Nature, Art, Writing, and the Possibilities Approaching "Balance"

The smile of someone who is at present, exceptionally busy and craves balance.

The last few weeks have been exceptionally busy for me, and amid the general craziness of life, I've been doing what I can to work towards getting things back in balance.

I went on three separate trips (one for work and two for pleasure), which meant a lot of the productive creative schedule and routine I had going was interrupted by travel and an assortment of adventures. It also meant that the time I've had book-ended around these events has definitely been a lot more jam-packed than usual, and even with other busy periods on the horizon (BlizzCon, I'm looking at you here), I'm understandably eager for things to settle down so I can dig back in to personal projects with renewed gusto.

Travel Tidings

 

Seeing friends from near and far on my adventures to Seattle, San Diego, and San Francisco was a wonderful breath of fresh air! It's always such a blast meeting up with old friends and new friends alike to get together and be raptors just have fun and be myself. I certainly wish we had lush woods or towering redwood forests a bit nearer to me! They were exceptionally calming places to visit.

Art Adventures in all Shapes and Sizes!

It seems that part of my methods of trying to obtain a state of zen and stability during times like these is three-fold: 1.) Increased cleaning, 2.) Increased organization, and 3.) Increased beautification. I've been doing a lot of all three of these things these last few weeks, and one of the more notable examples of this is my tenacity for getting some art up on walls both at work and at home.

The first of these pieces was a 30 x 40 inch all-acrylic painting that you can read about here. It's one of my favorite paintings that I've ever done, and I've had it up on nearby walls for many years since, but it's never been framed. The few times I'd looked into getting it framed, I'd simply balked at the price and told myself I'd get around to it "some other year." For some reason, I thought it was time to finally dig in and "git er done," as it were. I was very pleased with the result, which I've hung above my desk at work with a bit of overhead accent lighting. :)

"Ethereal Tree" Completed on April 6th, 2006

 

I also attended the first class of a "Sculpting the Figure from Life" class held at Blizzard last week! I'm really having fun working with Chavant NSP hard clay, and am eager to see how this personal project evolves in the coming weeks!

The bare bones of my next sculpture.

I also decided it was high-time I get to hanging up some of the loads of framed and matted original art I have at home! Here's a glimpse at some of the many pieces that are now hanging on the walls. You may notice a bit of a theme of familiar characters running through them, and that's no coincidence: over the years I've often commissioned artists to create their own interpretations of my story's characters. In addition to being gorgeous to look at, their presence on my walls also reminds me on a regular basis that I need to keep on writing so I can share my stories with others out there so others can see why this motley crew means so much to me!

Art by Gabby Vee, Malikaa, Emma, Kimberly Swan, MurderousAutomation, Caroline Muchmore, Nambroth, Sixth Leaf Clover, Cara Mitten, myself, and many more.

I also hung up a few more pieces of art in my art/writing/parrot room above the cork-board that acts as a repository for reference images for my various projects. I will also be the first to admit that having a (much) less writing-only laptop and little area all to myself has really helped my overall productivity.

Art by Kharnage, Emma, Tessa Thornberry, and Cynthia Reep.

20,000 Words... 30,000 Words... So About That Writing...

The first three paragraphs of "Secrets of an Accord," still sitting in their first written draft, eagerly awaiting editing.

A few weeks ago I hit a pretty big milestone for me concerning my next novella, "Secrets of an Accord": I broke 20,000 words on the first draft! In the weeks that followed, my rush of productivity continued, and I'm actually sitting at over 30,000 words now. By my estimation, I should be well over 60% of the way through the first draft (hopefully further). Below is an spreadsheet chronicling one of my recent productive weeks in early September!

This, this was a good week.

Unfortunately, since the last few weeks became unexpectedly (and sometimes mind-numbingly) busy, I've decided to push back my next milestone for "Secrets of an Accord" to November 1st, at which time I hope to have the first draft of it completed so I can start editing it. While a part of me is sad that I wasn't able to meet my initial estimates for my given milestones, I'm also increasingly aware that as the scope of this project has grown exponentially in size, so it makes logical sense that the time to complete it will also increase. 

Looking Ahead

The weeks ahead are due to be busy, but I'm aiming to do my best to keep moving forward with my various creative projects, and I'm looking forward to sharing them!  How are you doing on your own projects and hobbies?