Loni Townsend's Blog, page 13

Mid-Year Progress Check

Can you believe June is almost over? My husband and I celebrated our 12th anniversary on Sunday. We were lucky enough that my sis-in-law was willing to watch the kids for us after she got off work, because we completely forgot to plan anything. I’d even forgotten about our anniversary until my daughter asked me when the next holiday was and I looked at my calendar, realizing then that my anniversary was the next Sunday. But my husband and I got to go out for a relaxing dinner at the Meridian Village and catch a showing of Solo. All in all, it was wonderful.

But that means half the year is almost through. Therefore, progress check!

Writing: I think I’m doing pretty well. I’ve gone from 143K to 165K, which means I’ve added 20K this year. With my goal being an average of 700 words per week (about 18K at this point), I’d say I’m on target, especially since that doesn’t include all the stuff I’ve written and then gotten rid of because it just wasn’t right for the story (that’s about another 10K). Unfortunately, it seems like I’m always the same distance to The End. I’ve got 7 chapters to finish, plus another I want to add earlier in the story. It seems like I was only 8 chapters to the end weeks ago.

Fitness: Pneumonia kind of kicked me in the gut. I’m still freaking coughing, though I think it’s with a new infection that’s circulating through the family. It’s certainly hampered my fitness seeing that I haven’t picked up a set of weights since April and running is still difficult. It’s also left me binge eating food I shouldn’t, such as kettle cooked chips. But I’ve got a plan, so hopefully I’ll be able to hit my goal weight of 125 come October 31st (that’ll be 30lbs in 1 year).

Digital Painting: Well, not much progress to be said here. I have been working on consistent drawing, meaning drawing the same character and actually being able to tell it’s the same character. But it’s still pencil and paper. Lately, I’ve been leaning toward a more cartoony route, rather than realistic sketches, and it’s given me more wiggle room to nail the consistency.

(Highlights were added digitally, but all attempts to color these two have turned out horribly.)

Empathy: Yeah… I’d started the year with wanting to be a more empathetic person, and really focus on building my relationship with my children. Pfft. Kidzilla still whines. I’m thinking all the empathy in the world won’t make the little 4yo any less whiny. But I’m told it comes with the age, and he’ll grow out of it. Both kids are amazing, and I find myself being thankful for them especially when I compare them to other children. I know you’re not supposed to compare children, but DUDE. These two kiddos are far better behaved and considerate than some of the kids I’ve encountered in their age groups. Am I turning into a more empathetic person? No. Do I have a better relationship with my kids? I think so.

That’s been my life for the past six months. How has your year gone so far?

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Sew What Do You Think?

If you know me, you might know I’m an indulgent creative who dabbles in the occasional sewing project and costume design. I also have a long history of dying my hair bright colors (currently it’s more on the “salmon” side of blood orange). Apparently, my daughter inherited said traits because when it came to a dress-up contest with a theme of Superheroes vs Villains, she conscripted my husband and I to build her costume for her.

Since I figured she’d want to be female, therefore ruling out Deadpool, I consulted my friend to compile a list of recognizable female superheroes. Of course there was Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl, and Cat Woman. Would anyone recognize Raven from Teen Titans? I didn’t think I could pull off makeup for Gamora and figured Black Widow would be too bland. Mantis maybe? That is the problem with Marvel female superheroes. Either the costumes are too complex or not complex enough.

My ideas were met with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. My daughter then shrugged and said, “I could be a villain.” After a quick “Okay Google, show me a list of female villains”, she made her choice.

Harley Quinn.

I informed my husband of the girl’s choice, and he burst into laughter and cheered her on. Pictures from Suicide Squad dominated the image search results for Harley Quinn, so my husband decided to play the movie so that our daughter would know what character she’d be representing. By the time the movie finished, my daughter was set on that version of Harley Quinn for a costume.

Next day, we were off to the fabric store to pick up a jacket pattern and material. I did the shorts pattern freehand, mostly because I wasn’t willing to shell out an extra $12. We stopped by the party store to pick up an inflatable mallet, and my husband used his mad duct-tape and Sharpie skills to decorate it. Finally, I bought fabric paint and a white T-shirt.

I have to say, I’m pretty pleased with the result, considering we pulled it together in a week.

Even I hand-painted the lettering on the T-shirt to match the movie’s design.

Under the jacket, she’s got some black straps that match Harley’s holsters, but most of the time, you can’t see them. I did get the color scheme backwards, but I don’t think anyone but me (and those I told) know it. Her skin is slightly tan, so the lightest foundation at the dollar store did the trick to unnaturally pale her up. And since I’d already bleached the bottom of her hair, coloring it was no issue. She won first place in the costume contest and got high-fives all around (plus a bucket of candy and glow sticks).

I probably won’t be putting as much effort into the other themes (Hawaiian day? Red, White, and Blue day? I might do Under the Sea day…), but it was fun to help her totally rock the competition.

If you could be a superhero or a villain, which would you choose? Which character would you dress up as? Why are all the female superhero costumes either skin-tight or skimpy?

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Aesthetics on Pinterest

I’m late to the game, but there’s this thing people do called “building aesthetic boards on Pinterest.” My friend Dani introduced me to the concept and then another email pal sent me links to her own aesthetic boards. I have to admit, there’s a certain charm to putting pictures together to create a feel, so I figured I’d try my hand at it.

I created a Character board with sub boards for my four POVs that I’m working with in Isto. Apparently the widget doesn’t let you link to just sub boards, so all of my different characters are mashed together, displayed with my latest pins first. But since their POVs eventually intertwine, I suppose I’m okay with it. I think if you actually go to Pinterest, it’ll let you drill down to the sub boards so you can see which images I picked for each character.

I never got the hang of Pinterest for marketing (and I still have no idea how that would even work), but as a consumer of visuals, I do like poking around the app in my spare time. I hunt down recipes, pose references for sketching, tutorials for digital painting, and even tips on how to draw maps. It sure beats having an exorbitant amount of bookmarks that I forget to return to, since I can just pull it up on my phone and they’re already grouped how I want them.

Have you heard of this aesthetic trend before? I know other people build collages with the same intent, but I avoid using other people’s images without explicit permission so I went the Pinterest route. Plus that’d take extra software beyond my phone. Sure, it might not be a productive use of time, but I am one to indulge my creative habits, especially if I’m just waiting on my kids to get their shoes on so we can go.

Are you on Pinterest? Have you ever built any aesthetic boards/collages for your work? What other venues do you use to express your creative impulses?

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Month Six Out Of Twelve #IWSG

I find it hard to believe it’s June already. I mean, wasn’t it just April where I was down with fever and pneumonia? I’m still coughing, so it couldn’t have been that long ago.

But alas, it really is June. That means almost half of the year is gone, and I haven’t finished writing my draft yet. That’s where my insecurity lies. Am I really so stinking slow that I can’t finish before the year is through? I suppose it doesn’t help that as I brainstormed out a plausible reason for a side character to ask a POV character to do something, I roamed into unplanned territory which includes introducing a character who appears in the next book and the Cera Chronicles, as well as made him related to a character who died. It triggered the bunny thought trails and character interactions that didn’t previously exist. So I’m still writing, but not fast enough.

Of course, writing pace isn’t the only factor. I still make it a point to spend some time with my family. But my book and my world never fully leave me alone, so this past weekend, I found myself sketching while chilling with my husband and kids. Then I shaded, took a photo, tweaked it on my phone, then added text and texture on my laptop. I have to say, I’m pretty pleased with the result.

IWSG Question of the Month – What’s harder for you to come up with, book titles or character names?

Considering I only have 4 books and dozens upon dozens of people in my head, I’m going to have to say characters, because I need to make sure that the names I pick aren’t too similar to the ones I’ve already used.

Are you a fast or a slow writer? Do you ever create maps for your world?Which are easier for you to name–titles or characters?

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group



You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

The post Month Six Out Of Twelve #IWSG appeared first on Squirrel Talk.

The Iron Druid Chronicles Series Review

I finished a 9 book series a few weeks ago, and I’ve been letting my feelings about it sit. It’s one of those things I had to walk away from, plus my husband hadn’t finished the series yet and I didn’t want to spoil anything for him. But there is one thing I let him know. I wasn’t happy.

The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne was recommended to my husband by one of his co-workers. Since my husband expressed interest, I bought a couple of the audiobooks with my eStories credits and hunted down various discs from the library to build a listenable collection. We finished the series in a month and a half.

It’s first person with an irreverent tone about a 2000 yo druid in modern-day Arizona. I enjoyed the first few books, the silly humor and quips. It was adventure and hijinks with Atticus (the main character) digging himself in deeper with each attempt to gain ground. It was going well until a secondary character’s POV joined the narration.

It wasn’t the switch in narrators that bothered me. This POV (female) was boring. Voice is a big deal for me, and this character had none. It was also jarring when it switched from past tense to present with this new POV, but that was less of an issue than just wanting something in the way of personality to shine through. Both my husband and I agreed, she wasn’t an asset to the story, and we both grew to hate her before the series ended.

And then other things started to tick me off. Yes, Atticus screws up. What good protagonist doesn’t? But blame is not the same as fault, and there was a ton of blame getting heaped onto his shoulders. As the story progressed, another female character displayed her dislike of the main character. She blamed Atticus for the death of a couple of people close to her.

Except… A) Person #1 had a mind of his own, and he’d made it up that he was going to go on this death-mission. Not Atticus’s fault he died. B) Atticus warned, explicitly and fervently, that he had stirred up trouble with a group and they might come after those close to him, so be prepared for an attack and set up precautions. And then Person #2 winds up a casualty in that fray.

But according to female side-character, Atticus is the sole responsible party here, therefore he gets all the blame. B.S. (My husband had less of an issue with this character than I had, but she is, by far, my least favorite character of this series.)

And then we get to the last book of the series which came out last month. It punctuated that all the surviving female characters are people I would love to slap in real life. I really liked two females in this series. They’re both dead now. The ones that remain are hypocritical, selfish, and self-righteous. Oh, and they all blame Atticus for their woes. (Okay, so I still kind of like a couple of the Tuatha de Danann gals, and they don’t blame Atticus for their woes. They’re more of a “Crap, dude, you screwed up. Sucks for you.” attitude, which I’m okay with. And the witches didn’t tick me off either. They were reasonable. Sneaky, but reasonable.)

I don’t know if I’m more sensitive to the series’ portrayal of women because I am one, but even my husband took issues with it. When he finished the series, his primary issues were with three of the female characters. He also had issues with the colorful metaphors and how all the POV characters (3 different ones by the time the series completed) used the same ones. So, note to self there, make sure if the characters aren’t from the same experience and background, that they don’t all use the same jargon.

I was also unhappy with the way the series ended, and it took two epilogues before I was willing to say, “okay, fine, I’m willing to forgive you.”

I’m sure, by now, you’re probably thinking “wow, I should probably avoid this series.” That’s not really the case, though. It’s a fun frolic with lots of different pantheons popping up in a modern-day world. You’ve got tons of different mythologies coming together to build a story. There’s Fae, Greek and Roman gods, Jesus and Mary, Coyote, Japanese, Chinese, and Indian deities, and a ton of old Norse tales. It’s creative and interesting. Plus, there’s Oberon.

Oberon is a dog. But not just any dog. He’s Atticus’s best friend. He’s got an obsession with sausage, always has the best commentary on the situation, and is all around delightful. Where female POV lacked voice, Oberon has it in spades. He’s a good break from the action for a nice jaunt into humor.

Overall, I’d give the series a 3.5. There was good stuff in there. I think Mr. Hearne and I might just not see eye-to-eye on women (but I have been told by my co-workers that I’m atypical for a woman as they make generalizations while in my presence about how my gender behaves, and later follow it up with “well, you’re the exception.” So, maybe it’s just me? #maledominatedworkplace).

The audiobook narrator, Luke Daniels, did an excellent job. I am going to try to find the novellas and short stories in audio format to fill in some of the gaps, because I enjoyed the world and most of the guys in it. I did actually recommend it to one of my co-workers, so I can’t say I wouldn’t recommend reading it. I still like the Dresden Files more (irreverent first person urban fantasy with a male narrator). The Iron Druid Chronicles is complete at 9 books, so if you’re the type who likes to wait until the author has finished the series before picking it up, then you’re in luck.

Have you read the Iron Druid Chronicles? What were your thoughts on it? What are your favorite series? Are you a fan of irreverent urban fantasy?

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Better Than This #YA #NewRelease

On Friday, something great happened. C.G. Coppola released her new YA Contemporary Romance. I had the pleasure to beta-read this story, and I have to tell you guys, it’s good. She wrapped me up with the characters that I found myself bawling on occasion just because I was so invested. It’s cute, it’s touching, and I highly recommend it. And the good news, it’s now available for all of you to pick it up! I know I’m looking forward to the books that will follow (Yes! There will be more! Woot!). So head on over to Amazon, B&N, or Smashwords and get your copy.

Blurb

Autumn Sommers wants to forget what happened on the bus. It’s been three years, but avoiding Alex Wolf has become standard, especially since everyone knows about his sketchbook—and the drawings of her inside. The incident followed them from junior-high and now, in their sophomore year, the two have been paired on a project.

Autumn just wants to get through it. She needs to maintain her grades to keep her terrible Aunt Milly from moving back in, but working with Alex might be impossible since they have to pretend to be a couple for their assignment. Forced to put their past on hold, the two focus on their fictitious relationship until the lines between real and fake get blurred, and they discover there might be some truth to the façade. But things have changed since seventh grade. Alex has a secret, and it could mean the end of their new friendship…and more.

After everything they’ve been through, Autumn isn’t sure she can go back to the way it was. With their project—and her heart—on the line, she’ll need to prepare for whatever happens, even if it means a return to silence with the boy she wants the most.

How to get it (because you know you want to):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

More about the amazing author who wrote the book:

C.G.Coppola is the author of the Fantasy Adventure series, Arizal Wars. In addition to short stories that explore magic and the paranormal, she writes books that involve a lot of kissing, kickass heroines, and fighting alongside best friends. When not writing, C.G.Coppola can be found watching Netflix, playing with her dog, Appa, or trying not to mess up a recipe she found on Pintrest.

Do you enjoy stories that get you invested in the characters? Up for a bit of contemporary YA romance? Have you picked up your copy of the book yet?

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The End Is In Sight! #AmWriting

After two rounds of antibiotics, steroids, and two different inhalers, I’m finally on the mend from my nearly month-long battle with illness. Woot! With the recovery comes a burst of writing energy as I task my characters with fetching a box of weapons while a different character works to build a solution to protect her race from extinction.

I use yWriter to organize my big books and based on my plan where I mapped out all the scenes I needed to get me to the end, I’m almost there.

The column on the right is the running word count, and with an average of 3K per chapter, that means this book is probably going to land somewhere around 180K, which is a good deal shorter than my pre-timeline change estimation. Considering Thanmir War was 200K before edits and got cut down to 170K, I think it’s pretty safe to say the books will be roughly the same length.

It’s taken me years to get this far. I started writing this book just after my son was born, and I’ve found juggling two kids is a lot more time consuming than merely having one. Not to mention all the other medical mayhem that’s been going on. But this is going to be the year people! I will finish my draft and then revel in the glory of having done so.

I can’t wait until that day comes.

Have you ever had a project that seems to be taking forever? Did you keep at it, or abandon it along the way? Ever find that something else is hijacking your writing progress?

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Digging My Way Out

It’s been a miserable month and I still haven’t quite recovered from it. I’m still struggling to breathe every morning, and all attempts at exercise have vanished from my routine. But I see the sunlight through the tree branches, and the warmer weather is starting to help me perk up.

The downtime has given me a bit to think about with regards to my writing. As I get past the hump of the major timeline rewrite, I encounter another event in my story that I realize just isn’t logical. The character finally gets his friend to safety. I had him then leaving that safety so that he could encounter an old nemesis and have a long awaited smack down. Except, it’d be unintelligent for him to leave the safety, therefore unbelievable, therefore why on earth would I write it that way?

So I’m making more changes. Since I’m still struggling to get the fuzz out of my brain from all the illness, it’s been a difficult time thinking through the logical flow of events. But I see a way to tighten a couple of subplots and intertwine two POVs more. It’ll cut out a couple more chapters, which is good for my story, plus it also brings me that much closer to the end.

Things are getting exciting, folks. I might be able to finish my first draft this year, and that makes me one happy squirrel.

Do you ever find yourself rethinking previous decisions made in a story? Have you ever encountered a situation in your story where you realized it just isn’t logical for it to play out that way? How’s the weather treating you?

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May Things Hopefully Improve #IWSG

I took last month off from blogging to make some progress on my writing. The first week went well, allowing me to catch up on a lot of progress after my massive timeline rewrite. I was hopeful that I might make a serious dent. And then April 7th hit, and my daughter got sick. She had a high fever that wouldn’t go away. It was a viral cold, the type you can only treat the symptoms of, not the source. On the 20th, we admitted her to the hospital with pneumonia. By day three in the hospital, she was showing improvement. And I came down with a fever.

I’m still terribly ill, unable to think straight, coughing my lungs out and shivering half the time, so it might be a bit before I’m able to visit everyone’s blogs. But I will get there. Not sure about my writing though. I haven’t been able to write a thing with my mind inhibited with first worry and now illness. At least I can be thankful that my daughter is back to her usual exuberance. But being incapable of writing just because of the groggy head does make me a tad insecure.

IWSG Question of the Month – It’s spring! Does this season inspire you to write more than others, or not?

I’ve never found myself inspired by the seasons. The stories all live in my head, and in my head, it’s a constant climate.

How do you handle writing while sick? Any tips for beating a terrible cough and fever?

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group



You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

The post May Things Hopefully Improve #IWSG appeared first on Squirrel Talk.

Celebrate Another Year

I turned 36 on Saturday. It was a good day. I ate food. A lot of food.

It’s amazing how many places will give a free meal if you sign up with their birthday clubs. Some, you don’t have to sign up, you just need to show up on your birthday and show them your ID. Others might require a small purchase to get your free deal. I cashed in as many as I could on my day.

I had Denny’s (birthday slam breakfast), Tucanos (all you can eat), Smokey Mountain Pizzaria (personal pan pizza), Firehouse Subs (sub sandwich), Baja Fresh (classic burrito), Red Robin (guacamole bacon burger and fries), and a slice of Pie from Shari’s.

I weighed 5 pounds more on Sunday morning, but it was worth it.

We had several different options on how to celebrate my birthday. We could’ve gone to Boise Code Camp or we could’ve gone downtown for Boise Treefort Music Fest. We considered movies and game spots. Honestly, the only thing on my mind was the food. We could do anything, so long as I got my food.

My husband, wonderful man that he is, arranged for me to get a 90 minute massage at a day spa. Oh how I love that man.

I got myself a little birthday present too. It’s been an idea I’ve been toying with since January, but I didn’t want to disrupt my progress with the Colonel’s Challenge so I held off. Since I’m no longer aiming for a target weight for lifting, I modified my routine so that I’m no longer using a bar across my shoulders for squats, that way I’m not pressing against this:

It’s Japanese kanji, with my own squirrel up top. You’re probably wondering, “what does it say?”

Literal translation: Squirrel on the edge of the town

Creative translation: Town’s End Squirrel

It’s not my first tattoo. My other one is: 森 That means forest, and the Japanese word for forest is Mori. If you know the significance of that, you probably know me in person (and you probably know why I detest being called Lori).

Anyways, I hope you all had an awesome weekend. I’m taking April off to get some writing done, so you won’t hear from me until May! Have an awesome time until I see you again.

What’s your idea of a perfect way to celebrate your birthday? If you could design a tattoo, what would it look like?

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