Inktober

I don’t usually share my drawings on here, but this is a really quick sketch I did of my niece sitting by the river. I know…that river looks great.

Last year I did themed character drawings for different months and holidays. I have one where I did a costume party, and what outfits my characters might where. It was really fun. Two of them dressed up as Mario and Luigi. I like to draw my character’s wearing shirts with aliens, or Nintendo characters. Depends on their personality. I like giving them wild hair colours too, like blue or fire truck red or green. I’ve just been doodling on my notes recently, so I don’t have many new drawings to show off haha…but I’ll work on some here and there.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of your day.

–R.

Novel Update

I finished. I finished the first round of editing, and transferred my novel from paper and pencil, to the lovely Times New Roman font on my laptop. It took a long time to type that up…from December 23rd, 2016 until October 13th, 2017.

My goal now is to do a complete read through of the hardcopy, which I printed off and stuffed into a binder I hijacked from my sister. I want to finish reading it all today. If I can do that, then that’s awesome. If not, that sucks but I’ll get it done. I’m in the last leg of the race here, I don’t want to start slacking off.

I was motivated to finish it, and I did. It felt so good watching it come out of the printer. Fresh ink. I ran out of paper twice. I didn’t care. I’m really pleased with myself. It’s been such a long time since I’ve actually completed one of my projects. I feel like I’ll have finally broken the pattern that began back in high school, with this novel. I’m going to finish the things I start from now on. There’s no reason for me to put things off.

Well…I’d better start reading. I haven’t eaten anything yet today and I barely slept last night but I don’t care. I’m so pumped. I did jumping jacks while this baby was printing. I’d kiss it but I don’t wanna be creepy.

My folks already find it weird that I carried the rough draft around with me and clutched onto it…and yelled at people for tossing my bag around whenever it was in there…and all the barking and hissing I did whenever anyone went into my room and moved my stuff….

Anyway, I’m going to get to work…and I’ll have a snack or something too. Ha…that’s probably a good idea.

Till next time,

–R.

(The following didn’t post for some reason…I apologize).

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I’ve now edited several chapters…I believe 11. So I’m getting there. Since schools gotten really busy for me, I’ve set my goal to have the entire thing edited by the end of next week. I have no classes next week, so I’ll have lots of time to read and edit.

–R.

Insanity by Lucas King

Occasionally I play this song when doing sketches of a character of mine, whom you’ll meet someday soon. I haven’t had the chance to write his story recently. Usually I write it when I’m having trouble sleeping. I promise you he isn’t crazy…at least…not yet.

Ha…I’m just teasing. I’m sure he doesn’t mind that I haven’t finished his story yet. It’s getting sad. I do think about him when I hear songs like this one. I feel as if I’ve doomed the boy…and he isn’t even real. Well, he’s real enough to me. I created him.

It’s a strange thing, being an author. You create these people…and with one swift movement their lives are altered in ways that they can’t even imagine. They have no control over what is going to happen next…and sometimes it feels as though the author has lost control as well. Sometimes the story’s end up writing themselves.

Part of me hopes that this young mans story won’t be tragic. I wonder if I’m avoiding it, because I know what is to come. He has some notion of what will happen next, that’s for sure. Still…it’s hard to say how it will end.

–R.

Updates

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve done an update. The illustrations for my book are coming along well. I can’t wait to see the finished product.

As for my other work, I’m still editing away. When I’m not editing I’m either doing concept art for a project of mine, or I’m working.

I’m about to start a new job after the Canada Day long weekend. I guess the day I start is a holiday in the United States. I’m pretty excited about this job. I mean, yah, I’ll be working two jobs for the remainder of the summer but I need the money. School isn’t cheap.

I’m seriously excited about finishing this book. I really want people to see the artwork! It’s fantastic.

Well, I’m going to attempt to do a bit of concept art today. Tomorrow is a holiday so I’m going to be trying to do stuff today so that I’m not scrambling to work tomorrow morning before any festivities.

I was actually going to share some of my art today but I realized when I logged into my computer that I didn’t scan the pictures I wanted to show…only character designs. I’d rather show people what my characters look like when the book is released.

Hope everyone’s having nicer weather than I am.

Till next time,

–R.

Why Stress Out When You Can Write?

I’m in the mood to do some writing right now, and although I have to prepare a rough thesis for this week I find that stressing over what to write goes away when I write something else first. So a little novel-writing tonight, and hopefully after some more brainstorming I’ll have a good idea as to what I want to do for my thesis.

I’d like to see what my characters are up to. They’ve been begging me to give them attention lately, but priorities…homework comes first (or at least…I try to put it first).

Until next time,

–R.

More Nanowrimo Updates

Last night I was up until 3 am writing. I honestly couldn’t stop. I must’ve spent the entire evening working. I guess not working on anything other than essays for a month let all my creativity and imagination build up. I haven’t been able to keep my hands away from a blank page all week. Its incredible.

So its 10 am now. I don’t really know how much sleep I got, nor do I really care. I’m a night owl and a rooster. Up all hours of the day if required. I enjoy sleeping, but whenever I sleep in I feel as though I’ve wasted my day.

The plan right now is to do some character designs, as I’ve finally fleshed out another group of characters.

I’ve got homework to get done today as well, so I’ll probably alternate between the two. Hopefully I don’t get absorbed into my writing and forget about the important work I need to do.

 

Break

I just finished my midterm exams, and I’m now on my long-awaited break. I’ve seriously needed this…I’ve been under so much stress lately, it’s been effecting my health. Now I have this time at home to catch up on sleep, do my homework and get myself back into my usual schedule. I’m just glad that I was able to write my exams without completely losing it. I haven’t slept well in about four weeks….these last two nights I’ve slept like a baby.

So, I’ve been doing character designs recently for one of the novels I’ve been working away at. I’ve found it really relaxing lately, as I was so focused on writing essays I didn’t really get the chance to do any of my own work.

Anyway, I’ll try to post some more while I’m home. Hopefully I start to feel better. My stomachs been bugging me all week…not sure why. I did have a fever a while back and some people said that it hits you, and then the bug comes back once you think its gone…so I’m just praying that it isn’t coming back because I’d really like to do something this week other than lie in bed.

Till next time,

— R.

My Favourite Insomniac

I’m currently feeling exhausted…which makes me want to write about my favourite insomniac, who has so far received 30 pages of sleepless nights, pizza and Lacrimosa on repeat. However this is a rewrite/expansion of a short story I began back in high school. Actually I entered it into a local competition. Obviously I didn’t win, or else I would have shared that story here on my blog. I hadn’t mastered the short story then to be honest. I’ve managed to get the hang of it though, thanks to years and years of practice.

Maybe I’ll sleep. Maybe I won’t. I mean…I just got back to my place, but I’ve been tired since yesterday. It is weird how every time I feel sleepy I feel like working on this novel. Its sort of something I’ve been writing on the side, so I don’t necessarily know when it will be complete, but I actually really like the characters. Ha…I end up loving all my characters, even the jerks. Eh…I think I will take a nap. I don’t have anything else to do right now. Not going out anywhere.

— R.

…and then I threatened to kill him off

The other day I finished up the chapter I was working on, and while I was writing it I honestly started to cry. As the saying goes, “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader,” (Robert Frost) so I decided that I would come back to what I wrote and read it to see if it would have the same impact.

When I was writing this chapter my eyes watered, I got a little choked up, and I felt really sad. When I read the chapter I got teary eyed again, then I got really angry at one of my characters…and then I threatened to kill him off. Luckily for him, he redeemed himself at the end of that chapter by actually giving a damn about another human being. He just picked the wrong time to act like a little snot.

I don’t think I’ve ever been mad at a character before…so I hope when other people read this that they wont want to kill this poor guy. Ha…he’s not poor. Don’t feel sorry for him. He’s honestly a jerk the majority of the time. Nobody wants him around except his girlfriend. How does he even have a girlfriend in the first place!?

Okay…okay relax. Just breathe. It’s just a story…it isn’t real life.

Ha, ha…this has been a weird post.

Is anyone else upset (if you’re in Canada because I don’t know about elsewhere) that the weather suddenly got very cold today? It was nice all week. I thought it was summer…I just finished putting all of my sweaters away.

 

Telling Lies – Sick Puppies

Just finished up part of my study session and thought I’d do some work on one of my novels. So I was going through one of my playlists while gathering my things together, and this song came on. I realized that this song fits several characters I’ve had over the years. Perhaps when I publish I’ll post the playlists I’ve made over the years for my characters. I like to imagine what they might listen to, and this one fits with a good chunk of them.