Hot in Honolulu

Oi.

Here's the thing about Hawaii they don't tell you, kids--

It's hot. And not like, a tolerable kind of hot where it's nice and breezy and sunny. It's the '86 degrees with the humidity set at 500% and a magnifying glass over the sun' kind of hot.

Not a good day to wear black.

But it has put me in a good place to reminisce on the icy-cold Christmas I spent in Salem, Oregon this year. Which is good, because my current side-project MS takes place in November, in the Willamette valley.

I have a weird relationship with Oregon. My first time back was when I was 17 in September a few years ago, and it stuck with me in a big way. I haven't been able to get it out of my head.

The trees and the hills and the mountains and the trees, and the trees, it was pretty huge to me. And ever since, I've totally been enamoured with the idea of mythical and mystical critters living there. It seemed totally plausible that there would be fairies running around in the forest on the way to the coast, and white stags hiding among the trees.

Also, I was really jetlagged and dehydrated the whole trip :) 

Advice for writers

Seriously, writers, this is all the advice you'll ever need. So listen up yo.

Write the book you will want to read 400000000000000 times.

Because you will.

CONSTANTLY. YOU WILL READ THAT THING SO MANY TIMES.

Read it a hundred times in revisions, read it a hundred more in editing, then in post-editing, then just because. You have to love that thing. Make it your favorite book ever.

And that's my advice. 

I don't use this blog often enough, and it shows.

Well, here we are again.

It's been a while.

I guess I should actually try using this blog sometimes, but between this and Tumblr I just haven't found much use for it.

Maybe I'll try to use it more often :)

I am a terrible blogger!

I haven't posted a blog in ages! D:
To be fair, I've been doing stuff, like writing, which is really what I'm supposed to be spending the bulk of my time on.
And doodling, I suppose.

Bay

Bay

Lately I've been thinking about making a webcomic. I'm not really sure whether or not I'm going to do it, but while I'm dithering I've decided to try drawing potential characters. 

Honestly. . .

I feel like I'll never finish anything again. As soon as I get one idea that I love, I get another that I love just as much as that last one. This happens to me frequently, as it does to a lot of people I suppose. Sterling was a sort of a random stroke of luck in terms of finishing anything.
Though as that same luck would have it, I've been drawing a ton! I've made quite a bit of new art lately, including Sherlock fanarts (Benny C. is inadvertently teaching me how to draw cheekbones, it's wonderful!) and some pieces for a new book I've been working on lately.
I've had some great ideas, tossing around the idea of writing and drawing a comic again. I've thought about doing it before, but I couldn't draw back then as well as I can now, and I'm learning to do better. I'm not too good at action shots.
Right, so that's my life lately!
Here are some of the arts I've been doing :}

Sherlock Holmes from BBC's Sherlock. Featuring Benny C's inspirational cheekbones

John Watson from BBC's Sherlock -- what do you mean the same pose?

Evey

Some sketches

more sketches -- Tenth and Eleventh Doctors from Doctor Who, annotated

FWTYWHAIMB: Part 1 -- Boudicca

I. Love. Boudicca.
I really do. If I ever met her in person I'd run way in fear, but frankly, you'd run away from any tall, fierce, Briton-Celt Iceni queen, wouldn't you?
Who is Boudicca?
Boudicca was a queen of a British tribe called the Iceni about a hundred brazillion years ago. She had two daughters, and a nice husband (who is sort of irrelevant since the story doesn't start until he dies). When he kicked the bucket, he left half of everything he owned to Boudicca and their daughters, and half he left to the Roman Empire, since the Iceni had been on lovely terms with their civilized Eastern neighbors.
Only Rome didn't like that, and occasionally they liked to remind people that they were the Bossess of Britain, and pretty much the known world. They publicly flogged her, and her daughters were beaten and raped in front of her. Creditors called in their debts, all their stuff was taken, and their kingdom was annexed.
Obviously, Boudicca was not pleased.
Actually, she was really, really, really really really really really not pleased. So not pleased that she called up all her tribal friends, and rounded herself up an army of crazy, war-loving Celts, an army that was actually so big that some sources say it was the reason that they ended up losing the rebellion that Boudicca launched against Rome.
For a while, she did great! Ever hear of a little town called London? Burned it. 
Colchester? Smoked. 
St. Albans? You guessed it. 
Until she lost. Some say she killed herself, some say she got sick and died, but all anyone knows for sure is that she was crazy, mad, and that she had the guts to stand up to the ROMAN EMPIRE.
I use her as a reference often. I base characters off her legend, since there isn't much I know about her actual life. Olivia from Sterling is based on her. I talk about her all the time. I wonder what she was like. I watch waaaay too many documentaries on her (although that's Britain in general). I can't listen to a Florence and the Machine song without remembering her. Boudicca was a queen, a boss, and most definitely worthy of repeated mention in books by any author.