to have them go unappreciated, and so I thought I'd post them in my journal for the enjoyment of Elf-lovers everywhere.

( Meet Dawn's Elves! )

Apologies for the blurry photos: I am a painter, not a photographer :) It is hard to get close enough to the model to capture the details without sacrificing the clarity of the picture some.

A completely off-topic question for any experienced Adobe users: I have made several icons in Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator, of course, saves them as .ai files. I then import them to Photoshop and save them as .jpg.

My problem is that the Photoshop file then will not show up in my LJ or in Photobucket. The files upload without a problem, but the image does not show up; it appears only as the elusive red "x." For example, here is a calligraphic monogram done in Illustrator and then exported to Photoshop.



Can anyone see this? Because it shows up as nothing both at home and at work.

I have no problem altering pictures in Photoshop alone and uploading them; it is only when I attempt to create icons on Illustrator first that I have problems. Does anyone have any idea what I am doing wrongly? I appreciate any advice on this matter. (And don't be afraid to talk down to me; I have been using Adobe for literally a week.)