I think I need a map...

Ugh, so many links!


Um, I mean, I'm sorry I've been so absent. You see, I'm working on getting my art blog/site up and ready to go. 

While chasing a toddler.

And trying to find time to write.

Busy doesn't even come close to the chaos of my life right now. It's a good chaos though, so I'm not complaining(even though it may sound that way....sorry), but it means I have less time to blog if I want to have dinner ready when the hubby gets home and still be silly with my little one. 

Priorities are good things, am I right?

Anyway, I'm already running late on fixing dinner and the toddler just woke up from napping. Since my brain is kind of like so much mush after weaving the web of links and posts I need to make my art blog/site work, I'm going to sign off.


Erm, and yes I know it's not sunday, but yesterday was more nuts then usual. So yeah....have a monday post instead.  ^__^




~Sun and Moon

Maybe I spoke too soon

Remember how I said I'd survived the holiday season and implied I would no longer be squished on a daily basis?

Yeah, well....I take that back.

You see, we have had incredibly crappy weather this week. As in snow and freezing temperatures. Lots of snow. And there's supposed to be even more on its way. Awesome, right?

This has had the happy and predictable effect of sending most of my area into a panic, and then driving those same folks to buy food as if the apocalypse is about to occure.

Seriously, it's that bad.

Indeed, on average its been taking me almost an hour to escape my register(I'm a cashier in retail) and go clock out for the day. If there is anything edible stocked on our shelves come monday, it won't be for lack of customers, that's for sure.

So instead of curling up with my husband and working on edits for chapter sixteen this week, I've been trying my level best to survive the chaos. Which means getting home, scarfing down some food, relaxing for about an hour, and then passing out as the day hits home like a baseball bat to the back of the head.

Oh well, at least I'm sleeping really well. 

In the meantime, I'm also trying to clean up my apartment of the results of  post-holiday neglect(happens every year no matter what I try), so editing is going to be sluggish at best. On the other hand, my art is at a complete standstill, so at least edits are going somewhere instead of gathering dust.

Anyway, I better wrap this up. There's snow falling outside my window and a huge mug of tea waiting for me in the kitchen. After such a long work week, I'm determined to relax. It's time to enjoy good food and even better company while the world outside my window gets a fresh coat of white.

Care to join me?      


 
~Sun and Moon

Um, so about that....

Yes, I know....I missed another sunday. Normally if I post on wednesdays, there's a picture involved, but not today.

Well, maybe one picture....




 

More pastels...can you tell I'm addicted? :3

Anyway, I just want to let you guys know that the holiday season is hitting me like a brick and posts are going to be sporadic at best until New Years day. There are several reasons for this, and I'll explain them all....eventually. Until then, know that I'm really trying and I'm still writing. I'm just doing it between really long naps(also known as passing out on the couch while trying to do edits). 

With a little luck, I'll have this round of edits finished by the new year and I'll be able to share bits. No promises yet though. I was jotting down notes at work a couple days ago and realized a certain element needs to be woven through the plot a little deeper then it is now.

It never ends, does it? Oh well, at least it never gets boring either.

And on that note, I'm off to grab a mug of hot cocoa. Our downstairs neighbors did something strange that stunk up our apartment and I've had windows open most of the day. The windows are closed now and the heat is back on, but my feet are still blocks of ice inside my boots. 


Brrr...now where's the milk?



~Sun and Moon  





P.S. Apparently blogger wants to be mean. Go here to my gallery to see this art without the funky thing blogger did to the eyes. Geesh, got to love technology....>_>

Pretty colors....

Er, so its almost 9pm at night and I just realized I didn't put up a blog post at all. I have  loads of good reasons, but since most of them sound horribly like excuses....we'll leave them unspoken.

Also, on a random note...the letter "v" on my keyboard has died. I'm using the wonderful world of spell-check and cut-and-paste to cover that, but I'm either going to be doing some tinkering in the near future, or keyboard shopping. Thank goodness I have my netbook. I'm still picking away at my edit notes and it would really suck if I stymied because of a faulty key on my keyboard.

Funny thing is....I'm pretty sure I don't use my "v" key that much....


Tomorrow is going to be a day of cleaning, artwork, and edits, so I better go enjoy my last couple of lazy hours till bedtime. And in lieu of a proper blog post, here is a bit of artwork I finished some months ago. Pastels on pastel board, she is one of my favorite pieces right now and one of the first ones I finished after my son passed. I hope you like her. :)

~Sun and Moon    


 

Mii-aah! >_>

It's been almost two months since my last journal and I finally have some answers.

My son had a fatal birth defect called Trisomy 18. That's the bad news. The good news is that he as he passed away in my womb, he didn't suffer from it like he would have had he been born alive. Also, it was not a hereditary Trisomy, and we only have a 1% chance of this happening again. We're going to wait a year and then try again. Lord willing, I'll have good news to share come this time next year...well, maybe later then that. I hear being pregnant in the summer sucks and I was fortunate enough to escape that last time....

Anyway, I've slowly been getting back to art and writing. At first, all I did was wander around my studio and look at finished pieces, maybe flip through my book notes. The day I finally found the peace to start working on my book and those bits of artwork waiting on my art desk....that was a good day. It still comes and goes, but I'm finding myself slowly making more time for both art and writing in one form or another. 

Right now I'm in the process of getting all my story notes for all my different books into my laptop. I took a small break last week while I went to my first art show(it was a small, local carving and wood-burning show, but I wasn't the only one with drawings and paintings on my table). For the moment edits are a little slow as I'm a bit distracted with getting ready to move soon as well as building inventory for a bigger art show in November(my new landlord and I will be buying a table to sell my drawings and her wood-burning, along with a few collaborations from the two of us). 

And yes, you read that one bit correctly....My husband and I will most likely be moving into a new place with a friend of ours. She's getting a house and needs help with the bills, so she invited us to live with her. It means my husband has a garage to play in and I have a new studio and a new artist friend to scheme with. She has also agreed to be a beta reader for me and help me with my writing. The move will happen in late July, so hopefully I'll be finished with this round of edits by then. It also means I won't have to work for much longer(I go back to work next week...ugh). She and I have some serious plans for the house once she works out the details with its current owner(who is very eager to sell...yay!).

I still don't have internet access, but Mia has been letting me use her awesome laptop. Even so, I'm not sure if I'll be back to posting regularly about my writing sooner or later. Either way I should be back to posting by the end of August. I'll keep you posted. :)

Later guys.


~Sun and Moon

I'm still alive, just buried

Wow, it's been a while since I was last on here. I almost forgot how to navigate this darned page. 

Unfortunately I'm not back for good. Our internet is still down and while my husband has been able to find a job, it's only a part time one. This means things are still really tight as we stretch things to cover bills, rent, and baby related costs. 

On a lighter note, the whole pregnancy thing is going very smoothly(except for always being hungry...geesh).

I haven't had a chance to sit down and do any writing either. I'm either falling asleep at the computer(or on the couch), or scrambling to some appointment somewhere, or just heading to work. Hopefully this will change soon(as in hopefully I won't have to work anymore soon...). My laptop is getting dusty...>_>


Anyway, I better head out. I'm supposed to be putting together a sale to help pay for my baby expenses. If you're interested in some jewelry or artwork(or know someone who might be), then swing by my DeviantArt page and take a look at this journal. All the profits go towards my baby and my birth costs(I'm birthing at home with a midwife...I'm very happy about that ^_^). 


Well, my husband is ever so patiently waiting for me to finish up things over here, so I'll catch you guys later. Hopefully my next post will have lots of good news and a chapter to share. ;)

Thanks a bunch!



~Sun and Moon

Tiger, Tiger

As you've probably guessed, there won't be a blog post for today. Vacation is over, and I'm doing my best to adjust to works hours and such all over again. I'm still working on chapter twenty-nine edits, but there's not much to tell as I tweak the new scene bit by bit. It's slow, but I'm not stuck yet. :)

Anyway, here is a little something I did for my cousin Theresa. She loves tigers and I got to break in my new pastels, so it was a win-win. I hope you like it too. I'll try to have an actual blog post for you guys next week. Maybe even good chapter news? If all goes well I'll be taking a page from Amanda Olivieri's book(so to speak) and taking up the "Be Inspired" blog hop meme. 

Until then have a tiger. :)

~Sun and Moon

Not today, folks

It's been a killer week what with my husband losing his job and all(its a long story), so I hope you guys don't mind if I bow out of writting a blog post today. I do, however, have a picture for you guys.

I finished this back when I first decided to tackle all my unfinished projects. Can anyone tell me who the white bull represents? Bonus points if you can say who the peacock feather symbolizes. ;) 




~Sun and Moon

Walking the line

Progress is a wonderful thing, but what to do when you're not sure if your solution walks the line between too much, or not enough? It can feel right, but sometimes you wonder. Normally when this happens I send the sticky bit to a beta reader, but I'm fresh out these days.

Oh well, at least it's progress, right?

 I've started in on the new scene for chapter twenty-nine, and while its not going as smooth as I'd hoped, it hasn't bogged down yet, either. Today I plan to sit down with it and hammer out the details. With it being so darned hot around here(100+ degrees, anyone?), it doesn't look like I'll be able to do much else without melting. Besides, it needs to be done and putting it off won't make it any easier.

It's wonderful to be moving forward again and I'm starting to get hyper about maybe starting the first draft for book two in August. That, and a new character is poking at me. The kicker is I can't start working on her story now as it's something that needs to be set up first. That hasn't stopped me from taking notes though. And while she doesn't have a name yet, so does have a nickname(weird, I know).

Art is finally starting to move along too. The stack of finished pieces is growing slowly, but surely as I sort through my abundance of works-in-progress and tackle them one after another. The plan is to start taking commissions sometime soon so I can have a little extra money for our vacation coming up. I've start haunting the park near our apartment, getting practice sketching buildings and trees(a couple of my weak points) and people watching. It's been too hot to head out there the past couples times I've had a day free from work. The few times I have gone out, I've managed some decent sketches.

Like I said before: at least it's progress, right?

Anyway, I better get my behind off the computer and head back to the studio. I've had a commissioner waiting ever so patiently for their art, and it's past time I got it done for them. Then it's more work on edits and some cleaning so I can finally get some general craftiness done. If I can get my rear in gear, I'll be sorting out llama wool tonight and cutting leather while I hang out with my husband.

Wish me luck :)



~Sun and Moon

Fried mush, anyone?

 I had this incredibly nifty blog post in my head. I got settled at the computer, opened up Blogger....and promptly forgot every word.

This is why I like to write things down. I tend to forget. I did not, however, forget to work on chapter twenty-nine last sunday, but I haven't made the progress I had hoped to that night. In fact, my brain fizzled out shortly after the post went live, and I ended up going to bed after a measly forty-five minutes of edits.

Not cool, but I didn't have much of a choice. It's hard to dig anything solid out of fried mush. So I went back to picking at it, and I have yet to move past the stubborn snag tripping me up. Today I'm still feeling a little crispy(or is that squishy?), but I have hopes to change that. Between washing dishes and other chores I'll be at the computer, hammering it out until it either straightens up, or crumbles to pieces. At this point, any progress is good progress, right?

In other news, I've decided to stop trying to make a regular Wordless Wednesday post every week. It's fun, but it's becoming a little stressful. Art for me has been kind of sporadic these days. Which means when Wednesday rolls around, I don't always feel I like I have anything worth posting. Now, I still plan to share my art with you guys, but I may be creating a separate blog just for my artwork. If it happens, I'll let you guys know. The art blog(if it becomes a reality) won't have a schedule like my writing blog. It'll only be updated when I have something to share. If you decide to follow it, that's great. If not, then that's fine too.

In the meantime, I'm off to work on edits and hopefully finish a commission. I hope to have some real progress to report next Sunday, but you know how that is. Maybe this time will be different. Its always a possibility, right?
  



~Sun and Moon   

Wordless Wednesday: A quick peek at my messy art studio

Alrighty...I had to put the artsy stuff on hold so I could dedicate some serious time to getting my apartment cleaned up once and for all. Thus far it's going well, but I'm not done yet. So instead of art, here is a peek at my art studio where I try to do most of my work. You know...instead of taking over the livingroom as is my tendency. Oops. :)p

Framed art and my art desk with piles of books everywhere.

Some more framed art and my bookshelf. Don't mind the skull :)

My furry companions, plus one. Nikki watching the guinea pigs.

More guinea pigs :D

Big easel and my other bookshelf. Can you tell I like model horses?

Aaannd that's all folks. :)

Well, I still have edits to do and a kitchen to finish cleaning, so I better go. The next Wordless Wednesday will be artsy, I promise. Today I was just...distracted? Oh well, back to dishes! :D




~Sun and Moon

Wordless Wednesday: The equine version

Because I haven't been able to find a moment to do some actual art, here are a few of my older pieces I haven't shared before. Except for the last one. He's new :D

~Sun and Moon

Short and Sweet

I hope you guys don't mind, but I'm going to keep this one pretty brief. I'm actively editting chapter twenty-nine now, and scribbling notes for the new scenes I'm going to drop in to replace some old ones. You see, it's mentioned several times about how dangerous Underhill is....and then chapter twenty-nine is so TAME.

Ugh, must fix that one...>_>

I've been poking at it and now there are a group of unhappy naga to spice things up. Originally we don't see any of their kind till book two, but it fits very well, so why not?

It does mean I need to get that one naga prince drawing done. He still doesn't have a name, but he does play a part now. It would be incredibly nifty if I could add a few pictures to my finished work when it's published(which is a looong way off right now as I don't even have a query letter written, much less an agent waiting in the wings). I might as well start somewhere, right? :D

Alrighty then, I'm off to sort out those new scenes and play with my new art supplies. I already have one finished piece to show you guys on wednesday and I hope to have more. I guess we'll just have to see what happens. ;)


~Sun and Moon

Why I didn't post a wordless wednesday...

Yes, I know I forgot to post yesterday, but I have a reason for the lack of a wordless wednesday. 

My birthday package arrived.

I've been waiting to order these for a while, so without further ado, I'll leave you with these pictures while I go catch up on old art projects and play with my new toys.

Enjoy. :D

I got the smaller one :)

I got the 24 count, but they don't have a picture for it.

I only got four colors. So expensive!

I just replaced colors I had almost used up. I already have this tin :D

For those of you who want to know...You can find all these things and more at www.dickblick.com, the best place to find good art supplies for an affordable price. Well...for the most part, anyway. :)

Anywho, I'm off to enjoy my birthday spoils. 

~Sun and Moon

Wordless Wednesday

It's been crazy lately, I won't lie. However, this means I haven't had time to do much more then doodle. I have one finished piece to share with you guys and hope to have many more next wednesday. This was done on pastel board with pastel pencils. It's not my usual medium or subject matter, but it didn't turn out half bad. I like it anyway, and so does the person who let me use one of her photographs as a reference. I hope you like it too, and I'll try to have more to share next time.:)

~Sun and Moon


.

Wordless Wednesday sketch dump

For those of you who wonder, here's a taste of what I've been doing this past week between edits. From sketches, to Works-In-Progress, to finished product. I hope you like them. :)

~Sun and Moon

 

Anyone have a flashlight?

Well, I have a new phone to replace the one I lost last sunday(which I still plan to continue to look for as you can't buy the darn thing at all anymore). I don't like it, but it works and that's really all that matters. Plus it was only about fifty dollars and people who are broke shouldn't complain, right?

Right.

Anyway, it took me a while to calm down(about two days...ugh), so I didn't finish chapter twenty-eight like I thought I would. I am, however, on the last three pages. I have two small snags to fix and I'm good to take a break before plunging into chapter twenty-nine. They aren't really all that major, but I still want to fix them. It's like they say: life is stranger then fiction. It doesn't have to make sense cause it actually happened. In a book it must make sense though, or your reader is going to be having words with you.

One of those snags I need to fix is exactly that. Something small that doesn't make sense. It might get over looked on the first read thru, but not the second. I don't know about anyone else, but I want to write books people will put on their bookshelf and read until the binding is about broken and the pages are tattered. That means smoothing out the parts that make people wonder where you left your common sense. 

Today I'll be doing just that(working on the snags, not looking for my common sense). If all goes well, I'll be taking a break soon and then starting twenty-nine sometime this week. Also, keep your eyes peeled this wednesday for another art post. I have a handful of sketches, a Work In Progress, and a piece I finished up just this morning. It should be fun. And very colorful, but mostly fun cause only the newly finished piece has color right now. That might change, but for now we'll have to wait and see. :)

I've gotten to the point where I can see a light at the end of this tunnel. Which is good seeing as my batteries are about drained. Anyone have a flashlight I could borrow? Mine is starting to flicker. 

~Sun and Moon

Hey is that--ooh, shiny!

I know I say this a lot, but I didn't forget about today's blog post. I actually put it off in the hope that I'd be able to tell you guys I had finished chapter twenty-eight at last.

Alas, it was not meant to be. While I am making loads more progress(the end is in sight for sure), I'm not quite done yet. I pulled some stuff out and rewrote other things, and it all feels kind of raw still, but it seems to be moving in the right direction. If I keep things going at this rate, I'll probably be done within a week, if not less. In the meantime, I will continue to chip away at it on my spare moments.

In other news, I'm in the process of clearing my art desk of old projects. So far it's going well. I spent most of today with a piece that's been lounging about for the better part of a year. It was a nice change from wrestling with my chapter tangles, and I can't wait to see it finished. Expect to see another art post sometime soon.

Which reminds me of something. I've been thinking of doing a Wordless Wednesday as well as my usual blog post on Sunday. I'm not sure how often it would post, but it would likely be a mix of my art and pictures of whatever interesting things I stumble across during the week.

It's a thought anyway.

And on that note, I'm off to bed. Its been a long day of editting and art, and my brain is just about fried.



~Sun and Moon
 

My keys are evil

Be nice to your keys...they bite.
 
Yesterday while getting my keys into my pocket, they wrapped around my hand and wacked my knuckle. Instant bruise. Also, some painful swelling. Most of my work shift was running the self checkouts, so this wasn't too much of a problem. Except I couldn't write or draw.

Ouch. :p

By the time I got home I could bend it, but it still ached, so I goofed off and went to bed instead of doing edits like I was supposed too. So seeing as I promised you guys some of my artwork if I figured out my watermark issues(I did), I thought I'd go head and post some(they're posted them from oldest to newest, by the way). I'd feel guilty about not writing a whole blog post, but this way I can get back to work on those edits I put off yesterday. We'll be back to regular blogging next sunday. I hope you don't mind the interruption. :) 

~Sun and Moon

Instert crafty title here

Things are looking up. I'm back to work on chapter twenty-eight and making some progress as I untangle the mess. The going is incredibly slow, but I've run through the important bits of my problem scene with a few people who know a thing or two about wounds and trauma. I've taken what they've told me and started applying it to the sticky bit. It's helping to clear out the bits that were seriously bothering me(no wonder, they didn't belong anyway), and now I just need to finish deciding how to rework another bit before I can call this thing done.

So, upside and downside, but more on the upside. I mean, progress trumps sticky bits, right?

In the meantime, I better head off to get some of those sticky bits cleaned up. I intend to make a serious dent in my art project list today, and I can't do that sitting at the computer. If I can get my digital art program figured out and create a watermark for my work, I'll share some artsy stuff with you guys.

But first I'm going to go raid the fridge. My latest batch of goat yogurt won't be ready for pick-up till tomorrow, but there's some leftover steak and plenty of salad fixings. I don't know about you guys, but I work better on a full stomach.


~Sun and Moon