Fun Friday: What’s On Your Desktop?
Yesterday, Debra mentioned that she has a still-shot from North & South on her computer desktop. So I thought it would be fun to share images of what kinds of images we have on our desktops/screensavers.
I use Webshots for my desktop background/screensaver—I’ve used it for years and years, since back before Windows came with the capability of anything but flying stars or bouncing logos or animated string-art for a screensaver. One of the things I love about it is that not only do they have images I can download (yes, there is a subscription cost for the premium/high-def images), but I can set up my own collections and add my own images.
So here are some of the collections/images I have (click on the thumbnail to view the full-size image):
Doorways/Windows/Pathways
There’s probably some psychological issue behind this, but back when I was still working full-time (for someone else, in an office) I became obsessed with doors, windows, gates, and pathways.
Novel/Series in Progress
Of course, I have to have a set (or several, since they’re limited to the number of images that will fit in each set) for the novel/series I’m currently writing—which, of course, at this time happens to be The Art of Romance in the Matchmakers series:
Places I’ve Lived
If you’ve been around awhile, or if you’ve read my bio, you know that I’ve lived a bunch of different places in my life: Alaska, New Mexico, Louisiana, Northern Virginia/Washington DC, and Nashville. So, of course, I have collections of images of those places for when I get nostalgic. (I picked two of Nashville, because I’ve lived here the longest—and because that set is currently part of my Novel-in-Progress rotation.)
National Parks/Monuments
Sometimes, I just want beautiful scenery. That’s when I turn on my National Parks collections. (And this collection is why I don’t actually have a separate Northern Virginia/Washington DC collection for Places I’ve Lived.)
Seasons
I have three different seasonal folders: Fall, Winter, and Spring—because I actually look forward to those seasons. In the heat of August, I’ll turn on the Fall and Winter collections. By the time I’m tired of the cold, I’ll turn on the Spring collection. I don’t have a summer collection because I don’t enjoy summer, so I included two from Fall.
Christmas
Since I don’t do a lot of decorating for Christmas around the house (as I’ve never actually spent Christmas at my house in the fourteen years I’ve had my own place), I “decorate” the computer with images of Christmas.
Want to Go
Of course, my collection wouldn’t be complete without images of places I’m dreaming of visiting. I think you’ll be able to tell what place is currently at the top of my list!
What’s on your desktop?
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KayeDacus.com 
I have webshots for screensavers too, and character casts, and landscapes I find inspiring, but what’s been my desktop wallpaper for a couple of years now is the photo that inspired the opening scene of my WIP. http://www.walldesk.net/pdp/1024/17/07/A-Wonder-in-the-Woods.jpg
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Lori, that picture reminds me of the 2008 BBC version of Little Dorrit. When the Dorrit family goes to Switzerland theyspend the night in the mountains at this monks’ retreat. In the 2008 version as they are hiking up to the monks’ place they go through woods that remind me of this picture. I guess it’s something about the time of day, the light shining through, etc. It also makes me think a little of the Haunted Wood in the Anne of Green Gables books.
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Beautiful!
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I love using black and white photographs as my desktop background, especially those taken by Robert Doisneau. These are three of my favorites:
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Those are fun images! I can see how they could jog your creativity.
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I have a picture I made featuring the heroine and hero of the novel I wrote which is under current consideration for Barbour HS. The couple is like family to me now! I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to take them down.
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Here’s my pic – forgot to share the link:
The Shadow Catcher’s Daughter
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I have some photoshopped images of my templates together, too–like this one:
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loved this, Carla!
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LOL, I ‘cast’ my current novel characters too and create multi-image backdrops for quick reference. At the moment though, I have a pic of a cute little baby wearing purple tennis shoes rocking a toy guitar with a pull-up on his head. It’s hysterical. My girlfriend emailed it to me in one of those “Thank Goodness It’s Friday” things.
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My wallpaper on the desktop cycles every hour—and more likely than not, when I’m working on something else in the office, the screensaver is running, so I get to see lots of images pretty often.
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I have a picture on my laptop of Fenway Park in Boston on opening day April 6, 2009, at 6:17 A.M. I was there! I always dreamed of sitting in that park, watching a game, and eating chow-dah, and my dream came true.
Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia is on my desktop at home, and pitcher Jonathan Papelbon is on my desktop at school.
🙂
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I have the LSU football schedule wallpaper in my rotation, too. 😉
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Woo hoo!!!! Red Sox!!!! Sorry, had to cheer…
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Right now I have a picture of an English country village street I got from Google Images.
I am positive they have used a picture taken at this same location for the cover of the fabulous novel A Memory Between Us by Sarah Sundin.
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Sylvia, I have that image in my England collection. I downloaded it from Webshots, but it’s marked there as a stock photo image from SuperStock. So, yes, I would imagine that they quite possibly did use it for that book cover.
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I forgot to post the link for my rocker baby picture. 🙂
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Very cute! A cousin and his wife have three little boys they adopted from China, two of whom they just got back with less than a month ago, and I’ve been enjoying following their antics on Jeff’s blog. That’s what this photo reminded me of:
http://www.jeffandabbey2001.blogspot.com/
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They’re adorable. 🙂
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Pictures of the “Think of Me” gown from “Phantom of the Opera”. They would remind me every time I was on computer that I needed to get off and work on the dress! Now it reminds me that I’m done! 😉
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Now you need to get someone to take a picture of you in the dress that you can use for your desktop!
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Mine is the most amazing picture ever taken of my husband. They had a reporter embedded with them, and his photographer got a shot of Paul when they were prepping for a patrol. He’s geared up to the max, wearing his hot sunglasses, and he doesn’t have his helmet on yet. It’s in black and white, and he’s looking sort of down and away from the camera. Yowza!
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It’s true. At work I have photos of grandchildren on my desktop which I alternate with beach shots from the OBX. At home I let my hair down and freely admit to my obsession with period dramas.
This is strictly a healthy practice for a historical writer, of course 🙂
Thanks for the info on Webshots, Kaye.
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Right now my desktop is super simple. Black background with a single word: FOCUS.
Can you guess what I’m trying to do? 🙂
The ‘o’ in the word focus is actually a shot of a camera lens…’cause I had to get all artsy and fun with it. Took me 10 minutes {with a lack of focus} to get it done, but it’s just a reminder to me to get done what I NEED to be doing! 🙂
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