When Moving Ahead Doesn't Feel Like It

 Well, my first editing program was a bust, but I do have editing programs that I'm trying to learn. The first one I tried has a killer learning curve, but fortunately, I have other programs I'm working with. In addition to that, I've bought myself a few new toys to help record. Mainly, a new light, which is surprisingly important, even if you're never showing your face on the video, and a new microphone. Honestly, while the light is snazzy, I am much more excited by the microphone. I've never owned a real one that wasn't found at a garage sale and broken within days of getting it. 

In addition, I've been accepted into a beta program for Animaze using my character which is the thing I am super excited about! Why, you ask? Well, I originally wanted to use Animaze to put out these videos. I had used them in the past under the name Facerig and knew that they were adding the ability to add your characters into it with the upgrade, which was originally what I was planning to use. Unfortunately, when they came out, while you could add characters to the system, you couldn't do it with a character from VRoid, where I'd made created my character. What does this mean for you guys? Well, it means that I am definitely planning on having a video up on Monday, even if its just a quick one using their system. It may end up just being me playing with the system and introducing myself. 

Essentially, I do have an introduction to the channel recorded on a different program, but if the Animaze works, then I will be using that one. The most difficult thing right now has actually been the editing programs. I was hoping for an easy introduction since what I'm really looking for is a simple cut and paste program that I can add pictures onto. Not a very difficult list you'd think, but it still means that I have to go through the programs I can afford, spending hours trying to learn how to use the programs, to see if I can use them at all or if they're just far beyond my skill level. I'm not afraid of hard work, but at this point, I really want to get stuff out to you and I'll do what I need to get that going. 

Of course, I'm still working on my novel. I'm about 75% of the way through this edit, which means that as soon as I can spend all my time on it again, I should have it finished soon. I'm hoping that at this point, I don't have a lot that's going to need to be rewritten from scratch again. 

And that's what's been keeping me busy this week. It doesn't feel like I've done a lot of work, even if I can look back and defend every choice with reasons it was important. Meh. Sometimes, you just have to keep moving, trusting that you are making headway, even if it doesn't feel that way. 

Oh! Also, I'm not going to talk about it here, but if you haven't already seen WandaVision on Disney+, my quick review is "Amazing, 5 stars, go see it." For more, keep your eyes peeled. I'm planning on writing a longer, more in-depth review later. 

Setbacks are the Mind-Killer

Bleh. Okay, I have an update now, which is better than what I had before. The first program I grabbed had gotten really good reviews but seemed to show more and more problems as I tried to use it. I couldn't get the background to go transparent, which would have been fine since I'm actually drawing up a background for it. The more major issue was that I couldn't get the program to record audio at all. It took a lot of work to make sure that the problem wasn't actually in my headset. Once we did, I found another program, one that I'll have to pay for, but that actually tracks my movement better than the other one. On the other hand, from what I can tell it doesn't actually have a recording function. This means that I'll be downloading a separate recording program tonight and trying to learn it. 

So, what does this mean overall? It means that while I may have a steep learning curve to overcome, I should have a proper introduction up for next Friday. It took way longer than I wanted it to, but I can't wait to finally have it up and working for you guys. 

Now for the other part of the update. I came down with a cold this month. Nothing serious, but it came with migraines, which means I'm a bit behind on my goal. The most recent specific update is that I realized that I had two chapters that I had rewritten, before deciding that the scenes just weren't working. Both needed to be rewritten from scratch. In Frank Herbert's Dune, his characters say, "Fear is the mind-killer." As a writer, I would like to make a personal clarification to that. For me, Setbacks are the mind-killer. 

I can deal with my own minor issues but setbacks make me exceptionally aware that it isn't me I'm letting down, but you, my readers. So, be aware, I'm trying to kick my own ass into gear to get this novel out to your as quickly as I can! 

Movie Review and a Personal Evaluation

This week I want to talk about Jiang Ziya. Or, at least, I want to start with it. If you haven't heard of it, I'm not surprised. Its a Chinese animated movie that came out recently and thus has a somewhat limited release. That said, this is the company that put out Ne Zha, back in 2019. While Ne Zha wasn't as good as The Legend of White Snake that was released later that year, Ne Zha was a fun movie. Sometimes the tone shifts were too frenetic for me and I wished they'd drop the fart jokes for a solid scene. That said, my husband loved those and wished the film would have stopped delving into seriousness as often as it did, so it really was a matter of taste, which part you enjoyed and which part you enjoyed less. 

Jiang Ziya doesn't suffer from that tone issue at all, I'm glad to say. Focusing on the story of the mythological general Jiang Ziya, the story is telling a simple tale that, as with everything ends up being a lot more complicated. To keep his place in heaven, Jiang Ziya is given the task of killing a fox demon. The demon fights back, even trapped as she is, and uses her abilities to show our titular hero that by killing her, an innocent will die as well. 

Thus begins an epic battle for the truth of the situation. 

I won't go further into the story, since the movie is new and spoilers are a thing. What I can say is that I quite enjoyed the story. I really liked that everything came down to one of my favorite tropes... the "from-a-certain point-of-view". The basis of this is the belief that everyone is the hero of their own story. The bad guy has his reasons, and so do the good guys, but the further you look into what these people have done, the more the issue muddies with all of the parties coming out as less than stellar morally-speaking. The animation was excessively good, unsurprising since as I said, this is the same company that did Ne Zha and I really enjoy the style. I suggest that if you haven't seen it yet, and don't mind watching movies with subtitles (or if you understand Mandarin), definitely keep an eye out for it. This is the second movie of a trilogy the company is making, so keep your eyes peeled for the third one. If you guys hear about it first, please be sure to let me know. I'll be waiting eagerly for it. 

My second topic is a bit of an apology. I've been quiet on my progress with my editing on Fox's Facade because I felt like I wasn't getting enough done on it for you guys. Today, I accepted that I had significantly underestimated the amount of work this story was going to need. So, while I'd prepared to write about 50% of the novel from scratch, I hadn't realized that trying to fit the two together would really mean rewriting closer to 80% of the novel. 

All that said, the story did need the change, and in the end, bringing you the best story is the name of the game. 

Having said all this, I will say that the editing shouldn't be significantly delayed, but it probably will take me longer than the two weeks I have left in October to finish it. Right now, I'll probably try to work on both during Nanowrimo, editing daily after my 1,667 words are finished. Or at least, that's the plan. As always, we'll see how the plan survives contact with the enemy. 

Fall is When I Fall Down

... from exhaustion that is. 

Okay, I'm joking on falling and being exhausted, but I am moving into my busiest season of the year. The fall season starts in September for me and doesn't end until usually December (though last year it lasted until February). 

It is not only when all the new shows I'm waiting for come out (this year, RWBY Season 8 is coming out, as well as Inuyasha's successor, Yashahime or Princess Half-Demon are the ones I'm most eager for, though only until Log Horizon, Season 3 is finally released in January) but its also the month-long drawing challenge I most wait for. And even if I ignore that all important challenge, I can't forget about planning for Nanowrimo. This year, I'm hoping to start writing book five of the Kitsune-Ken series and while I have an idea for the plot, it is nowhere near realized enough for me to start yet. 

One of my favourite digital pictures so far. Please, do not expect this quality during October. This took me a stupid amount of time to do.

On the other hand, I am really looking forward to it. I really like being busy, even if it does mean I end up feeling like I'm burning the candle at both ends to get everything done. Especially when that busyness comes with Nanowrimo and art. It pushes me to my edge, but I do some of my best work when I'm pushing everything out. I even have the lofty goal of trying to plan out the rest of the Kitsune-Ken series this October, at least, generally. An idea of what story will be told each book and what to look forward to. 

And with that update, I'm going to run. I want to get started on that backlog. I don't want to keep you guys waiting for Fox's Facade any longer than I need to. 

An Unfortunate Tweet

Camp Nano has been one heck of a journey for me this year. Normally, my editing takes the process of reading my book, assembling it in the correct order, and editing page by page from there. However, when I was working with my new editor on my last book, I found a new way. I went over the book and wrote what each chapter was, put them on post-it notes and stuck them inside my notebook while I played around with it. It helped me to really see where I was missing plot points and make sweeping changes if needed from a top-down approach that my old way of working wouldn't have allowed. I decided to see if it helped me with editing this next book. 

I should start by saying I knew it had problems. I was expecting a lot of rewrites. However, I was not expecting this method to show me that my entire plot was wrong and needed to be rewritten essentially. And I'm only exaggerating a little when I say that. I just finished the top-down overview and I have 17 chapters that are listed as "rewrite from scratch"... there could be more by the end of this pass, but that's what I'm working with now. 

Despite that daunting number, I'm actually pretty hopeful. Fox's Facade was a really difficult book to write in the first place. It was going a few different places, but at the time, I don't think I was a good enough writer to anticipate what exactly it would need. Regardless of the actual reason, I think the way I have restructured the plot will work a lot better now. I began rewrites a few days ago. Hopefully, it won't take me too long to do them. I'd like to have the edits out to my beta readers by September, if possible, though I'll have to see how my editing is going before I set that as the goal. 

That finished, I'd like to talk about a tweet that was posted earlier this week. 

This tweet from @dntmakeitworse to be exact. If you've read my blog for any amount of time, I'm sure you know how false this is. Yes, women tend to be overlooked in publishing. I'm not saying that isn't a problem. I've read the story all too many times about fans walking up to female authors and thanking them for writing under a pseudonym or their initials. "I never would have picked up your book if I'd known a woman wrote it" is something that all too many have heard. 

That said, while I think this was what the tweeter was trying to convey, they are horribly wrong. Even leaving aside solid staples such as Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Anne McCaffery, and Agatha Christie, there are hundreds of others. Margaret Atwood, Harper Lee, Ursula K. LeGuin, Baroness Orczy... this isn't even counting that the first novel in the world was written by a woman; my personal hero of Murasaki Shikibu, the lady-in-waiting who wrote The Tale of Genji. 

If you think women haven't always been there, doing the same things men were, you are sorely mistaken. Our tale often isn't told; the women warriors of Shaka Zulu's armies, the female samurai of Japan, the women of Scotland trained to defend the homestead when the men were away. 

And that I think is where I'll end it today. Let me know who your favorite female author as a kid was. Personally, I will also hold a place in my heart for Anne McCaffery. I loved her story of psychics, dragons, and cats. 

Endings and Beginnings

Book four is officially done! The rough draft, in all its unedited glory, has been pushed to the side. As is my usual routine, it will be glanced at in September/October, but otherwise, won't see the light of day until book 3 is with my beta readers or my editor. Book four came in at 107k which is a whale of a book for me. I expect editing will be frustrating as heck as well. Fortunately, that is a problem for future me, so I can safely ignore it. 

Instead, I'm working on book three. Now, the third book came in at 102k when I first opened the document. Fortunately, a lot of that was notes and alternate chapters. See, a lot of my writing process is just me throwing spaghetti at a wall until my mind connects the dots. So, if you were wondering why there was a sudden crab hunt in Hunter's Gambit, I can say that it wasn't planned from the beginning. Instead, I knew what my characters were going to find when they got there, but didn't know how they were going to find it. So, I started writing that chapter and stared at my computer wondering why I was writing about crabs until my mind connected the nodes in my mind. Alternate chapters pop up when I finish a chapter and realize that its bad and I hate it or (more commonly) that the story was being told from the wrong POV and needs to be rewritten. 

So, the good news? Book three is already down to 92k. That's with just easy edits, removing notes, chapters that I'd already known I was going to have to get rid of eventually and that sort of stuff. Some of my chapters that seemed to not fit at the end of book two have been added to three and I have already gone over it once, putting things in order. My next edit is one where I go through and I really look at my plot. I've already found two chapters that are going to be deleted and another seven that will require complete rewrites. While this seems like a lot, its actually less than I was expecting. Between changes made to book two and now knowing where book four is going, I would have been surprised if there were less than that. 

Honestly, what I'm surprised at most this time around is how easy it is to see things like chapters that can be deleted. Knowing that I need parts of those chapters, but not there and not alone, really helps me to figure out how to tighten my writing. Its my hope that figuring this out at this stage will also make my editing go way faster. I haven't hidden the fact that I'm very new to this, which means that I'm still figuring out how to work best and how to speed up so that I can get these books out to you faster. 

Here Again, Gone Again, Jiggity-Jig

I received my novel back from the editor! She loved the changes, said that I managed to fix 99% of her originals issues with it. I was able to fix those in under a day and have already returned them to her for a final grammar pass. So, this is it, guys. I'm waiting on payday to order my cover, but that is the last thing big thing that I need to do. I have been working on the back cover copy so as soon as we have the cash I can send in my request. Hopefully, it won't take too long and I'll be able to do a cover reveal in May.

I am stupidly excited about it.

I still have work to do for its release of course. Arranging cover reveals on other sites and blogs, putting the book up for pre-order on Amazon and the rest. Getting the novel up on Goodreads, ordering the print copies... all of that fun stuff.

It's going to be awesome.

In less stellar news, due to Corvid-19, our local government has finally put official restrictions in place for the summer. No groups of more than 15 may congregate for any event. This means that for the first time in literally over a century, we won't be able to celebrate the Calgary Stampede. It also means that our writer's convention most likely won't be going ahead. Or, at least, won't be going ahead as scheduled. We've been told to expect an email later today on how they expect to proceed. I'll keep you guys updated on what that means as well. I am disappointed though. I was so excited, finally knowing that I was going to be able to share a new novel with all of the readers there.

In a final bit of whimsy, I'll let you know that I started playing Black Desert Online this week as well. While I will never be a hardcore gamer, I thought I would let you guys know that I am finding horse wrangling most enjoyable in it. Here is my character riding her two horses. The brown one is Alenos (a tier 1 stallion, the lowest tier and my first catch) and the grey is Dapple (a tier 3 stallion).

I'll end this post off with the hope that you guys are all staying safe out there. And let me know if any of you are playing Black Desert. I'm still hanging out in Valia mastering my animal training skills... let me know if you play and what you think I need to go and see out in the big wide world if you do? 😊

My First Panel!

Its been a heck of a week. My headaches happen when the temperature/pressure can't decide where it wants to sit. That means that in summer and winter, I may have a bad migraine or a bad day, but in the other two seasons, I'll get weeks when I have headaches every day and migraines on worse days. This week was one of those. Still, I got my editing finished and will be jumping back into writing again, either tonight or tomorrow.

Despite having one of those weeks, head-wise, I had a great time though. The most interesting bit of news is that this year at WWC, I am going to be on at least one panel, which is awesome. I'm gunning for three, but I haven't heard on the other two yet. Part of the delay is that we're just not sure if it's still happening. But the most exciting news is that I am going to have a workshop all my own that I'll be giving on being an author/artist with aphantasia. The main difference between a workshop and a panel is that a workshop is just me giving the talk. It's going to be my first one so I'm stupidly excited and really hoping it still happens this year.

The only other bit of news I have is really no news. I haven't heard back from my editor yet. I'm not worried and I've been keeping myself busy trying to finish book 4. Don't worry if I don't get book 2 back immediately. As soon as I finish book 4, if two hasn't arrived, I'll be picking up book 3 to start editing it, so I still have tons of work to do.

And that's where I've been all week. Hopefully, I'll be able to report back that my headaches have disappeared with warmer climes next week and book 4 rough draft done, if not book 2 in my hot little hands. Either way, you'll be the first to know!

Woot! I have my first paid job!

This week, I am still waiting for my novel. It isn't late yet, but I can't wait to find it. I have finally started writing on my novel again. I think I finished another 4k and then got a paid editing gig from Fiverr, so now I'm working on that. While I can't talk about the actual job, I can talk about the task of actually doing it.

I think I've mentioned before that I really love doing developmental edits. I have done this three or four times now and I love it every time. One of my favourite things to do is looking at books and trying to think about how to fix them. It frustrates the heck out of my husband because I'll tend to do it while watching movies, too. I remember watching Moana in theatres with him and getting to the part where she hands Maui the Heart so he can return it. Within seconds I was excitedly whispering to my hubby that this clearly couldn't be the end battle of the movie since Moana is the character that needs to change and grow, not Maui. My husband grumbled since he prefers leaving the retrospection to the end if at all possible. Heck, I like figuring out stories so much that I've taken courses specifically on understanding how good stories work.

This doesn't mean that I don't think my editor isn't useful. It is, after all, a truth, rarely acknowledged outside of the writing community, that you are always too close to your own story to judge it correctly. The Rules of Being an Evil Overlord, #5, states "One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that they are able to spot will be corrected before implementation." Like that evil overlord, everyone needs somebody to cough slightly to gain your attention and then tell you kindly but firmly what your problem spots are and why they are causing problems in your draft.

Anyways, that is what I'm doing this week. I'm hoping to finish it before my editor sends me my manuscript because it will kill me to not be able to work on it immediately. I am super excited to do so!

Storytime - "We are smarter than I will ever be"

Okay guys, today we're talking writing, some storytime and how I fix my plots.

Research can be impossible sometimes. Normally for any rough draft, I'll find the information I need by doing a 5-click google search. This is something that was suggested by a Nanowrimo participant at one point. The general idea is as simple as it sounds. When you need to research something, you go to Google and put in your question. The catch is that you're only allowed 5 pages total. If you can't find what you need in those clicks, you put a little question mark on your page, describe what the heck you need to research and that's as good as it gets until you start editing.

Today, I hit a point where my research met my plot though, and I jumped into Google, trusting the 5-click google search to solve it. I needed, specifically, to know how people in the middle ages or Roman era would have tested the purity of water. Unfortunately, a 5-click search told me that they tested the purity of water by using sight, scent, taste, and temperature. However, beyond mentioning those things, they didn't explain it at all. And in my book, the thing they're looking for is tasteless, scentless and clear when dissolved in water.

I'm in a rough draft, which meant that I'd put in the earlier plot point, "test water". Unfortunately, I couldn't leave an entire chapter for editing that says "figure out how to test the water and show them testing it". This had now become a plot point. I needed to know this since it directly affects the plot. Unfortunately, partially because Google is a computer that does not know me and partially because I had a headache that was making it difficult to work (I can be honest) I couldn't find what I needed.

Obviously not a picture of me and my friend, but it works in this context. 

Then, while talking to a friend, it suddenly occurred to me that they might have the answer I needed. They are a chemist, by training and inclination and while I understand the basics of chemistry (that was a science I took in school and did reasonably well in), they naturally understood way more than I did. This all goes back to one of my favourite phrases on writing; "WE are smarter than I will ever be."

Of course, my friend didn't have the information right off the bat. I had to talk him through my problem, tell him why I couldn't use certain easier fixes and other ways to do it. But within about twenty minutes, we'd figured out what I needed and how to solve the mystery of my plot. I love the idea of what's going down, even if I still have to write it to figure out all of the exact ins and outs of how it starts happening.

It may be books away before you get to experience everything I'm working on, of course, but I can already tell that this information is going to make my book way better than what I could have come up with alone. And in the end, you getting the best book you can is the most important part, right?

Chibify Me!

Okay, I'm no longer in a decadent pool of laziness. Which honestly is good. I can only sit around doing nothing all day for a short time before I'm bored. Unless I'm playing Don't Starve. I have lost days to Don't Starve when I was working for the Co-operators and I was on a weeklong vacation. 

The Don't Starve binge itself only lasted a day or so past the last post. I am still being a bit lazy though... I'm only working on about 3 hours a day right now, but I am cleaning and doing everything else, so I'm calling it a good start. 

Most of my office is finished. I have a desk-full of odds and ends to find homes for, some art supplies to get rid of, and a stupidly large amount of card decks to find homes for (I buy them for the pictures and because I like playing solitaire and other card games). Also, I haven't even been able to start on my closet yet. That said, its really coming along. 

I started writing again a few days ago and have finished 3 chapters in Noble's Choice so far. I remember where the plot is going, have reworked things that weren't working well in my original draft and streamlined the plot. Originally one of the characters was supposed to be a very important villain, for example, and now he's just a distracting sub-villain. The story is coming together though, which I love. I want my rough draft finished before the end of March. 

I have also talked to my editor. She is expecting that it will probably take a month to get Lord's Curse back to me, so I'll be spending Camp Nanowrimo (April) making one last round of changes before we can start on the final proofreading edits. 

The other update I have is in my art. I jokingly mentioned that I wanted to draw a Chibi-Me and a Koi playing Don't Starve Together. While I had a picture of a koi, I didn't really have a chibi of me lying around. So I drew this one. 

I'm not 100% happy with it yet. There is something about the shape of the eyes that seems off to me and I want to work on the hair more. That said, I am very pleased with it. Its the level of detail I want and she is adorable AF. I dressed her in my favourite outfit, a pair of yoga pants and a sweatshirt. You can't see it, but she is totally wearing a comfy tank top under the sweater. Also, I had to give her ears and a tail. Because I can. 

What do you think of her? Have any of you ever drawn your own Chibi-Me? 

Tough Week

The hardest thing about editing is the chapters that need to be rewritten. See, the first draft, I don't mind making tons of mistakes because there is only one way to fail at that stage and it is to not write it down in the first place. As I am fond of repeating ad nauseam, "you can edit shit into gold. What you can't do is edit a blank page." 

Editing from that point is easy. I'm literally just taking words that I already like and making them better. And honestly, rewrites at this stage aren't too bad either, since I'm not going for perfect, I'm going for good enough to show to my beta readers. While I'll drag my feet over completely new chapters that need to be added, I understand that a lot of my first draft won't survive to the final draft. 

After I get it back from my beta readers, I read over their responses and see what they think. I pay particular attention to areas that seem under-developed to them, to plots that they poke holes through and whether they like or hate the characters and why. Changes at this point are more difficult. I've been through it twice, once writing and once editing, and I'm at something I like. Still, sometimes as difficult as the changes are, they make the story 10x better. They are the changes that I just can't see on my own because I'm too close to the work. 

The this-isn't-even-my-final-form stage is to send it to the editor. The changes they suggest are the most difficult. I've changed it already, its nearly at its final form and I'll be honest, no matter how much my mind knows that my editor is going to tell me certain parts of it suck, my heart holds out hope that my editor will send me back a letter saying that all they had to do was some grammar and its perfect. As I said, that never happens. Its the most difficult here, I think, because I already have it at something I love. Not that the changes aren't necessary; changes at this stage are absolutely necessary and they're something that I can not see without help. These changes could rock my story to its core, or it could be an abrupt face motivation change to one of my characters. These changes leave me putting it off, dragging my feet and procrastinating hardcore. 

Which is where I am now. 

I love getting action shots of people taking my novel along with them and enjoying it on the beach or at work. It makes my day, every time. If you want to see your picture shared, email it to me at inkedfoxpress@gmail.com and I'll share it across my platforms. 

That said, I can see what my story was lacking before. It was a great book, but it was missing a firm base for the rest of the story to stand on. Now, I am working my way through the manuscript. I have finished rewriting my fourth chapter out of the six. My next three chapters will be relatively quick to work on since I'm not expecting many changes. Then I'll have two more chapters to write. After that, it's a quick run-through, tightening the story more and responding to the changes or questions mentioned by my editor. While I won't be finished in January, obviously since it's

going to be February in a day or two, I am setting a goal of having it back in my editor's hands by the 14th of February. 

Either way, I'll keep you informed. As soon as I've gotten it back from her, you should see a lot of information coming your way. That will be when you can expect release date information and cover reveal! So keep an eye out for that! If I'm lucky, I'll be able to have a release date for you soon! 

Editing and Redraw from 2014

Healthy again, finally! 

At least enough to function. My nose is still stupidly stuffed up and I get really tired after only a small amount of work. But I have enough energy to go to the mailbox and cook dinner and not feel like collapsing. Sit down for two minutes between maybe, but no more than that. 

For full honesty, I will disclose that some of that is my allergies kicking in. I have an allergy to small furry animals. I may have had it as a kid and simply ignored it because I was stupidly healthy in every other way. But I first noticed it when I borrowed an angora sweater my mom had when I was 16 or so and I itched like hell all day. It got worse when I moved out and got fur babies of my own, of course, and then settled as my system became more used to them. One thing that my body simply won't put up with though is having my cats knead my bare flesh... Of course, that is the only place they ever want to knead. I make it easier for them by preferring to wear tank tops and shirts that leave my arms bare. 

At any rate, finally healthy. 

For my edit, I haven't gotten as much done as I had hoped... I've been lazy. But I did finish the chapter 3 rewrite and have edited it in. I've also finished the rough draft of chapter four which I'm in the process of doing now. After that, the editing should be faster for chapter five and then another wait for chapter six which is a new chapter from scratch. I'm finding that new chapters because they have to fit in the spot I'm dropping them perfectly, it's taking more time, to write from scratch and then fill in the extra holes with the information it needs and then going over it a few times for editing to make it as good as the rest. The other chapters are flowing and I'm able to do one or two chapters a day. Fortunately, after this chapter is done, I only have four more complete rewrites. 

So, what else have I been doing? Well, I got obsessed with my redraw from 2014. I finally finished her a few days ago, and I've got to admit, she looks amazing. I've gotten some criticism on her hands... but considering that they are very difficult to draw and I included them regardless, AND they actually look like hands, despite my errors, I'm considering it a win regardless.

The one on the right was done on my tablet of the time, a cheap-y Lenovo with a stylus. While the stylus cost $15-$20 and had some pressure sensitivity, it still wasn't good enough to actually get much detail with. The newer one on the left was done with my Surface and MS Stylus, which has a very good tip and pressure sensitivity that I can actually use. In addition, I've figured out how the body works as a whole. I figured out how to do hair a lot better, although the new hair is definitely something I still need to work on... the location of shine and shadow still isn't perfect The face is more realistic while still being animation. I think you can tell my anime beginnings from this, though I think I have grown out of some of the anime tropes... the eyes aren't anime large anymore, just slightly larger than normal. I had no shading on the old one, partially because I had no idea how to add shadow and highlights. I've picked up some of that now, though I still lean heavily on my references, which is something I would like to keep working on. 

I'll be honest though, a lot of that is just nitpicky. I really do love the way this turned out. I need to speed up a bit on my digital work though... this picture took me twelve to fifteen hours to finish still. I was going for an adequate "here is my current skill level" but I would like to figure out how to draw a bit faster... fortunately, that will come with just sketching and using it for more art, which is something that I will be doing. 

If you're interested, let me know if you want me to make copies of it available or even just the lineart, in case you want to play with coloring it in yourself. 

And I think that's where I'll end it today. It is definitely time for me to get editing if I want to finish those two chapters tonight. 

Bleh... Its that time of year again...

Sorry guys. I was hoping to have this out early for you guys with a full report of doings done and how much of my novel I finished. Instead, I came down sick on Sunday and its been kicking my ass since then. Writing after Sunday was impossible and even doing art was tough. Don't worry too much about me though. I've been taking care of myself and, despite still being tired, most of my symptoms are nearly gone now. I'll probably be back to writing today or tomorrow and adding in daily time for art after that.

All of this doesn't mean I was entirely unproductive, though. I edited the first two chapters before I got sick and got a little over 500 words done on a rough draft of a new chapter before the flu knocked me out. I'm loving where the story is going and I can't wait to work on it again.

Here's the art I've been working on!

 This is a sketch I started working on. As you can see, I haven't gone much further into it yet. I've seen a lot of people doing "my art from 10 years ago". Unfortunately, I couldn't find a picture of mine from 10 years ago, so I grabbed the one in the corner. It was my first digital art picture from 6 years ago. It was terrible and at the time, the tools I had were very substandard. Trying to use them was more frustrating than anything else and that was the best I could manage. This new picture is still just a sketch, but its already surpassing the old art. Heck I haven't even added in fingers to the hands yet, making her look like a lobster hybrid, though I suppose at least I have marked out where the hands will go eventually, so that's one major improvement. I'll post an updated picture once I finish working on it. but this is where I am so far. As you can tell, I tend to start with a very sketchy body, then add in the face and neck and start figuring out where the body actually goes. I tend to work from the head down, which is why she has a fully detailed necklace, but her hands are claws and her dress is nothing more than a few folds.

These two paintings are paint pours I was working on yesterday. I'm less fond of the way the black/silver one turned out. Not that it turned out badly, its just less to my style. I like the one above much more, though I should say that, once again, that silver just overtook the other colours. Still, I love the way the green turned out. I'll be trying both colour sets again, sometime soon.

This is one I did just this morning and it's still too wet to tell exactly what it will look like when its set. The colours are slightly messed up in this picture... on canvas, it looks mostly black with just a slight touch of subtle shading and shine, which I love. This one was a complete mess to work with though. I'm trying a new binder and my first test with it was that it was way too thin. After this dries, I'll try it again, with more paint, no water, and just the extender. Still, I really like the way it looks, so I don't consider it a failure.

What do you think of my work this week? Which one is your favourite?

Editing Update

Bleh! That first week after the holidays is always difficult, no matter whether you work at a regular office or you work at home. It's so hard to get back into it, to sit down and stare at your keyboard for hours on end. Fortunately, my editor had gotten back to me so I had things to work on. 

The outlook was really good. Overall, she liked the story and mentioned especially that the second half kept her very entertained. The first half, unfortunately, had more problems. Nothing unfixable, of course. The main problem was that I hadn't put in real stakes to any of the problems that the characters were having which was making the reading dry and difficult to get through. She also pointed out that I might want to move the chapters and do a few rewrites to get the motivations to come across more. 

Here was part of my editing. As I mentioned, she suggested more than a bit of moving stuff around, so here was what I ended up with to storyboard the first half of the book.

This may seem like a lot, but this is exactly what a good editor is supposed to do. They look over your work, tell you when you've missed something obvious and how to make your work so much better. I've found that while I love my work, even my earlier version, I think that the new changes will make the story so much better and I can't wait to get it finished for all of you. 

Even better is that there is no "but" included here. Even with the complete overhaul of the first half of Lord's Curse, I'm not expecting any delays. As always, I'll keep you updated on where I am and how soon I can get the story out to you. This story is my priority for the first quarter of 2020 and I am glad that the outlook is so positive! 

This is one of the pictures I was working on this December. My Mom loved it. I didn't expect the black to take over the picture so much, but I really did like the way it turned out. It almost looks like galaxies forming in the upper left and lower right corners. 

Anyways, that's what I've been up to! I hope your first week back at work has been a bit easier for you! I'll end this off by wishing that your home will always be too small to hold all your family and friends. 

So Close

I can practically taste the victory already. 50,000 words are just ahead of me.

I'm currently on track with 46,694 words. Depending on how early I finish writing this, I may have time to get in more before midnight. Which does mean that I'll be keeping this short.

The story is going swimmingly. I just got into the middle. All of the villains have been introduced and all of the major incidents have been shown. All of my characters have been having their chance to stand in the sun, and I've even introduced a new viewpoint pov character. I discussed the plot over with my husband and I am brimming with ideas to bring all bits of the story together at the end. I'm expecting the rough draft to sit at 75k-80k when done and 50k of that should be finished by the first.

I'd like to have it finished before I start editing Lord's Curse, but I'll have to see when that gets back to me. I have a deadline as soon as the story is back in my hands so that deadline will be the priority though. I'd rather get the second book ready to send to you than make sure that book 4 is roughly finished. I should be ordering the cover soon, I'm expecting sometime in the next few weeks so hopefully, I'll have a reveal coming out to you sometime in January or February.

And that is all that I think I got for you this time around. Until next week, keep reading!

Lord's Curse is Out of my Hands & a new Stylus is in!

First, I am sorry that this post is coming your way late. I was so eager to begin writing last night that I worked straight until midnight and then started writing. I only realized that it was Friday morning when I crawled into bed. On the other hand, I actually have updates for you! 

On Monday, I finally finished my draft of Lord's Curse. I sent it that morning to my editor, but I don't have an expected date back from her yet. As soon as I know more there you'll get an update as well. Either way, as soon as I have it back I will be working on it. At that point, Nano will become me working on Nanowrimo during the day and the edit of that book during my evenings. 

Still, I am amazingly excited to have finished it finally. 

The other bit of amazingness for me is that my husband picked up the stylus that I have been wanting for a year. Why is this cool, I can practically hear you asking. Styluses are a dime a dozen, essentially. And in most cases, you're entirely right. But this is the Windows Stylus, specifically geared towards use with their Surface Pro systems. Which is what I have. The stylus essentially makes it so that your Surface Pro can be used as a drawing tablet, with all the layers of sensitivity, pen tilt and functionality built right into most programs, you can now use your pen to, as they put it on their site, 'Think with Ink'. For me, it turns my Surface Pro5, which I've been using for my mobile needs into an actual drawing tablet for me. The last time I tried to draw on a tablet like this, it was with less than optimal tools and I got a much less than optimal result. 

This picture was my first attempt with subpar tools.
While it wasn't horrible, it was also very bad.
There was a lot that I couldn't figure out how to do,
and in the end I gave up entirely on shading since
everything was wrong with it and I just wanted to try
it again from the beginning.

This was my second with the subpar tools. And while it was a marked improvement, it still wasn't quite what I would have been able to accomplish on paper with more traditional tools.
Actually, I have an urge to redraw it using my new tools as an example of improvement to myself. Perhaps I'll add that to my list of tasks in December. 

I could have made it work obviously, but it wasn't anything like working on paper and I found it irritating. However, working with the new pen and the Concepts app, I have not only really enjoyed the results, but I have also enjoyed the process of making them. Also, I've never really liked the way most programs deal with their colours, and so to have the colours in it listed and matching the Copic colours, which I already use is great. It makes it easy for me to choose colours and decide exactly what I need to add. 

This was my first drawing attempt with the new stylus. Trying to figure out blending was killing me, but I loved the feel of drawing with it. Also, I clearly need to work on drawing hair more often. Those buns are hilariously bad. Still, as a first digital try, I really loved the potential.

This was my second drawing. While I still can't say that the bun is any better, I do like the shading in the hair and on the face and skin. I really found myself reaching for tools not available with the free program while playing with this; specifically the lasso and copy/move tools. Its why I'll be picking up the full copy when I have a job again.

And I think that will be it for this week. Let me know what you think of the drawings. Also, are you taking part in Nanowrimo? What is your word count so far? I've had a slow start. Day 1 gave me a migraine that wouldn't quit, which led to me only getting 1055 words for my first day. 

Doing the Work

Sometimes all of the well-intentioned planning in the world can't fix a novel. That is what I'm going through with the sequel to Hunter's Gambit. Before I go any further in, I want all of you to know that I'm not saying Lord's Curse is unfixable; in fact, I think I've already got a new plan for it that will make it way better. But that doesn't stop that in all of my original writing, my first edit through and then all of the plotting and planning for this edit didn't work out. And this time I got to the end part and was annoyed that I couldn't think of how to fix the problem I was seeing. I worked on just adding a single chapter, but it felt tacked on, like a badly added box in the game Forts. 

Screencap from the game Forts. Copyright belongs to Forts... I just enjoy the game.

Finally, I had to admit that simply tacking on a chapter wasn't the answer. Instead, I looked at it and decided to take the more difficult route. The entire end needed to be changed and then a new 6,000 to 8,000 words added, with 6k being removed and perhaps moved to the beginning of book 3 instead. 

I've already gotten started on the work and I've got over 1k of the rough draft part of this new 6k already finished, so it won't take me a horribly long time to finish it. The nice part is that even if this is the path that took the most work, I am 100% sure that it is the correct route to take and that makes the writing come easier, if not easily. 

Updates!

This week I have a few small announcements to make, so you're getting a half post, rather than a full one.

The first bit of awesome news is that I am only 100 pages away from having the sequel to Hunter's Gambit, tentatively titled Lord's Curse edited, and while this week has been a setback to editing (darn summer colds), I should have no problem finishing this draft before the end of Camp Nanowrimo in July. From there, I'll need to find an editor and take it through another edit. Unless something odd happens, I am still expecting to have that novel coming out late this year.

The next bit of awesome is that I have another signing set up! On July 6th, I will be at Owl's Nest Books (815A 49th Ave SW, Calgary, AB) from 11am to 2pm! I am super excited to have another signing. The table may even be bigger this time, which will be super exciting. I will let all of you know how that one goes, and of course, I'll have pictures!

For my third update, I am plugging a new book that I finished reading a couple of weeks ago and loved. The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Jones is a book about a woman trying to discover her father's secrets and another woman who is that secret. Based on the true stories of Japanese brides left in Japan after the war, this story left me in tears. The writing is beautiful, the story is compelling and it highlights a little known time in history, one that both countries would prefer to forget. If you haven't already picked this one up, it would make a great addition to your summer/winter reading list.

My last fun bit of news is that I have been doing sketches nearly every day for the last little while. If you'd like to join me, tag me on Instagram and post your own sketches or just enjoy other's people art. If you don't follow there, here are my latest pictures!

These are some pre-sketches where I planned out what I wanted to do for a full artwork for the video game Journey. I haven't gotten started on it yet, but I think it will look gorgeous when its done.

Some days, I get stuck on an image. In this case, the demonic, dead eyes of an Oddish from Gen 1 pokemon was my inspiration.

This fairy turned out wonderfully, except for her hands. She was supposed to be just leaning on a table on her wrists. something about it just didn't work. I may have to revisit the character one day. 

Kitten! Nothing else needs to be said.

This one turned out surprisingly well. The only thing that could have gone better is the outlining. I kind of preferred the sketchy look it had before I outlined it.

A few errors but I like the way she turned out. I may have o revisit the character in a less stiff position later. Also, I can't decide if she's a nobleman's daughter, or simply the daughter of a commoner with a rich suitor. What do you think?

Jessica Jones. Her neck is way too long, her leg is way too thin, and the liner pen didn't work with the Copics and reactivated in multiple places... despite that, I kind of like it. 

I saw a hoodie dress and wanted to draw a character in a similar outfit. I quite like the way it turned out.

I'll was drawing with one of my Youtubers. The prompts were aardvark, lemur, pink, grey and unicorn. Mine turned out way more lemur than aardvark, but I like it. I'm hoping to paint it later. If I do, I'll update it here. 

That All-Important Detail...

As I work through editing my next book, tentatively titled Lord's Curse, I have found myself returning to my world building. Not to change it, but just to immerse myself in the stupidly large amount of information I have about this world that you guys will only see in tiny bits and pieces. One of those items is the religions of my world. 

Photo by JuniperPhoton on Unsplash. Picture of an Inari Shrine. 

I currently have four fully fleshed out religions for the world, one mostly worshiped by the Dreven like Deckard, one mostly worshipped by the Sian Ku characters like Himiko and Isashi, one worshiped by the Corvidae like Tieni and one worshipped in the land Richard came from. Richard's religion is actually unique in my world, at least so far, in that it is no longer worshipped just by the core people who created it. Due to the metropolis nature of Jiza, most religions are known and worshipped there, but the most popular by a landslide with all people who live in the country is that of the Courtesan. 

I have an excel document, four or five pages long, where I list important information, like the deities in each religion, the avatars, saints and holy people, how each thinks the world was created, whether there is a prophesied end, holy colours, how the church is treated, marriage and other life changes handled, clergy organization and even a few rituals and holy days as well as how general worship is done. 

I didn't need to go this far into the religions, but I have always been interested by real world religions, and its a place where I find that so many books fall short. So many authors have one religion world-wide and you can usually tell reasonably easily exactly which religion they chose to emulate. That always seemed limited to me, and so when I chose to write my novels, I naturally put my work into making that area fully fleshed out. While I don't discuss it too much in my first book, it tends to come up a bit in book two and I go much deeper into it in the third book. 

I'm sure that the authors who don't focus on religion probably focus on the things they enjoy reading about in their books. Things like how the military is run, how governments are run, magic systems, the biology of their world... heck, even the technology in their worlds. My thing is just religions and the mythology of the world.

What do you find the most interesting details that your favourite authors insert into their books? Also, would you like me to talk in detail about all four of the current religions of my world, specifically on my blog? If its something that you would find interesting, let me know! 

Also, just a reminder, if you're in Calgary, I am going to be signing books at the Sunridge Chapters Indigo on June 9th from noon to 3pm. If you're available, come by and see me, pick up a book, and/or get yours signed! I'll hope to see you there!