Photos from the Zoo.

Trampled by Turtles.

I went to the Trampled by Turtles show the other night in Steamboat Springs and got some pretty sweet photos out of the deal.

Bad Photography (We All Make Mistakes).

Sure, it's cool to show off all of our good writing, and our good artwork. But, let's face it - it's not 100% realistic. Because we all take terrible pictures. And we all write terrible first drafts. And, pretty much everything we do on the first try is terrible. So, let's at least have some fun. (But, for the sake of "having fun", I'm going to title them like I think they're freaking works of art, because fun.)

Breathtaking Photo of a Monkey Hanging Out in a Tree

Amazing, One-of-a-Kind Photo of Nature's Most Beautiful and Dangerous Wonders - The Almighty Flame

A Majestic Sunset Over Waikiki Beach, Hawaii

A Breathtaking View of Colorado Springs, CO

Beautiful Photograph of a Coloradan Forest in the Summertime

A Roadside View of Some Lovely Green Trees

A Reminder that All Life is Fragile - Stunning Photograph of a Dying Tree

I've Been Getting Lazy on the Blogging; Either Way, Here's Some More Photos.

To all those who may or may not care, I apologize for my recent lack of blogging. Seriously, I have no idea what's gotten into me.

Of course, in a few days, March Sales Reports will be released - that should be a semi-exciting blog post (ha ha, not really).

If you do pay attention, you may have noticed that I posted an entire album of pictures. Unfortunately, I wasn't explicitly clear in why those pictures were posted. Actually, the reason for the album being posted is pretty lame - I made the album for the sake of my "Reddit Cakeday". Somehow, I thought that (mostly) beautiful pictures of Wyoming would get me approval from an extremely condescending community.

Results: I did manage to get a little approval, but the approval from my real internet friends was better.

Anyways, I was hoping to post a few more pictures here, just a few like normal, and maybe some photos that did not make the yesterday's cut (for whatever reason, likely out of forgetfulness).

This didn't qualify for the "Wyoming Pictures" Album, because it wasn't taken in Wyoming.

Is this actually a good photo? I'm not sure. But, the colors look cool. And this one would have qualified for the Wyoming album.

This also would have qualified for yesterday's album.

A lot, a lot of bikes.

Love this one - not sure why.

Various Pictures from Wyoming Since August 2010

I Just Wanted to Share Some Pictures.

Most of these pictures were taken within the last week or so - and also, these are not the "artistic" pictures I like taking and posting every now and again (though I desperately need to do more of those). Really, this is kind of a, "This is more or less my life now. How is yours?"

A s'more cookie. Who WOULDN'T SAY NO?!

I kept telling people, "It's some of the best ice cream I'd had in a long time." But no, it's actually
frozen yogurt.

Come on. Your jealous. (I know you're out there, tea lovers!)

I was actually supposed to meet people here, but they ended up ditching me.

Some completely unanticipated precipitate?

Aren't those off-in-the-distance mountains fantastic? Now, imagine being up close!

This is what my friend made for dinner one night. FYI - there are totally french fries in with all of that.

Swin, little guy, swim...

...and one day, you'll turn into him.

On Dreams Coming True.

I've mentioned in a few places that I've wanted to become an author since I was about six years old. Considering most childhood dreams seem to die at some point, either because they're too unrealistic ("I want to be just like Batman!") or not glamours like they are on TV ("I want to be a police officer!"), I find this to be somewhat of an amazing feat.

Even though I didn't go through the whole process of querying agents and publishers on my lovely masterpiece, this is, in some sense, a "dream come true". Why? Because people have purchased - yes, they've paid money! - for something that I wrote.


Yesterday, I jumped for joy as I saw that I had sold seven ebooks - 3 copies of The Dowry and four copies of Family History: Part 1. Considering both are currently up now for $2.99, that means that I made about ~$14 yesterday. It won't pay the rent or anything, but that's $14 more than I made then when those same novels were sitting idly in my hard drive.

Around this time last year, some friends of mine happened to run across some photography I've done. Truthfully, I scoffed at the idea, because I honestly could not think of a reason somebody would actually pay for photographs I've done, especially when I'm so willing to put them up here for free. Hell, I have an entire DeviantArt profile full of stuff I took just for fun that's free to view. To this day, it still seems silly to go out and attempt to sell these photos for anything more than free.

Truthfully, though, if they had told me the same thing about my writing, I probably still would have scoffed. One year ago, even though so many people were doing it, I still would have laughed at the idea, because who would want to pay for my work? My words? Impossible!

Yet sometime in mid-November, I was browsing Reddit's r/writing and came across this post by a man under the throwaway username "Throwaway_Writer". Basically, the entire post briefly mentions that he made $1000 in a single day - all from writing.

And suddenly, profiting off the novels that had been sitting in my hard drive for nearly two years didn't seem so impossible.

I started asking questions; first on that thread, then on others. I began scouring r/writing. I remember that I had previously dedicated this day to my studies, though all of that was quickly thrown out the window as I found myself focusing more on these "dreams" I had so badly wanted to achieve for so long. I had long ago decided that I was not going to traditionally publish either Family History or The Dowry, so it's not like I had that tying me down in any way. Honestly, neither of them were ever going to get picked up by publishers, except for maybe The Dowry - though even that would have required a lot of work.

I actually divided Family History into two at the suggestion of throwaway_writer himself, who actually had suggested dividing it into three and selling them for either $2.99 each or $0.99 for the first and $3.99 for the rest. Two, of course, was a more natural division for the story.

That day, I settled on a "publish-by" date of January 1st, though I actually didn't meet that since boyfriend and I had decided to take a road trip that began on the 28th of December. Though I did do a few things; I started this blog on December 1st, began tinkering with covers, and did some editing on Family History, which included the separation of the two stories. Despite everything, I did end up putting Family History up for sale up on Amazon by January 4th, which coincidentally, was also the 3rd anniversary of boyfriend and I being together.

So far, though, nothing's glamorous. I'm not running around the country talking to Oprah and signing the breasts of fan girls (because all girls want their favorite female authors to sign their breasts). Believe it or not, I've got a couple of guest posts coming up this weekend, which might do something for sales, though I'm not hopeful. I've also got a twitter account - again, that's got to count for something, no?

Yet despite the lack of glamour, the pitiful sales numbers, and everything else, I do have this: I'm able to cross "Get Published" off that ol' bucket list. Cheers to all the ambitious authors who've been able to do the same.

Feeling Uncreative Tonight, Though I Still Feel Obligated to Post.

Actually, though, today's been a good day. This is despite Santorum winning in Colorado. WTF, Colorado? (I blame Colorado Springs.)


Also, I would by lying if I said I was really following the republican primaries too closely. I just find it very strange that anybody would vote for Santorum. Honestly, though, I'm not sure why anybody would vote for any of the republican candidates. I really don't care for many of Ron Paul's views, though I still feel as though he's the lesser of all evils in this case.

Also, I find Santorum's name bothersome. I just hear "Sanatorium".

That said, I didn't come here tonight to start any flame wars. Like I had started to say, today has been a pretty damn good day, all things considered. Not only did I sell a few copies of Family History: Part 1 and The Dowry, but it turns out that there might be a "job" in my future. I'm going to go with a 25% here, even though I think the chance is a bit higher than that, just so that I don't get my hopes up.

Shit...I already have.


Anyways, I'll post some actual "content" now. How about a piece or two of old photography?

Just a sunflower - nothing really spectacular here. Though
if you care - taken in San Isabel National Forest, CO.

Actually my desktop background. Also taken in Wyoming.

This is all I hear when I see this picture. I promise - I really did take this one.
A Windmill; Thunder Basin, WY. (P.S. Never go there. You'll probably never
need to.)

I've Not Done a Photography Post Lately...

Took this years ago with my first digital camera. I think the
thing was a 3 Megapixel Camera with 2x Zoom?

This was my most popular post on my DeviantArt, when I still used
DeviantArt. Maybe it's just because most people aren't used to seeing
mountains? Taken in Medicine Bow Natl. Park, Wyoming.

Took this in Mexico. One of my favorites, though I'm not
really sure why.

Color Photos from the 1950's

A Collection of Colored Photos from the 1950's from CNN.


I love these photos, because first off, it seems so rare to see colored photographs from before about the 1960's and 1970's.

For whatever reason, I feel compelled to post some of my favorites here.

To the left, this one is one of my favorites in the first set, merely because it is probably the first one that is very obviously from the 1950's. For me, these kinds of dresses on women that young are very rare to see in this day and age. Nowadays, such attire would probably be questioned - "You look nice, where are you going?" Not that these three people weren't already going somewhere nice - it is likely, particularly since the man is also gussied up in a suit and tie.

More amazing, though, is the sheer quality of the photo. There's absolutely no grain, very few strange, out of place colors, etc. It almost appears staged in a way, as if somebody dressed these people up, tracked down a vintage restored car, and ordered these people to stand and pretend they lived 50-60 years ago.

The photo to the left, on the other hand, shows a girl (teenaged girl?) celebrating her birthday. Or, at least, we assume it is her birthday, since she is the one sitting in front of the cake. I love this photo, because this scene is one that is probably a familiar image from many of our childhoods, and yet, based on the style of the hutch in the background, you kind of get the feeling that the girl is celebrating her birthday in her grandmother's house. At least, that was my first thought. However, I think that, when you think about it, it is momentarily amazing that birthdays obviously have not changed much in the past 50-60 years.

I'll admit it, this photo (left) I like mostly because of the woman standing second to the right. Either she is very unhappy to be at this outdoor buffet/party, or she completely missed the instructions to "Smile for the camera!" Other than that, I mostly love seeing all of these women wearing dresses, since such a sight in these times is so rare to see.

Recent Trip Photos: From Wyoming to California

Valley of Fire State Park Near Las Vegas, NV.

Bird Tracks on Manhattan Beach, CA.

Cactus in Valley of Fire State Park

For some crazy reason, we DROVE through The Strip in Vegas.
Why? Either way, here's a picture from when a car drove by.

I still haven't decided whether or not I like this
picture. Valley of Fire.

More Photography!

To all the people who I'm trying to "cater" to who are looking for me to write about a single specific topic: I'm sorry.

Chemistry, creative writing, photography - what is all of this? I'm supposed to be narrow-minded and just choose one, am I right?

Sorry, but I'm a person of many (or at least some) interests. Just wait until I start geeking out on Physiology and  Psychology (which might happen soon, or it may never happen).

"One Way"

Even though this particular photo isn't terribly exciting, for whatever reason, it is a favorite of mine. Trains are not only awesome, but the colors in this photograph turned out splendidly.

If any of you were in Colorado during the summer of 2009, you might remember that there was a very large ladybug population that year. They were EVERYWHERE. I happened to be working at a daycare during that summer, and the children were pretty much able to sit in one spot in the grass and catch a handful within minutes. Here's a photograph of one of them.

This was the most popular photograph on my deviantart (which I almost never use anymore, but if you're interested: http://kirbytails.deviantart.com/). The photograph itself is okay I think, it's certainly a beautiful location (Medicine Bow Peak in the Medicine Bow National Forest), but looking at it now, there are so many little flaws I would go back and change (which I might, someday).

Two Possible Covers, Perhaps?

Yeah, are they perfect? Of course not. But considering I did it all myself? Not terribly awful, I would say.

Took this Photo at a Car Show about a Year and a Half Ago...

One night, I started playing around with Photoshop, where I suddenly became interested in "retrofying" pictures. This is one I took at a car show in a small town in Colorado during the summer of 2010. How did it turn out?