Vivienne's Adventures

  So this weekend, Vivienne got to learn about plot and character development! She also spent some time letting me run around! I'm Ziggy! I'm not normally so excited, but I'm feeding off her excitement from everything that happened. We got an assignment that involved five random cards to help us develop the five major milestones of our plot. (Must admit, it's a bit weird to think about my life's story as simply a novel, but you know....I am a character.) One of the things about this retreat out by the beautiful Hood Canal is that Vivi had put together an outfit for me, including horns! She wore the horns the entire weekend, and Saturday evening, dressed as me and let me play around! It was really good to stretch my limbs a bit and mentally fly around and see things. There's a forest above the retreat center and it smells so beautifully old. We didn't take much of a walk through it, but there was also a nearby labyrinth made of those funky large white shells ...

  So, one of the random skills I've started leaning into is map making! It's really great to be able to create the world inside your head so you can share it with other people. The other side of this is being able to really flesh out where things happen in your story. It's nice to have a visual aide for plotting and planning a story. Especially a novel length story. It's been really fun to see my skills develop, too.  The map above is the most recent map I've worked on, and I've been learning new techniques and trying new things and I can actually see the progress I've made! Which I find really cool, especially since I usually struggle to give myself any credit for progress. It's the little things. ^_^  I've actually made three maps recently, and this one above is actually the best. It's the most detailed map I've made so far, and I'm already making a list of maps to make for some of the other realms in my series. I've also realized w...

  Well, I was going to talk more about Pride month, but last night I was, how shall I put this...informed by a character in my stories that she was rearranging things for me. For context, when I first started writing book 3, Zarath'gar's Curse, Vela showed up and told me in no uncertain terms that she was staying in the story. Now...Vela Longbow is a character I play. I perform as Vela at ren faire. So...why's she in my story?? But she is. And she's not going anywhere. Cut to some years later, she finally tells me what she is, and she's definitely not human, but she also just Knows Everything. How?? Yesterday, she finally told me. As it turns out, she's got a few abilities that make sense now, and she's decided that what I thought was book 4 (called The Glorified Treasure Hunt) is actually book 5. Now, book 4 will be half about the main PC's of the previous books, Tal'De and Ziggy, and half about her. I mean, alright, but what's the conflict? The...

  The Little One is here to tell you the story of auntie Vivi's week off! I honestly had a great time, and having a week off of one the things I do on a regular basis was a nice break. But on the other hand, I was still insanely swamped. My sister has been helping with something at work, so I've been watching the Little One a lot more. This last week, I had him every day other than Monday, and this week is shaping up for the same. But that's ok, he's adorable! and fun to play with! My birthday was about a week and a half ago, and it was awesome! Last year, I hung out with my friends online and we watched a TV show, this year, I got to have my Friday DnD group over for dinner, cookies, and DnD! Which was honestly hilarious because my players went in directions I wasn't expecting. But my word, I had so much fun! And last week, I got to take the Little One to breakfast with a couple friends and my sibling. Much fun was had! The only downside to summer is that it's ...

  Today there is a lot more acceptance of people who identify as LGBTQA+ but it wasn't always like this, nor is it perfect. Society is hardly perfect, and it takes a lot for change to happen. In nearly every case, we have to Be the change we wanna see. So imagine, if you will, that you're in New York, in 1969, towards the end of June. New York Police raided a popular openly gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, and started arresting people. Some decided they'd had enough and started rioting. Two notable people who started this were two trans women of color, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera.  After the riots, a wave of LGBTQA+ activism started up all over the USA, and by the next year, there was a parade for gay pride in New York, on June 28th, the same day of the Stonewall Riots. Since then, awareness and acceptance has spread. These days, when people think of Pride, they're starting to think of it in terms of commercialism. There's a lot of rainbow and Pride themed things...

Tomorrow I'll go into more actual detail about what Pride Month is all about, but I want to start by telling you why I care and why I'm supporting it this year. Up until recently, I didn't really know what to think of the LGBTQA+ community so I just kind of ignored Pride. However, in the last few years, I've made a number of amazing friends who are part of that awesome rainbow spectrum, and I've learned a lot. I've ultimately decided that my opinion on this doesn't actually matter. What does matter is how I treat people. My job here on this planet, in the city I'm in is to love people. The Bible actually says that Jesus gave us two specific jobs when He went up to Heaven after coming back from the dead. #1 Love God. #2 Love each other. I've decided to make that my purpose (ok, my other purpose besides writing) and I've made a wonderful family from these people. They're mine. I say this not to be possessive, but I wanna love them, make sure th...

Sometimes life gets overwhelming, and for those of us who are neurodivergent and who have mental illnesses, it can happen all the time. Since I've been taking meds, I've noticed that while it takes more to overwhelm me, it definitely still happens. I feel like I've been able to recover from being overwhelmed quicker than before, but guess what? It still sucks. It still feels like you're drowning in to-do lists and lists of chores and things you haven't done yet that you really need to do, and oh no. What if I just escape into a book instead? But I have noticed that there's something to counteract the overwhelming stuff. Take a mental step back and notice the little things that make you smile, like seeing your friend show up at your favorite coffee shop randomly, seeing your favorite barista who knows you by name, noticing the cute little flowers growing in the most unexpected spot, taking a look at the art on your walls and remembering why they make you so happy...

 At the beginning of the year, I decided that it was a year I would try to step more boldly into the unknown. Little did I know how much practice I'd get at that haha! A few months ago, I was asked if I'd take up the Nursery Coordinator position at my church, and be in charge of the nursery in terms of scheduling, recruiting, and pretty much everything else. Without really thinking about it, I accepted. Then I was surprised at myself. But the decision still felt right.  Lately, I've been noticing that my overall worldview is shifting, and I've been considering things that I hadn't before, like possibly getting a tattoo. Once I started contemplating doing that, I started to play with all kinds of ideas, figuring out what means the most to me, where I would want it, and how in the world to draw a phoenix...Turns out I was able to combine a few ideas into something that blends really well! Now to decide on how it should look as a finished piece. But that's somethin...

  Not going to lie, I had no idea what to blog about today, so here's how being an auntie is going for me today. The only way the kiddo will nap for me these days is if I hold him til he conks out. If I try to put him in his crib, the world ends! But he's very cuddly. When he stayed over last week, he was in my room, and since I went to bed late, I was very careful to be quiet, but my mistake was in trying to put the blankie on him so he wasn't too cold. -_- Cut to awake and sleepy = grouchy baby. I ended up holding him, trying to put him down more than once, but sleepy bean refused, so I stuck him in my bed, and made sure he didn't fall off.  Over an hour later, finally able to put him in his crib! And then there's today. Today, he was obviously sleepy, but refused to sleep in his crib. I wrap him up in a blankie and then proceed to realize my mistake. When he falls asleep...I'm stuck. I move and the kiddo wakes up. As evidenced by my attempt an hour later. So ...

  So, for a change of topic at least for a few days, I've been trying to get back into writing the story I've been working on since March. I still haven't finished it, but I'm getting there! But I'm laughing because the more I work on book three, the more book four gives me ideas! I'm not there yet, story of mine! I will be there soon, but....gosh, look at all these shiny ideas, and what if I changed this, what if that scene at the end actually happened like this.... Ok, ok, I need to finish book three so I can reread and start rewriting book four. Oh, and then of course I start thinking about book five...Oh dear. Pardon me while I disappear into my fantasy realm for a bit...or a few weeks. haha! In the meantime, I want to share some of my goals for the year. I don't remember what all I had planned as part of my New Years resolutions, but I have some goals that I'm excited to work on! I have a wall mural I'm going to be starting next week, I have pla...

  Mental health looks different for everyone. Not everyone is neurotypical, not everyone has a mental illness or disorder. But everyone needs a good group of people to support them. In changing the stigma surrounding mental health, we need to take actual steps beyond being willing to talk about it.  The semicolon movement is one step to take, but it's not enough. We need to be there for each other. I have a number of friends who have similar struggles, and I know who I can call or text at 2am when I'm spiraling down. I have a really awesome support group, but not everyone does. This is why I want to talk about how to be a good ally--and seeing as how this is Pride Month, this works really well for that too. Let me preface this by saying it does not matter if you agree with someone's lifestyle or choices. That doesn't matter at all. It's their life, and every human on the planet has free will. They're in charge of their own life. What does matter is how we treat ...