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...

Costumes

This gown was made some time ago and has been retired for two years now from use. I still have it, it still fits and it's still in (relatively) good shape for being roughly ten years old. It was new in the picture.

Bodice, upper sleeves and overskirt in black satin, the underskirt and lower sleeves in purple Silkessence, the underskirt forepart in glitter bat mesh and lower sleeve overlay in black chiffon. Trimmed in gold, black and purple trim and amethyst rhinestones. Back has spiral laced closure.
You might recognise this as an Elizabethan style pattern, it's just the fabric choices that make it perfect for Halloween.

Pardon Me

Another of my Flashshot publications. Was posted March 5 and I think it's one of my personal favorites...there is too much potential with this one...question is, should I go with full length horror, or tone it down for a kid's story?

Pardon Me
by Michelle Nielsen

"Mama?" Her young son stood by her bed in footed pajamas, his teddy bear in hand.

"Yeah, baby?" she muttered in her sleep.

"The boogieman's under my bed again..."

"Tell Mr. Bear to eat him up..." she mumbled, not wanting to be disturbed.

The next morning she was startled to find bones under her son's bed. She swept the mess out and looked around trying to figure out what else was amiss. She noticed odd stains on the teddy bear's gold-furred belly and speculated that her son had tried to feed it ketchup again.

The teddy bear burped.

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.

Jokerette

What would Batman be without that crazed sociopathic arch-criminal? One of the first that I completed in my personal challenge.

My husband swears that it's a self portrait gone horribly wrong, but it isn't...may share a vague resemblance, but it was never meant to be that. Although I'm sorely tempted to make the outfit...

Chipowski

Kyp Chipowski is another character out of Crumbshoe detective. Although he's supposed to be a sullen and resentful young man in the comic book, he seems to be having a "Jimmy Olsen" moment here...

"Gee Louie, are we gonna get the bad guys?"

Stitch in Time

A micro story I had published in February on a literature e-zine called Flashshot. I've been told it bears resemblance to a certain Mel Brooks comedy.

Stitch in Time
Only one task out of four thousand completed!
Where is that wretch Igor? My creation is well-meaning but much too slow.
On top of everything else, there's that incessant banging on door...
I can't stop now! There's still so much to do!
No steps may be skipped or all will be ruined, including my reputation.
What now? Villagers are in the castle?
Tell them I've left! Tell them I'm sick, tell them the TRUTH! I've too much at stake!
Couldn't they possibly riot at my door some other time?
Like next Tuesday?

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.

Angel Cake

This is a character from my comic book Crumbshoe Detective. Most of those characters are going to be based off of sweets, pastries and cookies. Literally I was just trying to get an idea as to what she'd look like when the expression just happened. I think its nice to have a character with such a sweet name and yet such a surly disposition.