Writing and Separate Creativity. And fish.

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Separate creativity - aka working on other kinds of creative endeavors separate from writing.  I am positive this has been lacking in my life.  I have been struggling to find peace and quiet in my mind, aka the ability to zone out, and it finally clicked in my head that most all the writers I know do other things as well that capture other areas of their creativity.  

Though I love all my knitterly and crochetery friends, that is something that my hands just have never been interested in doing. Instead, I will be quilting.  I've bought all my material (this is not going to be a cheap project, for sure, but it is for my bedroom so that is okay), and the pattern, and all the supplies I need to do it.  I originally envisioned hand-sewing this but screw that.  I'll save that for the other quilt I really liked. :)   So warning - there will be much ahead about this quilting adventure I am starting!  

Just look at this thing!



I also started to play Skyrim.  I needed/wanted just something to truly immerse into, and I tried a couple other games but this is the one that steals me. I am playing a Breton named Jayanti (one of the characters from my book) and having a blast.  My son is enthusiastic too, giving me hints of things to do and try out.  Mostly I am just wandering around doing the basic plan, but will take my son's advice and go for the Thieves quest thing. I'm only playing on the weekend though.  No time during the weeknights.  Oh, fantasy!  Skyrim incorporates all the best - dragons, warriors, mages, evil beasts (I really don't like having to kill the wolves though), and puzzles, and I just like it. 

Writing-wise things went pear-shaped-crazy but everything has smoothed out, and I have a plan which, oddly enough, was what I had initially meant to do with this story:  a trilogy, the first one strictly Aneli's POV, the second adding Kharis' POV to Aneli's, and the third _______ (haven't decided her name yet lol), with all three, and wrapping it up.  

I will take the original, old fantasy (that yes, I took back out of Aneli's) and finish it for myself, maybe post it eventually via Patreon. It is another side of this tale, but adding it to Aneli's story pretty much killed my dream (that I lost sight of for some reason) of writing a girls' adventure fantasy.  I am back on track and having a blast.  I am writing it as YA, but honestly, it is already at 130k with a good 7-8 chapters to go.  The rewrite will determine whether I will go ahead with it as YA (and thus traditional publishing) or say screw it, write the other two, hire a Damn Good Editor to go through all three, and self-publish. I am in no rush.  Right now  it is the journey that I am in love with, not being published again.  

I have a ton of platy babies in my tank and they are so adorable, I don't want them to grow up.  They finally got big enough to put with Waldo without worrying he would eat them.  

Comments

[used_songs]

I like your journal layout - very pretty!

You picked a challenge for your first quilt! It's going to be gorgeous though. I do some hand sewing, but I think you're wise to go with machine sewing for a project this big. Are you using some batiks like the ones in the photo? (I think those are batiks)

That seems like the attitude toward your writing that will enable you to finish and have something you're really proud of because you wrote it to your standard, not an imagined audience.

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It swears it is a quilt for the confident beginner - it looks mindblowingly hard, but the assembly isn't that scary once examined closely. The colors - I LOVE THEM! The fun thing is the artist who created these materials is the one whose material I bought. Different colors, but a lot of the same pattern fun, so very pretty. They are mostly in shades of blues to purples, and reds/oranges/browns/yellows. I got them all washed last night and tonight will iron, and start getting ready to put together each star. That's why I want to bug Shay - she has that huge table that I really want to take advantage of, and stand there and contemplate each one until I am happy. Since she offered, I jumped on it! Hopefully it won't take me hours...

I have only made a baby quilt in the past, but with a seamstress for a mom - wedding dresses, work clothes and such, she had a number of clients - I have done a LOT of stitching (and pearling lol - my entire wedding dress, plus lots of others). I think it is kind of a nice way to get back to that - oh nostalgia - and remembering how much I enjoyed doing handwork and such. I've wanted to do this for years and years and years... Why now? I don't know. I just need it?

Plus meeting new people is awesome - lol your sister's friends, one of whom is a friend of mine from ages ago - that makes it nice too. AND our admin is an avid quilter too!

[used_songs]

I like that - "confident beginner." That's so cool. The colors really are beautiful.

Yeah, she has all of the equipment and is very cool with sharing. My dad is actually making her a huge quilting frame (she knows about it - she helped with the design) since she is such a dedicated quilter.

I guess you're doing it now because now is the right time. :)

Did you meet Donna when you were there (my sister's roomie)? She is the sweetest, most loving person - truly a good person.

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yes on Donna! She was sewing the coolest bowls for microwaving bowls. I wanted to dash off with one lol. I'd met her the time I brought the tea over, last winter I guess? :)

CONFIDENCE! I have it... sort of!!!!

I also have already decided - before making a stitch - to make my loft into a sewing area. I have upstairs blocked off, so why not?

[green_knight]

Marvellous quilt!

I must get back to Skyrim - such a fascinating world. (Icon is a previous character who didn't completely work out for me - I'm now playing a mage and am just starting to get the hang of blasting things to smithereens. The thing I love most about Skyrim is that it's individual enough to create _story_ - I think I have posted the story of the Worst. Elkhunt. Evar - but sometimes it's little things like the perplexed necromancers - I managed to thoroughly incinerate one, and the other seemed to look around for their mate so they could resurrect them, and failed, of course...

It stopped me from feeling _too_ bad about my slight overuse of fire.

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OH NICE!!! I would love to read about that Elkhunt. I literally just started playing, have no earthly idea what I am doing - I do have a minimal guide to the main storyquestthing, but as this is my very first game of this type, I have no real idea what I am doing with my mage. :) LOL I am still trotting around Whiterun, trying to figure out where lady's son is being held, though I have received my orders from the Jarl. It just really fits into what I am writing right now (and giving me ideas on ways to be a wee bit more original with my own stuff). I stayed up too late playing last night though. Gotta be good tonight.