Well, it is over a week late but it is time for another blog post and as the writing of the first draft of Draconic Shenanigans is done I thought it best to let my lovely darlings know what is going down in the bunker, starting with what I'm going to call my little hidey hole where the magic happens. I am considering bunker, HQ or lunatic asylum.
What do you think? Drop me a message on social media to let me know what you prefer, I'm on facebook, Linkedin and Instagram and no, I don't post personal stuff and I have grown to be really selected about what I share. The reason for this is that I used to have a couple of pages attached to my account, one for my books and one for my Gothic Dragons artwork but just before Christmas my account was put under review for... something. I'm not entirely sure what as the notification didn't clarify what I had done to upset someone, only that I needed to do an age test to regain control of my account so I don't know if it was a post I put up or a comment I left on someone else's post. I think it was a reply to someone else's comment because I had asked someone, not long before the review, if they were calling my great grandfather a liar as they were denying a part of last century European history had ever happened and as my great grandfather was directly involved in bringing that part of history to a stop I asked the question. I was under the impression that I lived in a country where freedom of speech included the right to ask questions but apparently I should stick to writing fiction, it appears to contain fewer trip wires. Either way my account was restored within twenty four hours but neither of my pages were restored so I am making do without them. I am not wasting my time on building pages that can be taken down in a moment by some A.I. 'moderator' that has no understanding of human nuance and cannot read the difference between an angry snap and a question asked in honest curiosity. I am curious as to why people would dismiss the evidence of the ugliness of human nature when it is known that to dismiss it is to let it rule us but I've yet to receive an answer that doesn't circle back to the ugliness and that starts tripping into the area of the False Clause Fallacy. So... yeah, let's just leave it at that.
All of that aside, down in my little hidey hole I have been working like mad... and it doesn't seem to be enough. To explain, to have the first book ready by the end of July I need to be producing at least one piece of chapter art a week. We are now into the sixth week of the year and I've only managed to produce two and a half pieces of the chapter art so I am already behind. I was also supposed to start work on the editing and proof reading of the manuscript the week just past, as a story that took two and a half years to write is likely to have some typos, glitches and continuity hiccups. That was what was supposed to happen. Unfortunately the Infant Distraction had other ideas so I was busy home schooling for a day and a half instead. Unfortunately the problem of being a Pooh-Bah, that is to say someone who is wearing too many hats on not enough heads, is that sometimes the duties that come with all those hats compete with each other at which point you have to prioritise and a child's needs always trump everything else. Best laid plan of gods and men often go astray.
Speaking of best laid plans, I need to point my lovely darlings towards www.drivethrufiction.com, an independent site for Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror and even Romance, as it looks like it will be the site I publish through. I know I originally said Amazon as that is the more popular site and easier for people to recognise but, and this is a big BUT, part of Amazon's small print is demanded digital exclusivity. Basically, what this means is that if my books shows up on any other website, even on pirate sites, I run the risk of my books or even my whole account and I mean my whole account, shut down with no right of appeal. The problem? The first draft is already up on my blog as that is what is encouraging all of you lovely people to read it and therefore digital exclusivity isn't possible. Therefore back to drivethrufiction, even though that means I am likely to lose some customers in the short term as they will find it harder to find my stuff but it means I get to keep going in the long term. I will be posting links here, there and every where I can raise awareness and there is the fact, if you are into ethical business practise, assuming the reports are true, drivethrufiction pay their taxes.
On the artwork side the state portrait of King Tatsuya is complete, I think that it will probably be the artwork for the first chapter. I have also completed on of Hartseer, the King's Blade, striding through the fires of War, extract of which is the artwork for his blog post. That one I am particularly proud of, despite the fact that it is why I am so far behind with the production. If you are one of my lovely regular readers then you know that Hartseer is not an organic being but rather a construct of metal and I decided to really push myself artistically. I wanted to do the proper reflection of fire light on silver metal but you try finding a reference photo of firelight on silver. It was a nightmare. I am now happy with the result but there is about a dozen layers of pain in some places on that image. I repainted and repainted for about two weeks so at least seventy hours of work on a single A4 sized piece. This is why artists ask so much for commissions - we are asking for the sheer amount of time we spend on what we produce. For those of you that want to own a full, 4×6 inch, signed copy of this piece and all that I will be making in the future, may I point you towards my patreon - https://www.patreon.com/posts/draconic-149918952?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
If you can flip a coin to your writer it keeps the lights on and the coffee flowing and you get exclusive access to a collection of sighed art pieces. That is why I went for 4X6 photograph size because I know how difficult it is to store multiple A4 art piece. Not many people have the wall space any more but a photo album is a lot easier to compile. You could also have a shout out on my random patreon of the week shout out over on facebook.
Having finally finished the King's Blade in all his dreadful glory I was able to move on to Kaelin, the first of the main characters I have tackled. I have captured her during one of her loitering moments prior to her forcible recruiting to the King's Special, during which she is facing down the fact that she can't out run what lives in her blood and bones. Kaelin did not chose this life, she did not want this life and she certainly did not chose her family. I think that it is rather telling that, despite her demeanour and her temperament, she hasn't ever seriously considered running out on the King's Special. There again the King's Special haven't tried to run her off for what she is and they haven't condemned her for the skill set she's used to get by. For Kaelin this is as close as she's ever come to something like friendship. It will be interesting to see where it goes from the end of the first arch. We'll have to see how fast I can set the production pace.
So saying back to the grinding stone. Love to all my patreon darlings, be safe and be kind.
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