Jury Duty

Around the beginning of March, I got that dreaded letter in the mail: jury duty. The reporting date was April 1st. I was summoned as a trial juror and not as a grand juror. I dreaded it the whole month. Along the way I came up with a brilliant idea: tattoo sleeves. That's for a 20-pack. The 6-pack is cheaper.

When you're picked for a jury, the prosecution and the defense can ask you questions about yourself and your life. I've had to do that. You go up into the jury box for that in front of the judge and the entire court. That would be the perfect time to casually take my jacket off and expose the tattoo sleeves to the shock and condemnation of all. Surely, no one would pick a guy with tattoos up and down both arms, right? Right. The thing that held me back was the possibility of being held in contempt of court. If they thought I was trying to get out of jury duty with a trick, I figured it might be possible to be in contempt. April 1st was a chilly day. Tattoo sleeves are partly for protection from the sun. I decided not to get them. I wouldn't have a good reason to be wearing them like I might in summer. I might get some later as a gag. I have relatives I don't see very often. . .

Part of jury duty is calling the night before. I called. The grand jury was to report at 9 a.m. The trial jurors were not to report that day but were to call after 6 p.m. I was riding past the courthouse around 5 p.m. There were a lot of cars there, though the parking lot wasn't full. Obviously, it was the grand jury. I called later when I got home. The trial jury for this week was dismissed. Yay! I didn't need the tattoo sleeves after all. The best part is I got credit and won't be called again any time soon. It's been years since the last time. Only the people who sent back the form the county mails got credit. People who didn't send it back will have to do jury duty a different week. I bet they wish they'd sent the paper back.

Book Stuff

Progress hasn't been as fast as I'd like on the books and cover fronts, but progress is being made. It seems like things keep getting in the way that weren't there before like the forces of darkness have risen against me. I just have to force a way through, I guess. One of the books I've been putting time into is the concept for the book after AoE. I believe I can make books 2 and 3 have overlapping content. For instance, a character(Keelia) who only appears briefly in book 2 for a few scenes would be doing things that are the story for book 3. In book 3 the main character in book 2(her dad) would appear a few times just like she did in book 2. That way they can't team up and very quickly solve their problems together. Even though the books are a series and not a trilogy, by book 3 it would all fit together. I've been putting a lot of extra work into book 2. I have a lot of ideas written down, but it hasn't quite come together yet. It's close.

As for the covers, my main weakness is the human figure. I can't not have people on the covers. Corel Painter, and other programs, have something called mirror mode. The way it works is that there's an invisible line down the center of a painting/drawing. Anything drawn on one side is mirrored on the other automatically. For characters facing the camera, I can use mirror mode to get the faces symmetrical instead of having to paint/draw each side. It would work for certain buildings, too. I'd still have to do the full work on characters facing to the side or away, but mirror mode is a good trick. The characters would have to be on their own layers for it to work, of course.

Have a great weekend.