The I-Haven't-Blogged-In-Nearly-A-Month Blog Entry

Well, July's sliding down the drain faster than a greased racing snail, and I have little enough to show for it. So why not procrastinate a little longer and post a blog entry?

I went into July bound and determined to get Skyhaven improvements ready, make significant progress on at least one story, sketch at least a page a day, get holiday ornaments designs laid out, and read the final Harry Potter book. Let's see how I'm doing...

Skyhaven fans, take heart in the knowledge that I'm currently assembling the New and Improved Skyhaven Hunt (v3.0), with one brand-new Hunt-exclusive species scanned, cleaned, and ready to debut... in August. I mean it this time. It may not be the beginning of August, but it will be in August. I'm taking a less random approach to the Hunt this time... less wandering around aimlessly stumbling across puzzles or mazes of random difficulty levels, more focused areas (which will still have the potential to hold random things to stumble across.) Thus far, it looks to be a bit more graphic intense, but I expect more text-based, in-depth material once I get things back online. In addition, I have a new species ready to go for the main Skyhaven site. So keep an eye out in August to see what I've been up to!

My main story has languished - I'm thinking at this point I either need to strip the thing back down to the original core idea or work a lot harder on hammering out a strong outline, because it seems to be drifting through too many sideplots and peripheral characters - but I have a new one that's going fairly strong. If/when I need beta readers for that, I'll let people know. It's fantasy, of course, currently with more of a teen/young adult angle, and it's based on a dream so it's kinda weird... like I ever write anything normal... Anyway, so far I'm still feeling my way through a first draft and seeing where it goes, which is fun and a welcome break from slogging through revisions. (This mentality, of course, is perhaps the main reason why I've never had anything published. What can I say? I'm my own worst enemy. I've lived vicariously through enough fantasy and sci-fi characters to be thankful that my worst enemy is just as lazy and useless as myself, and not endowed with galaxy-rending ruthlessness and terrifying physical, mental, or magical reserves that test my own to the core.)

Sketching... well, I've done some sketching, but it's been closer to a page a week. Unfortunately, I can't sketch much in my room because the cats seem to think that it's an invitation to their favorite game, Grab The Pen. (This often leads to other feline favorites such as Climb Into The Occupied Lap, Sleep On The Sketchbook, and Get Between The Human And Whatever She's Doing.) This leaves the living room and the backyard as my sketching options, both of which are chock full of distractions that keep ink from meeting paper in any meaningful manner.

Last year's inadvertent head start of having several ornament armatures ready to go led me to try a similar approach (though not so drastic) this year. Thus far, I'm having my usual level of success, though I've narrowed down final designs in my head. The possibility of doing ornaments for work (I have no idea what library policy is on holiday decoration, but if there's a chance to foist ornaments onto more unsuspecting strangers I'm up for it) has already increased the impending workload, so I'd best shake a leg... though I'd get more done if I sat down, dusted off my workbench, and got started.

And what about the last Harry Potter adventure? I can proudly say that I have indeed accomplished this. Not only that, but I've already updated Brightdreamer Books (check Brightdreamer.com in my Links for the link) with my spoiler-free review. A most satisfactory conclusion to a most enjoyable series. I've heard rumors that J.K. Rowling is writing an encyclopedia of Harry's world, which is supposed to tie up some of the peripheral characters' stories in a way that she couldn't manage to do in the book itself. Beyond that, I look forward to her future writing endeavors, whatever they may be. (I have a very hard time believing she can quit writing cold turkey, even if the odds of another Harry Potter-scale phenomenon are astronomical. It's not about the sales, it's about the creation... though sales certainly must be a nice bonus, especially sales like hers.)

So, as the clock ticks down toward August and the year, having passed the midpoint, builds momentum as it rolls toward its conclusion, I find myself in my usual position: a thousand things left to do, and all manner of reasons why they're not done. Not so different from last year, but, hey, at least I have a job now. That's something...