Title: Martinez and Martinez v. Velveteen
Summary: Joining the Junior Super Patriots included a lot of paperwork. Now, years and years later, Velveteen may find that the contracts she signed then still have the power to make her life miserable now...

( Velveteen lounged against the wall of the movie theater, listening with mild disinterest to the screaming, crunching noises coming from inside the lobby...Collapse )

I have two short stories in the works, one Velveteen-universe, one InCryptid (set after "One Hell of a Ride"). So which one should I finish first?



Both will eventually be made available for free. I just need to get one of them wrapped up.

Title: Velveteen vs. The Secret Identity
Summary: With Tag back in town, it's time for Vel to decide whether she's ready to take the next big step in a superhero relationship: sharing her secret identity.

( Velveteen lounged against the wall of the movie theater, listening with mild disinterest to the screaming, crunching noises coming from inside the lobby...Collapse )

Title: Velveteen vs. The Holiday Special
Summary: A long time ago, before Velveteen quit The Junior Super Patriots, West Coast Division, things were getting started, and getting strange. This is a beginning.

( It turns out that there are good things and bad things that come with being a junior superhero...Collapse )

1. It's Saturday! Which means no day job for me, and twice the word count! DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT. I got up at 8AM (for me, that's sleeping in), watched Criminal Minds while I ate breakfast, wrote and edited for a few hours, watched Criminal Minds while I ate lunch, took a shower, did 5 Things A Room, and now I'm getting ready to head for Borderlands. By arriving several hours before the event, I'll have time to, you guessed it, work.

2. "5 Things A Room" is where I go through the four rooms that contain the majority of my stuff and de-clutter five things, by either putting them away, throwing them away, or shifting them to another room. (Sometimes shifted things can't be put away immediately, due to other things being in the way. This is the issue with having a very, very cluttered house.)

3. Mom and I will be packing the next huge wave of shirts to mail tomorrow; the goal is to get them all packaged for mailing. Before you get too excited: our most recent pack wave revealed that there was at least one size/color/style combination which I didn't receive when I was supposed to, and was unaware was missing. The shirt shop is printing them now, but it means that not all shirts will be mailing, and that I may still be missing some combination I haven't tripped over yet. I'll keep you posted.

4. Remember that "six Velveteen stories in 2011" thing that I promised, and then had people tell me I couldn't do? Well, five of the six are now finished, and the last one will be in the bag before New Year's. So yes, I can so do six crazy superhero romps in a year. They just didn't balance out the way I thought they would.

5. If you're planning to go Black Friday shopping, can you drop me a line and let me know? I'm not going to be shopping that day, but there are supposed to be some new Monster High dolls releasing for the holiday, and I'd really appreciate if you could look for them for me.

6. Zombies are love.

7. There's a lot of shifting and shaking going on at Marvel Comics. The fabulous X-23 has been canceled, which just plain breaks my heart, and I'm not sure what I think of some of the narrative choices being made. I'll stick it out—I'm me—but I'm a little sad all the same.

8. Wilde Imagination is supposed to be announcing a new resin Evangeline Ghastly at IDEX in January. I know, this is relevant to like, three of you, but it's relevant to me. I really want a resin Evangeline, and the last several have been totally unappealing to me. Here's hoping the new one will be as awesome as Cemetery Wedding, which I have thus far been unable to obtain.

9. I'm getting ready to head into the city for the Narbonic Perfect Collection launch party. If you're local, I really do hope to see you there, and if you're not, remember, the bookstore ships.

10. The cats are possessed by demons today, and are following me through the house trilling and fluffing their tails (except for Lilly, who just squawks like she has a duck stuck in her throat). So if I'm never heard from again, it's because they ate me.

Welcome to the November 2011 list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving, and time is the gift that keeps on taking. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Blackout). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

We are rapidly approaching the middle of November—as in, it's tomorrow—and that means that 2011 is almost over. December will largely be taken up with editorial notes, holiday preparations, and going to DisneyWorld, so I'm getting my crazy-pants introspection out of the way early. These, then, are five things I am really, really hoping to accomplish in 2012.

1. Finish four books.

In 2012, I want (and in some cases, need) to finish four books. Midnight Blue-Light Special, The Chimes at Midnight, an undisclosed YA project, and an undisclosed Mira Grant project. (Please don't ask me to disclose them. You'll just get looked at with profound sadness.) Basically, it's about half a million words of fiction by the end of the calendar year. I can do it, although it helps if I look at it in slightly smaller chunks. They're less terrifying.

2. Re-print Stars Fall Home.

I'm going to do a Kickstarter to pay for re-printing my first studio album, Stars Fall Home. Looking at my deadlines and responsibilities for the first quarter of the year, I'm estimating somewhere around March for the announcement. That also gives me time to put together incentives for higher support levels, although "I will be really, really grateful" features fairly heavily.

3. Move to Snohomish.

Is this possible? I don't know. But the house I've wanted for the past eight years is about to be within my grasp, if I can just convince the bank that I can handle the mortgage. And yeah, adding "buying a house" and "leaving the state" to my four-book year is a little bit insane...but I want it. I want to never have to move again. It's literally the house I've based my house hunting off since the first time I saw it. I love it so much. It needs to be mine.

4. Finish the current "Velveteen vs." cycle.

I don't know that I'll ever finish the Velveteen stories, because her world is infinitely flexible and insane, but there's a certain big event that everything is building toward, and I'd like to get there. I think that getting there would be awesome.

5. Record Terror from the Alintangy Wood.

So yeah, I'm going back into the studio, this time for the followup to Red Roses and Dead Things. It's me and Jeff again, and while we're having to juggle to make everything work, I think it's going to be awesome. Planned songs include "Pumpkin Patch," "Zombie Wedding," "Time Travel Girl," and "Ozone in October." It's going to be a blast.

Got any big goals for 2012?

Title: Velveteen vs. Blacklight vs. Sin-Dee, Part II
Summary: What is there for a formerly retired superheroine who's managed to find herself in the state she was aiming for—good—and somehow thrust back into the public eye (bad) at the very same time? Is it time for her to start moving past the things that have been holding her back? Today's installment was sponsored by Suzanne.

( Since the life of a superhero involves a lot of late nights and physical activity, most of them keep sleep schedules that wouldn't be unfamiliar to celebrities or graduate students (not that these three groups of people have much else in common)...Collapse )

Title: Velveteen vs. Blacklight vs. Sin-Dee, Part I
Summary: What is there for a formerly retired superheroine who's managed to find herself in the state she was aiming for -- good -- and somehow thrust back into the public eye (bad) at the very same time? Is it time for her to start moving past the things that have been holding her back?

( Velveteen remained crouched on the edge of the roof, feeling like some sort of perverse Easter-themed gargoyle as she stared fixedly at the bank below her. An anonymous tip had informed her that one of the city's less-intelligent criminal organizations was planning to knock the bank over sometime around midnight...Collapse )

Welcome to the October 2011 list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving, and time is the gift that keeps on taking. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Blackout). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company. There has been very little change between this month's list and last month's list, as I've been trying to hammer through Ashes of Honor.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

Welcome to the September 2011 list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving, and time is the gift that keeps on taking. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Blackout). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

I am leaving for the WorldCon in Reno tomorrow, and a little bit horrified by how quickly this year has gone by. Maybe if I started sleeping, time would slow down. Do you think? Yeah, probably not. Oh, well. A girl can dream. Anyway:

Welcome to the August 2011 list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (One Salt Sea, Blackout). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

Right: this is officially NOT OKAY. I did not sign up for a year that went by so fast that I would blink and be missing a year. I did not approve of the theft of the entire first half of 2011. I would like it back now. I would like it back right now, if you would be so kind. Now gimme.

Please?

...oh, fine. As the universe is not bending itself to my will, welcome to the July 2011 list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (One Salt Sea). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

It wasn't until I went to my "current projects" tag to pull the format for this entry that I realized just how hectic and insane May really was: I didn't do a current projects post. That's like, earth-shaking busyness, and sort of terrifying. Almost as terrifying as the fact that it's June now, meaning that the year is officially half over. Already. Who the hell authorized this?

Anyway. Since I don't control time and hence can't reset us to February, welcome to the June 2011 list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (One Salt Sea). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

Pardon me for profanity, but how the fucking fuck are we already at the April list of current projects? This implies that we have somehow already consumed 1/3rd of 2011, and I, for one, am NOT OKAY with this idea. Seriously, I have Shit To Do in 2011, and not enough of it has been finished, which means that it can't be April yet. Okay? Okay. Come on, universe. Fix yourself.

...or not. Since I don't control time, welcome to the April 2011 list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving. To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Deadline and One Salt Sea). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

Title: Velveteen vs. The Blind Date.
Summary: What is there for a formerly retired superheroine who's managed to find herself in the state she was aiming for—good—and somehow thrust back into the public eye (bad) at the very same time? Is it time for her to start moving past the things that have been holding her back?

( After the better part of a summer spent in Portland--a summer spent patrolling the rooftops, fighting crime with teddy bears, and being cruelly reminded of the way spandex likes to creep upward when worn for extended periods of time--Velveteen was starting to feel like maybe she had things back under some form of control...Collapse )

Title: Velveteen vs. Patrol.
Summary: What is there for a formerly retired superheroine who's managed to find herself in the state she was aiming for—good—and somehow thrust back into the public eye (bad) at the very same time? More importantly, now that she's in Oregon, what is she supposed to do?

( The list of things Velma had conveniently forgotten during her years of self-imposed isolation from the superhero community was large, and the longer she spent staring at the paperwork required to get a permanent license in the state of Oregon, the longer that list became....Collapse )

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for: the one time in the year where I get to intone BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH and be topical, not, you know, weird. So! BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH, and beware also the March current projects post, wherein I will make it perfectly clear why I'm not coming to your birthday party. This is the March 2011 list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving. And yes, the date is there for a reason. Largely so you can find the right post, if you insanely want to reference them.

To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Deadline and One Salt Sea). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

It's that time again! It's February 15th, and that means I need to write a big long post explaining what all I'm currently working on, just in case you'd started to think that I knew the meaning of the words "free time." This is the February 2011 list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving. And yes, the date is there for a reason. Largely so you can find the right post, if you insanely want to reference them.

To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Late Eclipses and Deadline). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

Let's get this out of the way right up front: This list is five whole days late. I was at Arisia on the 15th, when the current projects post usually goes up, and too distracted with the convention that ate Boston to realize that I needed to be taking care of business. You have my apologies, although I won't promise that it won't happen again, because I am a little bit smarter than that. This is the January 2011 list of current projects, because I am the gift that keeps on giving.

To quote myself, being too harried to say something new: "These posts are labeled with the month and year, in case somebody eventually gets the crazy urge to timeline my work cycles (it'll probably be me). Behold the proof that I don't actually sleep; I just whimper and keep writing."

Please note that all books currently in print are off the list, as are those that have been turned in but not yet printed (Late Eclipses and Deadline). The cut-tag is here to stay, because no matter what I do, it seems like this list just keeps on getting longer. But that's okay, because at least it means I'm never actively bored. I have horror movies and terrible things from the swamp to keep me company.

( What's Seanan working on now? Click to find out!Collapse )

Title: Velveteen vs. The Ordinary Day.
Summary: What is there for a formerly retired superheroine who's managed to find herself in the state she was aiming for—good—and somehow thrust back into the public eye (bad) at the very same time? More importantly, now that she's in Oregon, what is there to do?

(You can get caught up on the story so far at the Velveteen landing page on my website. Enjoy!)

( Velma woke up slowly, resisting the process every inch of the way...Collapse )

If 2010 was the Year of the Ghost in my weird personal cosmology, 2011 is going to be the Year of the Rabbit. One rabbit in specific: Velveteen, former member of the Junior Super Patriots, West Coast Division, reluctant superhero, and too long a stranger around these parts.

I can't commit to a story a month for the whole year, but I can commit to a story every other month. So here you go: I will be writing and posting a minimum of six Velveteen stories during 2011. Not sure who she is? Check out the series landing page for background and archived stories. I'll be bringing the website up to speed on her adventures, and then a new adventure can finally begin.

Coming in January, "Velveteen vs. the Secret Identity."

Heroes unite!

I am now somewhere in the region of 80% done with my insanely intensive and invasive dental work. Today's session was supposed to last about an hour and a half. It ran three hours solid, all of which was spent under nitrous oxide, listening to Adam sing version after version of "Rain King." (It turns out, by the way, that I can get through approximately twenty versions of "Rain King" in three hours, intermixed with a truly awesome number of alternate lyrics. In case you were wondering, this is all that keeps me sane when I have to face my ultimate phobia...the friendly, smiling Dr. Mason. The characters were named before I got this dentist, I swear.)

Three hours of nitrous leaves me woozy, unsteady, and barely able to stand up on my own. My mother, who is sometimes a cruel woman, finds this hysterical, and likes to point and laugh. Luckily, she also likes to take me to IHOP for the calories necessary to put my stomach back into its original position. I might otherwise be forced to kill her.

The cats also find this hysterical, as well as useful, since I mostly sit still with my laptop on my legs, petting the cats and watching DVDs of The West Wing. I really wasn't planning to spend my entire day in a drugged stupor, but there you go. Peh.

On the plus side, I finally finished Sparrow Hill Road #7, "Do You Want to Dance?" It's off with my first-pass proofers now, getting smashed to pieces with hammers. I like this stage. It's the stage that I have nothing whatsoever to do with. This leaves me with five stories to go before the big finish, and then...well, then, I suppose I'll be focusing back on Velveteen and her crew. I actually have an installment in process right now, "Velveteen vs. The Secret Identity," which will almost certainly prove to be messy for everyone involved. Fun!

Now I sit here in my leopard-print nightie, trying to figure out where I left my feet. I am really not recovering from today's procedure in anything resembling a swift or coherent manner.

Peh.

Title: Velveteen vs. The Eternal Halloween, Part II.
Summary: There was a time before Velveteen had retired from The Junior Super Patriots, West Coast Division; a time when she thought that a hero's life was definitely the life for her. And a time, once upon a dark and stormy night, when Halloween seemed set to last forever...

( Velveteen's dizziness was getting worse. She secretly hoped this was a sign that she was getting ready to wake up from this crazy fun-house dream. Unfortunately, she'd passed the Alternate Reality Survival and Recognizing a Dreamscape in Ten Easy Steps units of Heroing 101 with flying colors, and the likelihood of this being 'just a dream' was going down by the minute. Too much of what was going on didn't fit with dreaming, even under the control of The Dream Postman or Daydream Believer. For one thing, she wasn't in her underwear, and no one was laughing at her. Not yet, anyway....Collapse )

Title: Velveteen vs. The Eternal Halloween.
Summary: There was a time before Velveteen had retired from The Junior Super Patriots, West Coast Division; a time when she thought that a hero's life was definitely the life for her. And a time, once upon a dark and stormy night, when Halloween seemed set to last forever...

( It was Halloween morning, and for some reason she couldn't quite identify or name -- 'couldn't put her finger on,' as David kept saying, looking mournfully at his own massive claws -- Velveteen was uneasy. She walked through the back halls of the compound that housed The Junior Super Patriots, West Coast Division with strange shivers dancing along the back of her neck, and waited for some unseen other shoe to drop...Collapse )

Title: Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots, West Coast Division.
Summary: The life of a retired superhero is definitely refusing to get easier. Especially when you're just trying to get to Oregon already, and now people from your past that you've done your best to put behind you seem bent on tracking you down...

( Oh, it's hard as hell to be a hero these days. Especially when they just won't leave you alone...Collapse )

You may remember how last year, I commissioned the amazing, fantabulous, incredible Amy Mebberson to create a design for me to use as a "thank you" card. I loved the results so much that I decided I absolutely needed an updated version for this year, since the cast has changed a bit since then. Sadly, Amy is currently working for Boom! Studios, drawing awesome comic books, and is thus not available for commission work (sad for me, not sad for her).

Luckily for me, Bill Mudron—proprietor of Excelsior Studios—is currently open for commissions, and was receptive to my making pleading noises in his direction. This is because Bill is made of hammered awesome, and deserves all good things (and should absolutely be considered for all your commission needs). Bill did the cover for my third album, Red Roses and Dead Things (click here to see the back cover), in addition to several other awesome pieces for me, including Alice Price-Healy from the InCryptid series.

And now I give you...the gang:



From top to bottom (which corresponds roughly to "back to front"), you have Velma "Velveteen" Martinez hanging from the ceiling, Shaun and Georgia Mason flanking me while I attempt to work, Verity Price being friendly with mice, Rose Marshall wearing somebody else's coat and enjoying a nice beer, and October Daye, flanked by pixies and reasonably annoyed by the entire situation.

Ahem. Squee.

That is all.

Title: Velveteen vs. The Old Flame.
Summary: The life of a retired superhero is definitely refusing to get easier. Especially when you're just trying to get to Oregon already, and now people from your past that you've done your best to put behind you seem bent on tracking you down...

( Velma Martinez -- occasional reluctant superheroine, former child star, bitterest of all bitter twenty-somethings, and prime candidate for therapy -- stepped out of the Chevron Extra Mile, arms loaded down with road snacks and half a Twinkie still sticking out of her mouth as she tried to figure out how to chew, swallow, and find her car keys all at the same time...Collapse )

I have spent my week being very, very productive, especially when you consider the fact that a) I just got a new kitten, b) Lilly didn't allow me to sleep for over a month during her "kitty go crazy" period, and c) the lack of sleep, followed by sleep's sudden return, has left me slightly sick and very definitely jet-lagged in my own body. It's exciting! But this week, I have...

...turned in an essay for one of those exciting "smart people try to sound smart while talking about television" essay books. I'm excited! This is the first time I've been asked to participate in something like this, but I've always been a little envious of authors who get to go and sound smart while they talk about, say, Supernatural or Buffy. Hopefully I've managed to sound super-smart, because I'd love to do this again. I have a list of shows I'm just dying to sound totally smart about. Like Fringe and Cupid. Oh, and if there's ever a "smart people try to sound smart while talking about shows that were canceled before their time" book, I can corner the market on Freakylinks.

...revised nine chapters of Late Eclipses, only to discover that one of those chapters needed to be combined with another to form a sort of, I don't know, "super-chapter," while another chapter needed to be cut entirely. On the positive side, I made these discoveries entirely on my own, without any outside assistance. Also on the positive side, this will help with my goal of getting the book down between 105,000 and 110,000 words. On the negative side, dammit, I already revised this part of the book. Damn plot. It's getting complications and fingerprints all over my stuff.

...set up the landing page for the Velveteen vs. series, including a brief description of what the series is about, a listing for the stories in order-as-written, and a listing for the stories in chronological order (which will matter more as the JSP-era stuff starts getting posted). All the Vel stories are being cleaned up and revised before they're posted, which slows it down a bit, but also lets me take care of all those pesky typos and logic problems that people have been so very kindly pointing out to me. Behold! For now I wear the continuity pants!

...submitted all my receipts, agreed to an estimate on my taxes, and confirmed that I'm ready to receive my extension forms, hence to turn my taxes in. Self-employment tax blows. The next time someone asks why I haven't quit my day job yet, I may pull out my tax receipts and a conveniently labeled graph. SCREWING A WRITER IN FIVE EASY STEPS. Step one: self-employment tax.

...introduced Lilly and Alice to one another without bloodshed (either feline or human), and without any major emergencies, unless you want to count Lilly forcing her way into the bedroom during what was technically the isolation period. I rarely, if ever, close my bedroom door all the way -- the cats like to be able to come and go, and the litter box in my room is a relatively recent development -- so I had totally forgotten that Lilly knows how to work the latch, and will work the latch if given sufficient motivation. Like, say, being locked out of the room. But all's well that ends well, and this has ended well.

What's everybody else's productive looking like?

It turns out that marker coloring while watching television is just as mindlessly soothing as inking and penciling. Who knew? (Well, actually, I did, from the last time I decided to play around with my vast collection of markers. Which I expanded by twelve over the past few days, thanks to Prismacolor releasing several new colors over the past year. Damn you, Prismacolor. Damn you.) Anyway, here's the second set of six art cards. Again, clicking the graphic will take you to the larger version.



From top to bottom, left to right, you have my first Upon A Star art card, with Corey in Babylon Archer mode, my first Discount Armageddon/InCryptid series art card (hi, Verity!), my second Toby art card, a random drawing of me with velociraptors, my second InCryptid art card, and my second Velveteen art card. This one's for the ladies -- ACTION DUDE and THE CLAW!

I have several more cards finished, but scanning only in sets of six makes sense and saves time, so I'm going to stick with that for now. The hardest part of this batch was Corey's hair, since my henna Prismacolor decided to start dying in the middle, and I had to color most of her with the broad end. I think some of these may wind up getting sold off to pay my art supply bills. Yeesh.

In other news, it's been a busy day.

Yesterday, I...

...did a lot of fussing about, did a lot of reasonably important (if not entirely time-sensitive) email inbox cleanup, did some work on The Brightest Fell, and finally, attended a multi-hour rehearsal to get ready for my Guest of Honor concert at Conflikt II, as well as the house concert that I'm going to be performing in tomorrow night. If you're even remotely local, and have been considering attending either event, I highly recommend it. If you've never seen me live before, here's a nice quote from one of the conventions I've been featured at:

"Seanan wraps together deep, poetic lyrics and complex melodies, a soaring voice, and an exhilarating hold-nothing-back performance style."

See? Isn't that sweet? The house concert is actually a Vixy & Tony gig to which I have kindly been invited, and we're going to be doing some awesome stuff. We finally hit 'Tanglewood Tree' (a Dave Carter cover) at exactly the right angle last night. When I have tears in my eyes at the end of a rehearsal, that's when you know that you're doin' it right. And the convention, of course, is going to be one of my usual 'but what if we threw a concert and everybody came extravaganzas. I'm even packing the prom dress. Just in case.

Today, I...

...got out of bed, sat down, and wrote the first song of 2009 ('My Story Is Not Done'). To quote the lyrics:

I was born into a fairy tale,
Cinderella's dust-bin daughter.
Seemed like I was meant to fail,
Turning wine back into water,

Mama's slippers shattered when
She turned around to run,
But I never thought that mattered and
My story is not done.

My brain, ladies and gentlemen. Studies are even now underway. That done, I wrote three poems, updated my 'Velveteen vs.' continuity guide, and processed some edits to The Brightest Fell, which I'll get back to just as soon as I finish this entry. Once Fishy wakes up (allowing me access to my suitcase), I'll be getting dressed and going out for lunch with the wonderful folks from Team Seattle. And tonight, of course, we're rehearsing one more time for tomorrow's concert, in a setting which I have been promised will provide both ice cream and kittens. My life, so hard.

Tomorrow, I...

...will be appearing in the house concert I've been nattering on about so much above. Because love means never having to listen to me talk about one thing for all that long.

Hope everything is awesome in the worlds of you -- what's going on?

Title: Velveteen vs. The Flashback Sequence.
Summary: It's not easy staying a retired superhero -- but how does a perfectly normal girl from Clayton, California wind up joining and leaving The Junior Super Patriots, West Coast Division, by the age of eighteen? It's time for a secret origin. With teddy bears.

( Click here for the continuing adventures of Velveteen, reluctant superhero and friend to teddy bears everywhere -- or rather, for the very earliest adventures of all. The way it all started is just a mouse click away...Collapse )

Hey, folks. So...

1. I am still in Seattle, land of weather that is entirely alien to me.

2. I'm not dead. I'm just experiencing some rather awesome technical difficulties when it comes to accessing Livejournal. Seriously, it's like my data is being delivered by carrier pigeon. I can post -- barely -- but answering comments is a task akin to stumping the Sphinx at Trivial Pursuit. So posting will remain infrequent until a) this problem is resolved, or b) I go home.

3. The house concert on the 3rd is still on, for all you local folks. The set list is smoking, and we're going to be doing a variety of songs that most of you won't have heard before. Including, terrifyingly enough, 'Dear Gina.' (I love this song like burning, it's creepy as hell, and it's always creepier live. That's just how this stuff works.) Be there or be, I don't know, elsewhere.

4. Voodoo Doughnut is quite possibly the place where good pastry gets to go when it dies. I mean, I ate a Captain Crunch doughnut. How often do you get to say things like that, in this world or in any other?

5. I've finished the latest 'Velveteen vs.' story, which will be going up here soon, and have mapped out the next six or so. My poor little superhero, she never gets any breaks. But she does occasionally get broken. Coming soon, 'Velveteen vs. the Eternal Halloween.'

6. I've also finished doing the base inks for the Conflikt II program book cover, and I'll be doing the zip-a-tone over the next few days. It's essentially made of awesome. Awesome, and tentacles. Which are essentially the same thing, so hey.

7. I've finished through chapter twenty of The Brightest Fell, also known as 'Toby Daye, book five.' My 'write far enough ahead that even if you get hit by a bus, the series can continue for years' plan is definitely working. Memo to self: avoid the bus.

8. Interpretive dance of the bacon on John Scalzi's cat = totally fun, and totally funny.

9. I do, however, miss my own cat, and expect her to start trying to destroy Oregon in her maddened rampage any day now. Which, well, would be amusing, if nothing else.

10. I don't really have a tenth thing. The list just looked incomplete and a little bit lonely when I tried to leave it off at nine, so I figured I'd come up with something. What I have come up with is, apparently, the fact that I got nothin'.

How's with all of you?

Title: Velveteen vs. The Coffee Freaks.
Summary: The life of a retired superhero is definitely refusing to get easier. Especially when you're trying to hold down a day job and seem to have suddenly turned your freak magnet back on full-blast...

( Click here for the continuing adventures of Velveteen, reluctant superhero and friend to teddy bears everywhere, as she battles the mysterious Midnight Coffee Society for the future of Red Bluff, California! We're really not sure why she'd want to...Collapse )

Title: Velveteen vs. The Isley Crawfish Festival.
Summary: The life of the retired superhero is never an easy one. Especially not when you're stuck at a crawfish festival in the middle of nowhere, and oh, yeah, you appear to have just acquired an arch-nemesis...

( Click here for the exciting adventures of Velveteen, superheroine and friend to teddy bears everywhere, as she fights against The Claw and his mighty Crawfish Minions for the sake of the Isley Crawfish Festival!Collapse )