#ewokspeaks

[ewokshootsfirst]

Hi! Hanleia secret Santa here! You mentioned enjoying the Legends books. What are some of your favorites? What’s your favorite Star Wars planet? Season or time of day?

Ahoy there! I am a massive fan of the X-Wing series :) also the Original Thrawn Trilogy, and the A.C. Crispin Han Solo trilogy.

Planet -currently Naboo.

Season and time of Day - Spring or Autumn, and dusk.

[ewokshootsfirst]

Reasons: #33, #34 & #35 to want to be a Jedi

#33. Hormonal angry-crying and frustrated-cleaning would be much more impressive if they came with a risk of Force Lightning.

#34. To reassure Babies that sometimes bad things happen in the Outside World, and they are safe and the Mothership is very sorry for the massive infusion of adrenaline and hopefully between us we can make these contractions settle down for a few more weeks.

#35. Levitation, Force control of muscles or some other Jedi technique would be handy for when the walk between car and office is just that bit far and k-tape and maternity belt are not quite enough for pelvic stability or personal serenity.

[ewokshootsfirst]

Reason #31 to want to be a Jedi

Instant reassurance that baby is moving less because he's sleeping or just running short on room.

Fortunately he's absolutely fine, now squirming happily as per usual.

I love you, ridiculous child. It's a good thing I'm grey and your dad already has no hair... but could you have picked a different week!

(Crossposted from my Twitter because I still feel the need to vent). This week has been a LOT.

[ewokshootsfirst]

Been working on a personal project, and we are now halfway through!  Figured it was time that I shared it with you cool people as part explanation for my long silences. 

Apologies to the amazing https://www.redbubble.com/people/coolbonesman for scribbling on your art. Y’all should commission him, just saying. 

[ewokshootsfirst]

What do I call it now?

Very soon I'll have completed treatment for PTSD. Not complaining - being basically asymptomatic is a wonderful thing.

I just don't know what to call myself. It's been a massive part of my perspective on the world for the last number of years. My brain chemistry and personality and perspectives are different.

I need a word. Cured, remission, recovered... I can't find a good fit.

[ewokshootsfirst]

Just one of those times

when you want to yell into the void, and you really hope the void yells back. Because you want to tell someone stuff but if you tell someone you know well it's worseTM.

[ewokshootsfirst]

Early Works I still have one of my first pieces of writing. It was ambitious - self illustrated, and featured a character interacting wi...

Guys.... I made a thing....  After being selected as one of the 5 Rooglewood Fairytale Retelling Authors for this the ultimate year, It was recomended that I make an author blog. Here ‘tis!

[ewokshootsfirst]

EwokWrites

Thanks for the tag @abadpoetwithdreams - who incidentally is an incredible writer and continually inspires me to try harder.  @weary-hearted-queen and @madame-alexandra I’ll tag you, as you are both amazing people and great writers and have shared responsibility for one of my “to be written”s. 

1) How many works in progress do you currently have?

Some, many, lots? Original works - three that come to mind... One a shortish piece for a competition that ends at the end of the month (guess what I ought to be doing...), two long ones that I potter on and keep doing MOAR world building and rewriting. Publication will remain a pipe dream until I actually buckle down and put more words on paper. 

2) Do you/would you write fanfiction?

Sure do :) I’m on AO3 as TwentyoneTwelve. Mainly I’ve been dabbling in the MCU, Star Wars EU, and Queen’s Thief fandoms. I have to stop planning new ones, because life has gotten a little out of hand at the moment (fear not, it’s just too many good things), and that means my Multi-chapter Hawkeye fic, my recklessly promised Chalice fics, and my Rebellion Era Leia fic all have to wait. 

3) Do you prefer paper books or ebooks?

Definitely paper. I love the tactile nature and much easier for me to read. I’ve given in a little recently because $25-$30 for a paperback novel is not all that achievable. So sometimes I have to read them digitally to decide if they’re worth buying. And sometimes I can’t wait for the library hold on the physical copy. 

It will always be paper > audiobook > ebook for me. I love audiobooks, particularly Grover Gardener reading the Vorkosigan Saga. And I desperately need to finish Morning Star by Pierce Brown (Read by Tim Gerard Reynolds)- he has an awesome style. Has to be the only series that I’ve had to pull over and collect myself. (Lots of driving makes Audiobooks my best friend).

4) When did you start writing?

Short stories when I was about 4? I would get in trouble when I was in my first year of school, when we were supposed to write about our day, and I would make up a big story about something else entirely. It was much more interesting that way. My problem for most of my younger years through, was making things long enough... I could picture it in my head, just like a movie reel, but tended to forget to actually PUT the descriptions onto the paper. 

5) Do you have someone you trust that you share your work with?

I have some amazing writers that I’m fortunate to be able to share both my fanfics and my originals with. They’ve never let me down, and helped me out of self-inflicted corners many times. They’ve even beta-read things at the 11th hour for me. *Love you!* I wish we had more opportunities to just all sit down and write together, but at least the powers of the internet make things a bit easier. 

6) Where is your favourite place to write?

Of late, it’s either been tucked up in bed (trying to meet deadlines for writingfests and the like - no inspiration like last minute sheer panic, right?), or at airports. 

I’d like to be a writer who sits in a cafe - coffee and writing sounds amazing, but I’ve not yet found one that would quite meet my needs. Definitely maybe would write more if I dedicated a space to it. I have a good desk, just need to clear the top and sit down and write.

7) Favourite childhood book?

Entirely too many! Secret Garden and A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransom, Watership Down, and some terrifyingly illustrated collections of fairy tales (yes, detailed paintings of Bluebeard’s Wife finding the bodies of his previous wives are fine for five year olds, why you ask?)

8) Writing for fun or publication?

For a long time it was a fun and guilty pleasure. Now still fun, but I’m girding my loins to work towards publication. 

9) Pen and paper or computer?

Until two years ago, I did all my first drafts by hand. I’m probably still faster at writing than I am at typing, although not the neatest. But then I started writing to deadlines and uploading fanfic and stopped having the time to type all my drafts up. I find by hand easier to concentrate on actually putting words down, as I get ridiculously distracted in the middle of a google search for tiny bits of information. 

For convenience of access to infomation, spell checking and sharing writing with others, I am reluctantly being dragged into the 21st century. One thing that helped was getting all geekgirl on my tablet, so now it runs MS office and I can sync wordsdocs between it and my laptop.

10) Have you ever taken any writing classes?

A long time ago. It was a two year course that taught the basics of structure for different forms of creative writing - form and function for short stories vs screenplay, vs script vs travel piece for a magazine. I had a mentor who read my assignments and gave me feedback, and all the mentors were published writers. 

It was useful for demystifying HOW to write cover letters, how to find and approach magazines/ publishing houses. I got a few rejection letters - we were expected to submit pieces as part of the course.

11) What inspires you to write?

It’s part of me? Words and stories have been my thing since I started to talk. I love building worlds and the people within them, even if they tend to tell me what they want instead of doing what I tell them. 

Writing helps me understand the world around me, to be able to examine it from a different point of view - another persons’s eyes.  Writing is creating, like ballet it has rules and forms, and those moments when I get it right are exhilarating, from the outside effortless and moving. 

I’m definitely character and setting driven. It feels like I’m doing something right when I build these people and places, and my readers get mad at what I put them through, or fall in love with them, or cheer them on, or in the rarest of cases (and this seriously inspires me), can see them so well that they draw them for me!