The Current State Appraised

The rain is back, and January is starting to feel like it!

Good time to be inside doing creative stuff.

 The Icon of the Worldly King has just undergone formal appraisal, courtesy of Sovereign Gallery! This wild piece was a lot of fun, inspired by pieces from a Charlemagne relic to illuminated manuscripts --- yet I had no basis for pricing it in a gallery-type setting, except what I felt it was worth. Art is vague that way, unless taking into account the sheer amount of work involved. Work is work, undeniable in both the skill and tedium required.
 At any rate, the piece was begun several years ago and is still unfinished, with the remainder of work being the addition of gemstones. I felt it to be worth a lot, but was still surprised to hear that its worth is about what I'd hope to get reasonably for it.
 A lot.

 Excited more than ever about Edge, work on which continued until 3:00 am last night!
 The scene being snipped, diced, ironed and fitted was one I wanted to get right (write!) --- one that can get very long-winded with thick, juicy slabs of paragraph unless one is careful! It's the main character's primer on the basics of magick, after all. My thinking being: Hey --- if you know something about real magick, flaunt it. Teach people. Just maybe, it will change the way someone looks at the world . . . especially a kid.
 But it's an art, writing such a scene. Too much thinking, not enough crackling dialogue, and you lose people. People are l-a-a-z-y. Most of America today, in my opinion, does not think. They do not know how to think. One of the purposes of my book will be to get them thinking. How do you do it? Trick the idiots! Throw in enough fun and romance and angst to keep them reading, then sneak the juicy archetypal bits in there like morsels of superfood.
 And yet, I am resigned to the fact that no matter what, there will be people I lose  . . . because I am not the lowest common denominator. And I don't write for the lowest common denominator. I have a conscience, see --- I hate to waste trees on crappy writing, when there are already so many folks (you know who you are) who do write crappily. I want to help people learn things that move their spirits and minds, not just their nether regions. But that's okay. For all those folks, there's the smut shelf, the tabloid rack.
 My quote for lately has been:
 Those who can write, do. Those who can write more . . . teach.
 If you want empty pleasures, and do not want to risk learning anything, then my advice is this: Do not pick up Edge.

 "Trust? I was under the impression my chosen profession was politics!"    ---from Lincoln

 This morning was a discussion of Lincoln at Trinity Episcopal. I feel embarrassed I have not investigated more into the life of this amazing man --- but it's never too late to begin. The rich discussions of politics, spirituality, religion, conflict and the condition of being human were as soul-food to me, and I enjoyed it deeply. I and a few others were so stimulated by the talk as to "linger" afterward, well into the church service.
 I also felt it added a lot of fuel to my own creative engine, which is churning already with lots of serious, and utterly ambiguous, themes --- Edge is full of them. Isaac --- with a politician for an uncle, family relations that could get him killed, and a magickal gift that comes at a dreadful price --- dwells in a world where many avoid speaking truth out loud . . . whether out of concern for his safety and happiness, or more sinister motives. He dwells in ambiguity. I am even more "amped" about exploring such complicated themes as we discussed today about Lincoln in my own work, and in this story, which takes two trodden-to-death archetypes and pumps new life into them
 . . . takes them to the Edge.

 What else is going in the brew?
 No doubt the recent scandal with Lance Armstrong and his doped-up career. Doping and cheating is a long-standing matter in sports going back to ancient Greece and, no doubt, before. Humans are survivalists, and given the chance, many will cheat.
 In a world where the source of your magickal power and biological health comes from certain substances, when potions of all sorts are being made and drunk and swapped and some are necessary for life, where do you draw the line between "enhanced performance" and an athlete's regular programme? It's a question our world has to deal with, and so too shall the young competitors in Edge --- especially when the desire to discredit a rising upstart from an outcast tradition is strong.

 Time to get off . . . work to be done!

Mis(fits)rule: Illustrating in angst and whimsy

A fragment of one of the illustrations for Edge: A shapshot of misfit protagonist Isaac at home in one of few places he feels qualifies as "home", the forest, with his usual prop of a book. His actual house qualifies less as home, though he does try to make it his. Aside from magic powers and brains, he's a pretty typical dark-culture teen. And, more and more typically, he's also bicultural.

Isaac and his verbophilic friend Ellie, both darkly-cute creatures saturated in wry humor, made the flyer for IPRC's Text Ball (in black and white for cheap printing). Not many went out, but it's on file for the future, as well as a good prototype for others . . .

Coldreaders, start your engines...

Since last post, the holidays have hit. And passed.
They were sweet this year, with lots of chats and cookies and fudge and community events. I enjoyed it. Dad found a present for free. It's worth more than all the ones I got for him put together. Dumpster diving rules!
Now 2013 is upon us. All you witches out there may share my viewpoint . . . lucky 13!
Certain things, like the concert I attended with Dad and my Lopez "family", were so lovely I felt it a shame to leave them behind in 2012, and I hope to find ways to get more of them.
Other things, I won't say what seeing as I don't feel they deserve it, are good and gone, oh, so gone. (Some were so, like, yesterday even years ago.)
And still other things, like gymnastics and editing, have either resumed . . . or just go on! And on, and I either don't mind, or am glad.

I'm ironing out the last nitpicky plot bits in Edge (it always takes longer than expected, but because of the extra time, you get increased richness) and, surprisingly, liking it. Feeling good about it, such that I can't wait to send it out to all you readers for feedback! I'm shooting for the Full Moon for completion, at least "completed enough" since that's how it is in the early stages of testing!
If I miss the Moon, well. I'll keep going and still hit a star.

Rereading L'Engle's Many Waters. It's not a new book, and yet . . .
Fragments! Lots of fragments! Yay! Fragments are okay!
It's not fine to have fragments in the writing of a newspaper, but it's fine in a book. Gives you an edge. Pure ideas. Straight to the brain. Fun, too --- a kind of crackle to it. Fragments help convey the feeling or action of a situation without making the reader plod through a grammatically perfect sentence, although I still believe it's a good thing to know how to craft one. Even some books today have reached a level of structure and quality, or lack thereof, that makes my gut literally heave from word to word. Uuegh.

Illustrations continue on Edge . . . maybe some of you readers will get treated to a few in the "cold copy"! That's about it. Except, everything I do would be easier if my apartment wasn't 35 degrees F. But then again, if it's cold, it's clear; and then we get some sun. . . .