I wanted to give you all a quick update on the writing of "The Ledgerkeers", the book of short stories I am creating built around the world of the Bewildering Pine. It is going so well right now and I am currently fleshing out a bout 20 different short tales with another 10 or so to go. The challenge is in trying to create lots of little vignettes about the folk, commerce and daily life while hinting at a darker undertone to the Pine's distant (and future) history that I hope will lead to a full fledged novel later on down the road.
Right now I am still hitting the 750 words a day writing goal, 6 days a week!
I also stumbled upon a delightful writing podcast called "Writing Excuses" which has also been a huge help just to keep the brain thinking and working on all sorts of aspects of the process. I highly recommend it. It's 15 minutes per podcast so it takes just a bit of time each day. and the backlog of shows is well over a hundred episodes so there are topics from worldbuilding to pacing to dialogue to descriptive details . . . and you know I am LOVING the details! Always the fun is in the details.
I just ordered a few books, one called "Dirty Old London" that I used an online excerpt from for a story to help flesh out my bake-house / tart cart scene. It was so detailed and brought the early victorian era to life. I am amused by the thought of an entire book on Victorian London's filth and the ways they tried to keep it in check as well as the underside of what we think of as the romantic aspects of that life. I may only use a half dozen details from a book like that but each of them is a true little gem for bringing a world alive!
And finally. . . setting a larger goal, I just booked my trip home to Pennsylvania in February on the Amtrak train. It's a 2 1/2 day trip and I am looking forward to it because, this year, I got a sleeper car for the longest leg of it from Portland to Chicago and back as well. I intend to spend most of that time finishing the final drafts for the stories for the book. I'll have a tiny room to myself and all my dining car meals paid for and I can just focus on editing, reading and watching scenery. This trip gives me a definite goal to have the first drafts and first revisions done by the time I leave.
I've also decided that, once done, I am going to print and hand-bind the first 25 or so copies here, maybe more, we'll see. I have the flame-throwing Epson 3880 printer to do heavy duty canvas paper cover work and page layout so I may end up just doing them by hand all around while I shop it for publication.
Of course, I realize I still have to think about illustration, map printing, cover art etc etc etc So maybe February is a bit ambitious but we'll see. . .
Now, as for August, here are some new pieces I finished the last few days. I had one of my tiny houses featured in the Home/Living/Terrarium section of the Etsy email a week or so ago and it's been CRAZY!
I decided to begin making even tinier houses as I know a lot of terrariums are too small for some of my regular fairy houses. So these cuties may be just the thing for the very tiny indoor garden fae who need the smallest of dwellings!
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| The houses on the left and right are just 1 1/2" tall! |
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| And these are meant to evoke some of the Venice, Italy color and style in tiny, tiny scale too! |
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| Little Fairy Garden figures for the wee gardener. :) |
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| That's a Hob above, a Brownie here and a Nisse below |
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| I've been working on transferring some illustration skills to these little figures, just simple lines and forms and not too much unnecessary detail. It's working well I think! |
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| I showed you my first dragon a few months ago and here is the next, her name is Roxo (purple in Portuguese ) |
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| And I am getting more elaborate with some of the bases on a few statues in Shadow of the Sphinx. Anubis looks rather pleased to be perched there. :) |
I can't believe i only posted twice last month. . . I hope to have more consistency this month and I look so forward to seeing your lovely comments and thoughts here, as always!
Thank you!!
XO
nicolas
