Good morning, Readers!

Last night went actually... pretty well.  I didn't run out of things to say, and there was some really interesting conversations around what is and is not realistic in fight scenes.

I'd like to thank the Capital Crime Writers for inviting me out to speak to them.  It was a good time, and I really hope I was useful for folks who showed up wanting to learn a bit about how fights actually work.  I always enjoy talking martial arts, and probably blathered on a bit, but I still had fun.  I hope they did too.

In other news, one of my martial arts students is a wonderful artist and has, finally, started a Facebook page for her beautiful pieces.  I'm giving her a shout-out here, because she deserves it.  If you're interested in small, local artists, go and give her page a like.  There are really beautiful pieces up already.

Writing is going well... ish.  I managed a decent one thousand words yesterday, and hope to do the same again today, though, thanks to Tuesday's writing session, I've already reached my weekly goal.  I've now passed the ninety-thousand word mark, and I'm in the home stretch.  The manuscript might just get finished.  I'm looking forward to this one being over.  It was a difficult write and will likely have to be edited to hell.  For now, though, it's almost done.  I can put it away soon, and work on something lighter and more fun.

I'm looking forward to getting started on the second book of the Avalon series.

And on that note, I have to go and get writing.  Hope you all have a lovely day!

Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

I'm over on Black Gate Magazine today (I mean, technically yesterday afternoon, but I'm counting it as today).

Last week, I headed out to the Mayfair Theatre in Ottawa (Canada) for a screening of the film Level 16.  An aside, the Mayfair is a quaint little theater that has been in operation since 1932. The interior doesn’t seem to have been changed since it’s early days, and the in-house film graphics haven’t changed since the 70’s, I’m certain. Anyway, I figured I could turn the visit into a film review. For true transparency’s sake, I have to state that my flatmate and good friend worked on this film. I guarantee you, though, that I’m being as impartial as I can about it.
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Level 16 is a sci-fi thriller (stronger on the thriller than science fiction, though there is enough of the latter to qualify, even if it’s mentioned only briefly) set in a “post-apocalyptic” world (there are reasons for those quotation marks, I promise you). From IMDB:

Good morning, Readers!

Welp, I had hoped to have finished The Witcher III during last night's stream, but I'm struggling with the final boss battle.  So, I shall stream again Friday night and see if I can't get a lucky break.  Hopefully I won't be stuck fighting this vampire forever.  Incidentally, if you've played and you have some tips for me, I'd be delighted to hear them.  Stage one is a breeze.  Stage two is the one kicking my arse so far.

Yesterday was a good day.  I managed to get all three entries in my world-building wiki done (I do three a week, usually on Monday), and it wasn't too painful.  I'm delving into ancient histories and mythologies of the world at the moment, and it's my favourite thing... of any world.  Including this one.  The real one.  Ancient history and myth are my favourite things ever.

Which reminds me, there is a game coming out (thanks for bringing this to my attention, Jaggy), Heaven's Vault, where you play an archaeologist, and you run around the place examining artefacts, translating glyphs, and solving puzzles.  You do this to try and unlock the mystery of the ancient history you're examining.  The best thing about it is that you'll never know if you're correct.  Your interpretations may or may not be "right."  The game won't tell you.  It's a layer of realism that I appreciate.  It's just like archaeology in real life.  It will be released this spring, and it's going to be available on the PS4.  This game sounds like my happy place.

Today is one of my manuscript writing days.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to hit two thousand words today, but I'm keeping my goal at a much more doable one thousand.  If I hit that and feel like I can't go on, I won't consider today to be a bad writing day.  That happens some times.  The brain just fries and I can't write more, even if there are words still to place on the page.  It's like trying to see through a heavy fog.  You know things are there, there's just no possible way to see them.  Incidentally, that was the state of my brain Thursday.  Utterly fried.

Well, I have work that needs to be getting on with.  So do you, presumably.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

It is a perfect day for curling up in bed with a hot cuppa tea and a good book, while accepting kitten cuddles.  Instead, I am at work.  It does mean I get paid, though, so I can't complain all that much.

This Wednesday, I shall be talking about fighting in fiction for the Capital Crime Writers here in Ottawa (details here).  I'm super excited and also really nervous about it.  I have no doubt that it's a great group, but standing up in front of an audience to speak alone on something, even if I know what I'm talking about, is utterly terrifying.

Anywho, I think the meeting is open to non-members as well, so if you're in Ottawa and interested in fighting and fiction, come down to hear me bumble my way through a presentation.  I shall try and communicate my knowledge effectively.  No guarantees, though.

Today is the day that I continue my world-building for the story I am currently writing.  It's nice to sort out the history and current religious and political life.  It's a weird amount of work, and I swing between loving it and despising it.  I think doing this once a week is just the right amount.  If I had to do it all the time, I'd want to hang myself.

Breaking up the work is a good way to stay fresh and motivated.  It's not always writing the story, and it's not always putting the world-building down in the world-bible, but all of it is necessary work.  I can take a break from writing the manuscript to do a bit of world-building, and I can take a break from world-building with writing a bit of the manuscript.

Not the point.  The point is that, in addition to the world-building entries, I also have to write the blog post for Black Gate Magazine that's going up tomorrow, and also go over and improve my notes for Wednesday's talk.  It's a busy day for me.

Thank goodness this weekend was relatively quiet and restful.

Right, I do have a tonne of work to be getting on with.  I should go and do that.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

I have an easel.  I should really be using it.

So, I've decided that I want to do an original painting in time for ComiCon.  I'm sharing a table with Renaissance Press this year (yay!), because I cannot afford my own table this time as they've raised to cost  and priced me out (boo!), and for that reason, it's likely to be my last ComicCon.  Unless I get randomly popular and I'm invited as a guest.  HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH! *weeps*

Anyway, since I have an easel, I have the perfect display for a large original piece that I can have behind my side of the table.  I have the image I want to paint in my mind.  I just have to do a concept sketch, and then get all my paints in order, and then get to painting.  It's the starting of the thing that is tricky.  I just have to get the thing started.  Le sigh.

So, that's my big newsy thing for today.  I might start a painting on canvas this week.  Ish.  I'll post progress of it, maybe.  We'll see.  Like I said, getting started is the difficult part.

Also, I need to dig out my old sketch pad.  I haven't used that thing in years.

Right, I have work to do.  This thing won't write itself.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Friends and awesome people Cait Gordon and Talia Johnson have put together a fantastic anthology of own voices stories.  The anthology is all put together, and now they're just doing the fundraising part.  The book is up on Kickstarter, and has a tonne of cool backing perks.

I'm really excited for this anthology, and for Cait and Talia, who have been working so hard on this.

Do check out the Kickstarter (here), and back it if you can.  We need more own voice stories in the world.

Right, I have work to do.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Okay, okay, don't freak out.  My talking about make-up is not an indication that the world has ended.  It's actually just a part of me stretching out a bit.  Yes, I used to hate make-up.  There were many reasons for this, but two main ones.  One, my skin is hyper-sensitive, and there was very little make up I could wear without irritating it.  This is especially true of mascara, which usually resulted in stinging eyes.

Mostly, though, I despised make-up because of the pressure on women to spend inordinate sums in order to appear beautiful for society.  I saw it as yet another burden on women, who must twist themselves into pretzels, or cut off parts, shrink their minds and their souls, in order to be what society proclaims to be beautiful (diminutive, quiet, obedient, etc) and thus accepted.

To some degree, I still think it's true.  Even if feeling beautiful using external means (like make-up) is absolutely a personal uplifting thing, which I am not denying, I question why that might be.

That said, there is something to focussing on oneself for a while.  It's something of a ritual, one that is centred on yourself and how you're feeling.  Applying make-up is that little ritual. It's all about you.  There's something vaguely therapeutic about that.

I have not really been taking the time for myself in this way.  I've certainly been working on myself to make myself physically healthier - what with the returning to the gym, changing up my diet (and boy was that a good idea!) to exclude gluten and processed sugar, drinking more water, and things like that - I haven't actually been taking time to care for my mental health, and my relationship to myself... other than therapy when things get tough (and I have the funds).

Given this, I figured I should maybe start a morning ritual that was all about me and my skin, including makeup.  Now, I know a lot of makeup has a lot of pretty awful stuff in it, making me reluctant to use it.  I was surprised when I wandered into my usual chemist (drug store, for my North American peeps) and found that my favourite honey-based brand has come out with a complete make-up line.  Burt's Bees, which I've loved since they only made lip balm, is now making make-up that is made with natural ingredients and without parabens, phthalates, petrolatum, silicone, talc and artificial fragrances.  It's not all brilliant, to be honest, but it's a damned sight better than a lot of other brands.

So, last week, I spent a stupid amount of money on makeup.  I had a lot to replace or fill in, in my (non-existent) collection, so it really was a lot of money.  That said, it should last me a long while.  Everything I have is now Burt's Bees, with the exception of the BB cream, which I could not find, so I went with the hypo-allergenic Physician's Formula.  If I can't find the BB cream at the chemist, I might order it online.  Just to try (the Physician's Formula, despite being the lightest available, is still a little too dark).

So far, after only three days of use, I can say that I really like it.  My skin isn't freaking out (thank heavens!), and seems to actually be clearing up ... which is also related to diet.  I must say that the pigment of the eye shadow I have (countryside lavender) isn't quite what I expected.  It is a little more like a purple-ish neutral than purple, which, actually, I quite like.  I'm not really about all the bright, hyper pigmented eye-shadows.  Maybe one day I'll get a bit more daring.  This is in contrast with the blush, which I have to use very sparingly, because otherwise I look like a clown.

What impressed me the most was the mascara.  It smells lovely (like honey.  Surprise) and, by some remarkable miracle, my eyes don't sting.  It didn't even sting when I accidentally hit my eyeball with the applicator (make-up application is not my strong suit) and got some of it all over my eyeball.  The mascara doesn't run; thus far, anyway.

This is a very long blog post to say that actually, this make-up line exceeded my expectation, looks pretty good on (if I knew what I was doing, it would probably look better), and my skin is not having a conniption.  Also, I'm finding it particularly soothing; a nice, small ritual at the beginning of the day where I, and how I feel, is central.  We all need a little bit of that, I think.

This blog post used to have a point.  Don't know what that is, anymore.  Now I have to go write more words and hope that they somehow become a book.

​Ciao!