The first rule of Fight Club…

Oh wait, sorry about that! The first lesson (and most important one I feel) I have to share with you from emerging successfully on the other side of the Clarion Write-a-Thon is this:

The Clarion Write-a-Thon reaffirmed that I need to budget for promotional time and keep that separate from hours spent writing.

The second lesson I have to share is that the Clarion Write-a-Thon was a way for me to reset my writing versus real life model. This was on purpose, I wanted to do this year-round as opposed to just during this time frame. Discipline is needed year-round, not just for writing workshops.

The third? What, besides being realistic about what I can and can’t accomplish? The third lesson surprised me a bit. This was all about the “not care.” That’s right. I am planted firmly in the “I don’t have time to care about the latest internet drama.” camp, because I am at full capacity on what I can and should care about. I would much rather celebrate a book or an author than gossip or talk about all the other b.s. that goes along with this industry. I know it’s easy to engage in industry-facing discussions (The stars only know I’ve been guilt of this in the past) but I have to spend my time writing and innovating – not commenting on a thread somewhere. I’m not saying other authors are wrong for doing this, either. It just doesn’t work for me.

However, there has got to be a better way to engage within the science fiction and fantasy communities than dive into drama, share inside jokes, or comment on the state of the industry. I’m still searching for ways to do that. For a while there I was discouraged, but I’m not the type to “stay down” as it were, so I’ve been putting myself out there making as many friends as possible. I’m really hoping the support network I’m building will help me discover the proverbial “light side” of this community, because I really want to see it, experience it, and extol its virtues.

Here’s number four. Be flexible, but remain focused. The heat and pollen count this summer really sucked for a lot of people – myself included. I was a lot crabbier than I can remember in past weeks, so I had to make a lot of adjustments and not beat myself up when I didn’t write that day. Thankfully, the weather has cooled off some, and I’m practicing my cliché side at the coffee shop.

Number five was to burn a number of older tales and partial drafts to the ground. They are dead, dead, and not zombified. They aren’t even mostly dead. They are desiccated corpses. They are not “fixable” because I’ve evolved as a writer, and I will continue to do so. Realizing this saves me the pain and trouble of salvaging the past. It also helps me re-focus my work into a structural vein, too. So… Erm… Don’t be afraid to “fire” a story that isn’t working.

What about you? Did you take part in a write-a-thon? What did you learn?

Mood: The dragon. She is awake.
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Enough to bzzzzzzzzzz.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Up down and all around.
In My Ears: There’s a guy. At the coffee shop. And he’s whistling.
Game Last Played: Star Wars Battlefront.
Movie Last Viewed: Drawing a complete and total blank.
Latest Artistic Project: I posted some photos here.
Latest Release: Extreme Zombies from Prime Books.

Thought I’d share some new photos with you of the jewelry I’ve finished making. I’ve been working on advancing my skill set from intermediate to more advanced techniques. I feel like I have a looooonnnng way to go yet. There’s the Russian Spiral and peyote stitch with size 15 beads and a lot of other geometric patterns to dive into. Working on these was a lot of fun and very relaxing. Jewelry-making has turned out to be such a great hobby and I’ve made some awesome friends, too.

So, for those of you who know me… I have a “thing” for skulls. I’m very particular about them, because it’s more the image than the materials, so I tend to rely on compositions of stone or metal like what you see below. This pair of earrings is an original design. Nothing fancy, mind you, but the texture really moves with the light.

Click on any of the pictures below to see a full-size image.

This one is a variation on the crystal cluster bracelets I make for gifts. The idea here is to use different glass pearls on the bottom, but the same color on the top. It really adds a subtle variation without being too obnoxious or checkerboard-y.

I learned this one through a class at Fat Cat Beads. I chose black for my base and, instead of a rainbow, primary and secondary colors for the main palette.

The one pictured below is the detail on a bracelet I learned from a Bead and Button pattern. The original pattern called for metallic beads around the fringe, but I like the texture on this one better. Plus, using lighter seed beads allows some forgiveness if you make a mistake. From a distance, it’s more three-dimensional and you can’t even see any stitching.

Mood: Optimistic with a Slice of Lemon
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: I’M NOT TELLING!
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: I moved. Quite a bit, actually.
In My Ears: Some goth crap. No, really. I’m not even sure why I have this on.
Game Last Played: Star Wars Battlefront.
Movie Last Viewed: Um… Darn. I don’t remember!
Latest Artistic Project: Erm… Captain Obvious says: See Above!
Latest Release: A heck of a lot of games. Check out this page: http://www.mlvwrites.com/games-published