Keep Persisting

I have a Zazzle store! There are some kinks to work out (items only showing up in collections and not in the store list), but that should be taken care of by the print company within a couple days. Make sure you switch the content filter from "Safe" to "Moderate" to see everything. I had to go PG-13 on a the "Nevertheless, She Persisted" and "He Persisted" items so they didn't get flagged for language. Most of the individual products have multiple options for style, size, and color once you're on the product page. Let me know if there is something you'd like that isn't currently offered and I'll get it in the store for you.

For reference, the URL is: https://www.zazzle.com/keep_persisting

This print store is a charity art project. All proceeds from the products will be split between two charities - The Trevor Project, which provides support to LGBTQ youth in crisis, and The Midnight Mission, a Los Angeles-based organization that helps people overcome homelessness. Both organizations help people through hard times and dark places and give them the tools to keep persisting.

If you want to know more about my art project and philosophy, I've given several interviews in the last week. There is at least one that hasn't been published yet, and I'll link that once the journalist finishes it.

OpEdNews
Bustle
Diverge
Huffington Post

I have a lot more to say but I should have gone to bed two hours ago, so for now I'll leave you with this. It's my latest piece, "We All Belong", and the idea came from my five year old daughter, Lyra. She told me to "draw lots of different girls holding hands", so I did.

Nevertheless, she persisted

I'm rather overwhelmed right now. A piece I drew this morning has gone viral on Facebook. If you happen to see this without attribution somewhere, it's mine. I drew it in response to Mitch McConnell's words in silencing Sen. Elizabeth Warren's reading of Coretta Scott King's letter, and for all the women I've run into who don't think they need feminism. It's amazing that something so simple can resonate with so many.

The original was missing the signature because I totally forgot to sign it, plus I didn't expect it to be shared further than by a couple friends. Facepalm for that now. I signed it and rescanned it this morning.

ETA: I'm being asked a lot about prints. I'm extremely busy today with kid scheduling and general life (curse you, narcolepsy), but a few friends and I are working on figuring out print options with the intent of any proceeds going to charity.

Political Artwork

Busy, busy, always busy

First of all, I have a new book release, and it is nothing like my others. Elora Goes to the Moons is a children's book I wrote for my youngest daughter, who loves the Moon. I made a weekend project of flying the cartoon version of her through the Solar System. Several of my friends wanted their own copies of the book after seeing my fragile scrapbook version, so I scanned it, uploaded it to Createspace, received a beautiful-looking proof, and made it available in paperback on Amazon. It's handmade and handwritten, and it has a lot of fun little science facts throughout.

I've hidden my epistolary blog, Cavelost. Why? Because it's finished. I've done a couple of editing rounds on it, and today I uploaded the formatted version so I can get a print copy to do final edits and copyedits on. The characters have decided to expand upon their world and make Cavelost the first of a series called The Bacra Chronicles. I'll be starting the next book, Faelost, during NaNoWriMo. Cavelost is told by a former mercenary named Rin Sylleth, who wakes up trapped in a massive cave system. Faelost will be told by Rin's second son, Tessen.

On a sadder note, I lost my cat muse on Friday. Reno passed away suddenly during the night, and we have no explanation for it. Since he was young, only between 4-6 years old, the vet said it was most likely caused by a heart issue. We adopted Reno on Valentine's Day almost two years ago. He helped me out of the doldrums so I could finish writing Sand into Glass and editing The Crystal Lattice, and he sat with me through nearly every word of the three books I've written since. I'm in shock and I'm going to miss him tremendously. I keep expecting to see him lounging on his favorite chair and when I get up in the middle of the night, I run my hand across the end of the bed, expecting him to be there. It's difficult to write without him by my side.

Wordless Wednesday: Fairies

Time-Lost Again

I haven't been able to write much recently. It's not due to writer's block or lack of ideas. I'm just exhausted. I have ideas eating away at my mind, but no energy with which to resolve them. I had kidney stone surgery at the end of July and that flared up my narcolepsy to the point that I have trouble staying awake for more than a couple hours at a time. I had bilateral stones, so I had a second procedure, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy - ESWL, on my other kidney last week. I don't think it worked (will find out next week), so I may be in for a second surgery. I needed a stent for the first one and that was a little traumatic, so the prospect of going through that again is keeping my focus wobbly. I'm time-lost for the moment and hoping this narcolepsy flare doesn't last too much longer.

I do feel a little productive though, due to something I wrote in May. My short story, "They", was published in a little anthology Possibilities Publishing Company put out yesterday. The book is available in both e-book and paperback, so get your copy in whichever format you prefer.

I feel the need to stay productive despite the surgeries and narcolepsy, so I've returned to an old hobby... drawing. I'm planning on including some of my artwork in Rain Falls on Malora. I'm also drawing a geeky coloring book unrelated to my books, but since it's fan art, I don't think I'll be able to publish that unless I figure out copyright for each of the books, TV shows, and movies I've drawn artwork for. You can see some of them on my Instagram, though.

I want to share with you coloring book-style pictures I've drawn of characters from the Malora Octet. I bought a set of art pens recently so this has been a fun new experiment.

Bethel Masiona and Saruza Starsinger. Bethel is always a pain to color
against complex backgrounds for reasons that are obvious if you've
 read the series.

Rain and Dawn. I may alter this into a cover for Rain Falls on Malora
if I end up including Rain's short story in the book.

Silvan and Mairen from Arrow of Entropy. I don't want to be a
spoiler so all I'll say is they're learning how to spar.

Ravaki and Safora from The Crystal Lattice. I'm not happy with their arm
positioning, but I love how the rest of the picture turned out.

This was inspired by Nira's letter to Azfadel in The Crystal Lattice.
It's amazing how just a couple lines reveal her postpartum depression.

Sketching the Imaginary Friends, Part 3

I'm having way too much fun with this project. My creative brain is extremely visual right now. Eventually I'll get the sketches scanned into my computer, and I hope to include them as illustrations (probably grayscale) in my short story collection, Rain Falls on Malora.

Ikuren Nightsong, Masai snow Emergent from Sand into Glass

Wildfire (The Shattered Veil)

Roar Banan (Mayfly Requiem)

Kith (Sand into Glass)

Cinderstorm, the apex phoenix (Arrow of Entropy)

Zephyr and Rhodren Briarwind (Echoes of Oblivion trilogy)

Sevilen and Aridani (Echoes of Oblivion trilogy)

Sevilen and Aridani after shading and detailing

Vutan Gira (Arrow of Entropy)

Rastaban and Sevilen (Before The Abyssal Night)

Zorie Berylatia (Sand into Glass)

Sefa Metavanya, Reed Velarani, Muza Masiona, Faron Masiona (Emergence trilogy)

Wordless Wednesday: Wildfire

Sketching the Imaginary Friends, part 2

I've been having too much fun with this sketching project even though some of my pictures end up a little heartbreaking if you have read the books they came from. I'm not sure what I'll do with these yet other than find the proper cable so I can hook up my scanner and make digital copies of them. That will also give clearer and more colorful images than the camera on my phone can offer.

Ariana Achara and Rastaban Eryaucra (before The Abyssal Night)

Thora and Solace Achara (Shards of Chaos)

River and Onyx (Shards of Chaos/Echoes of Oblivion trilogy)

Saruza Starsinger (Echoes of Oblivion trilogy)

Arden Masiona and Aerlya Metavanya (Sand into Glass)

Lirit Narsimor (Shards of Chaos/Echoes of Oblivion trilogy)

Ember and Moth (The Abyssal Night/Echoes of Oblivion trilogy)

Zella Thula and Rassa Buananor (Arrow of Entropy). This
is based on a specific scene a couple chapters into the book.
Hands still vex me, but I think I'm improving at drawing them.

I've been photographing my line drawings before I color them in and occasionally I like those better than the final versions. Here are some of them.

I started with Rassa, then added Zella behind him.

Arden and Rassa ended up looking similar, which was intentional since they're related.

Lirit started out wearing pants but my 3 year old insisted she needed a skirt.

The Achara twins were adorable and I was hesitant to color them.

Sketching the Imaginary Friends

I drew and doodled all the time as a teenager and young adult, but that hobby faded away as my movement disorder developed in my early 20s. I found my old pencil set in the garage a couple days ago and that rekindled my interest. I've started sketching out some of my characters. I used to go for a more realistic look, but since my hands shake now I've decided to switch to an anime/manga style. My artwork isn't very good and I'm experimenting with style, but I still think the characters turned out adorable. Hands have always been my bane, but I'm working on that. I need to get my scanner hooked up so I can get better images of the pictures.

Who would you like to see me attempt to sketch next?

First time I've sketched people in years. Hands are daunting so I hid them.

Zella, Rassa, Mairen, Silvan (Arrow of Entropy)

Closeup of Zella and Rassa

Closeup of Mairen and Silvan

Bethel and Sora (Arrow of Entropy)
Yes, Bethel's coloring isn't his usual, but there is a good reason for that. You'll have to read it to find out why. 

I love Sora's face in this. It's amazing how personality and emotion can be shown with just a couple lines.

Safora and Terali (The Crystal Lattice)

Ellis Thula (Arrow of Entropy)

I love Ellis. His sister describes his style as "an explosion of flamboyancy" and you never quite know what is going to come out of either his mouth or his mind. My three year old is in love with this picture because of the flamingo.

Line drawing

Color added

Background added (lighting washed out my colors a little)

Lani (Mayfly Requiem and the rest of the Malora Octet)