Flare; To Begin Burning Brightly

Good afternoon 2014!

Hah. Look. I spelled the date right.

So, following the trend a myriad of other online blogs, tumblrs, tweets and Facebook posts have, I will welcome the new year. Hi 2014! Nice to meet you. Do you take tea or coffee? Uh-huh, and how many sugars with that?

Honestly though, I don't think I'm as concerned with the change of the year as other people are. On Facebook I've seen posts saying things like "So sick of this year. Can't wait for it to be over. I hope things are better in the new year." I don't understand those people. You may as well say "So sick of this hour. Can't wait for the next one. Maybe it'll be better." There is literally no difference between 11:00pm on December the 31st and 1:00am on January the 1st. If you are trying to make things better in your life, why wait for an arbitrary human construct to give you permission to start? Why not just start right now?

This also means that I don't really make resolutions either. Sure, I have goals that I want to achieve but it doesn't matter to me what the date is. 

This might make me seem a bit like a cynic; I really do appreciate the celebration of bringing in the new year, but I just don't follow the hype as much as others do.

With that dry grumble out of the way, I have much news to announce! Many things have happened!

I finished my university degree! I am now qualified with a Bachelor of New Media Arts, majoring in Media Design.

I sold some art! Seriously, I keep accidentally selling art. I've logged onto DeviantART several times to find that people have just gone and bought prints of the same piece of Doctor Who fanart I did ages ago. I also sold a print of a painting in our graduate exhibition at uni. Go me!

I went fishing! All I caught was bait...

I applied for jobs! And was declined for them all. *sadface*

I'm thinking of making a Youtube channel! It will be a kind of vlog with me talking about all the weird and wonderful dreams I have. Also other things, like me being bad at games and good at writing. Go to The Ink Stained Brain to look at my as yet nonexistent videos and fancy channel art.

And finally, I accidentally wrote half a new book! Seriously. It's already half done. 42,000 words. Somehow, I wrote 10,000 words yesterday. It's boggling my brain a little bit. I suppose the reason it's been so fast and easy is because it's based on the first full novel I ever wrote, Sparks. 

I did a complete overhaul of the plot, deleted one character and added another. Some of the major themes are still there, but a lot of them have been trashed. And I started writing the whole thing from scratch. There has been no copy and paste, mainly because original Sparks was writing in first-person while the new edition, now called Flare is in third-person. I did enjoy writing first-person, but third-person gives a lot more freedom. It's more logical for if an when you want to switch between characters, or show a 'many years ago' style thing.

Which means I should probably update the Sparks info tab at the top of this blog.

Label for the file of notes for Sparks. I designed it to look like a laboratory
filing system label. All I need now is a 'TOP SECRET' stamp.

Now for a question for all you writerly types out there. How do you name your characters? Do you take names from people you already know and let the character take on aspects from them? Do you just pick names that you think sound cool? Do you research name meanings relating to the character's personality?

Personally, I prefer the latter method. I don't think people will ever pick up on looking up names to see what a character's true nature is like, but I like having those little in-jokes.

Feeling: Accomplished. 10,000 words in a day man!

Listening to: O Death sung by Jen Titus from the Supernatural soundtrack. Brr. Chilling. Also Short Change Hero by The Heavy, from the Borderlands 2 soundtrack. Delish.

Wearing: Grey shirt with pink printed tie and denim short shorts. It's an average day.

Eating: Had some Macca's for lunch. I have a miniature Boost bar sitting on my desk staring at me though...

Rejected! Yay!

Good day fine internetters.

So, I've been quite busy lately. I have had a surprising amount of university work to contend with. And contend I have. We aced a presentation just two days ago, and I have been highly commended for my graphic design work in another subject. Work is going very well too. I managed to find several of the posters I designed up in a tavern in town. It's ridiculously satisfying to see one's work actually being used.

But, the main purpose of this post is to let you all know that I got a rejection! Woo! The submission I sent to the Cameron Creswell agency about Soulless in July has finally gotten back to me. Here is the letter:

Dear Ms Hudson,
Thank you for your submission. We have now had a chance to consider this title and do not think we are the best agents to represent you. We already have a long list of client authors and only take on new authors if we believe very strongly in their writing and our ability to place the work.
However, another agent could well have a different and more enthusiastic response to your work and we suggest that you contact some of the other agents listed on the website of the Australian Society of Authors at www.austlitagentsassoc.com.au.
Thank you for thinking of The Cameron Creswell Agency and we wish you all the best in finding an agent and publisher.
Regards,
Sophie Hamley

Now, I'm not too sure whether this is an actual letter or rather a generic reply. But anyways, it's a rejection and the first step towards being published! When I tell people that I got a rejection, they always seem ready to commiserate,  and then seem confused when I smile and tell them that it's a good thing. I mean, I totally expected it. It really is the first step to being published. And now I get to go and ask someone else. I think it's important to have such a positive attitude about it, otherwise I'll just be completely miserable every time someone says no.

And now for other news. I went to a party dressed as a lego block. The theme was 'Toys from your Childhood'. I unfortunately have no pictures, but just know that it was the most epic fifteen-second costume.

I managed to get my hands on the latest Skulduggery Pleasant book, The Last Stand of Dead Men. My goodness. The feels. Me and every other fan I know just want to strangle the author. The moments of comedy were beautiful, but the low moments were so dark and dismal... I cried a couple of times. And the worst part is that I have to wait a whole year for the series finale.

I am now a Supernatural fan. I remember I watched the first season quite a while ago and got a little bored of the 'let's find dad' storyline. But I finally decided to get back into it because I really wanted to meet a character who would appear later in the show. I was so glad I did. The show got considerably better after the first season, and when they introduced that lovable, scruffy, poker-faced angel in a trench coat, Castiel, I was in love. I am now waiting very impatiently for the start of next season. For the start of all the new seasons actually. Everything I love is coming back sometime this October or November. It will be wonderful.
I also entered a Threadless design challenge! I've always wanted to see a Herobrine themed Minecraft tee, so I thought this competition would be the perfect opportunity to try and get one printed. It's my first submission ever, but here's to hoping. To see or vote for my shirt, go here: http://thrdl.es/~/2g3H

And now for some more Soulless art!

Rook and Evie being growly

Rook and Evie being less growly

My own strange version of a chimera

"Quintin Rthrant Xesi Esiorto at your service,"

Faaro Lovell

An old friend of Rook's named Turi.

Feeling: Like I should get back to work.

Eating: Gonna go get the last of my delicious birthday cake.

Listening to: Black and Gold by Sam Sparro.

Wearing: Short shorts and high school senior shirt.

So Many Vectors

So, internet, this is my second post for this evening. My last one was the latest story in my Passage of the Planeswalker series. For quite a while all of my blog posts have been those; I haven't done a lot of updates on Soulless because of them. 

So, this, is an update. I'm updating you. Still updating. More updating!

*Ahem*

Soulless is still at about 99,600 words. I've been occasionally going through and doing tiny, itsy-bitsy edits with the prompts of some of my beta-readers. I managed to recruit three of them sometime during the year. There was one main, annoying thing one of my reader minions picked up on. Every time I wrote or used the phrase 'soul-wraiths' I wrote it with different capitalizations - Soul-wraiths, Soul-Wraiths, soul-wraiths, etc. This was  because when I was doing the bulk of my writing, I was never really sure how or if I wanted to capitalize the name, and so they ended up being quite random. It's actually quite a good tips for any other writers out there; make sure you have consistency. So get right on that. Make sure all your cities and terms have the same formatting. The 'Find' tool is your best friend here.

Editing on Soulless and even the writing of my D&D shorts have been on hold for a while due to my moving from Uni back home again. Living on college has the one downside that you must vacate the premises mid- and end of year. They hire out the rooms to people coming to conferences and students going on experience trips. So, me and my brother (who is attending his first year of uni this year) had to shove all of his stuff into his car and haul it all the way back home. The car was so loaded we had trouble keeping up with highway speeds. The five-hour (plus time waiting at about a dozen roadworks stops) ride was made very enjoyable though by the Skulduggery Pleasant audiobooks on my brother's iPod. The guy who reads them even has an Irish accent. Extremely delicious...

Since I've been home, I've been very sick. I actually missed out on my last day of work for the semester because I was so dead. Some weird flu thing that started with a sore throat. But that's also another thing that's happened to me lately. I got a job! My Bachelor of New Media Arts has already landed me a job as a graphic designer! I got the news that Digimen, a very cool graphic design and sign writing company, were hiring an undergraduate from one of my university lecturers. Three hours after the email landed in my inbox, I whipped one back to them, my portfolio attached, practically screaming "Pick me! Pick me!" So, I had an interview, and then another. I showed the boss my portfolio again, smiled and chatted - and suddenly I was sitting behind an enormous Mac, creating posters for a tavern, brochures for a hotel and a new logo for a garage! I am so thrilled to be working there! Hopefully they'll let me stay on at the end of the year when I graduate. If they do, I'll be set for life. *Insane happy dance*

If you want to check out the Digimen and all the awesome things they do, go here: The Digimen

And here are some of the cool things I have been working on.

I derped, but it was the best photo of the poster

Mirror printed sign - SO MANY VECTORS

Feeling: Bit tired and headachey.

Eating: Had Violet Crumble Chocolate for desert. A chocolate block with candy-honeycomb crunch bits.

Listening to: Get Lucky by the delicious French Duo, Daft Punk. I seriously cannot get enough of those robot helmets. Also, I got myself a new pair of headphones. I've just been using some old, cheapo ones, but two days ago I found a pair of Phillips Specked headphones. They are SO good. High quality heads, silicone ear sleeves, a woven cord for maximum un-tangleability. They are also a gorgeous shade of purple, blue and orange. And the bass. Oh man, THE BASS. *swoons*

Wearing: Too much pink. Also a fluffy robe and new fluffy boots. My old boots somehow grew mouths and drafts.

My Safe Word Is Apples...

So... recently I found another TV show to binge on, and in the process procrastinate on writing and university assignments. This show is the funny and fantastic, crime-comedy, Castle. I had heard about it, seen the ads for earlier seasons on television, and dismissed them as just another show I didn't really want to watch. But I was bored and IMDB told me that I might like it. So I downloaded the pilot, and couldn't stop watching. The crime bit is good, but the characters were what kept me sucked into this insane little Castle cyclone. I sat there dying to see more and riding every emotion like a supercharged roller coaster. I have officially become part of another fandom. I'm already planning custom fan apparel...

In other news, I have a veritable tonne of assignments. Which I just don't want to do. I know I only have three weeks to do them in, but... I just can't get off my butt. The same goes with writing. I know I have stories stashed in my head, I just can't be bothered to wade through the fluff, old barbies and lolcat pictures also stored in my brain/attic.

Cosplay was absolutely epic. We had so much fun. So many people turned up! I secretly think this was because of me and my awesomely designed advertisement posters... There was a trivia quiz, a drawing competition, a baking contest, an anime dubbing competition and a maple syrup chugging race. The syrup contest ended a bit badly. One of the contestants (a well known sore loser), after losing over some technicalities, decided to pour some of his syrup over the head of the member of the committee who was running the event, in the process nearly ruining his $180 Deadpool costume. he was also a nuisance at the previous Cosplay. This member has since been banned from future events.

I am looking forward to the Cosplay Gala we are holding in a few weeks. It's a more formal version of the Cosplay, held at a venue with alcohol. I'm going dressed as the Slenderman. *Evil grin*

I got an art project back today. Several weeks ago, we were given the task to interpret 'utopia' using space, meaning sculpture or other three-dimensional media. I made a small doll with rotatable body parts, reasoning that a utopia was where someone could be whoever they wanted to be (thus the ability to choose different sides of the doll). I also had a piece on the side which was pretty much just for fun. This was a clay sculpture as well, and an almost perfect cube. I don't know how long I spent smoothing and polishing the sides of that thing. Everybody was really impressed with how cubular I managed to make a piece of rough brown clay.

My cubey-cube.

I completed a week of work experience at a graphic design agency in Townsville city a few weeks back. It was for assessment for a subject, but it was still a lot of fun. The team at TBD Communication and Design Townsville was very helpful and enthusiastic. I was able to work on a lot of my own projects, which included improving my portfolio majorly, designing a logo for my own personal use and then actually doing some work for a client of theirs. I got to dress up in all the business clothes my Mum insisted on buying when she heard I had to do some work experience and I had to get up really early and catch the bus into the city. Even so, it was lots of fun. Except for the last day. I woke up with a full blown flu. It brought a friend too - a massive headache. I remember feeling like I was going to faint on the bus trip home.

Feeling: a whole lot better now.

Listening to: Nothing. Though I have Smooth by Santana and Rob Thomas stuck in my head.

Eating: Had a tonne of McDonald's after anime club tonight.

Wearing: PJs.

Word of the day: Three actually. MUSHNUT SQUAPPLE RISOTTO. Something I read on another blog post tonight lol.

Design All the Things!

So, I've had an assignment for a university subject which requires me to do at least 30 hours of experience in a workplace of my choice. Today was my first day of work experience at TBD Communication and design. It was so good! 

First off, my boss, Casper Shougaard, showed me around and explained all the emergency evac stuff, where the fridge was, all the randoms in the office etc. He then sat me down at my desk and gave me my tasks for the day. I was to work on a letterhead, a clothing tag and a business card for a logo I had designed ages back as part of my portfolio and for my own start-up t-shirt design business (which has not gone anywhere just yet). I was then able to sit in on a meeting with one of TBD's clients and witness how that worked, and then how Casper clocked and logged the beginning of that new project. He then looked over my drafts and we discussed how we might improve them. I'm going to work on them tomorrow too.

Here's a preview. This is just the logo. I would post a picture of the business card design, but my version of the software it's made in is too old to open it. *Sad face*

Other projects have been going on a scale from well to um-what-the-hell-am-I-going-to-do. The one that's going well is the one that doesn't really count. That is my papercraft Immortal from two posts back. The other projects are two assignments that are due soon. One, a group member has just dropped out on and two, I do not have the equipment for, let alone an idea. *le sigh*

Here's an update on the Immortal bits.

Feeling: Looking forward to day two tomorrow.

Listening to: Can't Fight the Moonlight - Leanne Rimes (Coyote Ugly Soundtrack)

Wearing: Very yellow shorts and high school senior shirt.

Eating: I had a craving for a thickshake earlier. I have no milk though... *extra sad face*