Death of Ideas

I've been known to get ideas the way some people have kids; there's just too many to be had, the person who has them all doesn't deserve them, oh the poor thing, getting overwhelmed with the sheer glut has got to go absolutely crazy from one day to the next. 

It's a chore, it's a drag, it's probably the greatest blessing in my life.  I value all my ideas and I can't just play "favorites".  They literally are my kids.  As such they need nurturing and attention in order to grow and flourish, which I'm happy to provide, but there needs to be balance where these ideas come in, otherwise they all will die.

I've seen the death of ideas...they were good ones too, I hardly believe in a bad one.  There may be poor execution involved in a good idea, a different way it could have been handled as opposed to outright giving up on it or trying so hard it collapses in on itself.   It's a painful thing to bear witness to, at least for me.  I can only imagine how it is for others; whether it tore their soul to shreds to give it up or if they gave it up gladly.  If the former, they should know sympathy and learn courage and how to keep their future ideas alive.  If the latter, they never deserved the idea in the first place.

I've learned as I continue to get ideas and my stories blossom and bear fruit, that they're not just children, but dance partners eagerly waiting their turn with me, wanting to show me what they can do, all the possibilities that lie ahead.  The trick with that is knowing when to say "enough, time for something different for a while".   It keeps my ideas from growing old on me, so that I come back to them with fresh eyes and I'm able to say "that's not going to work; lets try this instead".

I'll take my time on my ideas as it's needed.  But give up?

Never.

Some Bag(gage) to Share

Getting deeper and deeper into my projects, I realize some of them are coming pretty close to being completed.  All that is missing is a few important steps.  Unfortunately, those steps will cost money, which like a lot of people, I don't have.

But what I do have is a secret weapon.  A fabric stash.  A rather extensive fabric stash.  Let's just say enough to make a complete wardrobe, including formal wear.  Most of it is silky, satiny and panne velvets, but I also have specialty fabrics and calicos available.  What can I do with them?

In a word; Bags.

Dice bags to be specific, but I'm letting the general public decide what to do with them.

I came up with the pattern a number of years ago...when finished and closed, they have an interesting and unique appearance which I'm pleased with.   Now I've got other ideas for them, using everything in my arsenal to raise some funds to help me finance my projects.

The bright colors and butterflies are just the start, mark my words.  In the future I forsee comics inspired, steampunk and goth bags just to add interest not to mention bags with more than four points, gear-shaped bags, or even bags without points to help appeal to the gents out there. 

In any case. I'll be posting a link to the store once I have it up and running (not to mention with a lot more bag(gage)!) 

been a while, hasn't it?

Sorry for the dust and cobwebs, folks, I've been a tad busy lately.  Some of this has been due to life in general and the sorts of creative chaos one like myself can get into...other aspects were mostly personal.

Since y'all don't really need to know about the personal, I'll let you in on the creative happenings...hangon

is that a spider? 

nah...just a dust-bunny...

Anyway, after a long period of debate I've decided that comics are calling me in a much stronger voice than merely writing, so I'm going to start leaning in that direction.  To that effect I'm pleased to announce I'll be bringing back Spellbound and Senseless, yes further adventures of Sabine and Sparkles are in the making...who knows what else is going to happen with them....

ok...now that ones a spider....eep!!  brown recluse!!  *squish* *sigh* poor little bugger...

One day, not to long ago, a facinating image sprang to my mind...a strange little creature, a pig with dragon wings and tail.  For some strange reason, this little thing multiplied itself and became something unexpected; a new comic series I'm calling "Droinks!", a sort of in-depth look into geek culture and exploring every possible misadventure that could happen along the way.  While I'm willing to do the art for this project, I'm leary of the color...I've never really gotten out of some of my worse habits and I'm really wanting Droinks! to be something special.

Speaking of something special.  I learned earlier this year that while writers can influence artists, so too artists can influence writers.  I speak of my friend, Tris. 

While watching him create yet another fantastic celebrity portrait, I had words flashing through my head; something quick and action packed.  I typed it up, found it to resemble a brief synopsis for a comic book.  Laughing, I sent it to him to see what he thought and went to spend the evening with my parents before they left for Florida.  That evening I took my favorite journal with me to jot down notes in, and I'm glad I did.

That quick little joking synopsis turned into something else.  I got home, cobbled together a script based off what I was thinking of and sent it to him the next morning, fully expecting no response or at least a response of "thanks but not interested"...  All I'll say of that venture is I hope something comes of it in the future, there's too much positive energy surrounding that one.

Getting this act together

Well, it seems the people have spoken.  I'll keep doing what I've been doing, entertaining by the seat of my pants with intermittent stories, poetry and art scattered throughout.  I will be posting another poll next month and let it run for two weeks.  A Favorite Posts  poll to allow readers to pick which of the more anecdotal posts get to stick around...the rest...well....

Anyway, I've had my eyes opened and hopefully I'll continue to improve on this blog.

Things to note;
I should give myself a regular updating schedule, like most blogs do rather than just dumping whenever I feel like it.  So here it is; Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays starting in January.

Submissions are still open and while we are a non-paying market, the most we can offer is exposure and a positive experience.  Please see the Submissions page for details.

If you'd like to become a regular contributor, please send me an e-mail at inmaterunasylum@hotmail.com

Going to start giving each month a "theme"...for example October will be the time for "Scary Tales" or have something special for Christmas during the month of December. 

I'm going to keep my options open for a while, but you never know what will happen here!

Inspriation in all its forms

I will admit one thing about Spellbound and Senseless, my comic strip.  It started off as a fluke after watching my own furry companions, Bow and Stitch, interact with one another on a daily basis.  Anyone who owns two or more cats at a time could tell you how funny they can be; it moves from an agreeable relationship to wrestling and chasing and back again.  Unfortunately, a lot of their behaviour is "wash and repeat"...heavy on the "repeat", which forced me to take another look at the potential with the strip.  It will resume a weekly release schedule in January after the holidays.

I gain inspriation from other sources as well.  Being a former Theater major in college, I do have an appreciation for Shakespeare's work, bringing me into an interesting piece I'm working on,  A horror version of Romeo and Juliet.  Keeping it fresh means that I'm switching things up a bit, yet I'm attempting to keep much of  the dialog intact or at least keeping the spirit of the meaning.  I've got some great things in mind for this one.  The only thing I can do is go over the top

Open for Submissions!!!

Inmate Run Asylum is now open for submissions for all! 

Don't believe me?  Check out our Submissions page for information!

Are you run by your ideas?  Do those stray thoughts drive you to distraction?  Have a story that came out of nowhere?  A poem that inspires?  Art with a sense of whimsy?  We may have a home for it!

Still have ideas...

yet I find myself with both a lack of time and energy to work on them.  Saddly, a lot of projects suffer because of it.  This is the last week before Halloween, crunch time, and I've already pulled a twelve hour shift and I don't know if I'll get a day off at all this week. 

Spellbound and Senseless I'm going to be putting on hiatus until I can get my priorities straight with it.  I've pulled a decent amount off, I'm proud of it, but I'm also starting to realise how much work it really is and how much you have to love the idea to make it work and not loose readers.  I'll finish up the run I've got started when the moment allows, but things I think will be changing.  New setting, new characters, even a whole plotline to keep things fresh and interesting.  I won't be giving things away though ;)

The holidays are also encroaching upon us and I tend to have a rather magnanamous personality (I'll give my last dollar to the Salvation Army, I'll donate toys for the local toy drive...)  I'm just addicted to that feeling that I did well by my fellow man...or woman...kids...animals...you get the idea.   So I'm making it a goal this year to make crafty little items for friends who need help for the holidays.  I'm sorry, but it's my personal opinion that everyone should get something for the holidays.  If I can make somebody's day brighter, then it's a real pleasure for me to do so.

Halloween

This time of year is always a challenge.  I've worked in this costume shop for nearly fourteen years and never have I ever experienced a dull moment. 

Mostly my job consists of pricing, but usually I'm doing what the boss requires of me, including inventories, filing, some light office work, marking down merchandice, stocking and in some cases espionage.  I think that would be the best part about it..although I don't utilize any disguises to do so.  I probably should, considering where I work.

I'm discovering the hardest part about it, especially when I've got projects that I'm working on like my strip, is I have no time or energy to do what I want to do when I get home.  I'm working six days a week now and I may have to go in on my day off if another worker doesn't come in.  It's happened before.  I can't even have a Halloween party because of work.  Fortunately it sounds like I will be getting the actual day of Halloween off. 

You know you're running low on time for yourself when you think you're lucky just to get a load of laundry done.

Season of Change

At least, the start of change...things will be changing with Inmate Run Asylum.  Gets a little lonely blogging on my own, so I'm inviting some of my more creative, inspirational and sometimes off-the-wall friends to join in...so I'll be making announcements about them in the coming days if they (hopefully) accept.

Other changes will be including customized backdrops that I've decided I can't live without...comics, themed ideas, reject movie posters, you name it.  I'll just make sure not to make it too distracting! ;)

it may take a bit of work, but I think things could start to get interesting here!

Recent news

Things have been interesting as of late.  First off, it's October, I work in a costume shop and I'm trying to publish a weekly web comic.  That alone should be enough to drive a "normal" person mad.  Keep in mind I've got all those other little tidbits and projects that I'm also trying to work on. 

Throw on top of that a twisted C6 vertebra and then you're talking really interesting.  As in "hurts to even live" interesting.  So came my first introduction to Chiropractic health care.  The whole experience probably looked scarier than it actually was, my chiropractor is that nice.  So that's going to be a monthly thing for me now.

Then there's my own brief brush with insanity-as-genius.  Somehow, I've managed to land a role in game design!  Can't really discuss details, but once the project hits the market, I'll be promoting it like crazy!

I'm honestly surprised I get anything done!

Comics

Well, I've done it...

I have started a webcomic called Spellbound and Senseless. So far the experience has been altogether a nerve wracking learning experience and amazingly satisfying to see my name on something I created. Not only that, but people enjoy it, which is truly gratifying.

The comic itself is about two cats who are a forgetful witch's familiars. The witch, Wanda, has forgotten she is a witch and quite often mistakes magical items for mundane which leads to all sorts of hijinks with the cats, Sabine and Sparkles. Sabine is the older and wiser "straight cat" while the more amusing things happen with more frequency to Sparkles, the kitten.

Recent news

I still can't believe it...

I'm getting better and better with the comics thing....and I learned you don't need an expensive program in order to color digitally. I'm in the process of mastering Gimp and it's really interesting. Think of it as the poor man's version of Photoshop, useful little tricks and techniques all throughout to let me digitally ink color and letter any and all of my comics whether they're strips, books or graphic novels. The tablet just makes it all that much easier to do it, which is a relief.

Recent news

I've been tinkering with this lovely little contraption for a while now and it feels fairly natural...so why am I bothering with doing the traditional pencil-pen and ink bit? It's harder than you'd think to work out the proper formatting of sequential art...

I'm getting further and further into the comics making biz, finding it to be a real treat to see something in my head play out before me, either on the board in front of me or digitally. I'm even getting together my site, which I hope to have content for within the near future....

So here's to progress!!

Recent news

Things have gotten more interesting around here lately as I've had the luck to acquire a Wacom Bamboo tablet. Interesting little device, lots of pros use it, I'm sure. It's definitely easier to color with than a mouse as I've been trying it out with different character sketches like Angel Cake. I'm also learning how to use software programs that can be used with it, so hopefully I'll be able to get my comics to look really cool!!

Now if I can only get the hang of this thing...

Recent news

It seems I've struck upon the perfect way to get through a large quantity of work in a short amount of time in the literary sense. Alternating the days of what I work on appears to be working as I just finished the first chapter of the first book of the Whisper in the Gears novella series. Which means, providing all goes well tonight, I may be finished with the revision of chapter two of Mousepaw Chronicles. That prospect is quite exciting actually...

Recent news

Things are at a standstill currently with some of the lesser projects for the moment as I shift major amounts of attention to the two projects that have the most and strongest ideas; my novel The Mousepaw Chronicles which is currently in the editing process and Whisper in the Gears, a novella/graphic novel series geared towards steampunk. It's going to be interesting to see how far I can take each of these.

The Mousepaw Chronicles is big, at least it's promising to be big, I have no idea how the plot will break down, but the first book alone is standing at just under 69k words...and I'm not even finished with the first chapter yet! But the pressure is on, I may be getting my summer vacation in a few weeks, I'm leaving it at my boss' disposal to decide when since last winter turned into quite the debacle. Since I rarely plan anything for vacations anyway, I'm not entirely worried. The only plans I've made thus far is to get my rear in the market for an agent willing to take this particular book on.

Whisper in the Gears also promises to be big, multiple books at roughly 20k apiece, the graphic version should follow in example, I would love to see this one go to print! As it is, I already have a lot of friends who say that my art may be good enough, but that remains to be seen. I might be tempted to even go so far as to ink, but I deal with so much uncertainty in my own skills, I may wait and see how my pencils turn out. I may have to wait to finish the pencils for the graphic novel and see if I can get the novellas published first to earn the money to pay for a pro to finish it. It may also turn out that my inking wouldn't be that bad, but I'm not at all skilled with digital coloring, which is the big thing these days.

With previous endevours I've learned a few things about digital coloring. Namely I'm about as slow as a tortoise, I'm far to picky as to what looks good and me and deadlines do not get along. At all. On the bright side, I'm learning the ins and outs of technology, so hopefully someday I'm going to get all of my comics ideas finished, polished and on the internet for the world to enjoy.

Now if I can get this dumb sense of procrastination out of my life, I'll be fine...

Recent news

Today was surprisingly productive in a direction I haven't gone in some time. About a year ago, I was brought onto another artist's project as a writer. His plans to put his strip into syndication have slipped to the wayside due to numerous personal issues which I do not begrudge him, but that doesn't mean the ideas don't stop happening for me. So I found myself writing more strips for his cause in spite of trying not to.

I also had the benefit of visiting cousins from Arizona today, one whom I've always seen as a "big sister" even though she's old enough to be my mother. It was good to see them and have a nice visit with the family.

So as you can tell, productivity slipped a bit today. Tomorrow, I clobber my novel with a morning star! Grr!

Recent news

Still working on the editing process for my novel. I'm finding much of it has already changed, but fortunately the story remains the same at it's heart. It's just a small matter of making sure it flows in the manner I want it to.

Also making lists of agencies to start shopping my novel around. In that process I've found a few agencies that would actually handle comics! Woot! So there is a potential place to take certain graphic novels/novellas to!

Crumbshoe Detective feels as if it's slowed to a crawl. Not good. Need to look at that particular page again and see what I can do to improve on it. If there's anything I've learned about storytelling it's slow spots and stumbling blocks that turn off the readers.

While digging through yards of fabric, I managed to find some navy blue panne velvet. Now I have an appropriate pattern in mind for it. It's just a small matter of making it work. I only hope I have the right colors of ric rac...

With summer vacation coming up I've got a lot to keep me busy...

Recent news

It's been a productive Thursday so far, the book is getting edited, I'm getting more art worked on.



Recently had a fourth flash story accepted at Hazard Cat by the title of Mighty Huntress. Will keep all informed as to when the publication will be made.

Its otherwise raining out...so much for blue skies and beautiful weather. Oh well, just means more that I can do inside.

Recent news

Had another long day at the costume shop, at least I got to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous weather while doing so.

Had some intriguing images flashing through my head involving jackalopes of all things. This promises to be interesting, cause these weren't your typical cute and cuddly jackrabbit- pronghorn mutants...

Editing has hit me strong as far as my novel is concerned. I'm determined now to get this thing to market ASAP! No more slacking for me! Unless some unforseen roadblock suddenly comes out of nowhere and takes the wind out of my sails.