Work It, Girl!

Who doesn't love words of encouragement?

So today, I worked on my male doll's bodysuit. Took a couple of tries to take it in about where I want it, but the belt ought to solve his little ghetto booty issues, where it sticks out a bit between the shoulder blades and booty at the small of the back. I've got the zipper on and started the sleeves, but I'll finish those up tomorrow. I sit like a mountain troll when I'm hand sewing so my back could use a break. After I've got the sleeves on and he's all fitted, I'll glue some nifty appliqués to the upper thigh and put his boots on. Then it will be a matter of doing the armor pieces and embellishments to get the outfit finished up. Easier said than done. It'll take some time. 

Aside from that, I did some writing today, but I'm still a couple of scenes shy of finishing Part II, if only because they are large definitive scenes. A lot to tie up before I clear the way for the plots of Part III.

I haven't yet worked on the cover art this week, but I'm hoping to get to that tomorrow and Friday, if not through the weekend. My dad's birthday is coming up so I have a few surprises for him coming in the mail, so I'll be on edge, waiting for those to arrive, trying to work on things, but likely jumping up every time I hear anything resembling a truck outside.

lol My dad doesn't read my blog, so I can spoil it here: I got him a new barbecue grill with a smoker. My sister also bought some grilling tools and smoker accessories; rubs, different kinds of wood, etc. that will leave him with everything he needs but the meats/veggies. He retires on his birthday too, so we wanted to set him up nicely for this one!

Well, I'm all caught up on my work for today, so I promised my nephews I'd play video games with them. I'll catch you later with more updates and, hopefully, some pics of the finished bodysuit.

See ya!

Dolly Days

So I wrote a bit on the Coronavirus, but I also wanted to post a little update on some of my projects.

UnHeard editing is at a go again. The word count is at about 100K and I'm sweeping through to look for factual and grammatical errors before I continue writing. There is still much original writing and plotting to be done, but I wanted to get my ducks in order before I went ahead with it. There are a few parts nagging me to rearrange and rewrite before proceeding.

Dolls! Dolls, dolls, dolls. I rearranged myself because not one, but two dolls are going to be getting here in the next month. The Hyperon sculpt that will become Maxim from UnHeard, for one, but I also found the perfect sculpt (which I sadly don't know the name for) for his stubborn counterpart, Princess Endramena ir Hyaren. Although I had been debating getting the Iplehouse Aria sculpt for her, I stumbled on her in a wider search and she more resembled my drawings. Although I do think Aria needs to be in my collection someday, I haven't yet found a project for her, so that will wait. It's most important for me to work on the projects that align with the materials I already have. My craft bins are quite full to near overflowing, so I'm working on making rooms and completion rather than collection of more materials!

My dolls do all have faceups now. The Hyperon sculpt will come with one, but I ordered Mena's sculpt without one, really wanting to do a resin face-up for a change and the different challenges that come with it. I'll get to break out my airbrush and sealant I bought for that purpose as well as play with gouache and acrylics for her eyes and lips. I've done most of my previous faceups with watercolor pencils and chalk pastels (which will still be used for blushing and lashes), so paints are both bane and curiosity.

Now, I don't expect mine to look exactly like the wonderful pictures, but I'll share Maxim and Mena's sculpts here:

Maxim

Endramena

So Maxim will actually have dark hair and lighter eyes and I've gotten the tan skin option for both of them, since they come from an island nation (doesn't make much sense to be pale there). His look will feature a lot of black and gold, leather and embroidery and armor. The sculpt here is a bit softer a look than I'm going for. Maxim is a bit of a hardened character.

As for Mena/Endramena, her very turquoise eyes will be the change since the tan skin option is shown here. I may do her lips in more of a red color, but I do like the coral/peach look here too. Again, she'll have dark hair like Maxim and she's getting an impressively long black wig that will be a blast to style. I see a lot of turquoise and golds for her, though I'm trying to steer clear of the whole Princess Jasmine look... It's probably still going to resemble her anyway.

So, I have plans, but things might turn out vastly different, depending on where my whims take me.

Although Rienna is mostly finished, I removed the teardrop from her belt and replaced it with a shell button that looks more like the source material. I put her wild hair back to try to train the curls not to take over her face. Eventually I'll style the wig or make a new one, but I'm moving on.

Talia, my fire dancer, also mostly done, still needs scarves and a headdress, but I've since bought some large beads and jump-rings that I need to complete those. Ordered by mail so when they get here is integral to when they'll be finished. I have specific plans for how those will be finished.

So, without further ado, I'm hopping back over to editing. Again, be safe with all the crazy going on out there, and I hope you're inspired to do some projects of your own!

NaNoWriMo + Job

The past couple NaNo's, I was lucky enough not to have a steady working gig to conflict. This year? Not so much. Last year, I was only working weekends at King's Island through UpShift, but I do Monday, Tuesday and sometimes cover the rest of the week in my current job situation, so it will present a new challenge to my energy levels and patience. I'm really hoping to get on a stimulant after my November 12th appointment to maybe help with focus and energy levels, but the first part of the month may be iffy.

Like most veteran NaNoWri's, I've been at least gathering my pages of notes and preparing to make the start as smooth as possible, but it's a very rough draft I'm playing with and I almost wish there wasn't a draft that I'd pushed out so hastily and aimlessly to begin with. But no writing challenge is impossible for me and it's a story in my hands, not anyone else's, so I do have the power to get it where it needs to be.

In any case, I have a screenplay to dissect for a friend before I do anymore work, either on my notes or my crochet Ezio project for the nephew Dameon, so off I go! It's just been a while since I updated and there will be more to talk about after my hustles are through. Good luck and send some my way as well!

Things Go Boom

As you can tell from the eloquent title, I'll start with a bit of an update on fireworks. It hasn't been bad around here yet but I'm expecting Wednesday through Sunday night will come with a lot more.

I don't begrudge people the joy of celebration or fireworks. I've never been a big fan of haunted houses or fireworks because I can't seem to avoid panic attacks with the combination of flashing lights and loud noises. I've been that way since I was a kid, no matter how much my parents tried to acclimate me. I've been to haunted houses and fireworks shows with friends, and earplugs help. They don't completely drown out sounds; I have very sensitive ears so it just muffles things enough to calm me. What I can't stand still are those damn mortar shells that are all noise. Although there hasn't been any of that yet, I often have to stay sitting or lying down, because my legs will give out when noise is too loud. It's not something I can control. Let's face it though; the more amateurs drink, the worse the danger too. Even though it's illegal in Ohio, occasionally people take the risk and set them off in my neighborhood. This time of year, it's hot as hell, but I have to shut off my AC and cover the vents or I'm choking on straight sulfur all night.

By all means, I'm all for people going to professional shows or, hell, even going out to some rural area and setting them off. I don't at all like it close to home though. It's a fire hazard, makes the air unbreathable and it's dangerous. Plenty of war veterans and autistic children also would like the choice not to go into panic for your fun. In this area alone, we have Red, White and Blue Ash, the Mt.  Healthy fireworks show and Arlington Cemetary does a show too. The last two are both visible from my house, at that. Both are done by hired professionals and not close enough to be problematic.

Again, not out to ruin anyone's fun, but it's not fun for everyone and I hope people can come to respect that more over time. 

I didn't actually want to say too much on the topic; mostly wanted to run a little update.

Did some house cleaning today and went through some of my mom's things. It doesn't really get that much easier. Years have passed since she died, but there's a numbness that still causes a lump in my throat, an eagerness to laugh and the threat of tears. But I found some crafty stuff and some old dolls I'd like to refurbish. I'm still struggling to write or draw in anything but short bursts, so I'm poking at crafting. I got some more practice doll heads in the mail and Erin, my sister, gave me some acrylics I can use for painting the faces. I still haven't gotten the supplies I need to do the wig caps, but I don't need to do wigs prior to painting.

Painting is not my strong suit. I'm not the sort of artist that likes the feel or mess of paint. This is also fine work and my hands do tend to tremble, so I'll have to use light quick strokes and likely need to start over quite a bit before I get the hang of it. New crafts can be like that so no biggie. I rarely ever end up making a disaster of it.

Obviously, the chance of fireworks kind of halts any sort of finer work in the evenings, but it's a few days where I just have to find something else to do. 

I absolutely do dream of having some secluded craft shack to retreat to in the future, but right now, I've been spending nearly every penny I make on establishing myself as an author/illustrator/crafter so there's no budget for saving up for some acreage and a quaint little mini house just yet. The idea of scaling up crafting to renovate a house is pretty exciting too though. Something to work for...

It Was a Cold and Rainy Morning...

Despite my resolve to never start a story with such a cliché, in reality, days don't escape the mundane quite so neatly. We all got up and donned our shirts for the Spirit Walk for the boys' school. My sister had to work, but she still wore her shirt to work. After dropping the boys off, I came home and got ready then headed back up there.

The rain came and went... And came and went again over the course of the walk. I let Dameon go off on his own as usual, but Marcus hung back with me and we talked about video games and having to pee. My bladder started feeling heavy into the end of the first lap, but Marcus felt it into the third and we constantly debated ducking into a restaurant or running home for the bathroom. Luckily, sweating made the urge less urgent and we finished the walk. Being cold and still bladder-heavy, I kissed the boys and told them I'd be back to pick them up later. The kids were eating popcorn and drinking slushies, but I was hyper-focused on hitting a bathroom.

Took me a while to thaw out once I got back, but hot coffee and scrambled eggs helped. After making a beeline for the toilet, of course. Still have to walk again, but I'm enjoying some relaxation time.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to give the new tablet a whirl. The effort it would take to set it up is minimal but between antihistamines to calm the allergy symptoms and all of the running around this week, I'm just happy to keep diving back into bed before passing out.

I have found some good deals on printing my work onto big tapestries at least. I'd like to work on some new drawings to use for them, although the greyscale one that I use as a cover backdrop on social media might be one of them. I'm always looking into ways to dress up my future ComicCon booth, looking at ways to expand my brand. My workload in the social and temp arena will be lesser, giving me more time to rest and create. Once the boys are out of school for the summer, that is especially true.

Hoping to pick up on blog ideas and things to share soon, but rest and health are in order. I'm not unique in the respect that while I do have some downtime creatively, I tend to obsessively binge once I get going. The ideas have been pouring in, along with the piles of scrap paper containing their hasty semi-permanence, so there will be no staring contests with the always-blinking cursor nor the pathetic mini-triumphs of telling the cursor 'you blinked' once I get to it. Just periods of zoning out with passive mental reminders wondering how long it's been since I've eaten or used the bathroom. Liquids only work as a timer if you don't forget they're there when caught up in the moment.

But first, rest. Creative marathons await!

Hump Day News

My busy week is coming along, but I'll be glad when things slow down again. Got the doctor appt, cookie baking, bridal shower stuff done, but a waitressing shift and 5K walk still before I can enjoy the weekend.

My new XP-Pen Artist 12 display came. If you've been following the blog, I reviewed their 21E Pro tablet favorably, only disappointed that the size makes it anything but portable. While the 15" might've sufficed, I decided to try out the smallest (11.5"). The appeal of this was the stylus, just one with this model, doesn't need charged. While the battery life of the two in my big one isn't a problem, it could be a minor annoyance if I forget to plug it in. What I really wanted was something I could easily maneuver while using my laptop in bed, so the weight and size was pickier this time.

Again, I hope to actually try it this weekend and review it then. It's a small screen, but I do like the weight and orientation so far. The real test will be the driver setup, ease of use as planned, and screen quality. Reviews I've read do emphasize that it's a high def screen better than some of their computer screens, but without specifying the year and make of their primary computers, that doesn't tell me much.

I hope to finish up the image that will potentially be on my business card. That will be my next expense and I'm leaning towards a linen texture paper in cream. Still can't decide on rounded or standard corners but I'll play with that. I want to stick to a basic triangle because I'll be passing these out at a future ComicCon and want them to not be accidentally dropped while people juggle their collection of business cards. I hope the design does the work.

So that's where it's at for now. Pushing through this week and settling plans, raring up for a more creative week to come. This social week has been cleansing but exhausting and creative work will be more appreciated for the absence.

A Quickie Update!

Still working on the drafted drawing from the last post, but I'm down to fiddling the hair, shading and color work. 

Busy weekend/week ahead. I celebrate Cinco de Mayo with my friends, an annual get-together I aim to never miss. I bake my grandma's M&M cookies for it so I'll be up early to get that done.

Tuesday, doctor appointment. Absolutely love my new doctor, so I look forward to these. She's really helped point me in the right direction. Wednesday, bridal shower. My niece Melody is marrying a guy she loves on May 24, so I'm happy for her. Also baking cookies for the shower. Thursday, waitressing. Friday, the Spirit Walk for the boys' school.

So Monday might seem empty but after an hour long talk with Joe yesterday, I'm going to organize pictures he can use on the website he's building me and he's on it for a solid marketing plan as well. It's a great exchange going on--in return, I'm going to design some elements for fantasy layout sites and also consult with his friend to do some custom work for that site as well. He is certain my work would really boost interest so I'm also eager to give it a shot.

Once the school year winds down, I'm confident the more relaxed schedule will allow for more focused work. Since I just mentioned those details of what I hope to work on in the last one, I won't belabor that here, just reiterate that I'm eager to get going there as well.

Oh, I did mention ComicCon before, but I'm holding off on this year. I prioritized buying new equipment so I still need to purchase displays, print banners and business cards and bookmarks, whatever else I researched material-wise and rather than try to crunch that in last minute, I'll just gradually continue to gather that together as the money allows. I would also like to focus on the website, marketing, and broadening my body of work a bit more. I might still attend as a guest, since I usually go with my nephew Thomas each year, and it continues to be good research for ideas on when I do set up my own.

Yes, this is my idea of a quick update, but there were a lot of bases to cover and it's still brief, considering.

I'll most likely sneak back over here to throw up the finished image I'm working on. I'd like to use it in some form on both my business cards and my site but that may change. I may just use it on one or the other and make a similarly themed one to use on the other. I usually get a feel for these things once I've played with the finished image a bit.

Let's get through this week for now and see where things land!

Quick Update!

Even though I just published a post, I wanted to try to keep update and topic posts separate. Easier to find back posts if I pay more mind to the sorting!

First off, I finished a draft on a second 'short' story. This one, currently called All-Seeing Eye, falls at about 16K right now. That can change along the way. This is the first of my side stories based on UnNamed, going back to a pivotal point in the mercenary's history and (spoiler-free) after his run-in at the Uther Coliseum. As you may know, UnNamed largely dealt with an antihero that has a memory issue. The characters were described in pronouns and nouns and nicknames of an ambiguous nature, not from his point of view, but with limited narration to keep the reader hindered by his own challenges. The short story does much the same, only directly from his point of view. In this way, you get much more of his voice rather than just a narration inspired by it.

It will be compiled with the first short story I wrote as a sort of prequel to characters of my first series, called Drawn to Perfection, currently at 9K words. This follows Dinsch and Seles, Bryfolk (rabbit human hybrids) that you first encounter in the first trilogy, The Truth about Heroes (also called the Heroes Trilogy). Again, this one is written from their POV, an interesting take on how they view their history and where their impressions were both vastly different yet very much the same.

The third story I'm working on for this anthology, currently called 'Ashes, Ashes', returns to UnNamed's storyline, but explores what had happened if the mercenary didn't make a pivotal change in UnNamed. Because this one actually delves into the Maidens' back stories, I'm planning it as third person omniscient rather than multiple first person POVs. In order to be able to show how it ties to the history, the limited perspective and biases wouldn't work as well.

I believe I'll probably keep this to four stories, but only if the word count exceeds 80K for all four. The fourth is yet to be determined, but I do want to revisit characters from the first series. Yet to decide that. If I throw in a fifth, it could be Gretel's Gift (currently in a multi-author anthology, The Magical Book of Wands, but will be released back to me at the end of October), a standalone short story or I'll come up with a wild card idea. It may be another spin-off of a current series, a unique fantasy tale or even an alternative universe idea I've thought about, involving characters whose lives took a different turn. Anything goes, but I'd like to be able to decide a unifying theme before deciding how they'll be packed and published.

A little longer than I'd hope for when I said this would be 'quick' but I'm excited to do some short stories before I go back to the UnHeard behemoth. I'll probably stick to short stories for the duration of March before I focus up on the epic beast but I did a quick 70K for the draft in November and that was actually conservative. Quick math: if UnHeard were 300K words (UnSung is around 260K) and I have 10 months to write it (leaving a month to prepare it for publishing), that means (easy math there), I would only have to do 1K words a day at worse (this would also leave me with a first draft when I should have several drafts and an edit so let's not do that). The first draft should at LEAST be done in half that time so double it (2K a day). I write about 1K an hour and writing days typically mean no less than 3 hours of writing and often go a full 8. It's possible to do about 10K on a terrific day. I COULD do 300K in a month, technically, but not if I want a coherent, well-planned story, so planning doesn't really make 10K days realistic without thorough planning of all scenes written then. It's far more realistic that I do about 3-5K on most days. Having ample time to edit and draft, at least two solid months being ideal. 

Also, my life is not writing, so even if things do get hectic or I need a break, it's best to be ahead when possible. After drafting, I often walk away from the story completely for a few weeks, if only to make it easier to catch mistakes. This is sometimes not a total break, since it's a good time to write short stories. I do enjoy playing video games, so that's a nice break too.

Ahem, so... short stories for now, warming back up to the big show. I really just wanted to gush about writing because I can't withhold everything until the big finale. Talking about it helps me blurb it later too, so it's always worthwhile. Back to writing I go!

UnSung is Here!

This book, like all books I finish, had a very special goal. I wanted it to be a true epic entry. I'd gotten caught up in the word count for traditional publishing years ago and I always feel like it might have affected, for better or worse, how I approached writing. Instead, I removed those mental restrictions and just set out to bring in a word count that the book needed--I could get carried away, but it would still need a limit if I were to put it in paperback. There's only so much a spine can hold (or that a reader might want to hold). Luckily, with a decent font size, it still came under the 825 page limit by about 100 pages so it's definitely not stretching the next book too thin either.

Ahem, first things first. The universal book link to find the retailers is HERE but feel free to just pop into your favorite store and type in my name (Krista Gossett-- I have no clue how people are arriving here, so I'll not take chances).

UnSung is a part of the UnQuadrilogy, a series that explores the mistakes of the four Gods broadly through the messes that the humans and other creatures have to clean up. The layers come in bite-sized subplots, driven by a cast of characters of all different fantasy races and backgrounds. At least one main character tends to have a disability that also makes them more open to abilities that the 'able' do not. There are typically several plot threads that are character-driven and these tend to establish the 'chapters'. The only format that is consistent is that each book has three parts and an epilogue. The Prologue in UnSung is actually used to shift the view point from Talia's view in the Epilogue of UnNamed to some of Aiden's history and his view of events. This means that, at this point, it's not necessary to have read UnNamed (although you may appreciate knowing some of the characters reappear in UnSung and there are some Easter eggs tied into the story). UnSung does mention some of those events in passing, enough that they make sense on their own. I can't guarantee I'll keep this up for later books, since it gets more difficult (and tedious) in an epic to keep mentioning past events. For UnSung, it was not cheesy or tedious or I might have scrapped it.

In truth, it's not difficult to make at least 90% of each book completely standalone. For one, each one deals with new main characters. This is because their roles end up taking on a more significant one later. I also attempted to make it difficult to discern which of the characters is actually a 'main' character. Someone who plays a significant story-telling role may not be around for the long haul. The way the plots move serve to: 1) develop a character, 2) create an understanding of a subplot, or 3) support the main plot. I don't set out to kill or protect the characters, only to make sure each piece plays a clear role.

For this reason, it feels odd to assign each book a description. I can tell you the leading story-tellers (at least, to a point), the main plot, even some of the more significant subplots. However, knowing the books as I do, I can't really place significance on anything for you. It's a slow-burner fantasy that changes pace. It plays with politics, adventure, deceit, psychology, light and dark humor. I've always been drawn to fantasies with layers--not ones where the romance is the only driving force or constant or death and nihilism is the goal. I like it to be a multi-faceted playground that leads to a definite conclusion, yet still lets the reader keep it open to their imagination.

So-- each book concludes something. Each part concludes something. Each plot finds a conclusion. It's my hope that readers can also connect to at least one character, if not more. My expectations as a writer certainly considered what might appeal to a fan, but ultimately, my focus was on telling a complete story, yet one that I could expand on again and again.

UnNamed is already in the process of receiving more short stories. My nameless mercenary keeps me curious, keeps me wondering how his early life shaped the man he would become. The tricky thing is though that the short story spin-offs are more difficult to classify. Some of my short story spin-offs have verged into erotica, some adventure, and some seem more like investigative mysteries. I wonder if this is a sign of lacking discipline, or... Rather, I am willing to write what the story needs to be rather than restricting it to rigid requirements.

I know I'm roundabout getting to this, but UnSung starts with two scared young people, Aiden and Talia, who flee from the scene of a horrific murder, neither sure if anyone will believe they aren't responsible or that they can withstand the consequences regardless. They journey to the continent of Melikai, each trying to establish their own lives, each bothered by the whispers of a vast trade city turning ghost town. When they realize there is no such thing as a normal life for them, it leads them to extraordinary circumstances and deeper mysteries.

If I can manage to hook you for the long game, it will all become clear. As a fan of Sherlock Holmes and authors like Dean Koontz and James Patterson, I've always been a fan of dropping clues that feed you bread crumbs along the way. My characters, no matter their vocation, all play a bit of an investigative or driving role. I've said before, I don't set out to write paragraphs of self-congratulatory prose--enough to romance you to the elements, but not so much that you lose track of where you're supposed to be. If you WANT to wander in thought, I let that be your prerogative, not the hostage situation I put you in.

Between the drawing and the winter hobbyist stint, I haven't yet gone back to UnHeard. It got a huge draft boost during NaNoWriMo and I'm invading short story territory as well. UnHeard, like my other books, sometimes gets ambitious boosts (I've hit 10K in a single day more than once), sometimes a few modest 2-5K stints, sometimes dry spells because... I do more than write. I've had a few people urge me to pick an area. 

Easier said than done. I love drawing, but that's a challenge on my physical health that writing isn't, namely because I have bad habits in posture and ergonomics that I can't seem to correct without expensive equipment. Comics would be a lot more lucrative to do for me, but I need to take different risks and the planning is trickier. I'll certainly try it, but...

I do resolve to at least finish up the UnQuadrilogy first. So writing will be full-time at least for the next couple years. It won't be going away, at least as long as there are ideas I like better in that medium. However, if comics take off and I can handle the physical demands, it will become the priority.

That's a 'we'll see' situation. Being a modern artist is largely about flexibility, rather than just humping the same tree. We just don't live in a time where we can staunchly master one area, room and board a part of our apprenticeship. Certainly some can, but they are not only extremely lucky, but exceedingly rare. Most of even the most successful artists I know are rarely able to just master one area. Rather, they have to get pretty damn good at a lot of things and hope they actually like the ones that come into demand.

I loved crochet (and still do) but as a business, it sucked all the fun out of it, made it into something I didn't like. I find that writing and art don't poison in their reception, good or bad. It's easier for me to turn people down or accept/ignore criticism. With crafting, I just don't seem to have the same patience. Nevertheless, I treat it with integrity, refusing to sell crafts for peanuts. If I love you, I'll gift my work, but otherwise, don't even bother asking me to make something if you're not up to paying crafter prices. I don't fuck with negotiation or tolerate being devalued in any area. I won't demean the ones who brave the market by undercutting them. You want days of someone's life for a handcrafted piece, pay for it.

Uh-oh, someone is avoiding creativity today... (me...). I started some lifestyle changes today and the morning hours passed by fast. I might draw a bit, but really, I'm still adjusting to things that might require a bit of forgiveness for the break in ambition.

Get Write on It

If you don't know much about Cincinnati, Ohio (where I live), then I'll put you a little up to speed. Over the past few years especially, our temperatures have been setting record highs and lows and erratic weather patterns that mean we no longer experience four separate seasons. We've been seeing more wildlife than we commonly had and this includes the fact that my sister was bitten by a cottonmouth snake, which is almost unheard of here. We have three 'common' venomous snakes in Ohio and that isn't one of them. And no, the house she was in was not the home of an illegal snake enthusiast. Because of the weather fluctuations, animals' migratory patterns and dormancies are out of whack. In fact, the trees almost immediately start belching out pollen at the first sign of warm weather, so it's not limited to the animals.

So that puts me here; abnormal allergies for this time of year and next to no energy. If not for the simplicity of the formatting process, thanks to Scrivener 3 and D2D for REALLY minimizing what I couldn't accomplish with Word and the usual submitting to retailers, I'd really be struggling to get that stuff done.

As is, I've found it rather difficult to get right into... anything. I've been poking at everything, but very little takes. A little crochet, a little writing, a little drawing, but nothing is really pulling me. I feel the ideas fuzzy on the edges of my brain, but the starter is clicking when I turn the key. I feel a wellness week coming on--one where I sleep, practice mindful eating, exercise and tend to allergies and low energy issues. I'd already intended to get to playing more Kingdom Hearts 3, yet I'm still a little disappointed that my creative side isn't a little more engaged. Even if it's down to crochet or making those bead sprite magnets, but no, right now, it's a bit of a vegetative consumption time.

For that reason, I think that the writing will come down to blogs or the short stories I was working on.

I would like to throw up the UBL for UnSung: use this link to purchase/preorder it from your favorite retailer. Or you can look me up by name on any major retailer. If you don't see it on yours, drop me a message and I'll look into it. I try to keep an eye on every channel, but on occasion, especially for my earlier books, there can be holes in what's available where.

Oh, for the record, my sister is doing fine. The finger is actually healing better than expected, but she is still being tested daily for blood infections and any change in the finger. It appears to be draining well and while there is little feeling in it, there is great circulation. So far, no sign that the finger will need to be amputated but it may be another week or so before they know for sure.

It's a good time to remind everyone that, with a snake bite, get to a hospital immediately. Even with non-venomous bites, there are serious risks for infection, including salmonella, and every second is crucial in survival. Don't leave these things up to chance.

Things to Come

This will be short and sweet.

While I plan on using a tutorial someone else already wrote to guide the task, tomorrow I start the Scrivener 3 to print format journey. I'm going to take notes, make note of the adjustments and preferences, and link the page I used with my notes. Following the success of making this PDF, I'll jump over to the ebook portion. I'll post two separate blogs for print and ebook. I still have to peruse KDP and D2D, see what their requirements are before choosing, but I'm fairly sure I'll do wide distribution of the ebook to Smashwords unless D2D makes that easier. I hear a lot of good things about D2D.

Regardless, distribution will still be aimed at all major markets. Amazon seems to like their Direct exclusivity, but I'm not sold on the royalties by page count factor, so I'll continue to leave it open to Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Books, iBooks, etc. I'd rather be more flexible to the readers than throw all of my eggs in one basket. 

Not quite sure where I'll go next, to be perfectly honest. I've been thinking of adjusting cover art, drafting the third book more, going on a drawing spree, and so on, but I'm going to reserve the decision for where my head is when I get there. Formatting often throws in a lot of hoops to jump through, but I'm never the sort to stick to what works. I always want to take advantage of the best options, even if that means starting from scratch for a new learning curve.

Crazy, I know, but sometimes you just want to push the vision. If you always think within the lines of what you know you're capable of, you're rarely stumbling on those precious instances that expand what's possible. The vision is never too precious to be tested.

Weekend Warrior?

I have done nothing since 2019 switched over, though not for lack of wanting to. Previous posts already saying as much, I had a big dental surgery on the first of the year and today was my first day without painkillers. Those that made me extremely drowsy, by the way, so I was semi-functional having cut myself off today. Spent a few days gaming, although I can't rightly remember much about what I played, but that's fine too. I always game in a half-focused state...

Tomorrow isn't looking better for it. I haven't slept well since the surgery and if I end up sleeping a ton tomorrow, I'll be happy. Again, Mondays tend to be my 'let's kick ass' start-up days so why not aim for that to start hitting the keys in earnest?

I'm happy that I'm healing without complications so far. I still have to be wary of dry socket for the next few days, but should be out of the water by mid-week. The clotting looks embedded but I'm not taking chances. 

I guess I'll update again Monday night, see where that day ended up. For now, much needed rest! Also have a birthday present to make this week for my friend Liz's daughter Ana. Crochet is one of those efforts I can usually swing no matter how I feel (barring stomach flu but let's not jynx it).

Aw, Shucks...

My scheduled posts went a little on the dark and heavy confessionals, but NaNo is my month of isolation and I have to admit, UnHeard is becoming a voice for themes in my life that aren't light and pretty. There are moments of humor, moments of lightness and kindness, but like many of the themes in this series, I wanted to be as honest as I could about what these characters might go through, not just due to disability but how the fantasy version presents issues that I do have to create without any context in realism to go by.

It's exciting, as it always is, but it also builds a sense of urgency. No matter how ambitious my word count is this month, I won't even by halfway done with my draft this month. I engineered each of these books to exceed 200K words. Not with fluff or rambling, but with actual plots, structure and development. How do I know? Well, I couldn't have said so prior to writing UnSung, but once I stopped looking at word count and just developed it, I found that the stories I wanted to tell naturally tended towards large word counts. And this coming from a skeletal writer who used to struggle with working off of a frame at all!

Truly, I'm excited to put this one down where it stops and go back to refining UnSung for its final forms. No small task. A single book three times the size as the average book in my first series and I need to make at least two full editing passes before I'll even consider publishing.

I make it sound like I wasn't careful the first time around.  Eeeeee, so not true. I might even say I was way *too* careful in those days. I can recall fully passing through each one upwards of five times, wondering if the deliberate rush in the beginning would hurt it or not. It originally wasn't intended to be a novel after all, so I struggled with the first one the most. The others came more naturally. I was turning my life around, getting healthier and WHAM BAM ZOINK those drafted up so quick that I was skeptical that they could even be coherent. It wasn't until towards the end of the series that I dialed back the obsessive urge to pass through 'editing' that resulted in zero changes... repeatedly.

Nevertheless, I'm planning to take a short break after NaNo and another around Christmas. I'll crunch some more of the everything in between the New Year and the release of Kingdom Hearts 3, aka Soul Steal Month. After that, I plan to enjoy marathoning again, something I haven't done since the letdown that was Final Fantasy XV. Only so crushing because such an otherwise beautiful game with great mechanics was flattened by a limp story. lol I do have a Selective Gamer blog floating around with my handful of reviews that go into this more, so I'll spare the rant here.

So! As we reach the end of NaNo, congratulations to all of the participants and I encourage everyone to try to fit it into your future! I'll post my final word count (and I only count the novel, not the endless blog posting I do) and my graphics in a later post. Post yours in the comments below! In fact, do your victory laps everywhere you get permission! You've earned it!

I'm Telling You-- Nothing Like Flying High!

I joked with a friend last night that if I was really dedicated, I could still make it to 50K by the middle of the month. I really didn't intend to actually sit down for the 10+ hours it would take to do it, but my cold-addled brain was the overworked cheerleader I suspected it might be.

50,309 words down by 11:16 PM. You're damn right I did it.

I'm absolutely chuffed about it, clicking my gods-damned heels and fist-pumping carefully because the sloped ceiling is really not room enough to do it without breaking some knuckles.

Still, I'm thinking about my other writer friends, the ones way ahead of me (yup, there are plenty of those) and the ones way behind. Again with the word count... When I said you can ignore it, it doesn't mean to remove it as a motivational tool. It could convince you to stop, it could convince you to keep going, but it could still be strangling the benefits of developing good habits too.

People burn out. Sometimes this kind of thing might have people so paralyzed that they don't even touch a keyboard until the next NaNo sneaks up and sends them into a state of cold panic. Okay, that may or may not be accurate, but writers come in all kinds.

I'm sticking by the assertion that passion needs discipline. With the good days come the bad. They don't balance out and sometimes there's so many of one that the other seems to have abandoned you completely.

I think my momentum does largely come from the setback. Not so much because I wanted to catch that midway ambition as much as I just COULDN'T write for days and I wanted it so, so badly. It wasn't a mental hurdle. I could even stab the right keys when I was poking for them while lying down with a tablet. Voice dictation probably wouldn't even register my voice as human if I tried. All throughout it, I daydreamed (because sleep was not happening much). I passed out and didn't dream and my mind craved the loss by giving me technicolor thoughts.

Yet I wasn't terrified they'd slip through my fingers. I don't regret the things that slip by. What ends up in my stories is what is meant to be there. If it's meant to come back, it will sprout up elsewhere. I'm so full of these damn things and I don't squander any time lamenting what I haven't done, won't be able to do or am not doing. 

I'm doing. Are you doing? Then get to it. Again or for the first time. Float ya boat.

Are You Ready?

Halloween tends to be a busy pre-NaNo day in my household, so I'm throwing this post out (and scheduling a couple to throw out the first week) to get revved up for what's ahead.

(Quick update: I've gotten three of the UnQuadrilogy covers done, but considering the third and fourth books have yet to be written, I'm a-okay with not finishing them pre-Nano. It was a busy week with new kittens and my bear-like instinct to hibernate in cold weather.)

First off, from what I've learned, it's REALLY tough for writers with a full-time job to adhere to the 1,667 word daily average needed to get your 50K by the end of the month. Even if you do manage to flow with a 1K per hour output speed, you're still looking at about 2 hours of time dedicated to it. An already hectic lifestyle would make this next to impossible to squeeze in during the work week and, supposing you have two solid days off, the idea of shoving 14K words, or at least 14 hours of writing in two days (that's full time writing!) just doesn't fly. I've seen that some people will squeeze in an hour or even specifically schedule it as a word sprint, just so they knock off at least 5 hours-- still leaves about 9 hours to be fit into two days...

So yes, the full 50K is a pipe dream for people with that kind of lifestyle. I'd still encourage people to participate as they can, or set a NaNo-lite goal. 25K is still huge and I can tell you now, it's not really about how much you do. It can be a great learning experience and a way to boost your camaraderie with other writers. Over the course of the month, authors will put encouraging messages in your inbox that might offer encouragement or habits that can help you.

Busy lives can come from those who don't work outside the home too. Among the participants, you'll find the parents of young children who struggle for time to focus. 

 

Not many of my Buddies reported as Winners, but it really didn't dull their accomplishments one bit. It's not a strictly monitored event and what you report or how you report it is up to you. You can drop your text in to have the word count tallied up or you can just manually type it in. Some people will fudge it to get the Winner discounts-- no shame in that. The Scrivener discount alone is worth it. I do think the system should go ahead and allow those discounts for anyone who put in the earnest effort. 

As for habits, most people suggest a sort of ritualistic entry into each session. Make coffee/tea, light exercise, music (too distracting for me, but works for some), blog/free-write-- it's like a romance so bubble baths, scented candles and chocolate are fair game too. Habits are harder to come by if you're busy, but you might successfully squeeze in a pep talk while walking to your car after work, grabbing your favorite take-out, or keeping a voice recorder (bonus if it has a dictation feature) to multitask the mentality you need to motivate yourself to use your time the best way possible.

Any type of big goal is going to be a sacrifice so 50K may not even be a priority. In fact, word count goals can be intimidating. Maybe you're just not fast at typing or you're lucky you can squeeze out 200 words, let alone 2K. I still think it's worth it to sign up and check in, see what's involved and how you can prepare for next year. Go ahead and throw your word counts in it to see if it's more doable than you thought.

Best of luck to all participants! Go ahead and add me as your buddy (I'm AbsentGoddess) and I'll add you back. It's a very secure system so don't worry about people harassing you. It's just as easy to block people as it is anywhere else. I've never had anyone even remotely do so. Above all, enjoy this time! Any goals that put you on course for what you want in life are worthwhile. Never set it in measure to someone else.

Uwaaaah, Already?

Two weeks of scheduled posts... That's right-- I did them all at the end of September/beginning of October and here we are already, all caught up!

Even better, since I'm scheduling this only a day ahead, I can also boast passing the 230K mark on my draft. Pretending to be slightly-in-the-future me, I'll have closed up at least two major scenes and be easing into the finale.

And this was supposed to be a lazy weekend...

Like I said, this weather is my favorite kind and the sooner I get the writing done, the sooner I can focus on what I want to accomplish in painting and drawing. It's actually relaxing. I'm not hunkering down with a kegger of coffee on an 8-12 hour writing blast. No, this is a couple hours here and there, wander into napping or gaming then flopping back into writing. For these scenes, it's even effective. These are done in graphic bursts of information, closing one story while letting the reader peek for a moment into the story ahead.

Once the draft is done, I'll switch to the visual with the cover art I've been daydreaming about. It does often pay to tease the wistfulness of a future project so that when I get there, it's an explosion of all the ideas I sat on. I realize some people spook themselves out of confidence but my ego is usually far smaller than my excitement to see what comes of the idea. It's never enough to have ideas. It's like saying you want to bake a cake, gathering all the ingredients but deciding you'll never be a cake boss so you smash the raw eggs in your mouth. It's true-- my cakes are anything but art, but they always taste amazing. 

Let's take a moment to abandon analogies and appreciate cake... 

One of those Update Posts...

Occasionally, I like to jump in and 'double post' (essentially just posting a real-time post on a day where a scheduled post went through as well).

I do have quite a few posts coming up that I had a lot of fun with; I use color combinations to explain some of my characters, using the post topics in a way that is related to my first series with some of them. Hopefully, it shows off my voice a bit. It can be tough, since my fantasy voice isn't quite the same as my first-person blogging voice, but I'm always looking for ways to bring them together.

Premature picture, but my excitement beat me to it...

Today, I conquered one of those exciting milestone moments. My epic fantasy WIP/draft has passed the 200K word mark! There is still quite a ways to go to finish up UnSung (which is going to easily be the size of 3 regular full-length books), but I'm creeping towards the finish line. I'm bouncing between the epilogue and the third part. Since my epilogue leads me into the book I want to work on for NaNoWriMo, I'm trying to keep it fresh throughout the month while I plan to hit the ground running.

Although I was aiming for UnSung to come out this year, I can't promise that now. Namely because I really want to make sure I edit it to the best of my abilities rather than just throwing it out there. I know I have the ability to write and edit well, but since this one is so big, I really want to make sure the facts are locked down and the transitions are smooth as butter.

A lot had changed from the original plans in the book itself even. This tends to happen as a writer really crawls into the cracks and gets to know the world they're creating from top to bottom. 

Anyways, now that I completely my weekly writing goal by breaking the 200K mark, I'm due for some much needed sleep. Thank you for sharing this little moment with me. I'm aiming for at least another 40K to finish, but there are quite a few plots I'm still working on, so that may be surpassed.

Either way, I still plan on publishing this in the 5x8 size. In order to try to keep the cost down though, I'm going to work to make the font as small as possible without causing anyone eyestrain to read it. I've already reduced font size from my first books by 2 pts, but I can probably get away with reducing it by 4 more points in the print format. I'll probably still keep line spacing at 1.2 since that does help visibility regardless of font size. I'll experiment with it a bit. This really only applies to my print lovers, since the ebook version is always fully flexible with user settings.

What are your own writing goals these days? For the NaNo people, are you working to tie up current projects to start fresh or are you continuing something you're working on now?

Nope. Also, Nope.

I realize because of my last two topics, I probably seem like I need the number to a help hotline. I can assure you that, though inspired by dark moods, hormonal surges and the side effects of a diet my body is not happy about, those were simply topics I wanted to get serious about. I'm just someone who bounces between dark and humorous on a whim. Many times, they are even written on the same day and scheduled to look like I didn't write four posts in one day.

I could very well go into the fascinating topic of the biology and proclivities of men and women. Then again, I'm determined to drown out the extremes, negate the call for sterilization of gender, and mend fences.

Oh gawd, adorable tiny fences!

 Clotheslines, too? You can't be mad when it's miniature! (Although, I'm thinking men might immediately object to that.)

But let's not. I didn't exactly say I was DONE being jungle Jane (doesn't have the same zing as Tarzan) but I'm still swinging and not looking to blog under the influence.

For no reason.

Still saving for a charger and stuff. Still making do. Oh, I did paint a less creepy face on one of my dolls.

Annnnd, looking at the date, I better get off of here to start making birthday gifts for my nephews and my friend's little girl in early September. 

Hint: I can't knit. (It's going to be made out of beads.)