Posted by nightphoenix on Sep 29, 2011 in
News,
Novels,
Output Hey look, a post!
Apparently one of my plugins was actually hiding all of my posts except the top one, but only if you weren’t logged in. So of course because I was logged in, I didn’t notice. Anywho, I have fixed that problem, and I’ve also gotten the audio player back up and running, so music should work now. Troubleshooting is a laborious process, involving a lot of logging in, turning features on and off, logging out, refreshing the page, checking the page, logging back in, and well, you get the idea. I posted two new posts since the Great Fatal Error and Two Week Shutdown, but because of the above problem, I don’t know if anyone has actually seen them. Was kind of wondering why they never showed up on Facebook. Read more…
Tags: agents and editors, Shades, the blog
Posted by Mistress of Feathers on Sep 12, 2011 in
News So I went to update the blog to the latest WordPress, because you know, it’s good to have things up to date. Well, and so…one of my many plugins had a fatal error and broke the blog. As my husband’s computer is where all the actual content is stored, and he’s always very busy…tonight was the first opportunity we had to fix things.
And it was so very, very easy to fix. Gah.
Anyway, that’s why things have been down for the last…week? Two weeks? Time tends to get away from me…
Back with your irregularly scheduled posts soon!
Edited to add: You may notice that some features, like my embedded music, are not working properly. Updating always breaks a few plugins (just usually not so thoroughly). I apologize. It will take me some time to get everything all updated and running again.
Tags: the blog, the real world
Posted by nightphoenix on May 5, 2011 in
News I’ve given the Projects page a massive overhaul. Switched things around, added about five or six new ideas and some new music. Some of the “new” ideas have actually been sitting on my computer for months…I just never got around to posting them up here.
You may notice some little things that have been updated.
I changed the name of the last Shades novel from Hearts, Like Glass to Dreams, Like Ashes…also ganked from a song, and I just think it has a better ring to it. “I watched the city burn, these dreams like ashes float away…” Updated the explanation to reflect my current progress.
Changed the title of Kailar to Fire Into Frost…because Fire and Ice is too cliched, as badly as I wanted to use it.
Changed the title of The Waters to This Chosen Fate; hard to come up with. I toyed with something like Beyond These Shores, but I didn’t want it to sound like I was equating the Waters to the afterlife, or that Lauren had died. The story is all about choice and fate, so.
Updated To Wake a Windmaker to just Windwaker. I was reluctant to give the book the same name as a Zelda game, but I think the story and format are different enough that it will be okay. And it gives Quintin more of a focus: he’s not just some random guy looking for answers, he IS the answer, he IS the Windwaker. No longer a journey to the saviors, but the journey OF a savior.
Changed some music around. Also, you may notice that some of the new ideas don’t have any explanation other than the pitch. That’s because…I haven’t put my thoughts together yet. I may do that in a few individual blog posts.
Tags: the blog
Posted by nightphoenix on Mar 14, 2011 in
News You may have noticed that some of the categories and tags for the blog have changed. I went through and cleaned house a bit, as it were. I’ve decided to take the blog in the direction of documenting the creative process, both in general and specifically in my own work. I’m not retroactively changing or deleting any posts…just giving things a direction to take from now on.
In the tags, I deleted a number of redundant and rarely-used ones, and combined a few others. Notably, got rid of both the artwork and Mortal Instruments tags. Made the artwork a category instead of a tag, and the other…well, for some reason the MI tag was getting hits every day (almost since the day I created it, mind). There was only ever one post in that tag, making the sheer number and consistency of hits a bit mind boggling. I suspect a bot was responsible. I really don’t like bots snooping around. Don’t worry, the post hasn’t gone anywhere…I just nixed the tag.
Categories have been redone to reflect the new direction, and are, I hope, somewhat self-explanatory. Input is what I absorb in the form of books, movies, TV shows, etc…that which fuels the process. Output is whatever I’m working on, the results of the process. And there’s the process itself; how influence, inspiration, and imagination combine to make something new.
My next goals are:
1) Update the Projects page. Add some story ideas that have emerged in the last few months. Reorganize to reflect the current queue.
2) Update the Wands page. Add pictures as needed. Start the process of writing descriptions for each wand.
3) Make the first “official” creative process post.
Also I may, in the future, create a separate artwork page that showcases a bit more of my art.
Tags: the blog
Posted by nightphoenix on Mar 10, 2011 in
News I just realized I haven’t updated this blog in about a month. That’s both irresponsible and inexcusable of me.
I’ve been productive, which I suppose is part of the updating problem. Have plotted out the Waters story, and decided to give it an actual title: This Chosen Fate. Have also written nearly a full chapter of Promises, Like Tears. I’m getting a much better handle on Naeth’s character this time around. He’s actually supposed to be sort of annoying and not really all that likable when you first meet him, which will make his later improvements stand out all the more. I’ve been debating theology with friends, which easily turns into a time-sucker with me.
Also, one of the blogs I follow regularly, Slacktivist, moved to a new internet home last week, which sparked a…ruckus. Very quick sum-up: Within the community of commenters and lurkers that follow Slacktivist, many people had objections to the content of the new home site, Patheos, and felt that they could not in good conscience support such a site. The community seemed ready to split over the move. This is the type of situation that moves at internet speed and can only be kept up with if one is willing to follow 1000+ comments or so across the space of about 5 separate threads on two different websites. However, the community seems to have settled on a compromise: Fred will stay at Patheos to be a sort of light in the darkness, per se, but he’s handed the old space over to a few of the regulars from the community as a safe space for those who don’t want to or cannot bear to deal with the vile stuff on Patheos. Which, I have to say, is pretty awesome of him. But…following all the drama has taken up a lot of time this week.
Have also been cleaning the apartment, which is of course a never-ending job.
However, the truth is…I’m not sure where to take this blog. I definitely want it to remain about the writing, but really what it’s become is a sort of “update on me and my writing” space. Which is great (if a bit narcissistic) for me…but how interesting is that for other people? I’d like to give this place more of a direction, so people can come here and know more or less the sort of topics to expect.
I have two sort of hazy ideas. One, have the main theme be “the creative process”. The process of getting ideas. Turning those ideas into stories (or art, or…well, those are my two areas). Brainstorming. Worldbuilding. I could get even more specific, like: The Creative Process for Fantasy Writers. Or something. This could also incorporate the “real life meets writing” and “how such-and-such impacted me as a writer” posts that I do every so often.
The other idea would be to focus on the more nuts and bolts aspects of writing, like GMC and problematic plots and such. And how certain books and movies either succeed or fail based on these things. That’s kind of what Writing Excuses is, which makes it really interesting to me…but it’d essentially make this into a how-to blog. Dunno if I like that.
Anyway, I’ll be giving this more thought over the next few days. Just wanted to check in and say, no, I haven’t fallen off the face of the planet. 
Tags: goals, ideas, the blog, the real world
Posted by nightphoenix on Nov 11, 2010 in
News,
Output Added the two axillary Shades novels I’ve been planning, and have tweaked the look of things. Changed the Grimm theme song to Yearbook by Hanson, and am trying to figure out why I didn’t make that the theme to start with. It’s absolutely perfect. Made some minor wording changes in some of the pitches.
Tonight or tomorrow, I’m going to add the Fall-Reconcile story.
Tags: the blog
Posted by nightphoenix on Nov 10, 2010 in
News,
Novels,
Output Been a while since I’ve updated, and I apologize. But, but, but…believe it or not, that’s actually because I’ve been spending nearly every spare moment writing. I’ve been in a groove and have been reluctant to do anything to distract from that. (Which is why the apartment is a disaster.) Remember how I keep hoping I’ll hit a point in Shades where I can start doing more copying and pasting from the second draft instead of rewriting from scratch? Hey, well, I got there. I’ve actually reached the chapter I lost back in…March, was it? Currently I’m rewriting that, which has slowed me down a bit. But this means I am only two or three chapters away from the end.
I hope to be done writing and on to editing by the end of the month. Let us hope.
I have actually started a few blog entries over the last few weeks, and just never got them done. I may, in the next few days, finish and post those.
I may also blog about the Hanson concerts I just went to, because hey it’s Hanson and they’re awesome, but also because I always seem to have the most interesting thoughts coming off of a concert high.
So, I suppose this is an update post to say I’m going to be updating soon.
Tags: the blog, the real world
Posted by Mistress of Feathers on Aug 19, 2010 in
News Hey, this blog is officially a year old today!
O_O
Has it really been that long…?
Tags: the blog
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