It's been a while since I posted here. I get lazy. LJ is actually an easier format to deal with  but I like t-blogs layout and all my links and stuff is here.... so apologies for the lack of wordiness....not much to tell atm. The discussions have ben primarily abuot sex, bad romance fiction and fan fiction, good fan fiction, shopping, hair sticks, ice cream, and spring.

I am bashing my head against by keyboard these days trying to connect dots and understand why my characters do the things they insist on doing. I take a break at 5:15pm to watch Everwood and then again when M gets home and we cook supper together. Mostly my days are spent in a combination of houseworky stuffs and words words words with the pattern being broken up by the chattiness of a few friends who are online , my constant battle with email spam and my desperate need for a decent cup of tea.

Everyting else is so la la, as they say.

The weather here has been cooler than normal and I was absolutely distressed by a news report that the polar bears are DROWNING!!!! ack. Global warming is doing BAD things to this earth and we don't even seem to care. Can I move to another universe please?

missing people though.

Big Congrats to my sister who graduated from paramed school. She astounds me actually! So cheers!
My mom's birthday is coming up soon too, and my brother's.

yeah I am being boring. The lj blog is a bit more lively today than this one but there is only so much cross posting/ double posting I am willing to do.

So y'all, back to the fan-fic grind....grumble grumble grumble.

BTW Here are some exampls of what not to do if you write fan fiction in a well known universe:
http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/a_writers_life/2006/0 4/no_hope_for_thi.html" title="http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/a_writers_life/2006/0 4/no_hope_for_thi.html" target="_blank"http://leegoldberg.typepad.co...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933456027 /ref=sib_rdr_dp/104-38573 71-3043967?" title="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933456027 /ref=sib_rdr_dp/104-38573 71-3043967?" target="_blank"http://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...%5Fencoding=UTF8&me=A TVPDKIKX0DER&no=28315 5&st=books&n=2831 55

and this is just an interesting article on the genre
http://www.slate.com/id/80225/" title="http://www.slate.com/id/80225/" target="_blank"http://www.slate.com/id/80225...

on that note....

and until then, Be excellent to each other.

PS (L) remind me to mail you the ice-cream story, you migt enjoy it.

so blogspot won't upload chp 3 so y'all are gonna hafta wait till they get their mojo sorted out.

sorry. 

The problem with keeping several blogs at once is the danger of being bored and not wanting to write two different things at the same time... I started this blog as a way to keep in touch with out writing tons of letters cuz I am a lazy ass when it comes to letter writing... I began the lj blog as a way to bitch about what SOE did to SWG but that got old, the blog stuck and I use it like a second journal .... Mostly i separate them because they have different feels and styles and stuff, but sometimes liek this morning I just can't be arsed...

so...

apologies for the cross over posting...

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The sun is actually peeking through the mist. I love that here, the clouds come down from their high in the sky perch to dance about the mountains and whisper naughty things to the earth. Yesterday it rained, the grass, the plants, the trees all looked up and closed their eyes to soak it in. They love the rain, I love the rain. Now this morning the world smells April fresh in a non synthetic kind of way and the new green of young leaves is bright and stunning. 

Spring meanders in here, It starts from the valley and it works its way up the sides of the hills and mountains, it is a gradual, leisurely thing. Friday, while hanging the laundry on the racks on the balcony, I caught the scent of magnolia in the air, in a month that will be Jasmine I smell and that is one of the most delightful scents ever. I never imagined in my life I would be able to experience the scent of fresh Jasmine, and I am glad I have.

We were talking about writing the other day, and last night I was chatting with a friend I have not talked to in a while about her works, my works and the art of star wars books in general, we both agree a lot of the SW stuff that's out there is pablum for the masses. Critical as it sounds it's sort of true. Like the romance writing genre everyone seems to follow a sort of dictated path.( sarcasm on) I like that the Heroes of the rebellion get older but can still take on the whole galaxy and win. :-) ( S.off.)... 

A friend of mine recently gave me a big bag of bodice rippers to read, easy bathtub books and sometimes my brain just wants that sort of trash , but I had forgotten how awful some of these books can be and I stopped reading one because it was making me cross. What annoys me even more is these terrible authors get PAID to write this drivel. This particular book is particularly terrible in every possible way.  It does give me hope, and P. and I were sort of talking about this last night. Bad writing can show you how far you have come and show you what not to do... so you can learn from everything you read. But god oh god.... people pay for this crap and enjoy it too???? A decent romance novel is a hard thing to find and I like mine a bit more hard core than wimpy wilting soft core, still... if the prose is obscenely florid and the story line well.. just plain stupid... even the sex won't save it from the bin.

When I eventually finish DOTE I will probably print and bind copies for us to have ( always like to have a hard copy kicking around....). I really love the art of book binding and three fairly chunky books will be fun to do in hard back. I can see giving them as gifts for my insane Star wars friends who have put up with the awful weird blog format. I like that it's up on the web for others to poke their noses into. I know this means it will never get published for real but the chances of that ever happening considering the whole Lucas Arts style and genre any way are next to none so I throw it out there and see what happens. It's like throwing pebbles in a pond, the ripples never really stop...energy goes some where every where....as Mr. Universe said... "Can't stop the signal, Mal..."

So, here we are Easter Sunday, the sun has come out, the coffee is slowly making its presence known in my blood stream and my husband is placing great faith in me by allowing me to come at his hair with a pair of scissors. I have a lot of work to do, and it feels good. Drawings to work on , words to play with, paintings to sort out and get done, some house work thrown in for good measure and enjoying the day, the hour the moment with the man of my dreams..( the real one) Maybe even go out for a walk and get my lazy ass moving...what a concept... writing and drawing and painting are sit down jobs and I have forgotten how to move. No wonder I get sick.... 

so happy Easter to everyone celebrating it and happy Sunday to those who are not!

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Not much else to go on about really...

so Until then: Be excellent to each other... and as James said "Don't make yourself sick on chocolate."

I am constantly astounded at the positive feed back I get from the book that I write and upload online. I was very scared to show it to the public world at first because let's face it, when you write you strip away bits of your soul and sharing that with the world at large is scary. This story has been waiting to burst out of me for close to 10 years now, and through the years the various incarnations never seemed to get past a certain point and i walked away. Now, I have long passed that particular hump and the story unfolds. I am not sure if the time is now just right, that I have the time to devote to it, and the encouragement from my husband that has allowed for the gradual but regular unfolding of this tale.

Perhaps what astounds me the most is that now I get asked for writing advice and I wrack my brains wondering how I, a non published hobby writer can offer any sort of advice about the use of words to anyone. But I tell them what I have read and what works for me and that most of all be honest in your words. I think that to be a good writer you have to love words to the point of almost hating them so much you love them even more.

I have been stuck for the last three weeks though. Since finishing book1 book2 has been elusive and what I have so far managed to churn out in that time was for the most part crap and fill. After hours, no days of being cranky and frustrated I sat yesterday in the living room away from the main computer, watched CSI Miami and went through ALL my notes, my own time line and the Time Line Gold from Nathan P Butler and realised that the reason I was having no luck, was my time line was messed up so I had to re-plot out everything all over again. No biggie, then after a lengthy discussion with my very SW knowledgeable husband realised that I was missing a grand opportunity to re introduce a small part character and play with him in a big way, two new plot lines and threads opened up and where I was once stuck and struggling to produce one coherent sentence suddenly I had story coming out of my fingers the way snot flows from a kid with a cold's nose.

Writing is hard work, but it is hard work that doesn't feel like it till after the fact ( or when it is not working at all) and I slowly learn more and more about the craft. I know nothing about the business side of it what so ever since at the beginning of this half assed project publishing was not even part of the picture, but many people have asked if it will be published, they'd like to see it as a real book. And that seed of what if has begun to niggle...

My personal feeling on it is that Lucas Arts and what ever publisher it is now that deals with the SW books will not be interested in a story that is quite vastly different from the usual style and fare offered up by the SW EU world. I take a lot of liberties and the Heroes of the Rebellion DO NOT play a major part in this tale at all. It is strictly an Imperial tale told from an Imperial pov. Quite frankly I write it because in all honesty it is what I wanted to read but could just never find. maybe I am not alone in this.... but I don't hold my breath because the LA/SW world is fairly constrictive and filled with dos and don'ts. The race of being unpublished is I can do what I want :) Like my SCA stuff I don't do it for money or fame or even recognition although it is nice when people take the time to say it's cool, I do it because I have to, because I am driven and that is the end of it. Like drawing, painting, dancing and singing it is who I am if I don't create I think I would explode. I don't wanna explode.

I never thought I would end up doing the hours and hours of research I have been doing though, for a star wars based book. Phew.... and I am so grateful there are people out there even more nutty than I am who take the time to put together time lines and summaries so that i don't have to. and wookieepedia rules!!!!

so now it's back to the words and the laundry I need to hang up. :)It's another day in paradise and we go shopping tonight for food because Saturday shopping at Easter weekend would be suicidal. :) I am trying to not let the silly SCA shit get to me, and trying to not fall back into bad patterns of sitting at my desk for HOURS on end without moving...no wonder i get so sick.... and practice the tai chi moves to get my CHI back in order and allow my energy to flow. I adore our teacher, he is so cool. If the weather is nice we'll garden this weekend and enjoy life.  Spring is coming, the air holds the hint of warmth but you can also still smell the snow from the mountains.

so...
there you go.

until then be excellent to each other

It never ceases to amaze me that people just don't listen. After repeated requests for something quite important and specific to do with SCA stuff and my particular job...I get asked via email 'what needs to be done.' I have no idea how to be polite about this. I have no idea how not to rant about the ridiculousness of the situation. So,  I just resent the email from over a YEAR ago requesting the particular change in the hopes it will get eventually at some point in my tenure as signet get done.I can't believe I had to necropost a year old emial though especially since it was not the first or the last requesting this change.( change of address) This state of affairs does nothing for my confidence in this kingdom as a whole. Yeah, I know I am not being terribly specific but the jist of it is....people seem intent on looking out for #1 without looking at the greater picture. and I am fed up of it. really truly fed up.

This weekend we will be working on sorting out stuff for a scribal website for this kingdom in general. General information and stuff that hopefully will be easy to get to, easy to read and understand and pretty to look at. Marcus is so good at web works I have no doubts it will be great. Just need to get all my ducks in a row. Scroll texts and how too's some basic lay outs and so on... all the things that new scribs ask for but are currently not avaliable here. I am hoping we can set up a backlog scroll data base of stuff done and sittingin a box, the Your scrollis here come claim it thing. Not that there is much of a back log left or anything...

This is all the tedious stuff that plagues on my mind.

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On other news, we had an awesome weekend with excellent friends who came to stay. It was a house full of laughter and fun and just great  moments. It was so nice to have company! We BBQ'd on Saturday and then lounged around and watched stuff on TV. Chattered had cups of tea and played with the dog. It was just awesome.

Now it is back to earth with a bump, i am struggling with the start of book 2 but I think that is because in reality book1 isn't finished till the last bit is up and published on the web, then it will be okay round two, although I am about 50 pages into the book2 it's slow and sluggish like a bear waking up after hybernation. There are plot threads doingthings I didn't expect them to do and I find myself banging my head on the keyboard asking WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!!!!! As with any long involved insane story the threads will sort themselves out, the characters will go where they are meant to and in the end ( which I do already know) the last bits all make sense. It's just a bit like sitting in a traffic jam atm.

many other things to talk about but you know my brain is a mess and I cannot even think in coherant sentances this morning.

I have to sit down and work out some more big Re-Cycled pieces for ACER , there are 4 paintings hanging at  the moment and they would like some more, now that I have seen the space where they hang I can figure out what to do for them next. It will be a sort of permenant show really, which is kinda cool when you think about it. There have been some rumblings about buying some of the works so that's cool as well. It's just nice other people get to see and appreciate them.

I am quite excited about it actually. It will be a nice break , ( painting with acrylics) from the medieval stuff which has become more of a chore in the last year than a joy. Not that I don't love it but I don't know that I love the reasons behind why I am doing it any longer. I sent out over 40 scrolls from backlogged work to people last year and I think perhaps 5 or 6 people actually bothered to email and say thanks. I get so tired of chasing people down, asking if the mail arrived etc....I have 3 more reigns then someone else needs to be signet. Then I can go back to enjoying the art work and the process and leave the headache of the admin side out of it.

If we ever get our bunker room sorted out I'd like to set up a dark room and start photography again.... well there are lots of dreams you know... and time slips by easily enough.

anyway now it is breakfast time, shower time etc etc....

see if I can't knock out this 1st chapter and get past this wall..... Hoth is coming up so that should be fun....

in the mean time ...it's a day as usual.

Until then, be excellent to each other!!!

I double post this on the other blog too because I can't be arsed to re write it all out. ...

I love living in Europe. I do. I walk out of my door and hear not just one language spoken, but many. If we drive for twenty minutes we are in Italy, a couple of hours, France...three hours ( give or take) then we hit Germany, and you get the general idea. People ask me often when ( not if) I will move back home and I look at them funny first because home is a strange concept to someone who has moved as many times as I have and lived in as many countries as I have although if I did come back my first pick would be Halifax my second pick would be St. John's.

So...we went to Florence this past weekend. 3 nights, 4 days. We took the train from Lugano, CH to Florence main station. It was a 4 hours ride and that is long enough on a train. It was nice though, people talk on trains, they smile and they are for the most part friendly, well except the Swiss Germans who get very tetchy when their seating arrangements don't work. What a personality difference from the Italians who just don't really care.. I love Italians happy passionate crazy people. They smile at you, they love life and they just have wonderful sunny spirits. Very good for my soul.

I had the most amazing experiences in Florence. And in four days i learnt a lot about myself.

1: I need people and I need cities and their enerygy...being all alone day in day is killing me.
2: One does not need to be religious to be spiritual and whe the spirit happens to visit you during a gorgeous mass in a stunning church tears are quite okay.
3: Just because you spent 3 years studying ren art 20 years ago doesn't mean you have to like it now. The best part of the whole trip art wise was seeing a page from a Florentine manuscrip t up close and personal.
4: Masaccio's Trinity is smaller than I expected but no less amazing.
5: no one knows where  am from although many guessed ...swiss, Irish, Australian, American...they wre a little surprised at Canadian...Guess  really don't belong any where and do belong everywhere.
6: Learning Italian is now #1 on my list of VIP things to do. And being called Cara and bella no matter how old one is is flattering and good for the soul.
7:I don't like Italian food all that much, but the esspresso rocks.
8:Florence is beautiful and ugly all at the same time and the stench of Urine is over powering.
9:No matter how far from home I go, I am always glad to get back to my own bed.
10: Travelling is ever so much better when you are with someone who loves you.

will write more when I have sorted out my brain.

Until then  be excellent to each other