Brain Dump: Sorry Not Sorry

Haha! It's been way too long since I posted, so here I am to give you an update on what's been going on.

We started looking at houses this spring, and that picture above is our new 680 square foot "cottage." It's not much to look at right now, and we don't have much furniture, but it's ours! :) I've been weeding out stuff we don't need (we can't store it anyway with a lot less storage space) and trying to get a handle on living a more simple life, but things still get complicated at times. That's to be expected, though. Once we're fully settled in, I'll get more of a handle on things, and it will become more of a sanctuary here. I can't wait!

I haven't done much at all with the new trilogy that takes place in the tundra. I wrote a bit during Camp Nanowrimo back in April, but I didn't get nearly as far as I wanted to. I was supposed to write the trilogy from April through this month (June), but it hasn't happened. I need to sit down and come up with a plan that will allow for working on the projects I'm supposed to be working on, as well as those ideas that pop into my head and won't let me do anything else. I need to work on the trilogy, plus revise another smaller project, and start planning another one.

I've gone down the rabbit hole once again, this time with a fallen Seraph named Samandriel. I'm basing his looks on Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII. I've never played the game, which will probably prevent me from turning the character into a carbon copy of the game villain. That's definitely a good thing, since I have something awesome planned for him.

I also started a freewrite based on the crazy stuff happening down in Antarctica. If you haven't heard about it, look it up on YouTube. There are a lot of videos about it. I've got my own spin on what's happening for my freewrite, which I plan to turn into a short story (a bit on the long side, but not a novella, and certainly not flash fiction). There's something under the ice, but it ain't no space aliens. That's all I'll say. ;)

I'm also working on the encyclopedia that accompanies my fantasy world, Illdirin. I've neglected it, and I'm finding I have to revise character bios, info on different countries, and add material I came up with but never entered into the project. It's a huge undertaking, but I'm up for the challenge.

One aspect of Illdirin I plan to start working on is my map. You can check that out over here. (The page will open in a new window. If you click on the image or the link directly below it on the page, you can view a larger version of it, which will also open in a new window). It's my first real attempt at this map, but I plan to re-trace it and relabel it, add in places that I've come up with but haven't added, and draw in some more of the geography. It's a work in progress, but I have a lot of fun working on it. When I work on it. Ha! (I mostly don't work on it because drawing makes my hands ache, so I'm going to do a little bit each day to minimize that.)

I'm also doing other creative stuff -- knitting, mostly, but I plan to start doing a little drawing soon, too, even if, to start, it's just sketches of my characters and working on the map of Illdirin.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. I plan to be more present here in the coming weeks. Just trying to get my groove back, so to speak. ;)

So, what have you been doing? Any creative projects in the works?

Lois