My History with NaNoWriMo

Yeah, I so jinxed myself. I managed to catch my first cold of the year, and this one came with epic levels of fatigue. Yaaay, fatigue! But it seems to be going away finally, even if I am still keeping a bag of Ricola lozenges nearby.

October promises to be a busy month, though... For one thing, I will be preparing for - drum roll please - NaNoWriMo 2010! I haven't decided what I'm going to write yet, which isn't exactly unusual for me. Well, as usual or unusual for something that's only been done three times.

In 2006, I went the whole "PLOT AND PREPARE!" route, complete with snowflaking an entire story throughout the month of October so I could just plunge right in and write on autopilot. It worked, more or less, and I made my 50K with days to spare. That particular story is still waiting for me to swing back into high fantasy mode so I can finally finish it.

All October of 2007, I focused on one story, hammering out the characters and the world setting and all that fun stuff. On October 31st, there I was, ready and waiting for midnight to strike so I could plunge into my story. Midnight came... and I discovered that was not the story I'd be writing that year. Completely refused to be written. Wasn't happening, no way, no how. So, on November 1st, I pulled out my notes on an older story idea I never got around to writing and dove in head-first... and loved what came out. Another winner, too. It has since had its first draft finished and is waiting for me to get off my tail and put it through some hard editing.

2008... didn't happen. It was a rough year, and I opted out of NaNo.

In 2009, I was itching to get going on NaNo, and October was spent planning the sequel to 2007's story. No snowflaking this time, but I knew the basics of what I wanted to happen. Think major stops on a road trip, but leaving the in-between as a surprise. Smoothest NaNo yet. The story itself hasn't been finished yet, but it's getting there! It's somewhere around 85K. With any luck, I'll be able to finish it before November.

This year? I have no idea what I'm going to do. XD I haven't decided on what I'm going to write yet, but I've got some time. Should be interesting!

Updates, Updates, Updates!

Man, I'm feeling productive this week. I finally - finally! - got a new page of Strawberry Syrup up, plus went ahead and updated all of my Squidoo lenses for the first time since early June. I've also photographed my latest box for Willheit Shoppes, and so listing that will probably take place early next week. I just re-listed all my other boxes, so waiting a bit will get it further up in the search.

So, what's next on my list? For starters, I want to get a couple of journals done and up for sale. I picked up some illustration board from Hobby Lobby, so I'll give that a try for the cover. I also might finally start a lens for my Zazzle shop, and if I'm still feeling uber-productive after that, maybe start a new box.

Gotta strike while the iron's hot!

Kit Learns a New Skill

Every now and then, I like to go cruising through Etsy to check out what other people are doing, maybe get inspired to haul out the old arts and crafts materials and work on a new box. This time, I came across some of the handmade journals. Now, there are two things that consistently test my willpower whenever I go shopping: decorative boxes and blank books. I have an enormous collection of of sketchbooks and journals that have caught my eye over the years, but I'd never seriously considered making my own. After all, you need special glues and tools and things like that, right?

And then I saw these.

Pay special attention to the bindings. I've seen that kind of binding a few times in stores, but I'd never known what it was called. Say hello to the chain stitch, aka the Coptic Stitch in reference to the fact that this binding has been used at least since the days of the Dead Sea Scrolls (so sayeth Wiki).

A quick Google search led me to this tutorial. Turns out all you really need to bind your own journals is a needle, thread, and maybe something to punch holes with. It's kinda complicated to explain, but once you actually DO it, it's not all that difficult. It took me about an hour to bind a 60 page test book. I'm not saying I'm an expert or that I created the Bestest Little Journal out there on my first try, but the basics aren't too difficult.

I'll have to see if I can refine my technique and hunt down some better materials than what I used for my test book. If I can, I might be able to make some pretty cool stuff.

Textures

There is one part of digital art that I've never really utilized as much as I could: textures. One reason for it is that, badly done, pictures can look really bad when textures aren't used right. And believe me, a lot of artists don't use textures well, so I'd always been a little turned off on using them, save for certain circumstances - making something look like it was done on old paper, for example, like in my Medan series.

Then, I started picking up ImagineFX Magazine, which is possibly the most helpful and inspiring digital art magazine I've ever had the pleasure of reading. A little on the pricey side, but well worth it. Anyways, one of the issues from a few months back had a walk-through on a steampunk piece that not only had an interesting way of shading, but proved that well done, an artist can use textures not have it look natural, like a part of the art rather than a photoshopped mess.

Of course, this led me to want to try it... which led to my second problem: finding royalty-free textures, preferably for free, without spending days scouring my home town with my digital camera in hand.

The solution came from a friend of mine who had no idea I'd even been considering doing this: CGTexture.com. A lovely database full of free-to-use textures and royalty-free photos, all perfect for the digital artist. All neatly organized, too. You do have to sign up for an account, but they have a free version. The only catch is that you may only download 15 MB within a 24 hour period, but considering the variety of file sizes available for each texture, I haven't even come close to reaching that limit.

Oh, and no using the textures for scrapbooking purposes. They're very clear on that.

Anyways, whether or not my texture experiment ever sees the light of the internet remains to be seen, but I won't get any better if I don't try, right? Right!

The Great Cleaning of 2010

Twice a year, my subdivision gives people an extra incentive to go on a major cleaning spree: an all pick-up trash day. The spring cleaning one was today, which means I spent a large chunk of my weekend - you guessed it - cleaning. The focus this time was on my room, namely clearing it out enough that one can actually walk from one side of the bed rather than climbing over it.

Mission: success! Cleared out plenty of junk, reorganized things into a more orderly fashion, and even sent a few bags of clothes off to Goodwill.

Of course, Spring Cleaning isn't quite finished yet. Up next is the Great Dusting of 2010, also known as the Culling of the Dustbunnies. It may require a mask - at the very least, open windows. The abnormality in space and time known as my closet will have to wait, I think, until the September all pick-up, lest its contents once again overwhelm my room and all adjoining spaces.

Hello, March!

Well, the Olympics are over, snow is still on the ground, and it is officially the start of a new month. Time for this month's To Do List! In no particular order, here are my goals for March:

• Finish 2009's NaNo.


• Get Strawberry Syrup back on track.


• Get my hands on a copy of Rachel Caine's Midnight Alley. *shakes a fist at the local bookstores*


• Sit my butt down and actually update my Squidoo lenses.


• Add more stuff to my Zazzle shop.


• Get stuff sent out.


• Keep up with my writing routine.

I'm keeping it simple. Got a few minor goals to round out the major ones, and then a few "if Kit works really hard and the stars align" goals to aim for. I've already made a good start on that first one today. Why yes, there is a reason I spent a good chunk of the afternoon researching common town names, last names meanings, the native tree life of Michigan, and topics for high school essays on Hamlet.

More seriously, I have finally, finally cleared out the debris from that roadblock and moved into the actual writing phase again. Kinda sucks that I'm going to have to quit sometime tonight to get that next page of Strawberry Syrup started... I don't even want to think about how much my drawing skills have deteriorated after not using them for a month.

In an Editorial Mood

Followers of my webcomic, Strawberry Syrup, were disappointed this week: no page. There is a very good reason for this, of course; sometimes, real life steps in and demands my attention. (It's for reasons like that that a webmangaka needs to have a buffer built up, but, of course, easier said than done.)

Anyways, this particular slice of real life involves a short story I'm attempting to revise, rewrite, and polish up into something I can actually send out, and what I want to send it out for has a deadline of March 1st. Right now, I am focused on making the story flow, tightening up the prose, and getting it down to 25 pages without losing all personality. The story itself is one that I wrote five or six years ago, back when I was still an undergrad and had the writing prompt of, "Someone has a secret."

Me being me, I churned out a YA fantasy about a girl who finds a new reason to be afraid of the dark. While it was received well by the class, looking back at it I cringe at certain parts: the purple prose, the plot holes, the craft failures. But I liked the basic story, so I considered that original work a first draft and started rewriting it for my own enjoyment last summer. Not having an actual reason to really finish a YA story of that length, I ended up setting it aside before finishing the rewrite.

Well, now I have a reason, and Draft #2 has been finished. I'm now working on Draft #3, which will be the last draft before I send it out to my little circle of critiquers. Basically, the idea is to make it the best I can possibly make it, and then see how people say I can make it better.

If I don't run into any major snags or muse blockages, it should be done by this time next week. Here's hoping!

Happy New Year!

Yep, it is officially 2010! Time to get used to writing a different year, recover from the holidays, and break out the resolutions.

Personally, I am terrible with resolutions. My willpower is something akin to that of a fox just outside an open chicken coop door, so I'm not so big on resolutions. Maybe I've just never done them right - possibly because I always seem to go for the abstract.

Let's take the old standby of weight loss as an example. Resolving to get in shape? Admirable but abstract, no concrete goal. Resolving to exercise three times a week? Concrete goal, something I can really sink my teeth into and chart my progress. I can take that and say, "Okay, I can work up to exercising thirty minutes three times a week, and once I'm there, work it up to sixty minutes! Weight loss, universe willing, will follow!"

This year, I'm going to set myself a few concrete goals, things I can work on that aren't setting myself up for failure. Therefore, this year I am going to:

• Finish that short story that's been sitting around on my hard drive for the past year, polish it up, and send it out.
• Finish a novel and get it to the point where I let other people read it. All goes well there, send IT out!
• Finish that pic of Heph's workroom that I've been playing around with since May.
• Keep up with this blog for the next 12 months.
• And yes, start exercising three times a week.

There. They're out there, they're concrete, and I think they're doable. Wish me luck!

Final thoughts on this first of January, 2010: hope the coming year brings luck, health, and good memories for all! Happy New Year!

Woot! New SS Page!

Yes, finally got a new page up for Strawberry Syrup! Had to get at least one up this month... I need to try and get a buffer up again. That way, next time I get sick or the artwork refuses to cooperate or Life in General demands my attention, the readers won't have to wait for things to sort things out.

I do love my readers, too. They've had to put up with a lot of skipped updates this year, and at least a few of them have stuck with me, so a big thank-you to them. ^_^

In any case, my plans for today include heading out to Borders to hunt down Volume 1 of 07-Ghost and see if I enjoy the manga as much as I did the anime. I'll be sure to let you know!

Meanwhile, my plans for New Year's Eve involve a Twilight Zone marathon and epic sketch page of doodling epicness. Ah, good times...

2009 Summary Meme

As I was finally going through the massive pile of deviations stacking up in my devArt inbox, I stumbled across a new meme: the 2009 Summary Meme. I think I'm actually going to do this one. I mean, what better way to end the year than to sit back and take stock of everything you've done over the past 12 months?

It helps that for once, I had pretty decent artwork every single month. In fact, for the first couple months, I'm going to have a hard time picking. In March, for example, we had both The Centaur Kiraz and Attempt 02, my second attempt at drawing one of my DI characters in a realistic style (namely Astarte, who turned out rather fantastically). At the moment, I'm leaning more towards Astarte, but I am still hella proud of how Kiraz turned out, too. And let's not even get started on February...

Also as an end-of-year type thing, I'm working on a another doodle page, done on the old paper again. Why? Because that's how I started the year. It should be an interesting comparison, seeing how my style has changed over the year, assuming it has at all. Considering my so-called "style" seems to be in flux from one piece to another, it would be a miracle if it hasn't.

Here's a sneak preview from the doodle page:



Yeah, there's more than a few *ahem* character interaction exercises on this sheet. I've got about a week to finish coloring things in, which I will get right back to as soon as I get something done for Strawberry Syrup this week. It's Christmas - gotta do something!

Coming Out of the Fugue

Slowly but surely, I'm getting back to work here. Last night, I finally got back to work on my NaNo story. Yes, yes, I know, NaNo's long since over and I won, so what more is there to do?

Finish the story, that's what.

It's currently at 172 pages, double-spaced, and there's probably another hundred pages to go before I consider it a fully finished first draft. At this point, I'm thinking I'll just keep plowing through until I reach the end, then go back and sort out the the plot holes, contradictions, and time line issues in Draft #2, then do the fine-tuning in Drafts 3 and 4. I seem to work best in multiple drafts.

Now, let's see if I can get the comic to cooperate...

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad, Right?

Right now, I've got three things I'm working on simultaneously: my comic, my shop, and my NaNo. That's three different schedules to keep, and so far, I think I'm doing pretty good.

Schedule #1: NaNo. This one's pretty clear - write at least 1,667 words a day. For me, it's easier to keep track of pages, so I figure if I hit around six pages a day, I'll be good. More, and I'm doing great. This is definitely my most driving schedule - no days off, if I can help it. I've got 10,000 more words to go until I hit the goal for NaNo, but I'm hoping to keep it going until the book is actually finished.

Schedule #2: Strawberry Syrup. Doing a weekly webcomic takes a helluva lot of commitment. I really have no idea how people who do 2-3 updates a week manage it. For me, the ideal schedule goes something like thumbnail on Sunday, sketch and ink on Monday, finish it up on Tuesday, and post it promptly at midnight.

Okay, so this week, I was fifteen minutes late, but still, it's up, and I'm actually pretty pleased with this week's page. Yay, dark closet scenes!

Schedule #3: The shop. This schedule is a little more fluid. Since I'm still in the process of moving from CafePress, I'm trying to get one or two designs moved each week. After that, I'm hoping to add at least one new design a month. And then, there's the seasonal and holiday designs to keep in mind...

And that would be the one I'm a little behind on. Yep, still haven't got those holiday designs up. If everything goes well, I'll have the first of them up by this weekend, so I'm not too far off schedule there. All things considered, if one of my three has to be off, I'd rather it be the shop. Yes, yes, I know, they say the more you have up, the more you sell, but since I'm not exactly living off the income (and a good thing, too, since otherwise we'd have one dead Kit), it won't hurt to take my time.

Might as well enjoy it, right?