Can we please just take a moment and appreciate that Bobby Belden's treehouse is almost within spitting distance of the "dangerous bluffs"? Do you suppose he was also encouraged to go play in traffic? XD

I spent the afternoon testing various AI video makers. The results were amazing, hysterical, and in some cases dumbfounding. I posted the "best" here. I really struggled with getting Regan to brush back Trixie's hair with one hand and after multiple attempts just dropped it from the prompt. You can see what it looks like below. Honestly, it reminded me vaguely of a monkey picking through another monkey's fur, the way he does it in this video, lol.

So here's the original image from the cream oval, what Gemini came up with and now what ChatGPT came up with.  I think Gemini created a much more realistic looking person. Also, it's funny what ChatGPT did with her shirt, based on the shadows from the illustration.

AI video generating is getting better, too. I used the same Trixie image and briefly described it has she was in a graveyard and bent down to brush away some weeds and read a tombstone.

Every so often, life just hits you hard, eh? In late December 2024, on my 36th wedding anniversary, my husband suddenly announced he didn't want to be married anymore and just took off, abandoning me and our adult special needs son. I won't bore you with all the details, but yes, it's been over a year and I am still reeling in a lot of ways. So that happened.

I have been lately using a program that reads webpages aloud to listen to my own stories during my work commute. I think I am tentatively ready to start writing again. Meanwhile, wow, has AI come a long way in a few years since I started the DALL-E page. I think in the not so distant future, we could be possibly looking at the ability to turn our stories into full-blown movies. 

Also? I just discovered this? 

NGL - I'm not over the moon with the artwork/cover design. But still, I am genuinely surprised to see it's back in print.

The original theme for ASKOF was actually from the Casper movie. It was a midi file (Remember those?) and it worked at the time. I haven't been able to find the exact file. I probably have it on at least one of my old external hard drives, but I'm not sure where. I did find this one, and it's definitely similar.

I switched to the current theme (below) when I restarted the series. The non-midi version of Casper's Lullaby somehow just didn't work.

When this becomes an available-to-the-general-public thing, how cool would it be to make an actual ASKOF episode? I figure we're still at least a couple of years off, but look how far image generating AI has come in a short matter of time.

Late last spring, we decided to move. We aren't far from our last home, but we are further out in a more undeveloped area and frankly, it's nice to be surrounded by trees instead of a bunch of other houses. We closed on our house in early July and then started the move. It's crazy how much stuff you can accumulate when you live in the same place for 16 years, even if you aren't particularly a pack rat.

One of the lovely things about our new home is I have a dedicated writing nook. I've never set aside space like this for myself before. (Pretty much every Trixie story I have ever written was done either sitting on my bed or couch with my laptop on my lap - which I suppose was the original idea behind the name?)

Equally nice is though I have a long commute to and from work, because of my hours, I'm home between 4:15 and 4:30 and I no longer bring hours of work home with me like I did at my previous job. I actually have - gasp!  - free time again.
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I have spent the past month or so re-reading everything. It's been so long, I actually need all the reminders. And dangit, every time I think surely I've caught all the typos, another read-through reveals even more. Wince.

​There have been frequent moments of, "I wrote that?" And not always in a cringe way. Sometimes, I'm all, "Okay, that's not half bad. Go me!" It's the passage of time that's really astounding me lately, though. When I first stumbled across the Trixie fandom online with Barb's original website, my youngest was a baby. She's now 27. The age I was when she was born. I have to keep reminding myself of when these stories are set - what was going on in the world at that time, what technology was available, what the internet was like, etc. I also have to remember what it was like to be a young 20-something person, which was a lot easier to do when I was writing as a 20-something person myself than my present mid-50s.​

I think I might've mentioned this before, but I can't remember where Clyde originally came from. I'm fairly certain a three-legged cat was a writing circle challenge element, but I don't remember why or who came up with it, or if he was my idea to begin with. I've been slowly plodding away at a story that's set in the 80s, but I can't decide whether or not to add him in. I've included him in so many other things, I feel like he ought to at least pop up in a scene or two. Hmmm...

I genuinely like my new job and my co-workers. But we lost a key person shortly after I started (not lost in a bad way, he just moved to be closer to his aging parents) and I had to absorb his tasks as the only one with the (marginal) computer/tech skills to take them on. We have been trying even since to fill that position. We have some new applicants so *crosses fingers* maybe we'll get someone in soon. And in defense of my co-workers? They have absolutely done their best to help me by taking on as many of my actual duties as they can to free me up for this, but it has been definitely a slog here.