On a recent comment, oneowner and I discussed Topaz’s Legacy plugins . . . which prompted me to play with a few I haven’t used in a while. The photos I used to play with the plugins were those of the recent bird post (HERE).

The first candidate was the Gray Catbird . . .

My aim was to transform photos into drawings. I think the above is me using Impression 2. I liked the results, so I continued.

Just a quick reminder that the voting for the SDS Challenge Guttony Stories will close in three days (Tuesday).

If you are new to the SDS Challenge, a little background.

Three writers will each write one story a month going down the list of deadly sins. The stories can be anywhere from 666 words to 6,666 words in length, although those numbers are not set in stone. If ambitious, the writers will provide accompanying graphics. These stories will not be anonymous because some writers may want to use the same characters for each story and write a series — or book — encompassing all seven sins. Finally, interpretation of the titular sin is up to the writer. Meaning, each ‘sin’ can take multiple forms.

Disclaimer: The writing challenge has no restrictions and the stories will likely span a wide gamut of genres. The majority of the stories fall in the PG-rating range with a few perhaps pushing into the soft R-rating. Some readers might find a few of the stories disturbing because of the topics, language, and/or plot points, and if so, stop reading and move on.

If you want to read the Seven Deadly Sins submissions for the Sin of Gluttony, and then vote, your gateway is THIS POST <<link. There, you’ll find links to each of the three stories and a poll for you to vote after you finish them (if you be so moved).

Just a quick reminder that the voting for the SDS Challenge Guttony Stories will close a week from today.

If you are new to the SDS Challenge, a little background.

Three writers will each write one story a month going down the list of deadly sins. The stories can be anywhere from 666 words to 6,666 words in length, although those numbers are not set in stone. If ambitious, the writers will provide accompanying graphics. These stories will not be anonymous because some writers may want to use the same characters for each story and write a series — or book — encompassing all seven sins. Finally, interpretation of the titular sin is up to the writer. Meaning, each ‘sin’ can take multiple forms.

Disclaimer: The writing challenge has no restrictions and the stories will likely span a wide gamut of genres. The majority of the stories fall in the PG-rating range with a few perhaps pushing into the soft R-rating. Some readers might find a few of the stories disturbing because of the topics, language, and/or plot points, and if so, stop reading and move on.

If you want to read the Seven Deadly Sins submissions for the Sin of Gluttony, and then vote, your gateway is THIS POST <<link. There, you’ll find links to each of the three stories and a poll for you to vote after you finish them (if you be so moved).

If you are new to the SDS Challenge, a little background.

Three writers will each write one story a month going down the list of deadly sins. The stories can be anywhere from 666 words to 6,666 words in length, although those numbers are not set in stone. If ambitious, the writers will provide accompanying graphics. These stories will not be anonymous because some writers may want to use the same characters for each story and write a series — or book — encompassing all seven sins. Finally, interpretation of the titular sin is up to the writer. Meaning, each ‘sin’ can take multiple forms.

Disclaimer: The writing challenge has no restrictions and the stories will likely span a wide gamut of genres. The majority of the stories fall in the PG-rating range with a few perhaps pushing into the soft R-rating. Some readers might find a few of the stories disturbing because of the topics, language, and/or plot points, and if so, stop reading and move on.

If you want to read the Seven Deadly Sins submissions for the Sin of Gluttony, and then vote, your gateway is THIS POST <<link. There, you’ll find links to each of the three stories and a poll for you to vote after you finish them (if you be so moved).

If you are new to the SDS Challenge, a little background.

Three writers will each write one story a month going down the list of deadly sins. The stories can be anywhere from 666 words to 6,666 words in length, although those numbers are not set in stone. If ambitious, the writers will provide accompanying graphics. These stories will not be anonymous because some writers may want to use the same characters for each story and write a series — or book — encompassing all seven sins. Finally, interpretation of the titular sin is up to the writer. Meaning, each ‘sin’ can take multiple forms.

Disclaimer: The writing challenge has no restrictions and the stories will likely span a wide gamut of genres. The majority of the stories fall in the PG-rating range with a few perhaps pushing into the soft R-rating. Some readers might find a few of the stories disturbing because of the topics, language, and/or plot points, and if so, stop reading and move on.

If you want to read the Seven Deadly Sins submissions for the Sin of Gluttony, and then vote, your gateway is THIS POST <<link. There, you’ll find links to each of the three stories and a poll for you to vote after you finish them (if you be so moved).

Only three days left, and no more reminders. That’s right, cari lettori (not to be confused with Carrie Fisher, Tony Carey, or — FSM forbit — Jim Carrey). Mind you, if you are one of the few, the proud, the ones who voted . . . well, perhaps you would like to visit this blog post: Inserting photos and links into WordPress Blog Posts<<link.

OK, granted, WordPress screwed with the interface, but, if you are using the Classic Editor Block, most of that stuff still works. It completely different if you use the Block Editor. I mean, the ideas are the same, but the interface has significantly changed and moved around. But, again, that link tells you stuff you can do within the Classic Block. Good luck.

If you want to know more about the SDS challenge, THIS Post <<link explains it.

If you want to read the Seven Deadly Sins stories submitted for the Sin of Lust, and then vote, your gateway is THIS POST <<link. There, you’ll find links to each of the three stories and a poll for you to vote after you finish them (if you be so moved).
But, come Wednesday at noon, Central Time, the voting closes.

Only four days left. That’s right, mes chers lecteurs (I’m hoping that’s French for ‘my dear readers‘ and not ‘I like broccoli‘). Mind you, if you are one of the few, the proud, the ones who voted . . . well, perhaps you would like to visit this blog post: The Big Dump — 2012 Hummingbirds<<link.

If you want to know more about the SDS challenge, THIS Post <<link explains it.

If you want to read the Seven Deadly Sins stories submitted for the Sin of Lust, and then vote, your gateway is THIS POST <<link. There, you’ll find links to each of the three stories and a poll for you to vote after you finish them (if you be so moved).

Due to the low vote count — and because we’re nearing the end of the voting block, I figure I would step up the reminders. Yes, only six days left. Mind you, if you are one of the few, the proud, the ones who voted . . . well, perhaps you would like to read my take on the movie Watchmen<<link.

If you want to know more about the SDS challenge, THIS Post <<link explains it.

If you want to read the Seven Deadly Sins stories submitted for the Sin of Lust, and then vote, your gateway is THIS POST <<link. There, you’ll find links to each of the three stories and a poll for you to vote after you finish them (if you be so moved).

I’m not even going to ask . . . if you want to read and vote, instructions are below on how to do so. Me? Just like so many times in my life, I’m Just Vegging<<link.

If you want to know more about the SDS challenge, THIS Post <<link explains it.

If you want to read the Seven Deadly Sins stories submitted for the Sin of Lust, and then vote, your gateway is THIS POST <<link. There, you’ll find links to each of the three stories and a poll for you to vote after you finish them (if you be so moved).

Only twelve votes, so far. I’m not seeing these reminders do much in the way of funneling readers to the SDS stories. I guess all that reverse psychology stuff I had read about isn’t worth squat. Heck, I might have more luck doing a post about ducks and geese — Ducks and Geese<<link.

There’s nothing to it but grit one’s teeth and call up one’s grit, and then grin and bare it … wait; I don’t want to bare it! …what? Oh. Grin and bear it. Got it.

If you want to know more about the SDS challenge, THIS Post <<link explains it.

If you want to read the Seven Deadly Sins stories submitted for the Sin of Lust, and then vote, your gateway is THIS POST <<link. There, you’ll find links to each of the three stories and a poll for you to vote after you finish them (if you be so moved).

OK, call me a bit disappointed . . . but not surprised. Meaning, no votes since the last reminder, and almost no additional views. The number of views for the individual stories is pretty low (as compared to any of the Alphabet Challenge<<link rounds).

I suspected the theme would be a difficult one for most people to get into.

If you want to know more about the SDS challenge, THIS Post <<link explains it.

If you want to read the Seven Deadly Sins stories for the Sin of Lust, and then vote, your gateway is THIS POST <<link. There, you’ll find links to each of the three stories and a poll for you to vote after you finish them (if you be so moved).

The writers may be lusting after votes but they ain’t getting many.

If you want to know more about the SDS challenge, THIS Post <<link explains it.

If you want to read the Seven Deadly Sins stories for Sin No. 1, Lust, and then vote, your gateway is THIS POST <<link. There, you’ll find links to each of the three stories and a poll for you to vote after you finish them (if you be so moved).

Some people might know I’ve been busy with stuff, and especially busy migrating from my 2012 PC to a new PC. I’ll be doing a proper update soon, but for now I can just say . . .

 “WAIT!”

What?

“Disperser — if that indeed is your name, why buy a new PC when the old one still works perfectly fine?”

Well, Bob — that indeed is your name, there are a few reasons, but before I explain them, let me say that it is indeed a luxury but one I can afford. I could have “made do” with what I have for a while yet, but . . .

In THIS<<link post I briefly explained why I don’t follow opinion blogs.

. . . but mentioned  I follow many some photo blogs. Two such blogs are lightscatter<<link and 2clicksaway<<link, both run by oneowner, a. k. a. Ken Bello<<link.

I follow them because they offer ideas for subjects and composition and because of the often interesting post-processing and treatments of the photos. One recent post<<link had me attempt to duplicate one of his compositions . . .

OK, so I wasn’t overly successful.