I am sure some people would consider my hiatus from actually doing anything productive in my creative projects as being lazy.  However, I prefer to think of it as recharging.  Since the end of September, I have had some kind of crud my child brought home.  I spent about $200.00 in medicine and doctor’s visits to get where I could talk again.  Hooray for allergies, para-influenza, and fall!  Today is the first day I actually feel like me again and this weekend has been tolerable as far as my energy level.  So, after weeks of being unable to do anything productive one would think I would start on that comic I promised, right?  WRONG!  Why?  Because I have been playing Guild Wars 2 almost every chance I get.

After I got Cursed Bloods out for pre-release I just felt hollow, drained, empty, and unaccomplished.  I have no idea why.  Maybe I used up all my energy giving birth to this book to the point where being creative is kind of meh for me right now. I have only made one picture and it was a tribute to my GW2 necromancer ROFL.  (And nobody really even bothered to comment on the thing either…..which made me a sad Shannon)

All hail Obsidia Bloodstone

But really, in actuality, it makes sense to me that I should return to GW2 when I need a creative boost for it was the original GW that launched the books you love to read.  If I had never played GW nor had an RPG focused guild that wanted back stories about main characters for a fun contest, then Athine would never have been born.  It was in writing a story about Obsidia Bloodstone (the original necro with pink hair) and Rogue Goddess (the Amazon like warrior with pig tails) that I took the lore of the game and weaved it into my own story.  I studied the handbook and the gods of the game.  I even studied the time lines to match up the fake events I created.  I was very hesitant about putting up my work in front of strangers, especially after reading many of the other players’ stories and seeing the caliber of their work.  Yet, when I looked back at the comments on my stories, the other guild members were impressed with what I had done.  Something about details and lining up events.

Before that point, no one outside my teachers had really read anything creative I did because I was not quite ready to share with peers or strangers.  (Matter of fact, in High School Senior English, I had written a kick-ass story that was the retelling of Beowulf.  Of course the main character was a fierce lady warrior.  Of course I made that tale my own and put my own spin on the events.  I even created hand drawn maps to go with the story and printed them on our full color printer.  I used it as my essay piece for college too because Kentucky was all about submitting portfolio pieces.  They even asked me about it in my scholarship interview.  Man, now I really want that story.  Time to call my mom LOL!)

I can almost guarantee putting up the back story of my character on that forum is when the spark for prose started in my head.  It was not long after posting my story that I started working on The Secret of Genetic Corp X again.  I had secretly been jotting parts of the story for years and the whole RPG gaming thing starting giving me feedback on my story telling abilities.  Before that point in time, I was always afraid of sharing my fantasy ideas outside of a teacher/student relationship.  In retrospect, I know exactly why too.  It is funny how our minds hold on to some memories so vividly.  Before that attempt at sharing a story, I DID try to write something and I had a whole group of “friends” laugh at me for what I had tried.  They made fun of all my dialogue and even the characters’ names.  I still can see my “best” friend’s face when they laughed at me and my “pathetic” attempt.  I didn’t share anything or even really try again until I wrote those back stories about twelve years later.  (That’s 22 years ago in present time)  I sometimes wish I had been the loud, stone skinned, bitch I am today back then.  I lost 12 years of ideas to a cruel group of “friends” because they had me thinking I could not write a lick and that my ideas were less than awesome.  That I should simply stick to drawing because it was an OK talent of mine.  Of course, who is laughing now?  Well, me because karma bit all of them in the buttocks on so many levels.  And apparently I CAN write a decent story for others to enjoy.  I may not make a bazillion dollars on my writing endeavors, but I am a published author and people do pay me for both my art AND my writing!

So, let’s not think of me going back to GW2 for an extended period of time as slacking.  No, if anything, it is going back to the center of power for me.  A place where I can call forth my minions and magic to conquer an epic quest and gain shiny rewards!

PS….Cursed Bloods is coming out on 11/15/14.  That is only a few weeks away.  It will be available in eBook AND paper.  I promise!  I updated the book hub to even include the electronic links 🙂