[Posted on Flickr by dianaschnuth].
Haven’t posted a photo in a while, so I figured I’d post one of the Black Swamp Art Festival pics I just got around to getting developed.
I need to use my Olympus XA more often. Most of the photos on this roll came back out-of-focus, which was *very* disappointing, since it could have been remedied with a steadier hand and more practice at rangefinder focusing.
I wrote nearly 1,000 words tonight, and came up with a more detailed backstory about one character’s genealogy. I also wrote out a timeline of events, so I can decide in which month each event happens, so I can more accurately present the setting and all that shit.
Basically, I’m filling out the interpersonal part of the story, because that’s what I’m feeling right now. Later on, I’ll add in more of the supernatural bits, the backstories, the setting and more characterization and all that. For right now, I’m being very juvenile and wanting to write my more emotionally charged scenes — and no, they’re not all love scenes. Actually, I’ll end up having very few of those, all told. I’m going for more tension than actual fan-service. Y’know?
I ended up writing for around three hours tonight, and I wouldn’t have stopped if my brain hadn’t wanted to go to sleep already.
This weekend, I’ll be in Michigan at Youmacon, so that’ll put the kabosh on any writing for a few days. I’m sure I’ll get back into the groove when I get back, though. I’m finally starting to get over my “what do I write next” hurdle, and am just writing *around* the story until I figure out the exact logistics of everything, and the backstories of all the characters and such.
I remember why I enjoy this now.
I am officially NOT participating in NaNoWriMo this year. I am, however, budgeting at least one hour per day (preferably two) during the month of November to work on last year’s NaNo.
Tonight, I successfully rearranged my story bible wiki into a more navigable tree; I fleshed out my female lead’s background and personality; and I rewrote an argument between my male and female leads that had been bothering me and was a big part of why I’d stopped writing on this story. I’d painted myself into a corner, and I’ve successfully unpainted myself with this rewrite. Making the male lead do what he wanted to do, instead of walking off silently and meekly without even a “fuck you,” really added some dimension to their relationship and to their personalities.
I also did some more succubus/incubus research online. There are several resources on the internet that start with, “the only way to kill a succubus is” — and they all end with something different. Burning her. Starving her of sex. Trapping her in her own reflection. And so forth. With all these ideas, though, I’m finally coming up with a halfway decent idea of how my Guild of immortals probably hunts down and destroys incubi and succubi.
I’m not sure what I’ll do tomorrow evening, but I’m sure I’ll make some more headway of some sort.
I just got an e-mail from a friend of a co-worker, asking if I do parties.
?!?!
I had to reply that I don’t have enough candles made at one time to do a party, and that’s the truth. I’d be making candles every night for two weeks to have enough to give a candle party. I remember how those Partylite parties were, back in 1995. They had so many awesome fragrances, and neat candle holders, and overpriced doodads, and you *had* to order something! You just *had* to! I don’t know if I have that kind of draw yet.
For that matter, I don’t have a large enough bank of OMG-this-is-so-good fragrances yet, either. So far, it looks like this:
Favorites
* Amaretto
* Amaretto & Coke (my own special fragrance combination)
* Spiced Apple
* Drakkar
* Chocolate Java Beans (another special recipe)
* Cranberry (I’ll have to make a bigger candle to be sure, though)
Untested So Far:
* Balsam Sandalwood
* Chocolate Brownie
* Lilac
* Very Vanilla
* Patchouli (Essential Oil)
* Lavender (Essential Oil)
* Cinnamon (Essential Oil)
WTF Not Even Close:
* Basil
* Evergreen (smells like fake evergreen, according to one person)
Everything Else That’s Nothing Special:
* Banana (intended to use in making a Banana Cream Pie combo, along with the…)
* Coconut (which could also be good with pineapple for a pina colada candle)
* Chamomile
* Eggnog
* Coffee (excellent combined with the Hershey’s Chocolate scent, which I may or may not reorder)
* Hazelnut (not bad with the Eggnog, although I need to try some different eggnog scents)
* Pumpkin Spice
* Spearmint
* Toasted Marshmallow
* White Shoulders
As I said recently, I have more stuff on order from various places, so there are more possibilities in store in the coming days and weeks.
I guess I’m feeling kind of like I’m spinning my wheels; but even if I managed to get a bite (like, say, someone wanting a party, or someone wanting me to be their wholesale soy candle supplier — both things have happened), I’m not prepared for “success”. But I don’t want to stock up for something that’s never going to happen… and I don’t want this to be the next big idea I have that never comes to fruition… and I don’t want to overthink it, either. 🙂
I guess the thing is that I feel like I’m on the verge of a fun and creative supplemental income, and I don’t want to blow it by trying too hard and not being able to deliver, or not trying hard enough and missing the boat.
Jesus Christ, Diana, it’s just candles. Don’t sweat it. *rolls eyes*
I know it’s to be expected and all, but I can’t help but be frustrated when things don’t turn out right.
Tonight, I tested out my new Cranberry scent, and made five tealights and one teeny votive for myself. The scent seems to be OK, but the color is off. I made the “cranberry” color as vivid as I could, and it ended up coming out more pinkish than cranberry. Maybe next time I’ll try my “red berry” dye and see how that turns out.
Last night, I made up a super-quickie batch of Eggnog tealights. They smelled OK, if a bit weaker than I’d wanted. I totally screwed up the color, though. I’m not used to working with *that* small of a batch, and I’d thought that a little touch of caramel color would look good mixed with the “sunshine” dye in the eggnog candles. Nope — they all turned out looking like somebody left the eggnog on the stove to burn or something.
On top of that, I put five different fragrances of tealights in one container, and the scents overpowered one another overnight. The Coffee totally made the Eggnog smell like nothing, and the Coconut was just barely there. Maybe I should look into a little bitty shrink-wrap machine for the individual tealights in my tealight multi-packs? I dunno.
On Friday night, I tested my Evergreen fragrance. One votive for me, and nine tealights. Doesn’t smell like evergreen at all, and the hunter/moss green dye I used came out more on the mossy side than the hunter side.
At least Mark’s Amaretto and Coke candles came out pretty good. The color wasn’t exact, since I ran out of the french vanilla dye and had to make do with caramel instead, but the scent was just as I remembered it. I also made myself a votive of it, and burned that tonight, and the scent throw is awesome on that one. I lit it in the basement, and the smell came all the way up into the living room. Nice.
Note to self: Don’t advertise a fragrance on your candle site until you’ve thoroughly tested it, approve of the fragrance, and have the dye ratio figured out. I now have some people interested in Evergreen and Eggnog candles, and I’ll have to just hope they forget about them until I’ve come up with something better than what I’ve got right now.
Pine essential oil, anyone?