Make tea (and art), not war!

Okay, the title’s a bit of a goof. That little sign sits in a place of honor in my office. I saw it in a shop on Granville Island in Vancouver, grabbed the last one on the shelf, and rushed to the register so fast I nearly flattened a little old lady on the way. But this entry is a bit about tea, and a bit about art, and not very much at all about war.

As a teenager, I became allergic to just about everything with caffeine in it—coffee, Coca-Cola, even chocolate. It all triggered horrible migraines, which (at least in the case of chocolate) is just not fair. After years of forced exposure, I developed a tolerance for chocolate, and from there branched out to Coke and tea. Coffee still kicks my butt for some reason, though, so I pretty much run on tea, and my retailer of choice is Adagio Teas. They have fantastic teas of all kinds, and they let you make your own custom blends—even crazy fandom blends. (I am particularly partial to Cara McGee’s Sherlock and Avengers collections.)

Now, because I can’t watch other people having fun with my favorite things without wanting to jump in myself, I’m preparing to try my own hand at making fannish tea blends, custom labels and all. And I’ve got a shiny new pen, and I’m working on a technique that may become the style for future Masks illustrations. So now you’re going to put up with my terrible experimental fan art.

I decided to do a small set of blends inspired by the upcoming Captain America movie, The Winter Soldier. As you may have noticed, I’m not exactly a professional artist, so I decided to do a relatively simple two-layer design that you’ll see more of later. The most difficult part of the process was probably going to be representing the faces of the characters  around whom I was designing the blend. That meant faces. I suck at faces. But I’ll try anything once … or twice … or more …

I started with this picture of Chris Evans from the Winter Soldier publicity materials:

And then I did a freehand sketch version, scribbling in the rough areas where I was going to be shading:

Then I went to town with the lightest gray brush pen they sold at the art-supply store, and got this:

Not bad, all things considered—especially since those are photos of the sketchbook, not proper scans. You’ll see the labels when I get them done, not least because I will probably be quite proud of them. And if they go well, there might be some Masks teas in the offing.

Not that I think you guys are going to rush out and buy my teas. (Also, I wouldn’t make any money if you did—all Adagio does is give me a discount on future orders if I design popular blends.) But it’s fun. And hey, tea!

Now, what do you think of the process? Would you want to see Rae and Trevor done this way? Or is it insufficiently comic-booky? I think it might do a better job of preserving the original sketches, which are often better than the inked and watercolored finished products …

Hello, January; where did you come from?

December went off the rails, obviously. Didn’t get those chapters written.

It went a bit like this:

1. First week: procrastination
2. Second week: planning and prewriting and generally getting things set up for a big productivity push late in the month.
3. Third week: a ghastly bout of gastroenteritis that involved a lot of crying, vomiting, and general misery.
4. Rest of month: sloooooooowly regaining my ability to walk, talk, and concentrate for minutes on end. Oh, and then the holidays happened.

So we’re a bit behind schedule, aren’t we? And thus we come to my brilliant new plan for increased productivity:

Nagging.

Here’s how it works. I’m going to try to get two to three chapters written per week. That’s usually my maximum productivity level, so we’re shooting for the stars here. And to keep me (dis)honest, I’m going to be posting daily photos of my progress on the Masks Facebook page. Notebook pages, photos of my laptop screen, sketches or pictures of paintings-in-progress, some kind of sign that I did something on Masks that day. I’ll try to do the same with Twitter, although I’ve never posted photos to Twitter before, so bear with me on the inevitable technical difficulties. I’m going to be doing a lot of this with an iPad camera, so the photos will be exactly that good … or not, as the case may be.

Your part in all this is to nag me. Go subscribe to the page if you haven’t done so already. I don’t post that much or demand that you buy things; mostly I try to be clever and amusing once a day at most. And if you think it’s been too long without a random progress photo, nag me. Comment on something. Post on the page. I will answer, assuming I haven’t come down with gastroenteritis again (and I threw out the contaminated salad greens that probably caused it, so—fingers crossed!). I am extremely susceptible to guilt, so we’re going to use that as motivation.

The first installment in Operation Nag the Writer is at the top of this blog entry. That’s the prewrite I did for Chapter 11 of Volume 2. It involves three of our heroes going to a bar. Be afraid.

And with luck, I’ll have something worth posting on Pocket Coyote sooner than later …

Slightly damp index cards are the best thing ever.

Not pictured: tears of joy.

Teh Novel is with the Final Beta for its final round of notes before it goes to a nice person who asked to see it … and who will keep it busy until at least January or February. Which means it’s about that time again …

That’s right. Masks Volume 2 is ah-LIVE.

A few of you may have seen the joyous photo post on Facebook last night. Short version: I had been looking for the deck of scene cards for Masks Volume 2 for several days, and had been growing increasingly worried when they didn’t turn up. It’s not that I didn’t have backups—it’s just that there’s something about the physical cards that makes my brain work in ways that digital backups just … don’t. (Okay, AND the backups had gone missing. If I ever made them. Don’t judge me.) But around midnight last night, I finally located a tattered, unbound stack of index cards sitting loose on top of a basket of CDs that I swear I’ve searched half a dozen times now. All 24 scene cards for Mv2, neat as you please, except for some mysterious water spotting that hasn’t really affected the notes. Much.

I don’t remember dropping the cards in the bath or carrying them around in the rain. I don’t remember taking the rubber band off them. (That’s something I normally do only to decks I’ve finished with—I take the rubber bands off, tie them with string instead, and stash notebook and cards in my box of Things I Will Donate To A Library Someday If Anybody Cares. The box does not have a lot of stuff in it so far. I’m weirdly proud of that.) I definitely don’t remember leaving them on top of the CDs, as opposed to in their notebook where they belong or in some safe receptacle. But at least I’ve got them now. And it’s time to get to work.

The first order of business, I think, will be a little random writing—picking out the scenes that definitely work in my head, writing them down, and building out from there to the more problematic ones. From there, I can get the serial cranked up again.

I have also decided I’m going to at least polish the early chapters, and then re-post them with art. There might be major changes, but it’s not terribly likely. More probably I’ll just make the sentences flow better and be content with that. In any case, you’ll want to follow the serial on Twitter and Facebook, as that’s where I’ll be posting links to the updated chapters. It doesn’t make sense to post all-new versions, for a variety of reasons, but I will try to be clear about what’s being changed. And then, not long after that and perhaps while the polishing’s still going on, there will be NEW CHAPTERS.

Because this story is a long way from done. There’s a mysterious kid Patriot to be explored. There’s Trevor’s dance with the Masked Rider about Rae’s fate, and Rae’s showdown with Hawkins about Trevor’s destiny. There’s whatever the hell is going on with Soleil. There’s the matter of what really happened to the Black Mask all those years ago, and the solution to Trevor’s coded journal (it’s a real code, btw, that you could theoretically solve with widely available materials). There’s Mike, of whom all I’ll say is … there’s Mike. There are hearts to break and souls to mend and a surprise or two. And there is a coyote. Oh, is there ever a coyote.

When will you see all this bounty, you ask with bated breath?

December. Sometime. That’s the plan. Some tweaks to the website, a lot of staying in and painting while it’s a bit chilly, and a general cranking-up of things and advancing of the spark. I’ve got some ideas for the Volume 2 cover, as well, and you’ll eventually be hearing about those … and some plans to add some color to the site’s design … and other goodies … but all that’s for later.

For now, I have 24 slightly damp and curling index cards. And life is good.

Comic-Con, Redbubble, and a chapter this week if it kills me

Shortish entry today, guys. Sorry. News items, in no particular order:

1. I’m experimenting with a new T-shirt supplier. Since moving to my new place and getting a job that’s mostly online, I’ve pretty much lived in geeky T-shirts. (I’ve never been a fan of sitting around in my pajamas all day—wear anything more than one day in a row, with my nose, and you’ll be sorry.) Of my various suppliers, Offworld Designs is still my favorite, but Redbubble has more of a selection and will let me post my own stuff. The printing is also of higher quality than Cafepress, and there are more ways to customize any given shirt. I’ve taken a whack at my first-ever Redbubble T-shirt design, which you can see above. I really wanted a Bucky Cap shirt, and it was a good way to get more familiar with my drawing tablet. If it comes out okay, you’ll probably see some Masks designs on Redbubble, and maybe some from my other work, too.

2. Comic-Con! Yes, I’m going again. More than one day this time, too. And I’m going about 90% as a civilian—I’ll have bookmarks and buttons and stuff, but this year is going to be more low-key for a lot of reasons. Trying to learn some new things about fan culture and navigating it, and maybe have a bit of fun. I’ll take Pocket Coyote, though, and there will be pictures.

3. There will be a new chapter this week if I have to write it in blood. I’m not going to Comic-Con without a shiny new chapter up to show people. You heard it here first. In the meantime, if you could see the progress I’m making on Teh Novel, you’d be really impressed, but that doesn’t mean a darned thing on a blog.

Oh, well. Nice-looking T-shirt, eh? I am open to suggestions for Masks designs …  

Why my alarm clock now seeks my death

Writing two books at once requires the moral support
of a stuffed Labrador retriever. Don't judge me.

I’m getting to bed late an awful lot these days.

Mind you, coming from a lifelong insomniac, that’s not exactly news. I began making up stories at the age of three because I couldn’t sleep at night and I was bored just lying there staring at the ceiling. (One of these days I’ll finally polish up that space epic about my favorite stuffed unicorn.) But lately I’ve been doing a lot better … except when the story ideas come knocking.

It goes something like this:

I lie down to sleep.

Brain: Hey, you missed something. What if [protagonist] cornered [secondary character] and said [really cool thing]? What about that, huh?

Go away, brain. I’m trying to sleep here.

You always say you’ll write this stuff down in the morning and you never remember. You could start a poem with [really cool line]. Grab a pen!

Stupid brain. Haven’t we had this discussion? Like, for years? And you know you won’t be working tomorrow if I don’t sleep tonight.

I don’t care. Ohhhh, look at this, I found a new way to torture [protagonist of different story]! You can’t imagine this without crying! You’ve got to write it down!

I’m good at torturing my characters. I need sleep more than I need that idea.

But this scene’s been kicking your butt for two weeks and here’s the PERFECT LINE that you will NEVER REMEMBER IF YOU DON’T GET UP AND GRAB A PEN RIGHT NOW … 

So that’s how I end up with bits like this, from a few different stories:

-----

“I’d surely tell you were’t otherwise,” she said. “A funny little thing she must be, from her picture. Can’t be past ten year, and yet those eyes are a hundred years old.” She shook her head. “What did her father teach thee?”

“Lots of things,” I said vaguely, reexamining the photo myself. She was right; the little girl’s eyes were terribly ancient. My owners had eyes like that—even the best youth drugs on the market couldn’t take the years off their eyes. But hers were different somehow. As if her hundred years had been nothing like any of theirs.

-----

“I’ve been dead. You wouldn’t like it.”

--------

“But I’m on their side!” I protested.

“No, you’re not,” he said, his face hardening. “Because they’re not on yours. To them you are a tool, a useful device. No one deserves your loyalty who can’t be bothered to give you a name.”

I sniffed, and ached, and thought about that. Then I narrowed my eyes at [character] and whispered, “You’re loyal to them.”

“That’s different,” he murmured, and leaned back in his chair so we couldn’t talk anymore.

-------

Then they found out they were all going to the same address. And then things got awkward.

-------

“Fine. Damn it. Is there anything left?”

“Come and see,” she said.

-------

And now you know why my sleep cycle is completely bonkers …