Ferngirl

Yeah, I too hate AI. It's disgusting that Deviantart has become a place that supports people who don't do art, and instead steal art from other people.

It's such a freakish world we live in where anyone can fake anything.

I'd join the droves of real artists that are leaving, but I don't know of anywhere better to go. And how long would it take to transfer my artwork? I've been here almost 15 years, posting regularly.

I've been thinking for a long time about changing the name of my Pokémon fanfic. I don't have too much of it here on DA (it's mostly on fanfiction), but I've got a few chapters up.

I resisted for a while, but it was inevitable. The name never fit. It came from an old idea that was too overdone-all that "chosen one" stuff, which I luckily left out. There are some good "chosen ones" out there, but it's no good for what I have.

It took a long time to build up the courage to decide that I was really going to change the name. After all, I'd been using it (goes to check my fanfic account) since 2009.

And then I actually had to come up with the new name. I did tons of brainstorming. I wanted to keep "Path" in there somewhere, since that's usually how I referred to it, and I like the imagery of the path, both literal, and figurative. For all my brainstorming, nothing seemed quite right. And then randomly something popped into my head. "Sheltering Path." That was more like it. It implies protecting and caring for. Which is something they certainly have to learn about on their journey (from naive kids who have no business raising a Gyarados, but do anyway, until they gain the strength to help protect those around them, and even challenge the common ways of catching Pokémon).

So, I just went through my documents and websites and changed all of the titles from "Path of the Chosen" to "Sheltering Path." It's now official!

We'll see how it goes!

I have a Pokemon fanfiction that I've been working on forever. It has changed a lot since its first versions. But for some reason I kept the original name I'd used, which doesn't have much relevance to the story that ended up happening.

Up until now, it's been called "Path of the Chosen." You know, all that "chosen one" stuff that gets used all the time. Including the second Pokemon movie. There are no "chosen ones" in the existing fanfic. But it always seemed like too much trouble to change the name. It's been bugging me more and more lately. Finally I started thinking of name alternatives. I wanted to keep the "path" part, signifying an ongoing journey. Both literal, and figurative.

It still took me many weeks of brainstorming ideas. And then something popped into my head, on a totally different track than I'd been working on.

So I think I've got it.

The name goes from "Path of the Chosen" to "Sheltering Path."

So, "Sheltering Path." What do you think?

Hey, I don't know if I actually posted about this on DA, but I recently returned from a study trip in the Peruvian Amazon!

It was freaking awesome. I had an unexpectedly close encounter to a big venemous snake. I saw the river dolphins up close. Squirrel monkeys made occasional visits to the trees near our boat. A giant fish accidnetally jumped in our boat. And I ate piranha.

After the study was over, I went to the Andes, and Machu Picchu.

I'd wanted to go to the Amazon my whole life, so it was a dream come true.

Whooo, I can't believe it.

I got accepted to do a wildlife study on the Amazon River. I'm leaving in just a couple hours.

Not sure if I'll have internet access, so I'll have to prepare for a buildup of emails and notifications!

The study is 11 days, and I'm staying a few more days to go up to the Andes.

I've been frantically preparing until the last second, so wish me luck!