Wherein The Native Dutchwoman Ponders Complicated Choices

World-building is one of the skills I've always admired in writers who can handle it well. Ranging from creating entirely new worlds to bringing an existing environment to life and anything in-between - if it becomes a real, fleshed out setting that's a character all its own, you'll really, really have to mess up with the rest of your book if you want to lose me as a reader. It's made me hang in there with books like Children of Men, which started slow, but has so many details about the world and people's reaction to it that I stayed entertained despite it; it's why I was completely appalled to hear that people have read Watchmen without reading the supplemented materials. (See? You even made the Watchmen Crimebusters all emo.)

No matter how much I love it as a reader, it's one of those things I can only sigh wistfully at, knowing I likely won't be able to achieve it as a writer.

Which just makes me want to give it a whirl, and make world-building a priority in my next book.

I pondered current and upcoming projects of mine. The post-apocalyptic sci-fi, I thought, would definitely need a lot of world-building, but that's a book I won't be ready to write until at least a year or two from now. Next, it occurred to me I could make LA a much more relevant part of the cosy mystery I'll be tackling this year, but was somewhat unsure; I have, after all, never actually been to LA.

Unless the plot demands otherwise, my contemporary fantasies are automatically set in the USA to increase the appeal to the US market. Why shoot yourself in the foot if you don't have to, right? The only problem with that is that I've been to the US a grand total of twice, and despite my complete immersion into American pop culture, still do silly things like have my characters pick up mineral water from a gas station or mention them passing job centres. (I'm still wrapping my head around their non-existence in the US.)

Of course, I could always research like hell, visit again - which I intend to - or ask friends of mine for details, as I'm doing with the Wielders scenes set in Chicago. Still, brief visits or second-hand info are sketchy to rely on, and I'm not sure it'd give my book the same immersive feel as Bon Temps in True Blood (forgive me, I haven't read the books) or Miami in the Dexter series (which I have read, but remains very intertwined with the TV series for me).

So what kind of setting could I use? Something unique to the fantasy genre, that I still know enough about to write authentically?


Oh, right. I've lived in this quaint little town called Amsterdam since the second I was born.

And last year, I wrote this funny little book called Always Read the Fae Print which just so happens to be set in Amsterdam.

Honestly, how do I even remember to breathe and feed myself?

All of this is doubles as an elaborate intro to the photos I took on a boat trip last Sunday. I never quite realised just how very Dutch The Netherlands can be at times. Sometimes, I really do love my country.

... even if this last picture quite aptly illustrates why we're all going to drown within the next 100 years.

Flashbacks To Ye Olde Notepad

While I wouldn't qualify myself as a senior Internet citizen, I'm fairly sure I count as middle-aged, if nothing else. I've been around since the mid-to-late nineties, and have been tinkering with my own websites for much of that time. I've never been particularly good, but I love playing with the code and putting on my problem-solving hat - and as anyone who's ever hand-coded as much as a blog entry knows, problems abound when you're doing code.

Yes, hand-coding. I started back in the olden days with Netscape Composer, soon switched to Notepad, and these days, I've made the tentative step to Taco HTML Edit. It's like Notepad, but the text is now coloured. I can live with that kind of upgrade. While I got Adobe Dreamweaver a couple of years ago - courtesy of my job - it was too late for me. There's no hope left. Dreamweaver does nothing but send me into a fit of OCD rage at all the messy, unnecessary code it forces on you, and let's not even start on how it handles PHP or positioning. What's the point of having a preview if it looks all off?

Anyway, all of this is an exceptionally long-winded way of telling you all that I've spent the last two days dehydrating at my computer because of how caught up I was in coding my brand-new, extra-shiny website.

It's not as professional as it could be, but it's passable, and it makes me happy. Good enough for now!

Hopefully, I'll have a Dutch version up before Monday hits.

I also did a quick bit of art yesterday morning so I'd have something colourful to toy with. It's me, looking supremely bored and extra freckled. Gotta love summer!

In entirely different news: the first episode of the third season of Sterren op het Doek aired today, with Gerard Joling as the celebrity. I really enjoyed watching, and am torn between excitement and abject terror in anticipation of my own episode, two weeks from now. It's getting close now!

"Sterren op het Doek" Season Three Preview

The trailer's out!

This probably won't be as much interest to the English-speaking crowd - that is, ninety percent of my blog readers - but there's a preview of season three of Sterren op het Doek, the TV show I'm participating in, on the website linked above. It's a compilation of roughly ten minutes long, in which you'll be able to catch three glimpses of me, plus one of the portrait I did.

I would like to say I was entirely composed upon first watching this at work this afternoon. It certainly wasn't like me to run through the building to force the clip on my boss and co-workers, or to fire up Twitter and squee about it for a couple of minutes before realising I should probably post a link.

No. Definitely not like me.

In related news, the exposition linked to the show opened in Utrecht last Friday. The schedule is as follows:

• Spoorwegmuseum, Utrecht, 5 June - 28 June
  
• Openluchtmuseum, Arnhem, 3 July - 26 July
  
• Zuiderzeemuseum, Enkhuizen, 31 July - 23 August

Anyway: I've been home about a week now, and only just starting to feel human. Work and similar unpleasantries kept me busy, but I feel like I've finally gotten some things in order - including making good headway on a commission and raking up at least one more. Isn't it typical how you've got a clear schedule all year, and then in one month, suddenly everyone is clamouring for a piece of your time? I'm not complaining in the least, though!

I Leave You With Calf

As some of you may know, I own a dog: a three year old Akita named Razzi. As an Akita - and a big one at that - he needs to be walked frequently, for long stretches at a time. Near my house is a nature area called the Oeverlanden, right by a lake called the Nieuwe Meer, which is a fabulous place for him to run around, do crazy dog things, go into the water whenever it's too hot, et cetera.

The Oeverlanden happen to have a herd of Scottish Highlanders walking around freely.

I love these animals. They're huge, regularly block the biking paths, scare the crap out of all the dogs, and generally don't really care what happens around them. They're awesome.

Since it's spring, I've been furiously hoping to see a brand-new little calf around soon. After weeks of mental nagging, guess what was lying under a tree yesterday?


Too cute!

These critters make a brief appearance in Always Read the Fae Print, too. I mean, how could I leave them out?

Off to the airport with me! Sunny Kos awaits. See you lot in ten days.

"Sterren op het Doek" Schedule

I'm going to have to keep this short, since I'm busy with preparations for my holiday tomorrow (ee!):

My Sterren op het Doek episode will air on July 2nd, Nederland 2. The time isn't 100% certain yet, but will likely be either 20.50 or 21.25... which is irrelevant to most of you, anyway! It'll be online the next day, so I'll make sure to link to it, in case any of you feel like stomaching half an hour of subtitle-less Dutch television.

One of the portraits I made will also be part of the travelling exposition, which will take off in Utrecht starting June 5th.

Add all of that to the commissions I've been getting since last week, and this fame and fortune thing is really starting to take off. Excellent!

Editing Fun Times

I've been working on this draft since February, with a million and a half of interruptions inbetween; finally, though, I can say that draft two of Always Read the Fae Print is just minutes from completion.

The highlight occurred roughly ten minutes ago, when I'd just reached the last few pages of my final read-through and Word gave the following error: "There are too many spelling or grammatical errors in FaePrint-draft2 to continue displaying them."

That hurts, people. That hurts.

I know it seems like a crazy long time for a round of editing, but I don't really use drafts for specific purposes, ie. one draft for characterisation, one draft for plot, etc. like I've sene some other writers do. Instead, I go for chaos and shove everything I can think of (with the exception of line editing) in the same draft. What can I say? I have enough faith in my incompetence that there'll be plenty of flaws left to tackle in future drafts.

So that you may mock at me or sympathise, here's a list of phrases/words I've been repeating far too much: grimace, freeze, biting lip, narrowing eyes, "do you trust me?", hesitate, cling, blink, squeezing arm/hand, tears burning/stinging, eyelids or bags under eyes sagging... and honestly, it's lovely that my MC's boyfriend has such a nice jaw, but I don't need to point it out every five pages.

Ahem.

This book isn't as good as I'd like it to be, but it's not as bad as I feared, and at this point, that's kinda all you can ask for.

"Sterren op het Doek" and Writing Progress

Last week Monday, the 27th, was the last day of filming for Sterren op het Doek, the Dutch TV show I'll be appearing on. It'll likely air on July 2nd, on Dutch channel Nederland 2. Because three days of filming need to be squeezed into half an hour, I'm very curious which parts will make it in.

I'm not allowed to put the portraits I made for it online, or talk about which portrait ended up "winning", but I don't think they'll object to putting minor previews online. (Especially since the readership of this blog isn't exactly their target audience.) Because I work fast, I ended up doing two portraits - one in charcoal, one in soft pastels - and to my surprise, I ended up happy enough with both that I had no idea which one to to use in the end.

     

All in all, it was an amazing experience, and I'm thrilled with both how my portraits turned out - some of my best work yet - and with how filming went. I can't think of a single thing I regret. I can't wait to see the end result and share the full drawings online.

In the part, participating artists reported a sharp increase in commissions after the airing of their episode, which means I expect to have little time left for writing come July. For this reason, I'm already scheduling my writing schedule for the next few months. My plan is to finish this draft of Always Read the Fae Print and send it to betas before I leave on holiday come May 26th. At this rate, that should be eminently doable: I'm at chapter 36 of 43, and though I still need to weave some information and character bits into earlier scenes and do cutting where possible, I'm optimistic. If I have a couple of extra days, I'll also do some minor content edits for Wielders, which I'll then print out and take with me to line edit while sunbathing on the luxurious beaches of Kos. The thought alone makes me purr.

On Jealousy, Motivation and Giving Up

I'm knee-deep in editing Always Read the Fae Print, but I had to pass on this post of Maggie Stiefvater's, fellow portrait artist-turned-writer.

Sound advice.

Spinvis: Freaky, But, You Know, Cool.

Oh, where to start. I'm almost tempted to use bullet points - I will never not love lists - but I'll be wild and go for narrative, instead.

It is midnight, two minutes into Monday, and I just got back from a Spinvis concert, part of the Kamermuziek tour. I'm still blown away. It's one of those performances that actually warrants a DVD; instead of going "oh, it was so cool to see him live", the sight of him doing his thing and the visual additions actually enhance the product.

At the start of each song, he recorded a number of sounds - from guitar riffs to duct tape unrolling - and put them on loop, acting as repetitive background music. This gave the songs an entirely different feel from the studio recordings (or attic recordings, as the case may be). On the stage next to him were three vertical screens, showing images that complemented the song or acted as back-up to the music - recordings of himself or other contributing artists playing a different instrument or singing. It was psychedelic and bizarre and intense, but at the same time, immensely casual and earnest. In the break, I overheard someone say, "Freaky. But, you know, cool."

Which about sums it up.

He played all my favourite songs, too - Voor Ik Vergeet, In De Staat Van Narcose, Ronnie Gaat Naar Huis and Ik Wil Alleen Maar Zwemmen. I found some low-quality recordings on YouTube that give an idea of the show: Het Voordeel Van Video and Voor Ik Vergeet.

Though I vowed to myself not to buy CDs anymore in an effort to save money and move with the times, I predictably ended up buying one, and and stood in line to have it signed by him after the show. It took ages, but it was worth it - everyone in line was cracking up at the way he personalised everything. Good times.

In an effort to improve upon the night even more, the universe sent me a waiter offering bitterballen - which I've been craving for months - and a bus driver kind enough to pull over for me inbetween stops, saving me from a half-hour wait.

On second thought, I think I'll forego the subject-hopping entirely: it's late, I have work in the morning, and this turned out to be a decent-sized entry on its own. More later on the end results of Sterren op het Doek.

So there's your dose of Dutch culture for the month. Enjoy!

Cory's Characters, and How They Love to Cut Her Off Mid-Sentence

New Character: Hi there!
Yours Truly: Hello. I'm having breakfast, and then I need to work on the background for this portrait, so --
NC: Good for you. I don't have a name yet, but here's my personality and my appearance. Check out that cool tattoo on my arm. Also, I think I'd like to do something with animals for a living. Please write me.
YT: I don't think I'll be starting any new drafts until I've completely finished either Wielders or Always Read the Fae Print. Anyway, I need to have this portrait ready for filming on Monday, so --
NC: Well, work me into a future book.
YT: Let's see. I do have this new idea I was toying with, so you could be the main character's girlfriend at the start of the book. That could work. You'll like Roy, he's a nice guy. I might have to kill you off later, but --
NC: No, I don't think that'll work.
YT: You don't want to die? Maybe we can work around it. You seem cool enough that you'd be good to have around for possible sequels.
NC: No, I don't want to be in that book.
YT: I can't think of any others you'd fit in... well, in this other book I've been brainstorming, this cast member of a TV show dies at the start. You could be brought in as her replacement --
NC: No.
YT: Hear me out. You'd be hunting ghosts --
NC: I want my own book.
YT: And do you have a world for this book yet? Any supporting cast? A plot, perhaps?
NC: Nope.
YT: Have fun as that replacement ghost hunter.

Drive-By Blog Post

It's been much too long since I posted. Here's the low-down of all the exciting and not-so-exciting things that have been happening lately:

• I'm making a lot of progress on editing Always Read the Fae Print. I didn't make my original goal of finishing it before March, sure, and I didn't quite manage to achieve my second goal of having it done before April, either, but if I keep going at this rate, May should be doable. (The question is if I'll be able to keep up this rate.)
  
  I've been focusing on getting all the major plot elements in place, which resulted, for the most part, in cutting and writing entire scenes and chapters and weaving the resulting changes into the rest of the book. I'm nearly done with this part - just the epilogue left to go - but I have a lot of work left to do after that. A couple of characters need a personality overhaul, while others need theirs to shine through more clearly. I need to iron out some continuity issues and weave in exposition here and there. The problem with fantasy is that there are a lot of things I know about this world that my readers don't, and I completely forget to tell them.
  
  After a first draft of 78500 words, I now have approximately 102500. Not bad for a book I originally didn't think would make it up to 60000. My goal is to edit it down to about 90000, but we'll see where the story takes me. Even after cutting out earlier scenes that didn't work for the plot, I should be able to get rid of a lot - some conversations run too long, information is repeated, and hopefully I'll be able to streamline the plot somewhere around the middle where it veers off course.
  
  Overall, I'm optimistic. This is hard work, but it's ever-so-rewarding.
  
  
• Man, that was one long list item.
  
  
• To those interested in following my progress, I'm keeping track on my blog sidebar even when I'm not actively updating my blog. Because it's editing rather than drafting, the numbers will go up and down, but any change means progress, right?
  
  
• Nathan Bransford is holding an interesting challenge on his blog that I hope to participate in. In short: people send their queries, fake or real, off to Nathan Bransford, who posts 50 of them up on the blog come Monday, April 13th. Others respond, playing agent for a day, rejecting or requesting materials and hopefully giving some helpful feedback. There are some published books nestled in there as well. Those "agents" who end up requesting the most published books win a prize and the query writers get some valuable feedback. (Readers of my blog might recognise my query if he selects it, but I trust you guys not to cheat.)
  
  As much as I like helping people with their queries (all this obsessive research I've done over the past eighteen months has to be good for something, right?), I'm really interested in getting an outsider's view on my query. Everybody I've shown it to so far already knows the book, or at least what it's about.
  
  
• Speaking of contests, I recently won one of Jeri Smith-Ready's over at her blog. I received an ARC of her new book, Bad to the Bone. Glee ensued. Naturally, I immediately rushed to the nearest online store to buy myself the first part of the series, Wicked Game, which I'm currently ensconced in when not editing, drawing or working. I'm really enjoying it so far! I can't wait to finish it and move on to Bad to the Bone. What's the point in receiving an ARC if you can't read it before the rest of the world gets to? ;)
  
  On a side-note, I'm struck by the similarities between Wicked Game and Always Read the Fae Print in genre and other details, among them song titles for chapters and a best friend who believes in magic without any proof vs. a main character who knows it's true but can't tell her. Part of me is concerned - if this ever sees the light of day, hopefully no one will think that's where the iedas came from - and part of me is excited: there's a market for my kind of stuff out there!
  
  
• In yet another spectacular computer failure, I just lost the file I kept Always Read the Fae Print's deleted scenes in. That hurts. Sure, I deleted them, but the point of having a file to put them in was to a) ease the pain of getting rid of them and b) have them in case I want to re-use some of it later, which I did.
  
  
• On Monday, March 23rd, I had my first day of filming for Sterren op het Doek, the TV show I talked about in my previous post. It was a fantastic experience. The celebrity I was assigned to was well-known Dutch football coach Foppe de Haan. I've made some progress on a portrait that I'm fairly pleased with. It needs a lot of work, but it has potential. Though I posted a snapshot of an early stage on my Twitter account a while back, I don't think I'll be posting further work-in-progress shots, let alone the final product. I have to get people watching the episode somehow, right?
  
  In a slight change of plans, the next day of filming won't be until April 15th, with the final shoots happening on April 27th, one day before my birthday. The episode will likely air in June, but late May/early July are also possible. I'm furiously hoping it won't be until after June 4th, when I return from vacation, but that's why DVDs and the Internet were invented.
  
  
• All #queryfail and #agentfail drama aside, I remain excited about the querying progress. I can deal with rejection: I just want my work done and out there, already. Plus, I love drafting query letters, and I can't wait to see if they're as gripping as I hope they are. Querying seems such a universally dreaded activity - am I the only one looking forward to this?
  
  Between Sterren op het Doek, work, vacation, the facts that Always Read the Fae Print is only halfway in its second draft and that Wielders isn't back from all beta readers yet, I highly doubt I'll be able to achieve my original goal of querying in June. However, July or August should be doable, if I work hard enough, and I plan to...
  
  ... assuming I don't drown in portrait commissions following the airing of my episode. There's worse things than being kept from one art because you're busy getting rich from the other one.

Adventures in TV and short stories

My five-year-plan to become rich and famous is finally starting to pay off. A couple of weeks ago, I found an e-mail in my inbox inviting me to appear on a Dutch TV show, Sterren op het Doek, which has as a goal to make art more accessible to the public at large. They invite Dutch celebrities (big names in our little world!) over to have their portrait drawn by three different artists. After a life drawing session of several hours, the artists are given a week to start on a portrait of the celebrity. After this week, the crew and cameras visit the artists at their homes or studios to check up on and discuss their progress, as well as showcase some other work. Another week or two later, the final paintings are unveiled to the celebrity, who chooses their favourite to keep. The other two will be part of a large exposition of all the paintings made for that show, and later auctioned off to charity.

In short: I'm going to be on national TV with my art. Not too shabby for a recent (ish) graduate!

I've never been on TV before, never met any celebrities, and never had a commission of this scope. This is going to be a big series of firsts, and I couldn't be more excited. Hopefully, this will give me the exposure I need to really kick off my art career, which has been... well... pretty much nonexistent, considering school doesn't quite count as part of a career.

All of that, and it looks like it'll be crazy fun, too!

The first shoot will be next week, March 23rd, with another one on March 30th and the final one on April 15th. It'll likely be aired sometime in June and will show up online not long after. I'll be sure to post some links to indulge everyone with moving pictures of me speaking a language aptly dubbed "hacky-spitty" by my totally xenophobic American friends. Sounds like great fun, doesn't it?

Progress on Always Read the Fae Print is slow but steady. I've successfully managed to ignore the short stories that keep popping up in my head, for which the horror podcast Pseudopod is entirely to blame. I've been listening to it almost non-stop at work and when traveling, and it's paying off in far too much short story inspiration during a month that I'd planned to devote entirely to editing. I suspect it's an elaborate form of procrastination, but even though it'd be a productive form of procrastination, I really don't want to postpone Always Read the Fae Print any longer. Short stories will have to wait.

In the meantime, I'd like to share a couple of Pseudopod stories that I particularly enjoyed. My absolute favourite so far is 129: Bottle Babies, which is messed up and surreal and not even close to what I normally like. It's fabulous. 121: Blood, Snow and Sparrows is told in such a lyrical style that I was completely transfixed and caught in the mood of the moment. Even though I was in the midst of work and could barely keep track of the story, it kept me hooked. There's something to be said for that. Lastly, 98: Among the Moabites was a very interesting look at human nature and our flip-flopping tendencies -- I still can't quite figure out if I like this story, but I found myself thinking about it on and off again later. That's enough to dub it interesting, if nothing else.

I'm starting to realise that my taste in short stories is radically different from my taste in novels. I'm trying to pinpoint exactly what it is that keeps me interested in either, but I'm coming up fruitless. I suppose I'll have to listen/read more to figure it out. There's worse things in the world, I guess!

Music Meme

It's been a little quiet here lately: I've been busy with work, so when I had free time, I tried to spend it on actual writing instead of the blog. Unfortunately I haven't made nearly as much progress on Always Read the Fae Print edits as I'd have liked, but work should demand a lot less of my time soon. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back into the swing then.

I made a good start today by writing 1900 words on a new scene - one that has my main character attacking a werewolf with cordless phones and antique dessert forks. As long as I keep the crack coming, this book writes itself.

There is some potentially big art-related news I'm antsy to post, but I'm waiting for confirmation before I make anything public. In the meantime, I figured I'd do a music meme, taken from the lovely K.V. Taylor once more.

She asked for people to name seven songs currently relevant to one of their characters. Since I'm coming up empty on Wielders, I went with Always Read the Fae Print, specifically my main character Lillian. The only music I actually had her listen to in the novel was Rolling Stones music, so these aren't so much songs that are relevant to her as those I associate with her/the novel, either due to mood or lyrics. (Also, I'm woefully unknowledgeable when it comes to music, so anything my characters like tends to be stuff I know, anyway.)

• Amanda Palmer - Runs in the Family. To anyone who knows the plot of the book, this should be obvious. To those who don't: Lillian is the human daughter in a family entirely populated by supernatural humans of some sort or another, ranging from shapeshifters to telepaths. Even though she now lives across the ocean and is determined to build up a life of her own, she can't seem to get away from her roots.
  
• Marcy Playground - Gone Crazy. Upbeat with references to going crazy and not being where you belong: fitting.
  
• Frou Frou - Maddening Shroud. Lillian not being able to get away from the crazy world of the supernatural she grew up in is one of the major themes.
  
• Modest Mouse - Float On. Upbeat, offbeat, a little frantic, and a stubborn determination to be happy, no matter what. It's perfect.
  
• Acda en de Munnik - Mis Ik Mij. Roughly translated, the song is called "I Miss Me". It's about someone who can't feel home anywhere no matter where he is. He misses himself, or something he left behind somewhere. Lillian's determination to be normal and shun the supernatural is the result of a traumatising experience with magic as a kid, which has spurred her on to move around a lot as an adult, unable to feel at home anywhere as she tries to find a normal life.
  
• The Velvet Underground - Sticking With You. It's adorable, and very befitting of the normal, down-to-earth relationship/friendship my two main characters share.
  
• The Rolling Stones - You Can't Always Get What You Want. The Stones are tied into the novel big time, so I couldn't possibly leave this one out. It pretty much sums up the story: Lillian wants a magic-free life, but she's not getting it - and it ends up working out just fine.

Word Clouds & Very Green Grass

I finished the final edits on my short story The John last night, better known here as "hookervamp", discussed in some earlier entries. I'm sad to see the name go. I was quite attached to it. It ended up at 4800 words, which produced the following word cloud:



I think it sums the story up pretty well. A hooker, a john and a vampire walk into a bar plus a bunch of blood and some swearing. Pulp is great fun. Anyway, I'm letting it rest for one or two days and will then give it a final go-over before sending it out to the first market.

As planned, I started editing Always Read the Fae Print on Sunday, but paused it for a couple of days while I wrapped up the above short story. I'm about to dig back into it, and, predictably, am very nervous about it. Writing a first draft is so much easier.

Of course, when I was working on Wielders, I remember being very excited about eventually getting to edit it. When I was editing it, I longed back to the days of working on the first draft. Later in the process, I longed to getting around to editing Always Read the Fae Print, since I was sure it was a much more solid, much more marketable, and overall much better book than Wielders.

Now that I'm finally editing Always Read the Fae Print... I wish I were working on Wielders, instead. Clearly, that's the superior book, right?

The grass is always greener. Sigh.

On Recent Art, Writing Updates, and Exciting Combinations Thereof

Though I actually finished this drawing about a week ago, it seems much longer, and I didn't get around to photographing it until yesterday. It's an A3 charcoal portrait of an almost 3-year-old Akita named Razzi. He's not mine, but he's over at the house often enough that he might as well be, and I don't mind it one bit. He's lovely. This is coming from a fervent cat person, so that means a lot.

It's not my best work by far, and there are still a lot of things about it I'm not happy about, but it does look like him and that's the most important part. It was fun to get to mess around with charcoal and try to get the fur right.

Today, I went to the Realism 2009 exposition in Amsterdam, to draw free portraits of visitors and help promote my old art school. I figured, why not? It's good marketing for both me and the school, and it'll get me drawing more. In addition, not to mention the benefits to my ego. These were very small pencil sketches - about half letter size - done in roughly 15-30 minutes, under god-awful lighting conditions after over half a year of zero model drawing. Possibly, I should have prepared al little more.

Anyway, I did six portraits in all (one was too embarrassing to show), and though I'm not ultimately pleased with all the work I did, it was good to get to do work, period. I also had a few conversations with some really nice people, and even dragged a potential client out of it. Considering I haven't done a commission in months - and that's one that had been waiting for over a year - I hope it'll go through. We'll see.

On the writing front, what little news there is is less exciting: I finished the rough draft of a short story that still needs heavy editing, and I'm continuing to plot my revisions for the next draft of Always Read the Fae Print, which I hope to tackle in February. Good times. Occasionally complex and mind-meltingly frustrating times, but mostly good.


And lastly, on a brand new front that's a thrilling mix between art and writing -- I recently commissioned Peter Nguyen for a sketch of a Wielders character, and he came up with the way-too-awesome-for-its-own good sketch on the left. I still clap my hands in giddy glee whenever I see it.