the archives

New cover for Bellica, among other things

I designed one cover for Bellica, and then realized it really need some green in it. I’d always imagined Bellica to be a green-covered book, so why I designed a cover without any green is anyone’s guess. (I was super excited and rushed the process.) So here is the new cover: About the picture: my…

October 29, 2011
Bellica’s new cover

So, I released a cover a while back that was still tugging at me, saying “No, no, I need more, preciousssssss.” (Yeah, I don’t just have characters telling me what to do — I have covers as well.) I realized it was missing green. I’d always envisioned Bellica as a green covered book, and then…

October 29, 2011
Rainy Fall Friday

I was walking home from my friend’s house (she gave me a partial ride home from school; we only live a block away) and in my alleyway a tree has shed its summer skin. There was a meadow made on the asphalt, all yellow, orange, red, brown. Leaves everywhere. Not dead, not alive — hovering…

October 28, 2011
Yes, I do get days off.

But they’re never any fun. I was going to work today, but I had a migraine for several hours. It’s gone now, but now it’s time to go to sleep, because I have to get up at 6 to walk to school tomorrow. Yes, walk. My loan will be in next week (fingers crossed) and…

October 26, 2011
VIWF is here and it’s as awesome as I thought it would be

I have spent the past 2 days volunteering in the food service part of the Vancouver International Writer’s Festival (which I’ve blogged about previously). It has been awesome. Food service for events — doing prep work in the kitchen and working concession stands during intermission — is something I excel at, and as I never…

October 20, 2011
Friday Five: things that happened in the past two weeks

List not comprehensive. I got totally swamped with work. I burned a Thanksgiving turkey beyond all recognition. Once I got through the blackened shell, however, there was delicious meat. I got back into school, 5 weeks into the semester. Had to cram half a semester’s knowledge into my brain on Tuesday and Wednesday for my…

October 14, 2011
SFFSat: a glance at the life of an Aradian Priestess

(Crossposted here.) In this chapter, High Priestess Sarai has just given her younger brother Jules a reading from the Deck of Aradia — the Aradian Order’s main divination tool. She is discussing the results of the reading, which trouble her deeply, with her spouse Kara. The cards were hardly ever wrong. But my interpretation could…

September 30, 2011
A character sheet!

So, here we have a screenshot of the character sheet for Yarrow, my main character. You’ll note the picture inspiration in the top right hand corner (by the way, have I ever mentioned how much I love Scrivener? Because I seriously, seriously do). This is not the full character sheet, of course. No spoilers. 😉…

September 30, 2011
Friday Five: Five Banned (or challenged!) Books, in no particular order

I am only listing books I have actually read in this list. For a bigger list of banned or challenged books, I recommend checking out the ALA’s website. It’s probably impossible to get a comprehensive list, but they do a good job nonetheless. 1984, by George Orwell. A novel about a dystopian future, so naturally…

September 30, 2011
Whatever Wednesday: Banned Books Week and full disclosure about my adolescence

This is cross-posted from katjevanloon.com. September 24th through October 1st is Banned Books Week. Over the years, many books and writers have been banned or challenged — for political reasons or just some vague feeling of “needing to protect the children”. Until this year, I’d never sought to read a banned book. Then I decided…

September 28, 2011