Funny Friday Photos Celebrates Summer

Happy Friday and Happy Summer Solstice! As it is officially summer, I included the funny hot weather pictures. Just today I was thinking about how June in Wyoming is probably the best month of the spring/summer. It is still cool in the mornings and the temperatures stay below 90 degrees (usually.) When we have an active tornado season, the tornadoes are usually done by now, plus the prairie grass is green and the rolling hills where I live looks like pictures I've seen of the Scottish/Irish landscape.

That all changes in July. We stop getting rain, everything dries up and turns brown. It becomes hotter than heck and the deer flies show up. And then August hits, we're back to school and if we're lucky, we have a short fall before it becomes winter again and the wind starts blowing the hair off your head. Wyoming is a climate of extremes, for sure. However, I am ever so grateful that it never gets hot enough here for a plastic mailbox or a traffic cone to melt.

Last weeks funniest photo was:

And here are the new photos! I hope you enjoy them.

Maybe it's the hoof hanging out, but I feel a little embarrassed looking at the picture.

Who thinks of these things!

I don't think they're going to do a lot of good.

Giraffe photobomb. Ha.

Poor thing melted.

The rest of the caption is: "Get out of my way."

Maybe that's how a Yorkie sees itself in the mirror.

And the pun...

I've been feeling a little of that recently, too.

I forgot to mention! In preparation for a bunch of promotion I've got planned for July (that's actually starting next Friday), I have Finding Meara going on sale for 99 cents. If you know someone who might like a fast-paced contemporary fantasy summertime read, please share the news!

It's hard to choose a favorite, but I'll go with Yorkie on Steroids.

Do you have a favorite picture?

What about a favorite summertime month?

Getting on the Branding Bandwagon

Image by kromkathog courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Last week I attended the Indie Recon Marketing Mania, and the first session was with author CJ Lyons. After a wonderful post on how to brand yourself (in practical, easy to understand language), she spent the day visiting people's websites/blogs and giving them feedback. I was so impressed. 

Her feedback on my website is listed below. Some things I can change, and some I can't.

If my blog is going to be geared toward writers (and the name "Motivation for Creation" implies a blog for writers), I should make sure readers know that up front on my website, or change content. Also, I should have the blog open in a new window.

I can't change the way the blog opens, unless I move my blog, and I'm not willing to do that. So, that is a no change. However, I've been contemplating what kind of content I have on my blog for a while. After three years of writing motivational and inspirational posts, I was already trying to come up with a new direction for blog content. So, I have come up with a new editorial calender, writing about things that interest me and hopefully will interest others (including you, who are currently reading this post.)

Funny Friday Photos will continue, with the addition of a post on Tuesdays which will follow this pattern (to be referenced on the side-bar, as well.)

• Week 1 Tuesday: Theme Park (Themes and values found in the stories I write. These can still be the inspirational type posts, or about other things - like parenting and loss.)
• Week 2 Tuesday: Creature Feature (A look at the different creatures found in the different mythologies.)
• Week 3 Tuesday: Something Bizarre Happened... (An anecdote about something strange or funny that happened to me or I witnessed during the previous month, like the time I saw a cryogenics truck driving on the interstate on my way to work. We'll see how this one goes.)
• Week 4 Tuesday: For the Writers (A writer related post about something I found helpful or think other writers might be interested in.)
• Week 5 Tuesday: Off! There's not many five week months, so it'll be a Funny Friday Photos only week

I don't know what to call the blog now. Maybe just my name with a tagline?

The header is generic, and I should create one that evokes my books. She stated twice that the cover art for my book is fantastic (thank you, Ivan Zanchetta). She believes that the portal on the cover implies adventure and fantasy, and as fantasy should be the focus of my branding, my cover art would be a great place to start.

This is going to take a little more time and work. I'm kind of concerned that my cover art is different shades of gray (no jokes!) and might make the website kind of a downer. Also, I don't think I'd like the header and the book to be exactly the same. So, I'm going to have to contemplate that aspect of her feedback for a bit.

I do agree that I should look to fantasy to be the focus of my brand. I turned to my Facebook friends to help me come up with a tag line. (Huge thank you, to Rick Bylina, Jo Eberhardt, Brin Jackson and Cathy Yardley for some great suggestions.) I'm trying to decide which one of five I think would evoke both the magic of fantasy, and the adventure that might go along with the portal. 

So, that's my plan. Don't be surprised if you click over for Funny Friday Photos and find something new and different.

Have you ever changed up your blog or website?

What worked for you?

Funny Friday Photos

Friday is here and it's the first Friday of summer vacation (for me.) I'm not gloating, I promise. I'm just overjoyed! And don't have much to say, because I've been a hermit at home. So, I'll let the pictures do the talking. :)

Last week's winner for funniest photo is:

I have some funny hot weather photos donated to me by my friend, David N. Walker, but there were so many cute animal photos I just couldn't stop adding them. So, next week be ready for some funny hot weather pics. And now, here are this week's funny photos!

I posted a cat emoticon photo a while back, but this one was new to me. And cute!

Chocolate demon milk?

And I think that's as far as it'll go, too.

I swam (once) in a lake in the dark, and this is all I could think.

Most scuba divers don't know about the deadly turtles.

Excuse me, that's SIR Ian McKellen.

And the pun of the week, just because it matches one of last week's funny photos:

I have been a little lazy with blogging, but starting next week I'm going to be posting twice a week again - once on Tuesdays and then on Fridays with funny photos. Next week's Tuesday post will explain further about my developing plan, based on some information I gained by "attending" Indie Recon's Marketing Mania. 

My favorite photo today is the goat and Sir Ian McKellen. I can see the resemblance. Can you? Which is your favorite?