My Brief Artistic Life

In my continuing quest to move away from my Windows XP to my Windows 8.1, I recently hooked up my Wacom tablet and put Corel Painter X on my hard drive after checking for any compatibility issues (none).

It's been ages since I've drawn. There were a number of years where I spent time reading artist bios, took a few painting and drawing classes, and immersed myself in the world of art. During that time, I quit writing. I wasn't finishing any stories I started, and kept being drawn back into the art world. I wanted to hone my skills to become an animator, even if only for myself.

Still do.

Here's the thing. I wanted to be an artist long before I wanted to be a writer. And I've been lucky to have my work displayed in student art shows and a few non-juried ones.

I'm not leaving writing. Can't. No, really. Tried to quit twice. Failed both times. Looks like drawing/painting and other artistic pursuits refuse to lie down and die, too.

So, in the spirit of honoring one's creativity, here is a small horror art project I'm working on.

It's still a work in progress. I'll be painting with acrylics. Plan to work with both digital and traditional media on my artistic journey.

Reaching a Milestone

Yesterday, I validated my NaNoWriMo story, Serpent Fire, at 50,080 words. The novel isn't finished, but all NaNo requires is 50,000 words, and I've met that goal. I suspect many writers are in a similar position, and NaNo is the perfect catalyst to getting words on paper.

This isn't my first NaNo. Death Sword, my short novel, published by Lyrical Press, was a 2008 NaNoWriMo project. Last year, I wrote The Ripper's Daughter, a story about a former Scotland Yard DI turned vampire who's determined to stop the killer of Louisville prostitutes. Another vampire novel, initially titled Marguerite, was the first time I did NaNo (2004).

I'll admit not all of my NaNo attempts were successful. But I never threw the stories away, and plan to finish them. I've also found sometimes it's a good idea to let a story wait.

What do I plan to do with Serpent Fire? I don't know. I'm having fun writing it. At this point, it's a paranormal political thriller urban fantasy. I think it'll be somewhere between 60,000-75,000 words upon completion.

To be honest, I almost gave up on NaNo this year. In the beginning, I was so far behind, the stats predicted I'd finish December 3. I started writing 2,000 words a day, writing scenes out of sequence, just to meet and then exceed my goal. Sorry, folks, guess I'm too stubborn to give up that easily. The last day, I wrote 4,061 words to meet the 50,000 word goal. My process was write 1,000 words, take a short break, then go back and write another 1,000 words, take a break, etc. If I didn't know how a scene would work, I'd write another one, telling myself that I could "fix it in post."

I'll have to let you know how that goes...

Two Sides to an Author

How many authors have dual natures?

As creative types, we're encouraged to nurture the right brain, that part responsible for helping us create the stories we write. When I was in school, there was a divide between the "smart" students and the "creative" ones. The former excelled at math and science. The latter impressed with drawing, writing, any endeavor that required the imagination.

Since I was terrible at math, I thought this was the way it was. For years. Until I attended aviation ground school and fell in love with physics. (No, I don't fly planes. I studied aviation briefly but had to give it up. Poor depth perception.)

For the first time, I found a science (besides biology) I could relate to and understand (to a certain point). I could apply physics to daily life, even if I didn't understand the more complex aspects of it.

But I wasn't a scientist. I didn't have the propensity for analytical thought. Or did I?

I don't know if it's still done, but when I was in school, our English assignments often included essays on argument and persuasion. In other words, we needed to convince an audience over to our side. We presented the argument (premise) then backed up our POV with facts, quotes, anything that would help our cause.

This may have been the reason I initially considered going into journalism. And I was a freelance magazine writer for a couple of local publications for a short time. Then I decided to return to creative writing.

I've also learned something over these last few years. Science and technology aren't to be feared. I love technology and would rather spend more time in a computer store than shop for clothes. (Okay, I'm still not a big fan of math.) Since a lot of my writing requires research, I use the analytical part of my mind to focus on that aspect then switch to my right brain to write the story. Not saying I use both sides of my brain successfully, but I have found a pretty good compromise.