Come Selahway With Me…

So I know I’ve been relying on tour posts lately, but I am trying to get back to actual content (she says, for the four thousandth time in a row). After changing jobs and losing a very close friend last year, I think part of me just needed time to reset and figure out where I want to go creatively, emotionally, all the -ly’s…

Truth is, I love this blog, but it also feels like one more thing sometimes, and no matter how much I love talking about my projects and talking to other authors, a lot of the days sometimes it just feels like more of the same. So, I’m hoping to hone in on some specific creative areas in the future, which I think will not only give me a smile thinking about where I’ve been, but hopefully nudge me forward, and encourage others to put a foot in front of the other, as well.

Inspirations. We all have them. People in our lives, things we love to do, books or movies that show us what’s possible, music that helps us feel, artists who make us realize we’re not as crazy as we assumed. I’ve always been fascinated with what makes creative types tick, myself included, and I always love it when artists of all sorts share the things they’re into, because that expands my own personal world, as well. So, I’m going to try to do posts touching on all those things. Sometimes those inspirations will relate to my artistic journey as a whole, other times they’ll relate to a specific work or genre that I play in.

I also realized in talking to people off and on that in trying to talk character development, I get a little hard to follow because my own personal technique is close to actor’s sense memory (hi, theatre major training, I’m making use of you still). Now a lot of people have heard of extreme versions of method acting, but don’t always know the nitty gritty – I’m not necessarily going to bore you with that, but I want to take a shot at linking up specific moments or things that inspired me to write specific works, or even specific scenes in those works in an attempt to clear up my process a little bit, and to put to rest once and for all that I am an actual person or something.

Those who know me know I can go on good ol’ fashioned rants and keep going for days, but for bloggish purposes, I want to also post about some issues that I’m noticing/intrigued by and see what y’all think. Because at the end of the day this isn’t just a place for me to shout at the world – I love hearing back from people and getting everyone thinking about where art and artistic processes and products are going in the foreseeable future.

I’m a little hesitant about this last one, but I think I’m going for it…I talk about this more at cons than on here or on media (it’s easier to not be mortified when you know no one is going to wave evidence of your lameness under your nose), but I also want to do some posts on fandom. Now these maybe might become specific things I’m into, but if I do that I want to relate them to genre or process. Otherwise, I’d like to (gently, please don’t hurt me) explore the differences between fanfiction and professional writing. And no, this isn’t an attempt to put down fanfic or act like one is better than the other. I’ve noticed with the self-publishing boom that there really does seem to be a blur of technique, and I’ve talked to people before that have started out with a background of one type of writing, only to realize that there are things in fanfic you can do that you just cannot do professionally, or things and devices that authors may be able to make use of in original fiction. I’ve been intrigued by all these differences – and they range in everything from story form and structure to terminology to rating levels to packaging to community and timelines within publication. It’s a comparison that I’m getting more and more intrigued by, so I’d really like to start that conversation here, as well.

Plus, a little birdie is adamant that Clyde’s Corner should come back, and I’ve heard rumblings that Ippick wants to freelance guest post here every so often. And as long as I have papers from grade school/pages of teen angst journals/bad poetry/old projects, the Lost Manuscripts will have a home here. My apologies.

But first, I really need to get an outfit made by next week  And, you know, write or something.

So far, though, that’s the plan of the moment. As always, you can always catch me on facebook and twitter. The latter I’m still trying to get better at using, but we’ve been having some great convos on facebook with my question of the day, and I want to start sharing creative quotes here, there, and everywhere, as well.

Yep, that’s the plan, man! I’m excited to dig into things, and to hear your input on them!