The Sum of David

2008-01-04T05:47:00.000-08:00

We're Moving

I've taken my blog over to my site's original domain at www.thesumofdavid.com. It's shorter, sweeter and right to the point. And if you're fancy, don't forget to update your RSS feeder!

2007-12-18T18:02:00.000-08:00

I've got some really great projects coming up in the very near future. I'll be happy to post when they are complete and/or unwrapped in the hands of their new owners.

Recently completed: since we were very bare bones about our wedding in June, we didn't spend any money on photographers. Instead, the photographers and contributing family graciously accepted beer in exchange for the pictures. As a result, I've spent the last 5 months gratefully sorting through the over 2,000 pictures. I finally whittled the number of photos down to under 200.

Mac's photo software, iPhoto, is easy and convenient to use. It helps you organize all your photos and also allows you a drag-and-drop option for creating picture books. I'm sure there are other services online that will allow to do the same, but Apple's proved so easy I thought I'd give it a try. We got one book for us and one for each of the moms.

The only thing that concerns me is the they wouldn't take the photos as CMYK, which is the color mode I'm accustomed to using for photos for print. It rejected the images until I converted all to RGB, so I'm wondering how they will actually print... The examples I've seen at CompUSA looked crisp and bright and beautiful -- hopefully there wasn't any sort of mass production voodoo happening there and our books will turn out just as nice. If they look good, I bet I will be doing more of these picture books.

I'm also planning another custom book, this time as a compilation of my MySpace blogs over the years. I started posting on 2004, and even though MySpace has outworn its usefulness to me, I would hate to lose the memories from those frequent posts -- I did over 400.

Lulu.com allows you to customize a book and print as many as you want, including the magic number: one. I'm formatting all those entries into a printed journal that I can stick on my bookshelf and laugh at in ten years. Or in five years. Or tomorrow.

There are a two ironies here. One, that I'm printing something that was originally in an online format. And two, that I am self-publishing two personal books... even while I am seeking professional representation for my would-be second profession. Hilarious.

2007-12-11T20:36:00.000-08:00

Controversy and Christmas

My mother works at a women's prison facility on the west coast, and asked me to make a couple posters of a painting I did in high school. There's plenty of online resources for this service, so I snapped a questionable quality digital picture of it, uploaded it to zazzle.com and it shipped to my parent's home.

She had planned on hanging one in the main area and one in her office, but in order to do so she must get the design approved. The painting's initial reaction was positive, but she's apparently having problems getting it past the boss, who has deemed the artwork too gloomy:

Okay, it's not warm and fuzzy. But there is an interpretive value in conquering obstacles, right? At least, that's how I meant it my junior year... We'll see if it is allowed in. Personally, it doesn't matter to me: I certainly wouldn't want any real negative effects to take place from a painting I made ten years ago.

In happier news, The Creative Treehouse hosted a toy drive for Big Brothers Big Sisters last Saturday. Professional photographers took holiday portraits for everyone that brought toys out. I hope everyone that came out had as much fun as we did setting it up:

Me, Jesse and Bodnar testing out the set and props. One of those gifts is a Wii, the other is a two pound cheese dinosaur. (photo courtesy John Bodnar)

Josh and I looking festive in our official portrait. Don't worry, we're not really cold. It's fake snow. (photo courtesy Tom Darby)

We had a blast working the event, and in addition to families and couples, we got a few pets too. So we spent much of our time hyper from cookies, hot cocoa, puppies and holiday cheer. If you missed the portraits, the Treehouse is still holding on to the toys until Dec. 13, and would be happy to take donations up to that time.

2007-12-04T18:10:00.000-08:00

First Blood

Writing on David's sequel has begun slowly, but there is excellent progress being made. My soft deadline right now for the completion of the first draft is May 1st. We'll see. I'm feeling confident.

...which is ironic, because I totally got my first rejection letter today. I had (sort of) successfully forgotten that I even sent it out, except I started trying to remember why Dec. 15th stuck in my mind and, ah, that's when the 2 month response time would be up. Well, I got my familiar SASE in the mail yesterday. I stared at it for a moment and, in an exercise of self-control, put it down and started cooking dinner.

But let's face it, it's a freakin' response, and the piece of paper contained within that envelope lived in the drawer of a real agent's office -- I opened it.

I've been bracing myself for months in the event I receive a letter that reads anything beyond "Yes! Please!" Although it would be outside my usual character, I was really afraid I would take the rejection personally, but there wasn't any of the heartbreak or anguish I thought might bloom from the experience. Actually, my level of disappointment was only about a .5 on a scale from 1 - 10. The letter was very polite, very encouraging. I really thought I'd be more bummed than I am.

I suspect that this may be because by getting a response at all, I'm at least a part of the game now.

So the letter is going up onto the cork board in my studio, I'm on to pursue the next agent in my magic agent binder, and it's back to work on the next book. Things are rolling along.

2007-11-25T11:06:00.000-08:00

Days at the Office

I took this holiday week off of work with high hopes of getting some real work done on this sequel. Unfortunately, I've been fighting an illness that refuses to let go and was only able to squeeze out about 3,000 words before giving into some recovery time. My pseudo participation in NaNoWriMo was only a means for inspiration to begin with, but I'd hoped to make it at least halfway to the 50,000 word goal by the end of the month. No dice, it seems.

I did get some good writing in at the beginning of the week, however, and thought it might be interesting to show my workspaces.

The first, a common denominator from writing SoD, is Crazy Mocha, located in Pittsburgh's South Side Works. The staff has completely turned over, which is a shame, but since I've sat in their facility for 8+ hours with success, I'm more than primed to get some work done there. Plus, they have the biggest oatmeal raisin cookies you've ever seen in your life.

The second is Creative Treehouse, which is a facility that offers shared workspace for creative professionals in Bellevue. Since Bellevue is only 10 minutes from my house, it's not a big commute if I need to get away from my house. It's open 24 hours, so I could conceivably write through the night if I needed to. And I heart the treehouse, just because.

The third locale is closer to home... as in, two doors down from my bedroom. I actually just cleaned it out a couple weeks ago, which entailed a box of nails and several garbage bags (Yep, that's clean). One day it will be painted, with a fancy new light and perhaps a fan.

Art is fun. The top pic shows a piece entitled "The Treeshouse" which includes talkative birds and slugs. Below are framed digital pieces titled "The Nunjas" and "Clang Clang". The colorful one leaning up against the wall is called "Imagination". And on the cork board? A main character from the final SoD novel, oh my!
This is a good place when I'm feeling antisocial or contagious. And, because the weather has gotten all winter-y on me, this may become a favorite hide out for a couple months. Because snow is my enemy.

2007-11-14T05:50:00.000-08:00

Screenprinting at AIR!

I don't know where the suggestion came from (I suspect it was hatched by Joe and Jesse) but a few of us met at AIR on Tuesday night for a crash course in screen printing.

Per Joe's suggestion, Josh and I stopped at Kinko's to print my design on a transparency (only 81 cents!) and we were off. I also hear that you can print a transparency at AIR, but I since I had zero idea what I was in for, I figured I could at least sort of appear prepared.

The building is huge, and we camped out on the 3rd floor. Joe showed us the ropes, which I will poorly replicate here:

Put your transparency on the giant table with bulbs under it. Put magic screen on top of transparency. Cover screen with giant black thing, then top all with weights.
Click timer to 4 minutes. The bulbs come on with all the power of the sun, so scram so you don't go blind.
After light clicks off, spray the heck out of the screen. Exposing the magic screen to light hardens where ever your design isn't, so when you spray the screen your design pops out. Rinse until bubbles are gone, spray with air, then chat while it dries in front of a fan.
Lay screen in workspace, tape any holes and possibly the edges.
Scoop that delicious ink on to the screen. AIR actually has some you can use, which is nice. I've been told it's mostly gray, which is cool, but I was lucky enough to stumble onto some lime green, yippee.
After putting your material under the screen, pull the fancy squeegee toward you and push your ink through your design.
Lift screen. Squeal like preteen.

Here's the original file in Illustrator. I had about a minute to throw this baby together and burn it to CD before I was going to miss my bus. It was just a thought bubble and skull at first, but I had like 15 seconds where I was just fiddling my thumbs -- hence the horns and fang- mandible-things.

...and here's the final art on my hat. I'm not exactly sure what it is that I'm thinking about, but rest assured it is sufficiently eeeevil. I did a shirt, too, which I figure will be appropriate to wear when I have a tummy ache.

The facility, AIR, was really great, too. According their website:

AIR is an artist-run organization that integrates the production of fine art printwork with innovative educational programs that explore the creative process. AIR provides print and imaging services to professional artists and educators. Our goal is to maintain an active and vital imaging laboratory that supports artists and facilitates creative activity.

And, via my personal endorsement: it's righteous.

The staff was polite and helpful, and the three hours of fun we had only cost $5 since you pay by the screen. It's open to the public from 7pm to 12am on Tuesdays. Plus, there were past projects hung all over the wall, which was really inspiring. Next week: two colors!

2007-11-12T05:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays... But Not That One (Not Yet)

Christmas music before Thanksgiving makes my blood boil. Just because I understand the commercial benefit of extending the shopping season doesn't mean I support it. I love all the celebrations that will take place over the next couple months, but I'm still pouting that the world seems to have skipped over my favorite one: Thanksgiving. That's why I spent part of this weekend painting a festive winter scene on a store window, instead of something that was Holiday specific.

Me, Josh, Jesse, Mosley and Allair (nice to meet you!) headed out to Fox's Pizza in Aspinwall on Saturday. The whole thing felt like college again, what with the five of us piling into a car, roaming the mall for supplies, bailing out to gorge on awesome pizza and then: paint!

Josh, me, Jesse, Mr. Baconpants, Allair

Look how organized we look. It's like we know what we're doing.

The finished Winter Wonderland!
The pole might look off-center, but it's the angle, promise. And probably your imagination.

The crew, clock-wise from left: me, Josh, Jesse, Mosley and Allair

If you've never tried it, Fox's Pizza is awesome -- it's the best pizza I've ever had. JD owns the one in Aspinwall, and is a super nice guy that I know through Creative Treehouse.

Did I mention the pizza is awesome?

2007-11-07T06:35:00.000-08:00

That Elusive Inspiration

If you do anything within the realm of creativity, you have probably experienced the rush of inspiration. It's like gold to the writer, artist, designer, inventor, etc, and can make life a whole lot easier.

The mystery of the whole phenomenon is that you can't recreate the circumstances, because it occurs in such strange and inexplicable ways. It can strike with the converging of music, weather, time of day, a meal, a piece of clothing, a movie, the way a person moves or speaks, and a million other things. You can't force it, and it's different every time to every person.

The spark for The Sum of David came in a split second at a Cirque du Soleil show. I can distinctly remember the visual -- a glowing air balloon as it sailed above the crowd -- that brought the lightning and possibilities. I can recall the inspiration for the sequel a few months ago -- on the bus with a particular song in my earphones and the light, weather, people and construction appearing just right in the city in Pittsburgh.

The catch? Inspiration won't do the job for you. And it might cause more problems than it solves, at least at first. But if you can uncover how the pieces fit together, it's worth it. So paint that masterpiece one brush stroke at a time, write that novel (now's the time, after all) a word, a sentence, a page at a time; conquer the world the way you know how and don't get discouraged. The spark might come in a rush, but making it into something tangible, something that works, takes time and effort.

On a different, but not unrelated note: I saw the trailer for The Golden Compass last night on television and it pretty much rocked my socks clean off. It's not the same preview I've linked above, but they're both AWESOME. I regret that it's got a big, butt-kicking polar bear (since SOD's got one too, if very briefly), but I still can't wait to see it. The actors... the voices... the effects... Like I said: AWESOME.

2007-11-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

Halloween Party/Gallery

I think we can chalk Saturday's show up as a success. I saw a lot of familiar faces and met some new ones... My bee costume was fun, even if I didn't get to use all the pieces I wanted to and my wings gave me a horizontal dimension that I'm not accustomed to: I kept hitting people with them. Working the door ended up being nice, too, because I got to see all as they filtered in and the hallway serves as an almost safe haven for people that want to talk while the bands are playing.

My "rotting zombie" pumpkin won a prize in the pumpkin gallery (the "zombie" part being intentional, at least - yum!) and I sold two of my four pieces of artwork. I did three of them specifically for the show:

The digital color is unfortunately over-simplified and flat. I had intended on shading them, but (of course) ran out of time. Regardless, they were fun to do and I intend on watercoloring the originals eventually since I put them on fancy paper. The cowboy is my personal favorite.

I took Friday off of my real job to spend the day writing. I've stored up some vacation days, and need to use them before the end of the year... not to mention I'd like to take advantage of the productive energy created by NaNoWriMo!

2007-10-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

2 Days and Counting

There are three days left to read the end of The Sum of David. On Thursday, I'll be pulling the conclusion off of the site and leaving only the first three chapters for preview purposes. Originally, the story was slated to wrap up the last week of 2007, and I intended to leave the site up indefinitely for anyone that was interested. Recently, however, I decided that I might as well give my best effort at trying to get it published. It's the beginning of a trilogy, and I'm going to be writing the whole series anyway... and since my main muse hasn't read my last two books (go easy on him, he's sixteen -- I hope he's got better things to do than read his sister's stories), I need another audience to write for. So how about... everybody else?

There are a lot of things going on right now. Since I haven't blogged for a while, I'll lay them down here, if for no other reason than to keep myself organized.

I'm getting caught up on the three most recent Heroes episodes tonight. I have to say from the first three: I don't feel that it's as good as last season's. I'm intrigued, yes, but not in a crazed, omg I-have-to-know way. Seeing a show like that does make me want to write, though, and I'll take inspiration anywhere I can get it. And I know I'm three weeks late, but: Lt. Uhura?! Are they tapping the whole original Star Trek cast? If so, William Shatner needs to be Syler's dad. Please do not mistake this for complaining. I think it's awesome.

Tuesday is a meet-up at the Creative Treehouse to talk about improving Bellevue, and more specifically, Bellevue's best coffee shop: Affogato. I'm interested in what's going on there and how to improve the area, since any benefits for Bellevue will mean upsides for Aff and the Creative Treehouse.

Wednesday is Halloween and I'd love to pass out candy, but I've had to work late the last three years... hopefully that trend will end this year, but we'll see. Trick or Treating seems to get earlier and earlier every year -- I think last year it was 4 to 6pm or something, and I can't get home until 5:30, earliest. Josh doesn't even get out of work until 6. It's a shame, because I pretty much melt at every costume. Cartoon character? aw. Pirate? AW. Dinosaur? Take my candy. All of it.

And, on the remaining evenings? Oh my. I've got Halloween decorations to prepare, purchase and/or create for the Creative Treehouse's Haunted Treehouse party on Saturday night. I've got another pumpkin to carve and three art pieces to finish for the night's gallery... plus I need to create signage for the event. Not to mention my costume isn't close to finished... All of which has to be complete by Friday night, because I've got a family dinner on Saturday afternoon in Hundred, WV -- and I won't be back in Pgh in time to decorate the place during the day. whew!

2007-10-20T13:36:00.000-07:00

The Sum of David - The End

I was a professional dancer for four years when I was in high school. When you do anything that is performance-based, there's a lot of advice and words to live/operate by. One saying that we had was:

Start strong and end strong, the audience will forgive the middle.

While the middle of a story is the real meat of a book -- it's what will sell it, after all, and what a reader will recount when recommending it to a friend -- but the importance of the end can't be ignored. It's the entire point of starting the story in the first place. If an audience (be it in a theatre or in their favorite reading chair) is satisfied with the end, they may lend a forgiving opinion to the innards.

Different parts of the story are easier for different writers. I enjoy the middle. I think it's what I'm best at and I happen to find the beginning and end pretty intimidating. It probably doesn't help that I only kind of know where I'm going at the start and my outlines only run to the first 95% to the story. That outstanding 5% has caused me problems before, but has also worked to my advantage. It means I can work with the characters to wrap up the loose ends and, at least to me, it means the end is logical and not abrupt.

Bringing SoD together was easier than my previous stories. I knew the direction it was going, that he would eventually discover what the fantastic world around him really was. The trick was trying to keep it from being a trite "it was all just a deam, oh my!" scenario. Hopefully I was successful -- only the readers would be able to tell me for sure.

Ultimately, the end IS the most important part. It determines whether the reader's commitment of time, attention and energy was worth it. And writers will always wish it is.

2007-10-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

Clash of the Titans

Two worlds collide in a rush of lightning, tusk and claw.

Well, here we are, kids. If you're interested, a mouse click will deliver you to the final 13 chapters of The Sum of David, complete and available for your perusal. I hope readers will find the end logical and satisfactory, and I'd love to hear any comments regarding the story. I'm going to leave these remaining chapters up until Nov. 1.

2007-10-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

Chapter 40: Rally Me.

David meets those that are willing to fight at his side, and they make preparations to march on the Lurk and his army of Soulless.

Special Announcement:
Next week, October 15th, I will post the remainder of The Sum of David online. It will be available in its entirety until November 1st, at which point I will take all but the first three chapters down.

My plan to send query letters in September took a back seat to my obligations to the 24 Hour Creative Marathon. I don't have any regrets about that - since the only time constraints at the moment are my own - but I would very much like to begin the journey of seeking representation. I think having a site for the novel is a good thing, and could conceivably be an added boon to a potential agent. However, I doubt it is in my favor that a complete manuscript is available, even if it is simply a working draft.

Nevertheless, there is a readership that returns each week to read the new chapter, and I don't think it would be right to pull it all from the web without giving those readers the opportunity to find out how it all ends. In fact, I believe the lump resolution will ultimately compliment the ending. Hopefully, the two week window will catch everyone that has any desire to read it.

More on this next week.

2007-10-05T08:16:00.000-07:00

In Service at the Harris Theatre

Bricolage Theatre Company and Pittsburgh Filmmakers combined forces to produce In Service, a documentary/stage production that featured footage, still images and live performances from some of the people featured in the film.

It was excellent. The show was a mash-up of candid interviews, poetry and written word from Pittsburgh soldiers who have served in Iraq - what they did, what they saw and how they felt about all of it. I was somewhat concerned that there might be some kind of political spin about whether the war was right or wrong, but the production did a beautiful job of not preaching in one direction or another, choosing instead to focus on the effect the war had on its fighters. In fact, I particularly enjoyed the end, when the final speaker asked for the audience to participate in an army cadence. It would be easy for that kind of audience participation to be cheesy or silly - I assure it wasn't.

In Service runs Oct. 4-7 & Oct. 11-14. Go: it's well worth it.

In other moving pictures news, I was interviewed last weekend while at the 24HCM2 by the talented Alex Landefield, who was gracious enough to ask all sorts of good questions in the middle of the night. I trail off about calling my mom at some point, I think, but other than that I do better than I typical do in on-camera situations. Enjoy!

2007-10-03T08:13:00.000-07:00

Chapter 39: Coming Together

A deeper look at Calemadestes, the world she inhabits and her neighbors.

I love strong female characters in stories, and Clam is one of my favorites. My main character is a boy, I know, but it's the women characters that really drive a tale home for me as a reader. The most prehistoric form of tSoD began with index cards listing emotional/personality attributes and the animals/characters I associate them with -- "Courage" was my word for what eventually became Clam. Some of the other ancient concepts are sprinkled through the crowd as she wanders through, along with symbols of David's home (Pittsburgh) and past.

In other news, I helped Josh put on this weekend's creative marathon. It was a long, sleep-deprived process, but it was a blast:

Oh yeah, that's my handwriting.

Blackthir13en, me and Victoria. I was recanting the epic adventure of the turtle.

As you can see from the face of my companions, it was a rivetting tale - full of both tragedy and comedy. (photo by creative treehouse)

My piece in progress. (photo by Blackthir13en)

Mr. Baconpants making some... (surprise!) bacon on Saturday morning. (photo by creativetreehouse)

The gallery show on Saturday night after it got into full swing. (photo by mbfulk)

Josh (with the unseen Nathan and Shawn as the Jim Dandies) rocking out on the, ahem, keytar. (photo by luvsilk)

My finished piece. (photo by johnny treehouse)

It was so much fun. Every now and then you need to stay up until 5 am and do artwork. It's imperative to the creative process. Josh and I learned a lot from taking the reins to plan this too, and we'll be full-steam ahead in a couple months to set up the next one, probably in Feb. 2008. If you want to see more, check out the very extensive flickr stream.

2007-09-26T06:34:00.000-07:00

Chapter 38: After All, It's What We're Made Of

Memories help explain the past, but sometimes they have a life of their own. David begins to recognize himself and what he's there to do.

Marley was one of those characters that lodge themselves into your brain and won't let go. If I had never written The Sum of David, I still would have done something that showcased the Memory Dragon. I believe strongly that the past helps shape people, so a creature made of the junk of the past seems appropriate.

Pittsburgh's second 24 Hour Creative Marathon is taking place on Friday and Saturday, and we've been hard at work getting things ready for everyone that might come down.

Basically, you show up at the Creative Treehouse beginning at 8pm on Friday, Sept 28. Sign up, find a spot to settle in, and get to work creating some art according to this marathon's theme: "Lost and Found". Everyone's welcome, whether you're an amateur or professional, regardless of medium. Artists have until 6 o'clock on Saturday to finish up, when we'll begin set up for the gallery show starting at 8 pm. The gallery show will feature the freshly squeezed art, four bands, food, drinks (BYOB if you're so inclined); all for $2 at the door.

It's going to be a blast. Even if you aren't interested in the "making art" portion of the event, the gallery is going to be really fun. Who doesn't like music, art and food? If you're in the Pittsburgh area, I hope I'll see you there!

2007-09-18T06:11:00.000-07:00

Chapter 37: The Missing Piece

David finally has access to his memories, and the real contents of the shack reveal themselves in vivid fashion.

These chapters were my carrots for writing this entire story; I loved every feverish minute of it. You should see my notes for this scene: pages after pages of various objects that would communicate my own memories of childhood... not to mention the memories that might hold relative to my brother's adolescence,since this whole shebang is for him in the first place. I had to omit a lot to keep it from being just too much, and I'm still not sure I deleted enough.

There some obvious liberties taken, of course. Our dad is thankfully still very much alive and kicking, and although we grew up with dogs, none were technically killed by car accidents. The attitude and feelings of David's mother are more me than our mom: since Seth's so much younger than I am, I've always felt responsible for him, even if it's not in the he-came-from-my-womb kind of way.

Some things are lifted directly from our childhood. The goose-shaped cookie jar, for instance, was always full of mom's NutriGrain bars, which were off-limits to us kids (we stole them anyway). We always had TONS of National Geographics lying around. The inspiration for The Batman tee was a set of PJs Seth had when he was a toddler that he wore until the pants turned into shorts and the shirt showed most of his belly. I'm sure he'd be happy to know I'm sharing that they had a teddy bear police officer on the front. We also really painted a giant fantasy-themed mural on the back of our house - I painted the dragon.

Although I don't have quite the affection for dragons that Emily does, all of my stories so far have featured the creature, and I did think it an appropriate theme to continue throughout this one. Also, one of the coolest tattoos I've ever seen was a huge dragon on a beautiful woman's back. So there you go.

On a more sober note, Wheel of Time's Robert Jordan passed away yesterday of a rare blood disease. I read the WoT series in high school and college and enjoyed it immensely. His plots are complicated and epic, and I really loved the main characters (all 37 of them). My thoughts go out to his family and my fellow fans.

2007-09-13T21:26:00.001-07:00

Chapter 36: A Familiar Face

David and gang reach the center of the Lake and its mysterious shack... and within? Secrets!

A few weeks back, I recollected a conversation that Josh and I had regarding how a person spends their time; the why's and how's of what people do, specifically surrounding the subject of writing a novel. I'm a naturally patient person anyhow, so the whittling away of page after page and scene after scene isn't torture -- it isn't always awesome, but its doable.

When things do get tough, I usually have a carrot. There's some kind of reward at the end of the tunnel -- and this scene was it. The "Memory Shack", as I refered to it in my mind (and on the outline) was what I worked towards for the first 150 pages of the story. When we did brainstorming sessions, this was the scene that lit up my colleagues' faces, and the turning point that Josh kept asking about when he read the nth draft.

Things begin to really come together over the next two chapters... Years ago, when I was sitting in awe at a Cirque du Soleil performance and inspiration struck -- this was the imagery that sparked David's tale.

2007-09-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

Chapter 35: Beyond the Surface.

David and gang head out to the Lake, the key to unlocking David's mysterious past. Interesting questions arise, and help comes in an unexpected form. We also get our first shot of the Lurk.

The Labor Day weekend was comprised of three beautiful packed-but-relaxin' days. I went rollerblading twice (and wiped out only once, yay!), gave myself a ballet class, went to Lake Morraine for hanging, went to and hosted a bbq, saw "License to Wed" (ew), and attended a meeting about the 24-hour Creative Marathon in a few weeks. There was more, but it was so much fun I can't remember it all. Madness!

The weekend was to be my official last hurrah before beginning my next novel. My start date of Sept 1st has been adjusted a little because of some unforseeable circumstances, but I'm still feeling very excited about the whole thing. Or, I would be if I wasn't presently feeling over-worked and over-caffeinated. It's all for good reason, though, I promise.

2007-08-29T06:47:00.000-07:00

Chapter 34: Do you Hear?

After the drama of the tundra, David and crew find themselves in relative safety. Calemadestes' horn gets another try, and they set off to retrieve his memories.

Last weekend Josh and I took part in Doughnuts and Art 2, and I've posted the art I showed there below:

I'm afraid I really can't offer much explanation on these. I think the sheriff is a little weak, but Josh liked him a lot, so I kept him. The ladies were very fun, and I think I might do some pin-up style illustrations in the same round and simplified style.

I will say these made me wonder about doing some "western" style fantasy... I've never considered it before, but I'm sure the genre exists somewhere. I'll have to see what's out there.

2007-08-24T06:17:00.001-07:00

Chapter 33: Break Free

The Child loses his will with the appearance of Susan and the Matecai... and everything descends into chaos. Wonderful, dangerous chaos, especially if you're the Child.

Podcamp Pittsburgh 2 was this weekend, and I hope I saw you there. We had an even bigger turnout this year than last (or at the halfway mark "Bootcamp" that was hosted at April. Everyone has had a positive reviews about the unConference, and our attendees were a wide range of age and expertise -- I find getting positive feelings about an event from such a various demographic impressive. If you weren't there, please visit their site for more information about the sessions covered (I think presenters are still posting their outlines), and for crying out loud: register for Podcamp 3, tentatively schedule for sometime in Sept '08.

This weekend's Podcamp also saw the creation of the word "bacn", which is loosely defined as "email you want, just not right now". Basically, it's all those notifications you get from myspace/twitter/Borders/etc that you did technically ask for, but don't really need to attend to immediately. But it's not spam, which is never wanted or voluntarily asked for.

The funny thing about "bacn" is how quickly it swept across the web, and how immediate the response -- whether love or hate -- to the spanking new web word. The boys set up a site to help define it, but it's a topic of discussion all over. Let's talk about it: lots and lots and lots of other places have.

I'm also participating in this weekend's Doughnuts and Art2. There's three bands playing that I've heard a lot of good things about, and there will of course be doughnuts and coffee. It's also BYOB if you're inclined (and of the appropriate age). Maybe I'll see you there!

2007-08-16T06:41:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Let me start by saying that there will be no spoilers in this post. I won't go into any detail of the plot, since I know it was important to me to go into the final book completely blind. I wouldn't want to be responsible for spoiling that experience for anyone else; instead, I will simply blather vaguely about it's excellent structure points, how reading the series has affected me, and the general, over-all awe in which I regard the fantastic Ms. Rowling.

The series is complete. Some of my suspicions were confirmed and there were some surprises.

As I hoped, there will be no surprise 8th book. I find this finality comforting. In fact, I stopped reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series a few years ago for the specific reason that I am afraid that the author will die before wrapping up the massive series. And if I'm going to be that mentally and emotionally involved in a tale -- as I have been with HP -- I need closure.

I feel an overwhelming satisfaction, but also a distinct sense of sadness that has nothing to do with the plot. It's over. I'm going to miss the adventures, characters, and fantastic settings -- but the ending was, if I were British, spot on: exciting, intelligent, emotional, magical and right. I really feel there was no other way it could have ended.

And, to interject a little author worship, that's the most extraordinary thing to me: there is no other way it could have ended. Why? Because Rowling laid the ground work for the final 150 pages six books ago, and built on that foundation impeccably through the thousands of pages in between.

And here's another thing I found incredible: the fantasy world she built. Yes, there is a fantastic sense of imagination going on there -- with the magic, muggles, spells -- but she built solid and unbreakable rules that she did not once break for the sake of the plot. In a world that intricate and vivid, I would find it hard to keep all the rules straight, first of all, and even harder not to allow them to shape the ending into something either too easy or too unbelievable.

The point is that I'm pretty much in total admiration of Rowling and her amazing brain. I'm such a little fangirl.

THE GOOD
I'm infinitely inspired by her. The fact that she didn't really begin writing until later in life (not very late, granted, but out of her 20s), and that she created such an incredibly involved world for this wonderful, original story to take place in... that she handled her characters in such amazing ways -- there were so many of them, and they never broke from their normal personalities... that her plot wrapped in the most logical, perfect way that it did... that her writing was so vivid and descriptive, without being overly so... and a dozen other things my feeble writing could never capture adequately. It makes me want to better what I do, to push it farther than I ever have before; to make my writing more than it ever has been.

THE BAD
I can't compete. Even in the midst of my best, most confident self-pep talk, I can't ever pretend to be half the story-teller she is. And that leaves me feeling discouraged and very inadequate.

Also, I won't be reading anything else for a while. That was my plan anyway, since I begin on my next novel in Sept, but I have no desire to read anything else. I think I need time to mourn the end, and my brain refuses to accept that anything I might read would live up to the HP series. And, as an aspiring fantasy writer, I wonder how many other people out there will be feeling the same thing. I think HP revealed the fantasy genre to a whole demographic of people that wouldn't have otherwise experienced it; does that mean they will return to other genres when nothing else lives up quite the way HP did? Not that there isn't quality fantasy out there (I'm wishing to shortly be among those in the pool, after all), but there will never be anything like Harry Potter again.

But there's beauty in that, too, and I for one feel blessed to have been a part of it all: waiting for the next book to come out (what's the title? what's the cover? what happened to so-and-so?); discussing theories with other readers; watching my husband -- a savage reader of computer/coding manuals -- become immersed and excited by the book and movies; dressing up as Hermione for Halloween. Of all the things that go into having kids, I can't wait until I can read them this series as bed time stories, as my parents did for my brother. It's been a great ride, and although I am genuinely sad it's over, it's been a pleasure to have been a participant.

And thus, I've completely exhausted my vocabulary for synonyms of "good".

All was well.

2007-08-12T12:49:00.001-07:00

Chapter 32: Dark Reflections

David and the Child finally uncover each other's identities, while Susan finds two legs to stand on. And we face losses.

I don't like stories where no one dies. One of my favorite television shows is 24, because no one is safe. We like to think Jack Bauer is safe because he's the main character... but we're never sure. And those secondary characters you begin to care about? Careful, because everyone is expendable.

Ironically, I tend to care greatly for lots of characters -- secondary, tertiary, that extra in the grocery store or random dog-walker in the park, all of them. And I love all my characters like little children, so knocking any of them off is really hard. If you're spinning a tale of possible world doom, however... I for one can't take the story seriously without any real danger. That means putting your characters through some stuff. And that means they won't always come out the other side of adversity unscathed -- or at all.

In that same vein, I've finished editing David for the bazillionth time; and now, as a reward: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I really respected JK Rowling's decisions concerning expendability in books 5 and 6; and although I am terrified of who will die in the final book of the series, it will be worth it. Big risks can mean big dividends. I have high expectations.

2007-08-08T15:17:00.000-07:00

Chapter 31: The Puppet Show

The Child offers David an education, while Charlie and Susan fend off a pesky Raker.

Once upon a time in the land of December 2006, Rachel sat down and made 30 chapter icons for her website. She could have made all 52, but thought 30 would do at the time... probably because she had some sort of fun holiday thing to do instead. Well, 30 put us at about.... oh, last week: which is the why the chapter update was late this week. It was a very complicated rigamarole, but it was also a good lesson on why you should could keep all your project files on a single computer; I jumped from Mac to PC, and in between 2 different generations of Photoshop and Illustrator which, needless to say, slowed the process down quite a bit. Excuses, excuses, blah-blah, woof-woof.

Interestingly (or at least I think so), this is the chapter I was was editing just yesterday in my great tSoD August Overhaul. And, in a genuinely interesting fashion, you can imagine those snowmen as the deranged mutant killer monster snow goons that Calvin likes to build. They actually looked differently in my head when I was writing it, but have since morphed in my mind's eye to Bill Waterson's works of wonderfully demented snow people. If you haven't read any of C&H go and do so now. It is my favorite comic strip ever.

2007-08-07T16:39:00.000-07:00

Chapter 30: Betrayal

David and the Child continue to trade words. The Child discovers that David hides his identity, and that irritates him. I like his little tantrums, he's such a whiner.

Usually I check each chapter as it comes up, but it seems I missed this one. I guess readers got an advance viewing of the first page of chapter 30 (because it's totally missing from this week's PDF). Ideally, one would read this scene as a nice chunk; in this form it is certainly a little drawn out. I know, because I've been writing "David and the Child trade words" or "David and the Child prepare for conflict" as the teasers/summaries for over a month. Some things will be revealed soon, I promise. Important things, meaningful things.

Although apparently this is not a case of sooner rather than later -- I have been unable to post the next chapter this week, and here it is already Tuesday evening. There are plenty of excuses, and I will offer sufficient grovelling tomorrow, I promise.

In the meantime, go here. I'll be participating in Doughnuts and Art 2.0 again, so be sure to stop by and view some great art. I've got great plans for my pieces, great plans.

Also, in the super busy month of August: Podcamp Pittsburgh 2! If you're at all interested in new media, come out and play. Josh and I will only be there until 3 on Saturday (alas), but it's going to be awesome anyway.

2007-07-22T12:12:00.001-07:00

Chapter 29: Looming Enemies

David and gang prepare to engage the enemy.

And I love Thor. Just sayin'.

I'd forgotten how hard it can be to get back in the saddle. David's formation meant a lot of long hours in our local coffee shop after The Real Job, planning and typing until I thought my fingers were going to fall off. I finished the most intense writing portion in approximately a year, then launched into editing. Editing is of course its own kind of monster, but progress on that front is much faster, if still a many-hours kind of thing.

The talk of goals in my last post was inspired by my own short-/long-term planning, and my current schedule is to begin my next novel on Sept 1st of 2007. In the meantime, it's time to begin submitting David to agents to see if anyone is interested in pimping it for possible publication.

However, I do want to scrub through it again (oh, one more time, just for fun) before I send it away for possible adoption. I sat down with Nancy Kress's "Beginnings, Middles & Ends" at my usual writing hot spot and discovered a few things:

A) "Beginnings, Middles & Ends" is an excellent book. Clearly written and very practical, it's a great resource for a writer. There's a lot of good information/exercises to take advantage of, and it's a fast read/checklist if you, like me, are relatively happy with your manuscript and presently in the editing stage. I made a real improvement with minimal effort.

B) According to her direction (and my critical eye), I am thankfully on the right track concerning the first and second scenes. This does not mean that it was error-free (is that possible?) but that I really didn't have to do much to tighten it up. Huzzah.

C) ...aaand sitting in a coffee shop for hours requires a long-forgotten dose of stamina.

Good grief. I had forgotten how intense the whole exercise is. Granted, my brain isn't on the Full Steam Ahead setting at the moment; I will say there is a different mind-set when you are simply trying to muscle through a scene over the course of several evenings... But regardless, sitting should not be this difficult.

Fortunately, my Sept 1st planning period factors in re-reading HP6 and then gobbling the seventh and final book of Harry Potter. Time for a break! So I'm going to go... well, I'm going to sit, but sit somewhere else.

2007-07-17T05:43:00.000-07:00

"Why do you do it? And how do you do it?" A couple weeks ago, Josh and I were having a deep and philosophical discussion about the things we do and why we do them.

He was referring to writing, and the long and arduous process of sitting down to create a novel. He's been around through all my writing adventures, and was wondering how you tackle something that you know is going to eventually be 200+ pages long.

Setting Goals and Remaining Patient
In my opinion, setting goals is something that everyone should do, whether they be for personal, career, creative, financial or family. Goals were rammed down my throat as a kid, because as a child we have a bunch of people setting goals for us since they assume we aren't competent enough to set them for ourselves. Well, now you're a grown-up: you can set your own.

Short term goals are to be completed today, tomorrow, this week. Long term goals are slated for next month, January 2008, when I'm 50... and they should all work in tandem. After all, you can't complete the first 100 pages of a novel by January 1st, 2008 if you don't sit down and write today, tomorrow and all this week.

My suggestion? Take all the big goals and chunk them out into smaller and smaller bites until they are something manageable. This allows for: a) Hope, because you see that you only need to do X to reach that Long term goal, or b) Despair, because there is no way you can do X and have it completed by the time you wish. Here's some ways I've found to make the a's outweigh the b's.

Be realistic: planning for a goal that is unattainable is a set up for failure. You can't conquer the world by tomorrow. It might take you a month, or a year.

Be patient: just because you've gotten your giant mountain of a goal whittled down to something you can chew on doesn't mean it isn't still going to be a challenge.

Be stubborn. If you plan to work on a project all day Saturday, don't be discouraged or tempted away. If the coffee shop where you hole up and work is crowded, grab the corner, less comfortable seat or find another place to go. If your neighbor has a cookout, skip it -- or only stay for an hour before packing up and sticking to your plan.

But on the flipside, be flexible. You can stick to that hard deadline if you are diligent with your short term accomplishments, but life will still happen. The day job will suddenly demand extra hours, a vacation or trip will pop up, maybe you or your child will get sick -- just roll with it. Understand that it might require more dedication later, but sacrificing too much will either burn you out before you meet your deadline or make you miss the things that make life worth living.

These are the lessons I've picked up in reaching (or failing to reach) my goals. How about you?

2007-07-17T05:22:00.000-07:00

Chapter 28: The Reasons Why

David and the Child size each either up from a distance.

The perspectives between these two are interesting. David looks at the approaching fight as a means to survival... he just wants him and his friends to make it out alive. The idea of defeating the Child is almost vague and abstract, and he doesn't really have anything in the way of a plan... he's winging it. The Child, on the other hand, doesn't worry about any sort of threat from David, and instead only revels in the idea of David's complete annihilation; he's dreaming of all the possible discomforts he could rain down the boy. Two very different approaches.

We had a long, over-due, brainstorming session on Friday with the Old Crew and it was wonderful. Once upon a time (a year and half ago? maybe two years?), Josh, Justin and I used to find ourselves at a coffee shop or Eat'n Park semi-weekly for some critique and general idea-bouncing for our particular projects. I know that SoD benefitted tremendously from these sessions, to the tune of it probably not even being complete if it hadn't been for our little meetings.

When it comes to hobbies/careers of creation, I think it is really important to have some level of support around you. It is really easy to become comfortable in the little box you make for yourself, and having outside support (to bring you up when you're down) and criticism (to bring you back to reality when you're not) is infinitely important to helping boost the success of whatever your project is.

Brainstorming is a powerful thing, and when you're with people whose opinions you trust, really good things can happen. Having done it for a while means we're familiar with one another's characters and material, and the fresh perspective allows suggestions that we wouldn't have thought about on our own. Plus, we're all comfortable enough that receiving criticism doesn't hurt, and throwing out ideas that aren't excitedly jumped on is okay too, since it could concievably only take one really good one to break through.

Having that support there -- or simply available just-in-case, since we haven't had a play date for a while -- is critical to success. Go find yourself a crew!

2007-07-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

Chapter 27: Take It Back

Bear moves the gang to a better vantage point for getting their butts kicked, and Thor delivers another pep talk... which may or may not fall short.

This is another "getting read to rock" chapter. Ideally, this would be part of another chapter so there isn't the stop and go. I'll remedy that in the next draft, I think.
Josh and I got into a very interesting discussion the other day about what makes people do the things they do -- professionally or in their free time -- especially when those things seem so unappealling to us.

For instance, I think worming through hundreds of lines of code sounds like a great nominee for the 5th level of hell... but he can't get enough of it, even when it drives him crazy. Likewise, I have a love/hate relationship with writing. But it's a labor of love, I suppose. It's mad to sit down in a coffee shop after a full day of work and write until you're ready to fall over and/or your brain is oatmeal; to have to divide a scene up into the days of a work week because that's when you can do it; to pass up hanging out with real humans so you can construct a fantasy world around a main character that isn't you; to live on java and the over-sized cookies from the coffee shop... there's a lot going on there, and it doesn't even sound particularly awesome to me, and I voluntarily live it.

It is interesting to think about what goes in to something like this; or any large piece of work, really. There's brainstorming, outlining, planning, notes, writing and then rewriting, editing... plus a dozen other steps I don't even think about. But you chip away at it, slow and steady, and you eventually get it done. Or close to done, since David isn't really finished, not even a year after it's "completion".

2007-07-03T06:43:00.001-07:00

Chapter 26: The Reaper Rides at Midnight

David leaps from a grisly nightmare, now aware of exactly what is coming, and the crew packs up. Meanwhile the Child and his vicious posse approaches.

This is one of those times when I question the chapter breaks. I've gotten mixed reviews on the size of the chapters... some like the fact that they are short, sometimes very dramatic, little bites; others don't like how chopped up the entirety of the story can get.

The size of the chapters vary throughout, and there are times when I can shift scenes within a chapter... other times, I feel it is appropriate to start a new one. It's hard to explain the method behind the process when it's more of a "gut feeling", but I typically break for a scene change or an "oh boy" kind of cliff hanger or discovery.

Ultimately, they work better in paper format because you can simply turn the page... I imagine if you are reading and involved, it would be frustrating to tune in on Monday and get only one or two pages and then wait. I will warn you: there are a couple of those coming up -- but I think there's a few six or seven pagers, too.

Josh (a fan of the short chaps) pointed out that if I combine chapters I'll end up losing some of the cool chapter icons -- that would be a shame, but I'm ultimately concerned about the story flow. Mostly.

2007-07-02T05:13:00.000-07:00

Chapter 24: The Weight of Choice

Chapter 25: Never Alone

"The Weight of Choice" gives us more information about the strange place David has found himself in, and what choices have been thrust on him.

"Never Alone" shows Thor's ability (or lack of) giving a pep talk. David suddenly has a lot to think about, and he's running out of time as their vicious pursuers get closer.

Sorry for the lack of updates here -- there will also be another chapter update tomorrow, since I'd over-estimated just how on top of SoD I was (I was a week short in advanced posting...) But be kind: I got married last weekend, and just about every side project/hobby I have has been pushed miles to the wayside.

I participated in an art show on Saturday night, and if Josh and I hadn't done a gallery in coincidence with our ceremony/reception, there's no way we could have pulled it off... as it was, we really just grabbed some of the stuff we had framed and displayed at the wedding and ran to the venue.

I won't get too much into the wedding, except to say it was WONDERFUL. It was primarily outside, which can be a gamble in Pittsburgh, but it was a sunny 74 degrees with low humidity. We did a self-uniting license, which meant we effectually married ourselves -- and allowed us a lot of creative liberties. I wrote the ceremony myself, and we each did our own vows. And you haven't lived until your partner has called you "totally awesome" in front of your 100 favorite people...

At the reception we had volleyball, hillbilly golf, a wii, and of course: the art gallery. Josh and I wanted to show some of our artwork to both our friends and family since no one actually knows what we do for a living/hobbies: ask our family, and you will hear that Josh "fixes printers" and I make "billboards". In reality, Josh is a software programmer/developer and I'm a graphic designer, and we both do a lot of creative things on the side. The gallery was very well received, and apparently surprising to a lot of people. It's nice to showcase the things you do: comics, paintings, sketches, sculpture... and of course SoD and the training wheel novels.

If you're feeling stalker-y, feel free to check out some of the pics here.

2007-06-15T09:25:00.000-07:00

Chapter 23: The Frozen Earth

David and crew journey from the milky discomfort of the Kore Forest to the frigid plains of the tundra. David's suspicions about Charlie's changing size is confirmed, and they meet yet another couple new faces.

I'll remove the pop reference (seeing as how it only really makes sense to me and my PBS-centered childhood from the 80's), but I enjoy this introductory chapter to Bear and Thor.

As a writer, it's funny what you choose to name your characters. They can be as complicated as "Calemadestes" and as simple as indicating exactly what your talking to -- in this chapter's case: "Bear". But, at least for this story's case, I am hoping it will become clear eventually why everyone is named the way they are.

As an aside: my brain wrote/reads Thor's quips in a British accent. I can't speak a British accent AT ALL, and I have no idea how I've written it -- I suspect very badly. My exposure to that brand of english is limited to an occasional Monty Python episode and an interview with Dr. House I saw 6 months ago. I don't think anyone else reads it that way, but it entertains myself to no end. I love that little guy.

And a short warning: I'm getting married in 8 days (I'll just pause there while the panic sets in for a moment... okay, I'm alright). I'm still going to try and post here on Monday, but I forecast tardiness. It's Friday and I'm just now getting my thoughts up on the current chapter that was released Monday. The actual site that holds the chapters is up and ready to go for three weeks, but this may get pushed to the wayside. It may be Friday next week before I post again is all.

2007-06-04T15:21:00.000-07:00

Chapter 22: To Bury One's Head

A great exchange between the cowardly birds, and their willful ignorance helps David come to his own conclusions on where he stands in this big, strange world.

Ah, the birds. I enjoy showing groups of unknown characters in a state of discussion or argument. What they say, the exact vocabulary they use, how they say those things and the body language they use can do a whole lot of introduction in a very short time. Dialogue is such a power house of insinuated description anyhow; and the, er -- we'll call it cold -- nature of the giants is a good match to the chilly whiteness of the mist.

2007-05-31T18:54:00.000-07:00

Chapter 21: The Soaring White

David and company are forced to camp out in some very unfavorable conditions. When sleep finally does come, it sends him into the mind of the enemy to rediscover a horrible fact... one that could very well solidify David's path in this world.

My fiance finally got around to finishing up the novel last week, and gave me some very interesting feedback. Seeing as how fantasy is not his genre of choice, his take was overall very favorable. He indicated some things that I've kind of suspected all along, which isn't surprising, but it was still positive for somebody that has a really hard time accepting talking animals as actual characters.

Surprisingly, he loved the scene that is currently playing out in the forest. He went on and on about the foggy forest, and how he could really feel himself there. That's a really nice thing to hear, especially when the critical eye rejects many of the characters on the basis you can't have a tail and a voicebox, and really, "Calemadestes is not a real name". Regardless, I love the feedback.

2007-05-23T18:25:00.000-07:00

Podcamp Meet Up

I usually save this blog for creative stuff, but... well, I guess this does apply. This thing is supposed to be about creativity, and an important part of that is tools.

My usual tool box contains my keyboard, a mouse, a pencil, maybe a paintbrush. Oftentimes, I forget that community is also vital part of those resources.

Every month, the organizers of Pittsburgh's Podcamp arrange a meet-up to discuss Podcamp. It's a great collection of people, whether they attended last year's Podcamp or are interested in the one coming up in August. It seems each month the gatherings get bigger, and I always meet someone I've never spoken to before.

What's really nice is the excitement that everyone has, both for new media and Pittsburgh as a city. It's refreshing to be in a room with a big group of people that don't regard Pittsburgh as the industrial, smoky city that we've been told it is since the Steel Days. I had to leave this one early, and left feeling decidedly unsatiated. There's so many opportunities here, in Pittsburgh, and on the web.

My mind is swirling with ideas... and when you do something in any kind of creative field, it's the ideas that are the most valuable thing in your toolbox. The other tools just shape that idea into something tangible.

2007-05-21T20:43:00.001-07:00

Chapter 20: Haunting the Wood

David and company part ways from the circus as both move on, and a new companion joins their ranks. David has time to mull over Calemadestes' words regarding his situation, even if her answers create more questions, and they find themselves in the mysterious milky growth that is the Kore Wood.

I don' t watch a lot of television, but there are a couple shows that I really enjoy. Both are on Monday nights and, ironically, pitted against one another in the same time slot.

The first is Fox's 24. This show has held my interest longer than any other series on television. It centers around one main character -- Jack Bauer, a member of the US's Counter Terrorist Unit -- and a revolving door of supporting characters. Each season is heart-stopping drama and blowing stuff up, and I am continually impressed with what they do in the varying shades of world-domination/destruction. And, as always, Jack is in there somewhere -- delivering some amount of inhuman sacrifice for his country and always being right when the president doesn't know what to do. Jack is such an incredible character.

The second show is NBC's Heroes. I love it when things have a sci-fi twist anyway, and this has just the right amount of impending doom thrown in. The ensemble cast (and accompanying powers) play off one another flawlessly, and the whole thing believably pulled off in the real world makes for superb story-telling.

That's what's engaged me with both of these series, beyond the bad mamma-jamma that is Jack Bauer (seriously, the guy's technically died three times and tortured a president and not broken my cognative dream once); it's the thing that caught my attention above the far-fetched abilities of the people in Heroes. It's how the characters interact with other people, environments and situations: that's the story.

The season finale of Heroes especially has me considering things to do with tSoD2, and it's got more to do with the people and their fantastic characteristics than their crazy-cool powers.
They're so human... I am so impressed with their vulnerabilities and flaws. Even Jack Bauer, with all the greater good he does on 24-- he's still a broken, busted man because of everything he's been through.

I love making up characters, but I'm not good at inventing flaws; much in part because I like to believe everybody is mostly good inside. That will be a good challenge for my next writing escapade: inventing characters with downright weaknesses and terrible vulnerabilities. The most basic form of character sketches are happening now in my brain... more soon, more soon.

2007-05-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

Chapter 19: Dawning

More cryptic answers for David's cryptic questions. There's more to Calemadestes than vague leadership and two word answers. And: Miles!

The basis for Calemadestes came from a comic book character I drew in high school. Me and my artist friends would have sleep-overs where we stayed up late into the night to draw or read comic books, pumped full of raw ramen noodles and Diet Coke to keep us going until dawn. We were obsessed with comic books and, since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I proceeded to pretty much rip off my favorite X-Men and Xcalibur characters. Of course, I thought they were all original ideas at the time; but hardly anything you create in middle school is actually a new idea -- it's just new to you.

There were several characters I still remember, although more by their powers than their actual names. I have a few inked sketches of them, even. There was one that was your run-of-the-mill-psychic-flies-through-the-air girl, and a chick who's body played host to an ancient Chinese dragon, which gave her pretty righteous powers -- although, I don't think they were ever actually defined... I just like to draw her channeling the dragon in various dramatic ways. Another had all ball-in-joint joints and could climb walls like a bug.

Yet another girl was very nature-y; she could talk to trees and communicate with animals, that sort of thing. She was also seven feet tall and could kick a lot of butt with her bow staff. That's the one that popped into my head when I was brain-storming for Clam. She lost the bowstaff and she can no longer make the trees grow according to her whim... but she gained a giant galloping lizard, which is pretty cool. It was more fun fleshing out a striking character like her when I've known and met more impressive people through the years -- as opposed to Bill Nye the Science Guy, Ronin Warriors, Batman: the Animated Adventure, and 90210, which all served as my exposure to cool characters when I was 14. She's definitely got more life this round, and became a very engaging character for me throughout the writing. You'll see more of her later.

For the record, 99% of the characters I created back then were girls, because I could never draw dudes. I did try to draw some sort of lumpy-muscled monstrosity (that was a clear rip-off of the X-Men's Beast, I might add), and I'm pretty sure his name was Lor. I think I gave him insect eyes. Regardless, he garnered a lot of criticism, and I have declined running for political office on the off-chance he will ever surface. He was that awesome.

2007-05-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

A little philosophy

We were sitting around talking philosophy (or, rather, I was listening and randomly chiming in), when Josh proposed the idea that perhaps everyone exists on different wavelengths, and that we only see those that are on our wavelength or frames per second. The twist is that if you existed on a different wavelength than the one you experience every day, you could see other people or places or things that you are unaccustomed to...

What an INTERESTING idea. Now stay tuned -- my posting of this conversation subject will make full sense in about, oh, two years.

2007-05-09T06:27:00.000-07:00

Chapter 18: Attack!

The circus -- and David's new found friends -- are ambushed. There are more Rakers and nasty Crows than David has had to deal with outside of his dreams, and the scene at the stream quickly descends into a full blown nightmare. This chapter was the first real action scene in David, when you count all the people and bad guys, and I had a BLAST. I was listening to the last 5 tracks from the Narnia soundtrack during the actual fighting scene (which is the final battle in the movie). And seriously, Charlie is one kick-butt birdcage.

I've been on a kind of quest for personal branding lately. My experience with branding comes with my job in advertising, but in my opinion that is an entirely different game for tSoD, especially since my workplace keeps me in the visual realm of branding (logos, colors, etc). But with bootcamp having come and gone, and Podcamp coming again in the fall, the social networking stuff really gets to be inspiring. And I think it can be a vital aspect to making what you do a success. For instance, Chris Brogan (social media butterfly and general Cool Dude) recently gave a fantastic post on personal branding on his blog. Between the post and the resulting comments, there is a lot of good stuff there, so give it a glance.

My personal challenge: I stink at talking to people. I can chat online like nobody's business if we've met before, but I still have problems talking on the phone with friends I've known for years. So speaking to strangers is kind-of-sort-of well-maybe-really-intimidating.

Is it an excuse? Yes. Is it lame? Oh definitely, especially because the people I meet at the functions I do attend are so darn nice it's hard to imagine why I get nervous and run out of intelligent words to say. But no one knows what you're doing unless you tell them. End of story.

So go tell someone, I'm trying my hardest to do the same.

2007-05-01T07:58:00.000-07:00

Doughnuts & Art at the Creative Treehouse was a fantastic time. The total tally of attendees was something around 130, and I got some nice feedback on my work. There was a lot of really great work being shown, and a very wide variety available for hungry eyes. The only shadow of the evening was that 2 out of 3 bands cancelled, but an attendee approached one of the organizers and asked to play.

"Sure, what do you play?"

"The ukulele."

And it was AMAZING. There was also a tamborine and some spoons. I don't know what the bands that were supposed to be there sounded like, but man this guy was awesome. It added a whole new dimension to the show.

We also wandered down to 517521, a fantastic vintage everything store, and then down to Affogato for some (aka too much) wine and the most glorious peanut butter oatmeal cookie ever taken from an oven. An Amptique dance party finished the night (note to self: it is very hard to dance in galoshes) and we were homeward bound.

Plans are to repeat the whole thing in August, which should be fun. I think that will also be the month for the next 24-hour Creative Marathon and Pgh Podcamp2, so it will be a creative and productive summer!

2007-05-01T06:04:00.000-07:00

Chapter 17: Dance with Danger

A bad dream rips David from sleep, and a bizarre fire draws him outside. I mean for TSoD to be visually engaging, and the little flame is a fun example of that. I also like the similarity between David and the wooden sculpture, although I feel like I sort of beat that point to death; but I have gotten positive feedback on the comparison, so I'm keeping it.

I had a creative epiphany last week, and it gave me a much needed surge of energy.

My writing process is not a linear one. As I've mentioned before, I've done four novels so far. Each of them provided a great learning experience in one way or another, but TSoD was the first to ever really operate from an outline, and even then it was only loosely followed. In the past, I just sort of painted my plot into a corner until *poof!*, one day I uncovered the way they would neatly wrap up. Although this has worked out satisfactorily so far (and no one can claim the stories are predictable: since I don't even know the end!), it's not a way of writing I would encourage -- it's stressful, it can lead to many a rewrite, and I'm waiting for the time when a solution does not present itself in a timely manner. Then I will be in real trouble.

But Stephen King's On Writing talks on this point -- King's theory is that each story is already there, and it is the author's role to uncover the truth of it, and I agree. I think there are several ways to handle a story, and many paths to take for its completion: but there is only one true path, one best path. Each tale has a best possible path, and as the author it's my job to find where that route naturally forms.

The point is this: where am I going to go with David?

My plan from the beginning has been two books: basically a micro and a macro, a little picture and big picture. But I was on the way home the other day, letting my mind wander and relax (work and wedding planning are keeping it continually buzzing at 60 mph, it deserved a break) and suddenly, inexplicably -- this could be a trilogy.

Josh has encouraged me to consider carefully, and he's right. Trilogies can be cumbersome and just too much of a certain plot or idea or character. There is a dangerous, oversaturating element there; but my last trilogy got better and better with each book. That might simply be a declaration of my improved competence in writing, but it could also be the opportunity to produce a deeper, richer adventure.

I am still considering whether it is plausible or not, but I am also beginning to think it will be a necessary element to the tale. It would help connect David better with the reader and assign a more "real-world" element to the story, plus flesh out the stakes. Not to mention it will be a crazy challenge for me as a writer, since I'd be tackling a setting I've never undertaken before.

And the event that sparked the consideration in the first place? A crowded bus ride, excellent sound-proofed earbuds and one Nine Inch Nails song. I had forgotten just how inspiring music can be. Oh, the possibilities...

2007-04-28T05:38:00.000-07:00

Donuts and Art

It's short notice, but I should mention that I'm part of an art show/concert/dance party tonight. I'm showcasing four vector pieces that I did as studies for a book I illustrated for my mom. The book was for a Christmas present for my neice, and the sketches were never used in the actual story, although one of the monsters sort of made it in. I've got another piece that I might showcase if I can get it set up, since I had a little extra room on my wall, but I have a flat tire so I don't know if I'll make it out before the show starts.

I got to see some of the artists' work last night at set up, and there is some really quality stuff. If I had the money I'd probably buy an awesome painting someone did of a crow... I think it was called "Tribute to Mercutio" or something like that -- I'll be lusting after it all night, I'm sure. If you've read any of David (Caw!), the reason is obvious. Evil, evil birds.

It's funny -- when I left the gallery last night I was the only one showing digital art, and I was having a hard time feeling like an artist with all the wonderful traditional media everywhere. But I got to thinking about it, and art is like writing: it's there to tell a story and/or evoke emotion or thought, even if it's solely in the artist. My stuff is usually considered 'cute' or 'whimsy'... and I'm okay with that. If my silly-looking monsters make anybody smile tonight, I'll be ecstatic.

And actually, I know at least one person enjoyed them -- I sold one of the framed prints at the set up last night. yay!

2007-04-24T13:27:00.000-07:00

Chapter 16: A Story of Shadows

Well, it was bound to happen. Sunday marked the first time I missed an update. I promptly uploaded the chapter when I got home from work on Monday, but still... there is much shame.

A Story of Shadows is one of the better chapter titles I came up with -- it's dark, mysterious, and it's a great name for a metal title. Each of the chapter names are supposed to reflect the title of a song by the fictional band Metal, Inc... which is why you'll see a run time and album name accompany each chapter. It will all make sense at the end.

Story is our opportunity for a little explanation of the Lurk and the mysterious Child we keep hearing about. They are each different kinds nasty.

2007-04-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

Bootcamp Pittsburgh

Bootcamp was a blast. There were sessions on Intro to Blogging, Podcasting, Social Networking, and more, and it was a jolly good time. I participated in a panel called "Building Your Brand", which was fun and a little terrifying.

Branding is actually somewhat of an abstract concept. If you ask ten people what it is, you'll probably get ten different answers. Ultimately, it's you (or your business's) identity, and the relation it holds with its public. You can spread that identity in a variety of ways: by covering any and all communication and access points with your logo, becoming involved in your community, developing relationships with others in your specific field... and companies spend millions of dollars finding new ways of getting their identity to be recognized, remembered, and then trusted.

Speaking in public is not something I'm particularly good at, although I'm capable of it when prodded. My expertise lies more on the visual end of branding, which for the sake of the panel consisted of 'logos are great, you should get one' and then went into other aspects of spreading the word/vibe/personality of your particular corner of the web. Which was great, actually, but I had little to contribute to that.

My goal of being proactive was somewhat successful. I did not mention SoD in the introduction of myself during the panel, which was bad; but I did give out seven whole business cards, which for me is almost prostitution.

Regardless, the whole experience was amazing. I met a lot of really great people, and reconnected with people I haven't seen since November's Podcamp. Pittsburgh geeks (and I use the term oh-so-affectionally) are a wonderful breed -- I should know, I'm marrying one... New media unite!

2007-04-18T05:52:00.000-07:00

Chapter 15: The Welcome Wagon

After the rough creepiness of the Red City, the circus is (and was, to write) a wonderful breath of fresh air. We go from the terror and oppressive red glare to the energy, bright colors, and strange characters of a circus.

Secondary characters are awesome. When the spotlight isn't focused on a character, you can have so much fun building a personality and underlying history for each of them. When Josh was reading this section he would speak of Holder or Tanece or Jameela and I would cry "They're my favorite!" after each and every one of them. You can polarize a secondary without it seeming over the top, and I think that can help to push/contrast/compliment your main characters.

Back in the summer I volunteered at/attended Podcamp Pittsburgh, which was an UnConference discussing new media. This spring they are doing what's been deemed Bootcamp, as a way for individuals and small businesses to become acquainted with those new media tools -- blogging, video, podcasting, etc. If you fall into one of these categories, or would just generally like to check it out, stop by the Art Institue of Pittsburgh on 4/21. Festivities begin at 9 am and run to 4:30.

This time around I'm part of a panel in two sessions regarding "Branding". Come and learn about the magic of logos and identity!

2007-04-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

Chapter 14: Giant Killer

The tides can turn, and thank goodness. The Red City gives way to a lighter environment, at least for a while. The upside to this scene was listening to the Batman: Begins soundtrack over and over again. Mmm, so good.

My life is pretty consumed with wedding planning at the moment, so writing related things have been brief. I have, however, been nibbling at Rachel Vater's "The Agents Directory" as I commute to and from work everyday. It's an easy read and very informative, and makes the entire obstacle of finding an agent relatively approachable.

I say relatively because I've been doing research online about my different options in sharing tSoD.

I can keep doing what I am doing, and simply keep the story up in it's entirety at the close of 2007. There are many authors that do this all over the internet, with stories of varying length and quality. Fortunately -- or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it -- many of those posting their tales for free fall under the same genre umbrella as tSoD does: Young adult fantasy. Which means we're all gunning for the same readership.

I can try to get an agent, who would then pursue the routes of getting the story published. My brain can't really grasp the plausibility of this option, and keeps swinging back and forth between "possible" and "way impossible". The attempt is certainly possible, but not until after June. Then I'll be relatively project free (except for David's sequel), and can play detective on what agents would be appropriate and somewhat conceivable to send the ever-frightening query letter to.

The third option is self-publishing, which could be done in both physical paperback books and as eBooks for download and purchase. The only way for this to be successful (and I'm measuring success by units distributed, not money made) would be for me to market the thing like crazy. And I think I've already established that press and representation for David is not a strong suit for me...

Sigh.

2007-04-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

Marketing One's Self

Okay, I need to find a better way to present myself.

For instance: I had a perfectly wonderful evening playing scrabble. One of my opponents was a friend's mom, and we had a great time in the game. Afterwards, we had a little small talk as the coffee shop closed up, and she spotted the book I'm reading, The Agent's Directory.

"Who's the writer?"

In response, I wilted like a little embarassed flower and said something along the lines of "oh, well, that'd be me."

I actually do consider myself a writer, under the right conditions and with a tiny little pep talk ahead of time. I know, I know -- I write, so therefore I am a writer; but to me it's kind of pretentious to go around calling yourself a writer when you've never had anything published. Other people can do it, but it's hard for me to wrap my considerations around. Saying "I'm a writer" with humility is better than saying it with snottiness, as far as I can tell -- and since I'm petrified of coming across as stuck up about a story only 20 people have seen... I'll take a little bashfulness.

That particular dwarf doesn't do squat to instill any interest/confidence when I talk to someone in person, though.

I don't market David at all at the moment, although I plan to pick it up once the site is 100% complete and the story gets some real meat in it. Whether I pimp it or not, however, I should still have answers to the most common questions I get asked in person so I don't sound like a bumbling silly-head. I think preparing some boilerplate answers might be just what I need, at least so I sound confident about my 'product'.

I am a writer!

2007-04-03T11:36:00.000-07:00

Chapter 13: Finding You

...and they find Chilo. Or Chilo finds them, one of the two. Either way, it's not a good thing. The monster we saw from afar and luckily got around is back -- and she's pissed. Man oh man, do centipedes give me the willies now. And you think the reader's got it bad, witnessing all the horrible things the beast does... you should've been in my shoes a year ago, when I was putting my poor characters through the wringer while I tried to decide exactly what horror the Chilo was going to rain down on them.

This was a tough chapter because of the swift action I wanted to portray in the chase. I'm generally over-detailed in describing people's action, so trimming down the adjectives (and fluff) is something I have to work at. A good way of breaking it down, as described to me by one of my blessed editors:

The time it takes to read the action should be comparable to how long it takes for a character to act out that action.

In other words, if you've got some wham-bam-punch-pow crazy fast action, then don't make that exchange four pages long. If it's a long and drawn out scene -- like a battle or a train of thought during travel, it's okay to let it feel a little long.

Now, that's not by any means an iron-clad kind of rule, but it helps me determine how something reads... and it helps me keep it shorter than my natural instincts would encourage. For the record, nothing should ever "feel" long, not really... but a story should have contrast in it's timing, at least in my opinion. Just as there are spikes in your drama, humor, emotion, etc, there should also be contrast to how fast and slow your story progresses -- as long as it is moving forward.

2007-03-29T16:45:00.000-07:00

Chapter Twelve: Terror is a Hundred Feet High

...and we begin to make our way from the Red City, somehow. I like Susan's character a lot; the idea of someone being made of cloth and only being firm when they are courageous is something I think everyone can identify with. I know I feel shaky and wilted when I'm afraid. And Susan's afraid a lot.

Josh and I finally completed our sketch blog challenge. Many good things came from the whole experience. I've wanted to draw on a more regular basis for a while, and this was a good opporunity to get down to it. Contributing every day meant that some of the sketches were better than others, but it also meant that each piece didn't have to be a masterpiece, either.

I used to draw a lot, but the habit fell away as life got busier. The need to create is always there... hence the occasional artwork I do in connection with David. Unfortunately, when you don't do artwork frequently the quality drops -- then you get discouraged because your work isn't as good as it once was... and then you do it even less.

The sketchblog was a nice way to just DO IT, as opposed to being afraid about whether each thing will turn out fantastic. Indeed, some of them were downright bad; but there was the opportunity for redemption the next day and the day after that... and that took some of the pressure off.

2007-03-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

Sketch Thirteen: Rescue Me
I was trying to draw a portrait for my last sketch in this sketch challenge, but it wasn't working; and you can't present someone with a pic you drew of them if it isn't at least half decent.

I was watching our local news and saw a story about two people picked up in the Gulf of Mexico after falling from a cruise ship. That was frightening enough (they were successfully rescued, fyi) but then the news station showed a national spot on what to do if you are ever lost at sea. While the information was valuable enough, their presentation and dialogue was a RIOT, and the number of puns in the story removed any dramatic effect from the danger of the situation. Which means, dear reader, that sometimes it apparently doesn't have to be amazing, groundbreaking or clever... it just is what it is. So my last day of sketching is an homage to that newscast: over simplified, over dramatized and sarcastic.

2007-03-24T17:44:00.000-07:00

Sketch Thirteen: Sitter

Her anatomy is off, and the perspective is far from flawless, but this is a position I find myself in at work sometimes. My phone and my computer tower are at the opposite reaches of my center position at the monitor, so I end up leaning extreme side to side. I regret I don't get to wear that stuff to work, however -- and also, my hair is not quite that rad.

I totally have pink bones, though. True story.

2007-03-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

Sketch Twelve: Hellboy

My favorite comic book demon turned do-gooder... sort of. He's looking very curmudgened here... but it's hard to draw a under bite without doing that -- when it was turned up it gave him a weird, creepy smile. Go BPRD!

2007-03-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

Here, quickly! Before anyone notices I've disrupted our Sketch-Off...

Chapter 11: Hanging Prisoner

The city offers enough mystery in endless towers, countless bridges, and giant centipedes, but something even stranger resides in the city's center. But more on her next week; no sense on explaining prematurely.

I was able to see 300 over the weekend, and I thought it was AWESOME. It was the most fun I've had at a movie in years. It was visually spectacular, the creatures/characters were fantastic, the sound editing was phenominal and the acting was effective.

If David were ever made into a movie (and that's the way it's been in my head all along anyhow), I envision it very much in the style of 300 -- muted colors, wonderfully delicious slow-mos, a pounding soundtrack, and bodacious creatures. Of course, that's really easy for me to say since I've seen the movie and it rocked my socks off... and I would of course want to strive for David to have the same (or similar) effect.

I also happen to be a soundtrack girl; it's the only music I can write to, and appropriate since I like things to feel epic-y. My old faithfuls for SoD were: LoTR 1 & 2, Batman Begins, Narnia, Blade, Last of the Mohicans... The soundtrack to 300 sounded amazing, which is good timing -- I started the prologue to David's sequel earlier last week and will need some fresh material for this round. (Sh! don't tell anyone.)

2007-03-22T18:51:00.000-07:00

Sketch Eleven: Galoshes!

I have been lamenting the delay in getting a pair of galoshes I ordered... and they finally arrived via the USPS! They are pictured above. I have never owned a pair of galoshes before, and I did not expect them to be so... RUBBERY, but they are lime green with green apples. I can't wait for it to rain.

The irony being that I don't own an umbrella... hmmm.

2007-03-21T19:47:00.000-07:00

Sketch Ten: Dreamer

This is a character that makes an appearance in the third J&M book... She's like a person with a little coi fish mixed in, and only Mac can see and talk with her. She's a great character.

2007-03-20T19:08:00.000-07:00

Sketch Nine: The Tasting

Josh and I attended a tasting for our wedding today. It was a little overwhelming. I pushed for a caterer because I didn't want to have to worry about food stuff on the day of the party, and we picked a company in Pittsburgh called Yes We Cater on a passionate referral. We're pretty laid back in general, and we picked our facility based on the fact that it had a playground and room for volleyball and horseshoes; so when we sat down to discuss the menu a few months ago it was hamburgers and hotdogs, and we were very excited about it.

It's still hamburgers and hotdogs... but it's also so much more. I had wanted something a tiny step up from just regular picnic fare (since it IS a celebration) and boy did we get it. Josh and I both were super pleased with the spread the caterer provided, and completely overwhelmed when the food JUST KEPT COMING. Do not mistake the expressions above for any kind of negativity -- every single morsel was AMAZING -- we're just shocked at what all they prepared. YUM!

2007-03-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

Sketch Eight: Spartan

I didn't get to put as much time in this as I wanted, but it's a much better tribute to a film that's turned me into a giggling little fangirl. I saw 300 on Saturday night, and I haven't enjoyed a film that much in... well, it's been awhile. It was a spectacular cinematic experience.

2007-03-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

Sketch Seven:

Since I've been at an immediate loss for what to sketch here (see below's pitiful contribution as proof), I suggested that maybe Josh and I draw one another for today's sketch. I'd love to just sit and draw people and things nowadays. Fortunately, my fiance is not against me putting his resemblance down.

It's not 100% on, I know, but it's certainly not that far off. He's a little too flat in some places, a little too round in others... but I'm hoping you could pick him out of a line-up. I'm still getting the hang of this wacom.

2007-03-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

Sketch Six: Leaping Man

An absolutely horrible tribute to the movie that just rocked my socks off -- 300. I am being pressured into an inebriated game of scrabble. So this is what you get.

2007-03-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

Sketch Five: Neon girl
My palette tends to be more blacks, browns, reds and purples, so I wanted to try something completely off the chart for me. I also wanted to draw a girl rockin' a juicy ba-donka-donk. Mission accomplished!

I may draw some more of these... girls with curves are way fun to draw.

2007-03-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

Sketch Four: Robo-Ape

I don't know either.

2007-03-14T19:47:00.000-07:00

Day Three: Fog Study

I had a loooong day at work, so this was appropriate to my mood when I finally got home -- dull and gloomy. In general, atmosphere is a very weak point for me, so that's what I'm trying to focus on improving.

These are also great for reaquainting me with my wacom tablet... which, despite the best intentions, is still relatively new three years after its purchase. I'm learning a lot very quickly, however, and once I'm more comfortable I think it could become a regular tool. I need to try it out in Illustrator, too. I can bust some pretty good moves in Illustrator with a mouse, so I can't wait to see what I can with a pen and tablet.

2007-03-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

Sketchblog Challenge: Day Two

This is going to be a long two weeks, I can already tell. It's a good thing the deadline is midnight.

Here's some clouds. Clouds are so hard. It's difficult to get that wispy-but-still-mass-y look right. The main background for all my David painting and art has to do with the same grey, cloudy sky, which means I need to figure out how to make convincing clouds. I was lucky in the cover image for the mock-up, but I need to get a system down.

So here's a study on clouds -- some nice, simple, sunny, happy ones.

Also, I haven't done those sweet simplified "V" birds since I was probably in sixth grade. Rock!

2007-03-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

And it begins...

I've been challenged to a two week (minimum) sketch blog. I will admit I agreed on a whim, and my first contribution is... less than impressive. I'll probably begin a different blog for all this stuff tomorrow, but since it is technically related, we'll put it here for now.

This is a rough sketch for a planned painting. I'm still figuring out the details, so even though this was done in 15 whole minutes, it's still allowed me to work out some color details. I'd put more, but I have to have this baby live by midnight tonight or I have to listen to my fiance gloat.

And oh, how I hate that sound... cheers!

2007-03-12T05:51:00.000-07:00

Chapter 10: The Red City

Ooh, creepy-crawlies. The next few chapters started to seriously creep me out when I wrote them. Josh hasn't made it past this part in the story yet because they freak him out so badly. I didn't have a problem with centipedes before, but they sure do gross me out now. Especially after I took a day researching how they looked, moved, etc. "Too many legs" is right. yuck.

I've moved from Stephen King's "On Writing" on to more exotic territory. I first heard about Sergei Lukyanenko's "Night Watch" when I saw a preview for the first movie in the Russian trilogy being filmed overseas. The previews look RIGHTEOUS and so deliciously dark, it was love at first sight. So although I never got to see the first movie -- sometimes it's hard to round up people that don't mind subtitles -- I was thrilled to find a translated version at Powell's Bookstore in Portland when I was visiting my folks.

English is my first, and really only, language. I took five years of french in high school, but nothing really stuck past some various verbs and phrases. However, one thing I do remember about the class was translating "Le Petit Prince", or "The Little Prince". I recall thinking it was really a very cute story, and that I enjoyed the different style of storytelling.

The same applies with "Night Watch". I don't know if it's the translation or the actual core storytelling, but it's... different. There's a unique structure, a unique build and resolve.

With English stories, you get the notion when something's important. I'm not an insanely avid reader, nor do I possess an incredible intellect -- but when you mention the punkish man in the subway, I know he is probably going to talk to you, sell you something, or rob you. The mention of him alone insinuates his importance. In Lukyanenko's "Night Watch", that is not necessarily the case. And I like it.

The only two shows on television I watch are NBC's Heroes and Fox's 24. They both give you white rabbits to chase while you try and work out the plot, and make frequent gifts in the form of incomplete story arcs -- and I love it. Give me something where the main characters aren't safe, where good doesn't always win, give me a twist I didn't see coming.

"Night Watch" is dark and dangerous, with werewolves, vampires, Light and Dark Magicians, the general bending of reality... and a healthy dose of potential world doom hanging in the balance; but done in a way that is fresh when held against all the other fantasy I've read. It's very much worth the read.

2007-03-07T08:55:00.000-08:00

More Trilogy Talk

Although this blog is actually about The Sum of David, I can't help but be excited for the fate of one of my earlier stories. "The Cauldronborn" was the first in a series of three, and I started writing it in 2002 as a christmas present for my brother. I sent it off for the holiday and revised it several times. Since then, I feel I've outdone it several times over by those stories that came after.

Apparently, those other literary leaps and bounds don't matter to everyone.

One of my friends from high school showed a lot of interest in the books, and I sent the first two his way when they were completed (the other two were finished after he started law school, and I can't burden him with them while he's got those massive textbooks). Regardless, the first story found it's way into his gf's daughter's bedtime story rotation, and it seems Molly, the little girl, has not only started reading it on her own now... she's doing a book report on it at school.

If nobody else likes anything I've done, if no one ever wants to publish it, if I die without anyone ever having described me as a 'writer'... who cares?

A little girl in DC is doing a book report on it. And that more than makes it all worth it. :)

2007-03-06T13:32:00.000-08:00

Chapter Nine: Murder Wind

This is an admittably slow chapter, but it's necessary. You can't go 50 mph all the time, and we're only going to speed up shortly. I like stories with contrast in their plot, so here's my best attempt at that. In the meantime...

An interesting word in critiques.

I've had friends and relatives read and critique anything of length I've ever written. That list of who has varied according to the piece, and usually to how decent I think it is. Of the trilogy I've mentioned, the core included my mom and my best friend for the first book; for the last, which I personally felt was my strongest one of the three, I also reached out to my fiancé for critique. For David, that list doubled.

Since coming up with the basic idea four years ago, The Sum of David as a completed work has been my main goal, my pinnacle – my intended masterpiece. The grand culmination of all my writing practice in the past (Oh-so-grandiose music goes here).

But let's be serious. I'm only twenty-five years old. I'm a full-time graphic designer. And outside out of the full eight months I dedicated after my workday to writing the third and relatively final draft of David, I really just write whenever I feel like. I would love to see it in print, and let's all hope for it good and hard, but let's also be realistic. I'm not a professional.

That doesn't mean I didn't want the thing I've been poring my energy and effort (and free time and lack of social life) into to NOT be the best I can make it. Which meant that I got to the normal crew – Mom, Kelly, Josh – to read and give me feedback, but I also enlisted the help of three others for their critiques.

There's a danger in that, of course. Even trusted friends won't always give you the roughest news, even when you want to hear it. And you don't want to turn it over to someone you don't know very well, because there's a good chance they'll be under critical of it in fear of hurting your feelings.

I begged everyone who read this to be good and hard on David, and got some great responses. The person I knew the least about said he regretted agreeing to do it at first because of the time commitment; but he loved it by the time he finished it. Convincing a doubtful reader is a wonderful accomplishment, I promise, but I'm also sure it wasn't flawless... and I didn't get any sort of "well, it was slow here" or "was X really necessary?". Maybe ending on a high note makes you forgive the sins enacted before that point, but I want the whole thing to be enjoyable.

What this whole thing means is that I'm open to criticism. There aren't many of you out there reading, but I'd love to hear any comments on the individual chapters, the story up this point – whatever 'this' happens to be – characters, plot, pacing, whatever you got. Hate it, love it, let me have it. Whatever David is or will be, I still want it to be the best I can do.

2007-02-28T06:14:00.000-08:00

Creative Marathon Piece

Technically, this post doesn't have squat to do with The Sum of David, but the marathon was a focus of my time and energy over the last six weeks, so it gets to squeeze itself in alongside my tSoD stuff. I think I'm an artist before I'm a writer, so here's my attempt to legitamize that theory.

Ta daa! I'd say this took me a good 12 hours of the 24, with the other hours filled in with planning, eating, consuming energy drinks and/or coffee, socializing, sleeping, waiting for the paint to dry, and helping to set up for the event and show. Almost all the pieces were centered around "treehouse", and I was pleasantly surprised at all the different interpretations of that theme. It was LOTS of fun. I couldn't do it every weekend (I'm still recovering) but it was well worth the time and effort. Hopefully everyone that participated thinks so too.

...and I don't know what those are at the bottom: worms? slugs? stumpy snakes? I really couldn't tell you.

2007-02-27T05:25:00.000-08:00

Chapter Eight: Help Will Come

I hate the Rakers. I don't know where the idea for the boars came from, but they are sufficiently nasty. Black, horned, lumpy, red-eyed... I think they are terrifying. Apparently, so does David.

This is one of my favorite scenes in the story (of course, I have several 'favorites'). We see the Matecai in action, with that vicious rumble/scream and those spectacular elongating horns, tearing through those awful Rakers. Plus, we meet Charlie, who can apparently pack his own punch where the Soulless are concerned. I love Charlie. I hope you do too. He such a conversationalist.

As I mentioned in my last post, Josh and I participated in the Creative Treehouse's Creative Marathon last weekend. We got there about 7 pm to help set up, and stayed most of the 24 hours. I left about 5:30 am to get some sleep at home since we only live about ten minutes away, but was back in the saddle at about 10 am the same morning. We ended up having something like 70 artists show up, and probably twice that many at the gallery afterwards. We learned a whole lot about hosting something like that; and about how much energy drink and pizza the human body can handle... The response was very positive overall, and we'll be doing it again.

I ended up really pleased with the piece I was able to do, and approaching something like that with such patience -- I had a full 24 hours, after all -- ended up greatly benefitting the artwork. I'll have to keep that mind for future projects... and I fully intend to pull something similar in the privacy of my own studio in the coming months.

I'll post pics of the painting when I get them, but in the meantime you can watch this on the gallery that culminated at the end of the whole thing. STBD was kind enough to come out and film the event, and the video really looks great... I'm the one rambling about being exhausted and happy that so many people showed up, and Josh is the guy at the mic wearing the preppy suit jacket.

2007-02-18T07:43:00.000-08:00

Chapter Seven: The Wishing Well

We’re almost done with the desert, I promise. We get to watch David muse a little about his destination – what it is and what it means. Unfortunately, he finds he’s not alone shortly after arriving. …and he’s met this kind before.

I’m participating in Pittsburgh’s Creative Marathon this week. The boys at Creative Treehouse (to open officially in March) are throwing a 24-hour get-together-and-create party.

Starting on Friday night at 8 pm, people are encouraged to show up with supplies, stake out a place in their enormous second floor room in Bellevue and dig into their creative expression of choice. Work all the through the night (with the help of sponsors Burn and Vocelli’s Pizza) and into the next day. At 8 pm on Saturday night, there’ll be a gallery showcasing all the work made in the previous 24 hours, along with appetizers and music.

The theme is “Treehouse” if you need the inspiration, and all pieces sold at the gallery are split 50/50 with the house. As I understand it, the only stipulation is that art needs to be 12” x 12” in size. Outside of that, you rock your own stuff.

I think I’ll spend most of the time doing acrylics, but I’m also toying with a few differently themed pieces, a painting/written word piece, and possibly a little sculpting. My original goal had been to use the event as a good excuse for doing David artwork, but since I’m working on a much larger scale for that stuff I’ve decided to unplug for the event. Since Josh and I are also having a gallery at our wedding in June, we also need to make pieces for that… or, if anyone at the show next Saturday wants to buy any of the pieces, that is even better.

Treehouse will soon be a great resource for work/studio/meeting space, networking, and, my personal favorite: educating the public on the importance of professional art/design work and why they want to pay for it. As a graphic designer, that in particular is right up my alley.

Come join the artfest on Friday night or Saturday, or stop down on Saturday night to see what sleep deprivation plus art plus music makes... See you there!

2007-02-16T05:14:00.000-08:00

Chapter Six: Take It Down

At first glance, the desert can seem boring and dull -- I hope that's not what the reader walks away with, however. Not an action chapter at all, but a significant(?) glance into David's mind and -- even though he can't recall them -- memories. Maybe. There's some recognition there.

After the action and dialogue of the last two chapters, it seems very slow to leave David alone in silence, but sometimes we just need to be alone with ourselves, eh? A desert is perfect for that: the beige repetition of endless dunes, the sound of whispering wind and grainy footsteps. I think you'd have to look inward to find any variation, even for someone that's operating at full capacity, which D obviously is not.

I have been told I am good at dialogue (don't all moms find something?), so what do I do? I have a chapter (or two, or five) without it. I do love writing people speaking, but I also love introspective mental wanderings, especially when that person is trying to process what David is. I myself am not a crazy social butterfly, so I spent a good part of my adolescence entertaining myself inside my own head. Writing someone else doing that is refreshing... and I daresay he's had more happen to him, so that exploration should prove much more exciting than my own adventures.

My intentions to update this blog every Monday have proven pretty weak. I'm rededicating myself to it, but we'll have to see. I may move the whole thing to a Chapter on Mon/Blog on Thurs kind of thing. My weekends are quickly filling to the brim by the Wed before, so we'll see. Last Sunday night I sat up in bed before falling off to sleep with the realization I had forgotten to post the chapter. oops.

2007-02-09T04:38:00.000-08:00

Chapter Five: Take It Down

Oh, Red. The stakes get higher. It was hard for me to do, but the fate of the Guiding Post serves as the perfect translation of danger. An attempt was made on David's life, but it was unsuccessful; and sometimes it's hard to take an enemy seriously unless they can prove they are a true danger. And here's a whole posse of dangerous creatures, intent on finding what the first Raker couldn't take care of... I hope David is motoring.

As I've mentioned before, I'm reading Stephen King's "On Writing", and I've gotten to a part in the book where he's explained that he feels a story is like a fossil -- a tale that you have to sort of dig up from the ground, sometimes in fast large chunks and others in small carefully-handled snippets. This is a very encouraging thing to hear.

The four things of length that I've written have always gotten about half-way through and then... well, then I don't know the answer. I don't know the end. I have to think and wonder about where it's going and run a million plotlines in my head before I find the one that sticks. Actually, when I finished up the third piece (and the culmination of a trilogy) I actually had my fiance reading it as I wrote because I couldn't come up with a satisfactory ending. I figured it out -- or, perhaps, uncovered it -- in time for him to read to the end uninterrupted; he was completely shocked by the end and impressed by the outcome. His words "Aw, why didn't I see that! I can't believe you pulled it off!"

But in my opinion, I can't really take full credit for that. I'm just glad I uncovered the important bits that allowed me to share the whole story, especially in time for Christmas that year.

I'm sure I'll go into this more when tSoD is coming to a close, but it's what I'm reading right now, so I thought I'd share.

2007-01-30T04:54:00.000-08:00

Chapter Four: Put Onto the Path

Mmmm... a little exercise in multiple personalities. This was a another fun scene to write. The Guide Post is such a colorful visual in my head (even if it is constructed of grey clay). It is an interesting thing to see something so vividly in my mind's eye and not be able to translate it onto paper. All I've been able to put down over the last three years are just general sketches.

In the first carnation of this story, the masks could leave the spire if they wanted to, kind of ducking back into the interior of the pole; then they could zoom around the world by squeezing onto other Guide Posts throughout the rest of the land, spreading gossip and information. I haven't completely written that off for the future. I especially like the idea of having some sort of foreign-mask-exchange program between the Posts: then you'd have Red, Fred, Zed, and... Frank? But we'll shelve that for now.

I've been reading "On Writing" lately by Stephen King and I'm enjoying it a lot. Interestingly, I'm not a huge King fan. I tried to read The Stand in high school, but put it down after the first fifteen pages. And it wasn't the size the pushed me away -- I've read the Wheel of Time series, for crying out loud -- I just couldn't get into it. Maybe I'll try again some day. But I also have an aversion to subjects when they become really popular, even if the acclaim is warranted.

But "On Writing" is very casual and informative, and I like King's writing style; it is casual, simplified, humble and down-to-earth for a guy who's so successful. The whole first half is a biography, and it does a good job to humanize him. I'm about 3/4 through book, and I'm putting it down after my morning bus ride with a distinct feeling of approachability, both for the industry and writers in general. It's all very encouraging.

2007-01-22T09:18:00.000-08:00

Chapter Three: Too Many Faces

David walks on, looking for something that might resemble a destination. Waiting until chapter three to visually describe him could probably be seen as a questionable decision, since I could have technically given his physical appearance when he woke up in the grass. But this became the natural place for it because this is when he had time to sort of mentally regroup. David knew he was David upon waking, and with the quick arrival of the pig he wasn't too worried about build and skin color. Hopefully, his introspection simply helps build some details.

Interestingly, although I wrote the story for my younger brother -- who is of course also 15 -- David looks nothing like him. They are both tall and lean, but different in every other respect. We Arnolds are a fair-skinned, blond-haired folk. My grandfather asked me in exasperation why I didn't name the main character Seth or make them look alike. I made the story for him, not about him.

Plus, what if I ever wanted to write David in some sort of romantic setting? That question should answer all others.

Also, I love the Guide Post. It was like letting all the parts of my brain talk at one time...

2007-01-17T05:48:00.000-08:00

Chapter Two: The Worse of Two

Ah, the Buffalo. This is one of my favorite chapters. You get more insight into what kind of person David is -- "No offense" -- and I love the imagery.

One thing that I have a problem with in my writing is description. My poor mom got a draft that was ridiculously detailed. I always want the reader to see exactly what I see, and something I've struggled with is letting some of the minute details go.

It's important to trust your reader, and that was one of many things I learned on this one. Just because the Buffalo means something specific to me doesn't mean I have to relay every miniscule fact to the reader. Hopefully you can feel his massive majesty without me going over him with a finely toothed descriptor comb.

I have noticed some rogue capitalization, which is unfortunate. The Buffalo becomes a Pronoun later, which I caught in some places and missed in others. I got three great books for Christmas regarding editing, and although I thought I'd just about proofed this manuscript to death, I suspect I'll be doing a few more run throughs. I'll re-upload the chapters when I feel they're even more polished, but for now I'm leaving what's there up and available. Nothing in the story will change, but how it's told will hopefully continue to improve. So read on, read on.

2007-01-08T10:39:00.000-08:00

Chapter One: This Isn't Home

And thus, we begin our journey. David wakes up... somewhere, and immediately finds himself in danger of being skewered.

I intend to post a blog entry at least every Monday, in keeping with when the chapters update on the site. It may be pertinent to that specific chapter, it might not. Right now: let's talk about the starting process.

The beginning is a tough thing. You're setting the tone and feel for the whole shebang. I wanted to have some level of mystery in this without being unnecessarily aloof. The first ten pages of this project went through at least four different incarnations. In one he was in school, and we got an engaging view of his personality. In another he was having strange dreams, which was yet another interesting insight but somewhat ineffective at getting things rolling. In the third... well, that's the beginning of the sequel, so I'm not telling.

So I took what advice I've read over and over again from writer's books and blogs: start the story where the action begins. Drop them into crazy conflict right away, that's what I say. There's a Prologue, admittedly, because I still wanted to show the outer interaction; I wanted to show the 'before'. But I tried to hit the ground running.

Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome.

2007-01-06T11:05:00.000-08:00

Moving Right Along

Along with many exciting (and aggressive) additions planned for the site, we've been making little improvements as the days go by. Chapter 1 updates on Monday, and that's when the real story begins. Josh and I played crazies on Friday night, getting Chinese and Redbulls after work and digging our heels in until we fell over. Much of his progress is back-end and invisible to the naked eye but will make the site run more efficiently. We did get the link for the About page up, which is nice.

It is an interesting thing writing copy for a website... I am naturally long-winded in my writing, and I always end up doing a lot of cutting. Trimming a section like the 'About' was tough -- there's so much I want to share! But then again, I guess I also have a blog, so I guess I can do all the more in depth sharing here. Updates continue.

2007-01-02T07:12:00.000-08:00

Jan 1st, 2007

Yesterday was the day. Since I was recovering from some miscalculated revelry on New Year's Eve, I didn't have the appropriate stick-to-it to bring the site in with the right amount of amazing fanfare, but here you go: thesumofdavid.com

There's still quite a bit to be done, but it's a GREAT place to start. Since the site is intended to change according to the events in the story anyhow, growing it as chapters are being released is more than okay. In the works are some interesting transitions and informative links about the project, not to mention some incedible little details to add to the web experience while a user pokes around.

Major kudos and thanks go to my partner (in life and crime) Josh Sager, of stardotstarcomics.com fame. He is the reason anything remotely interesting is happening at that url, and I am lucky that he is so excited about the enormous task list we'll be undertaking in the next couple of months.

Here's to 2007!

2006-12-31T14:14:00.000-08:00

Phase II: 1 Day To Go

Josh and I spent two days in West Virginia visiting some family. It meant we weren't working on the SoD site, but since we'd both put in serious hours Tues, Wed and Thurs, we're cool. So far we've worked out that we'll have four out of eight links live and working for tomorrow's launch, which is fine with me. We're on track, and that's perfectly fine.

Tonight, Dec 31st, will find us having some drinks and general revelry with some friends... we'll be up early tomorrow to get this baby into the public's eye. I know there will be a very limited number of people that see it in the first few weeks -- and possibly the entire year it's released -- but it's important we have it up and out there. More tomorrow when we're rockin' and rollin'.

2006-12-27T14:54:00.000-08:00

Phase II: -5 Days

Josh and I started hardcore on the site today. It is interesting working with someone you are A) close to and B) in the same realm with career-wise. I do graphic design and he, among MANY other things, does web. I've spent much of today refining the look of what will eventually be the home page, along with the pages that branch off of that. Plus icons (yay, more icons) and the like. I also got a nice, shiny new external hard drive for my art and videos: 250G, yum!

Today was the only day ever that I've wished I had a bigger screen on my laptop. My-12 inch just doesn't compare to the monstrosity I have at work, and I was all over photoshop today... *sigh*. or dual monitors would have also been cool.

More stuff later. I've been inside all day on the computer, and I've got a ballet class tonight. It's like the last little sliver of Christmas! I'm getting a coffee on my way home -- I'll be burning the midnight oil tonight!

2006-12-22T07:47:00.000-08:00

And Lo, It Arrives

The story is done for the moment, and the package arrived at my parent's house yesterday. I haven't talked to them yet, but I'm assuming they won't open all until Christmas Day anyhow.

It feels good to be done with the story. I think there is one more plot point that I should probably make clearer, but for all intensive purposes -- minus perhaps that three lines of dialogue -- the thing is COMPLETE. I can't tell you how good it feels. This is the fourth story/novel/manuscript-thing I've created, more than two years in the making, and the first that I will probably try to get published.

I'm just generally happy. I'm happy with the timing, with the stress level regarding the home stretch (it could have been worse, so much worse), I'm very happy with the artwork so far. The cover art in the previous post is even better than what I had in mind originally, so happiness there. I didn't get to color Marley yet, but that will come.

PHASE II: Next steps involve the website. Planned launch for the site is Jan 1st, so that'll take up a good portion of next week. Josh is building the back-end and I'm providing the copy, art and graphics. I'm off work all next week. So I get to spend the better part of a week doing artwork? ...sounds like a vacation to me!

And the sequel? Oh, it's coming. Every time I do one of these it takes me less and less time to jump into writing another... We'll see if I can hold off until May this year to start up again. More later!

2006-12-19T12:59:00.000-08:00

0 DAYS

Today's the day. Wow, when it rains... it POURS. Aside from phase completion, I am 80% sure I have the plague. Also, misery is now spelled r-a-c-h-e-l.

I got home from work last night too late to take NyQuil (I never would have woken up for the alarm) and too late to take DayQuil (I never would have slept). The compromise I found was taking nothing and laying in bed until roughly midnight because I couldn't breathe, then waking up in hourly increments thereafter. I woke up at 6 am, called it close enough to morning, and got out of bed. I'm like the dead walking today, but regardless:

I had 35 pages still up for editing when I got to work this morning, but had a full 1 1/2 hours before work and my lunch to finish that up. This round has actually gone super fast, with very minimal changes. Not bad. I printed, bound and slapped a cover on it at about 1:30 this afternoon... then piled it and several other presents into a box (my kingdom for a box!).

It's all being FedEx'd as I type. I had planned for today because I figured the post office could do it, but I got scared they might not deliver it in time. It'll cost me triple, but I feel 99% sure that it'll be there by Saturday. I haven't been working my tail off for two years for it to be late. I already moved the deadline once.

I can talk more about how I feel about this phase when my head is not a ballon and I don't have a fever -- they'll be less mentions of purple elephants and general crazy that way.

2006-12-18T18:58:00.000-08:00

1 Day To Go

I would love to use this space to declare how awesome I am and how accomplished I feel, and wow is it great to have all the David stuff done and ready to mail... but I'm 40 pages shy of the end and sick as a DOG right now. We're still on schedule for mail-out tomorrow, I still don't think it'll be a problem. But I think I'm dying; I'm going to bed.

2006-12-17T14:15:00.000-08:00

3 Days

The good news is I've got the cover art done and ready to be photgraphed for Photoshopping/layout tomorrow before work. The bad news is that I still have a good 140 pages left in the manuscript to go over. I'm feeling okay with that, however, since I haven't been making hardly any changes as I read along. It's two different approaches to read for grammar/plot/character/flow vs. general enjoyment, and I'm finding myself slipping into the latter. There's definitely a feeling of 'geez, I feel like I've read this a million times' (because I HAVE), but I think it's a good sign to lapse into the entertainment aspect.

A holiday party on both Friday and Saturday night probably set me back page-wise, but what good are the holidays if you don't spend them with the people you love? The bonus in all of this is that I'm getting sick. Again. As I type this out I'm actually sitting right beside a humidifier and sipping on orange spice tea. I'm sick of being sick -- but the show must go on!

2006-12-15T06:38:00.000-08:00

5 Days

If only I didn't have a day job... at least right now. I like having it all the rest of the time. Last night I ended up stuck at work until about 9 pm, and ran out of steam quickly once I got home. I really didn't have that much time to dedicate to heavy stuff like the cover painting, but I did do some more holiday things... some of my online orders came in the mail. It will all work out in the end -- I have to send the book at the same time as my parent's gifts anyhow, so I'd rather wrap them now than on Tuesday's crunch time. Especially now that I heard we might have a(nother) late night on Tuesday. ug.

Despite how it sounds, things are moving right along. I saved all the icons in their appropriate formats yesterday, and I've already inserted them into the latest Word document. That's a big success because that's always one of those things that I save 'til last and assume it will only take 1/2 hour, and then it ends up taking 3 and sets me way behind schedule. Word is misbehaving a little -- I usually work in layout programs, and Word is SO not a layout program -- but I think I've worked out most of the kinks. As long as things don't start jumping around when I print, as has been known to happen, I'll be okay. And my sanity will remain intact.

This weekend is the last real large span of free time I'll have to get the whole shebang finished -- meaning both manuscript and art. More updates as things progress.

2006-12-14T06:28:00.000-08:00

6 Days and Counting

I decided I'd probably mail this out on Tuesday now to assure it gets where it's going by December 25. Mail won't deliver this year on Christmas Eve (it being Sunday), so I'm shaving a day off. You know, just for fun.

Yesterday was something of a bust where SoD is concerned, but very helpful in terms of my other commitments. I got the homemade gifts a good 80% of the way finished. Once those are out of the way I can fully throw myself into truly polishing SoD. It's procrastination to some degree, but at least it's productive procrastination.

Josh informed me of bad news and good news on the manuscript front. My final editor was one of his co-workers, and Josh has been my main contact for him. I had hoped that the guy would have his copy back to me by Dec 1st... then Dec 10th... Now I'm hoping for Dec. 15th. If no, I'll just proceed without him. I'm not upset about it at all, because I know sifting through 200-odd pages takes time (trust me, I know). Plus, I hear there was a Wii involved...

The good news is that he told Josh he wouldn't have much creative criticism to give me because he's enjoying the story too much to look at it objectively. I can live with that.

Onward and upward!

2006-12-12T07:18:00.000-08:00

Updates and Procrastination

There's a lot going on right now, and I am rediscovering why this project was originally supposed to be a birthday present and not a Christmas gift. Polishing a novel is hard work at any time of the year, but doing it in the midst of christmas parties and other handmade gifts teeters dangerously on the edge of STUPID.

In lieu of complaining about the time I don't have, however, I will post some declaration of completion. Behold, 52 chapter icons:

I know they aren't very big in this shot, but I have to maintain some level of surprise. Some of them are better than others, but some turned out really great. It is the highest quantity I've done for a single manuscript yet... and nearly what I did for my three other stories combined. The chapters are also all named, although I need to fancy-up a few album names. So that's a big step. I'll just be feeling pleased with myself now, thanks.

I am split between two logos right now, the importance being that the winner will don the cover of the book and the web page so it's consistent, plus any level of branding I decide I want to pursue. Josh is pulling for one that is more 'fantasy' feeling and I'm pulling for another that is, as he put it, more 'Jericho'... in other words more apocolyptic, which in my opinion is a good thing. If I could figure out 'apocolyptic fantasy' I think I'd be good to go.

Regardless, my progress won't be much to report until I can get my (other) Christmas projects wrapped up and stop watching "Heroes" and the "Star Trek: TNG" Season 7 DVDs that I've borrowed.

I just counted it up and it's T minus 9 days and counting until this baby goes out into the mail. Yeah, that just about did it; my panic button is now somewhat engaged.

2006-12-05T07:37:00.000-08:00

Lecture

It's been a while since I made my way into a classroom that my honey didn't teach in. Josh and I headed eastward to the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg to see Scott McCloud, of Making Comics fame. He was introduced as the leading comic theorist, and I have to agree.

While I have heard on and off about McCloud for a couple years, I never checked out his books (there are three) since A) I am a comic reader, not a creator; and B) I've kind of had my own stuff going on: ie, all things David. However, Josh got a hold of McCloud's first novel, then devoured his second with doubled fervor, and has spent our coffee sessions since September interspersing my workflow with one amazing discover after another from the third book.

If you are unfamiliar, he writes graphic novels that explore the ins and outs of... well, graphic novels. It's FASCINATING. Some of his insights are common sense things that I had just never thought about, others are crazy mind blowers that just rock my world. He outlines the common denominators between all comics, regardless of intent or origin. He also makes a play for comics being a legitimate artform -- not hard in other places, but a little tougher in the US.

His insights are applicable to anything that could possibly be related to communication in any visual medium, and would be invaluable to anyone who has something they want to say.

Check it out his three works on the theory of comics:
Understanding Comics
Reinventing Comics
Making Comics

2006-12-04T06:23:00.000-08:00

Work! It was a GOOD weekend. Saturday ended up being a big Get It Done time for me and my mate, which was something we needed. We both have seperate projects we're working on a any one moment, and we went to our different studios and went to work. I spent a good 6 hours on saturday working on the cover image. I know judging a book by its cover is a no-no, but it shouldn't drive anyone away either. The good (or bad) news is that weekend has been potentially extended because I am home from work sick today, and I'm going to do my best to conquer an overwhelming feeling of yuck to get some SoD work done. We'll see: all I've accomplished so far is drinking two cups of tea, eating some Coco wheats and typing out a blog.

2006-11-29T05:21:00.000-08:00

Aw & Dirty Girl

So one of my main subjects to draw (over and over and over again...) is the shape of a 15 year old boy. I'm not worrying much over what the boy looks like in the details, as most of the representations of David are done in silhouette. You'd think finding reference for a Random Boy would be easier since I'm just looking for the outer edge. This is SO not true. Silhouettes can very easily look cartoony if they are too simple, but traced and lumpy/unclear if they are too detailed.

Finding the reference has been a challenge -- especially when googling for images of "shirtless boy"... at work, oh my -- but I finally found a resource that may very well never run dry: Boy Bands.

It turns out every country, every language, every era has a species of boy band, and I intend to look at them ALL. I can't use a majority of the images because the poses can be just RIDICULOUS, especially for my needs. But they are frequently in interesting, almost useable poses, and semi-frequently shirtless. So I've taken to sketching out PIECES of them and then frankenstein-ing them together to get what I want. A leg here, a different leg there, this guy's hair, this guy's arm... and voila, I've got something I can use.

Success! Next stop? the Tiger Beat archives...

2006-11-22T07:47:00.000-08:00

Recharge!

I got into a serious art-groove on Saturday night and it was GLORIOUS. It was that zone where everything you are writing/painting/drawing comes out well. It's like your run-of-the-mill motivation, except it seems to come with an extra oomph, a more vivid flavor with a dozen more ponies of horse-power helping drive it along. I used to be 'on' more regularly when I was in school, but five years of working from 9 to 5 has a way of sucking that passion out of you ("But it's a school night! I couldn't possibly!").

It was great timing, seeing as how I'm trying to get some artwork done while my last editor takes SoD out for a spin. I got the... we'll call it an "itch"... about 4 in the afternoon and after working feverishly until 8 went and got the biggest pumpkin spice latte that Starbucks would give me to prolong the effect. The whole thing meant I made a big step in completing the cover image, and I also took a chunk out of the website.

I'm hoping the long weekend coming up for Thanksgiving will allow me the time -- if not the magical get-it-done power of last Saturday -- to get some more good work in.

2006-11-15T10:00:00.000-08:00

What's your story about?

So in participating in Podcamp Pittsburgh, I was frequently asked what my story is about.

The answer is: ...that's a really good question.

Most of my on-the-spot replies were rushed and kind of jumbled, which unfortunately gives the impression to whoever I'm speaking to that I don't know what I'm talking about. To the contrary, I think it's a good story and although it might be a little abstract, it's actually still very clear and concise. Unfortunately, my inability to describe it in relatable terms makes me sound pretty stupid. That stinks.

So I'm working on a good reply to this question, as it seems to be popping up more and more. With the release date of the website coming Jan 1st I should probably get a little sumation straight, especially if I am going to try and get out there and find readers. I don't know that I'm going to put that much effort into it, but it would be good to have a stock answer regardless... so I'm adding that to my list of (many) things still left to do.

An interesting side note: after podcamp and meeting so many people face-to-face that were actually interested in what I was doing, I went googling for other writers while I was riding high on positive feelings. Unfortunately, the sites I found weren't especially encouraging. The web gives people a level of anonyminity that seems to zap the politeness -- or downright civility -- out of any conversation or critique. Granted, I only checked a few sites during my workday and did a lot of source-jumping... but there's a lot of people out there that are just mean.

I just write for fun, and I enjoy it at that level. While I'm not opposed to criticism and I do want to get better, I'm not really up for putting myself up on the chopping block for somebody that got a Masters in Literary Bashing.

Hopefully I'll be able to find some more constructive resources out there later. In the meantime, any suggestions?

2006-11-12T17:21:00.000-08:00

Podcamp Pittsburgh!

Wow. WOW. While I usually reserve this portion of the blogging world exclusively for story stuff, the inspiration I experienced this weekend is just too great to leave out. And inspiration counts for a lot.

I spent this weekend volunteering at the Podcamp Pittsburgh UNconference, which was primarily organized by Justin Kownacki, the writer/producer of Something to be Desired and general good friend of mine. While I signed up (and signed ON) mostly for his involvement and my fiancé's interest in technology, I got more out of the entire experience than I could have hoped.

“Podcamp” insinuates “podcast”, but it was so much more than that. There were people there representing all sorts of areas: blogging, vlogging, podcasting, all sorts of video content, comics… and other things that I’m sure I am leaving out. People showed up to learn and absorb, to interact and network, to teach. Most importantly, everybody showed up with their sharing caps on, spreading the love on ideas and methods and processes in whatever their media of choice happened to be.

I was only able to attend three of the sessions between running around like a maniac, but I found them each to be informative, fun and wonderfully informal. I imagine some sessions at other conferences can be stuffy and intimidating. This was nothing like that. The format was flexible, user-driven, and one that encouraged everyone's participation. My brain is churning like crazy right now with sweet, vibrant potential, even hours after it is all said and done.

I learned so much, and I hope everybody there took home a lot too. If I had to single something out, however, I think what I enjoyed most was the fantastic sense of community. “New media” is a tricky thing –- “new” anything always is. But whatever you are doing, there’s other people out there doing it too. The Unconference gave the opportunity for a bunch of these similar people to get together and talk/learn about their various subjects. Not in a “I’m gonna steal your stuff” kind of way, but rather a “Hey, I’m winging it right now too, let’s trade ideas so that our separate goals can be awesome”.

I met some truly incredible people/companies/organizations. If you look at the official site, you’ll see all the sponsors that helped out, and I think nearly everyone that registered online gave some way to contact them or get more information. There’s a lot of cool people out there doing very cool things.

The bonus? It all happened in Pittsburgh, a city that continues to grow on me the longer I live here. Finding out there is a sizable community for this sort of thing in the 'Burgh is so encouraging and refreshing. From what I understand there are six more Podcamps planned across North America over the next eight months. If you are within a reasonable distant of one, I would highly suggest checking it out. If you have an idea, story, or message –- they will help you find a way to communicate it.

Here’s hoping there will be a Podcamp Pittsburgh '07!

…and here’s hoping we go to Tiki Bar again!

2006-11-09T05:46:00.000-08:00

"Ahem."

I don't know who in the world would be reading this, or if they would have some sort of written piece they are creating (or refining) like I am, but since I'm sharing:

Read it out loud.

I received and integrated the changes from my last two editors, and I figured that it might be a good idea for me to comb through it yet again before my final person. I printed it out and was going through it with the trusty red pen. Unfortunately, I wasn't really finding much, so I went looking for another method for editing. I eventually remembered I'd heard that reading out loud is good for finding problems. I do that for single sentences and paragraphs, but I've never tried it for an entire manuscript. I don't typically like the sound of my own voice, but nobody was home and I figured why not.

WOW, is it making a difference. I'm making at least three times the changes I would have otherwise. Whether it's word choice or how it reads or flows... or the repetition of certain words or phrases or even descriptions; I would have passed over much of it by simply reading silently. I'm not keen on reading 200 pages out loud -- I'm not a great actress -- but the difference is extraordinary.

Here's hoping the improvements come across in the final manuscript.

2006-10-31T05:57:00.000-08:00

Website Meeting #4 (plus misc)

This meeting was really just to keep the ball rolling, since we didn't actually have that much new information to discuss. My homework since our last meeting was to scour the internet for any features I would like to have on the site that we hadn't already considered. The only additional options I could think of were emailing readers of new chapter releases (if they don't want to subscribe to the RSS feed) and perhaps a "Tag This Chapter" option. Josh said the tagging would probably involve them logging in or some such thing, and I'm not really into that, but we might do an "Email Me Updates!" feature.

We're down to the 2-month mark, though, so it's time to start forging ahead beyond the sketch stage. That'll start next week.

I'm still plugging away at chapter icons. I only have ten left, but they are getting hard. At least I'm not in a time crunch... yet. Outside of the icons, I've also been hardcore at work on "Marley". I've yet to color him, but the line work is primarily finished. He was tough. If you can't tell from the pic, he's made of... well, just about EVERYTHING.

Drafts keep changing hands, which is good. I get another one this week. The plan is to hand off the next one (David 2.5, ha) by Nov 10 to be returned by Dec 10. That's pretty tight, but here's hoping it's possible -- I'm sure I'm going to need all two weeks in December to shine and polish it.

And amid it all, we're planning Thanksgiving at our house this year. I am very excited, since I love to have a meal with friends, but that's yet another thing on my plate (har, har) to juggle and try to keep organized. My solution for all? More pie!

2006-10-23T06:26:00.000-07:00

A request from a... fan?

We went to see J's dad and sister this weekend, and it turned out that his grandparents were also in from AZ so we got to visit with them also. Josh's grandfather is one of only a few people that I've given my previous three stories to, and I haven't talked to him since he read them. He's very complimentary and supportive, and had some good advice for pursuing a publisher from a friend he used to have in the business.

The funny part was when he asked me if I was working on my 'next book' yet? I told him that I was, but that it was going to be completely different than the last three. That was followed by a very deep frown.

"Different? Like different how?" he asked.

"Well it's not James and Mac anymore, for one thing. This one's --"

"WHAT?"

"This one's about a boy named David."

"I don't care about David! I care about James and Mac! They have to grow up! How are they going get back home? What about..."

This happened at dinner, if you can imagine, and Donn was feeling very strongly about certain points and I sounded like a complete idiot when the answers I gave to his very vocal questions involved responses like "The Mother Tree DID send them home, remember? They made plans to return for the wedding", "No, but he's not dead", and "I promise James will get back to his bonded dragon." He didn't like the fact that I had intended the third one to be the final installment, oh no, he told me that he wanted more about James and Mac.

Donn likes dragons, and after Josh and I assured him that SoD also has a dragon in it (albeit very near the end), he seemed somewhat satisfied. He's in his seventies, completely adorable, and one of the few people that has read and enjoyed my work, so you can imagine that I don't want to disappoint him.

Hopefully SoD will satiate his need for another dragon tale... or maybe I'll have to fish around my subconscious for another J&M story. That would be tough, since the last one took everything I had; but I guess you can't improve without continuing to push yourself.

Regardless... one book at a time, eh?

2006-10-20T05:28:00.000-07:00

Chapter Icons

I had gotten about halfway through the icons when I pushed the deadline back three months, so I took a long break from them. I started on them again yesterday, and hope to push out three or four each week over the rest of October and November. Here's a sample of my first one back: Chapter 23, which happens to be the introduction of Bear and Thor.

2006-10-19T11:52:00.000-07:00

The Task of Naming Chapters

SoD has 52 chapters. Each chapter will include an illustration. It will also have an accompanying title.

I have always felt there was an art to naming chapters. Some people don't name them at all and instead stick to numbers. Numbering is appealing in many ways -- especially when I'm up to trying to name chapter 19 or 20 -- but I just can't do it. Naming a chapter gives that little portion of a book its own identity, and I like the idea of that. So I insist on naming each one, even if I do so BADLY. Historically, I have always saved that part until the very last moment.

I'm waiting on a couple of my editors, so I figured I'd force myself to get that part done and out of the way. In my attempt to make it more fun, I decided to coincide the titles to metal songs to reflect a character that is ever-present (and at the same time never there. ooh.).

Once upon a time, they were going to be Metallica titles. They have a huge catalog and some very appropriate song names. But since I am not in the mood for being horribly, tragically sued, I need to make them up. I've already gone through half the thing and assigned names like "The White Nothing" and "The Reaper Rides at Midnight".

Today, however, I looked up the discographies of some metal bands and discovered I can really just name each chapter whatever I want to. I was trying to make them dark and spooky when I don't really have to. Aside from some titles focusing on the two things metal is apparently very interested in -- depression and women -- they don't necessarily conform to any mold. So:

Dear Metal, my apologies in trying to pigeon-hole you. Sincerely, me.

So the next task will be going through SoD (again) and looking to see what chapter titles stay and go. I'm still going to keep some of the titles, but I'll make others correspond more with the events of each chapter. And if I say they're song titles from a fictional metal band's discography...? Well, I'm the author. I can pretty much do whatever I want.

2006-10-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

Critique!

Last night I had to opportunity to sit down with Ann, one of my new editors. It was a new experience for the both of us, in that she's never done any of my earlier stories and from what I understand has previously edited screenplays. It was different for me because since she has never done any of my other stories I didn't know what to expect in the way of critique.

And that's kind of scary.

Thankfully, my worries were unfounded: the whole critique was refreshing, encouraging, and very motivational. It was nice to discuss the plot with somebody that was reading it primarily for that purpose... instead of the customary grammar stuff. It was fun to talk about different parts and a nice warm and fuzzy feeling when she expressed feeling certain emotions at certain points. Plus it's nice for someone else to get just as excited about the characters you created as you do...

She confirmed things I suspected that I really just needed someone to call me on, and asked some questions about things I hadn't even considered. I made notes, and she's reading through it again (!) to give me additional comments before Nov 1st. She gave me some really great things to think about.

All in all, I'd have to say this meeting alone was worth post-poning its release until Christmas.

2006-10-10T06:30:00.000-07:00

Website Meeting #3

We drew out a map for the site. It's going to be larger than I anticipated, but Josh said that's pretty typical. My homework until our next meeting is to go online and see if there are any other aspects I'd like to include that we didn't discuss/think about... I don't want to stumble onto a bell or whistle that is a pain in the arse to add later. I'll be surfing around online today for "inspiration".

Which'll be real tough -- I'm only online looking for "inspiration" for at least an hour every day...