Kuretake Zig Cocoiro Letter Pen - First Impressions

I normally tweet about new stationery I've been 'encouraged' to buy (I know some truly evil enablers on Twitter!), but when the jiffy bag with my new Cocoiro letter pens arrived, I knew I'd be taking more than one or two photos.  Whittling it down to these was... fun.

The problem with following Cult Pens on Twitter is that it's an incredibly easy route to spending money--particularly where my friends are concerned.  And when Cult Pens tweeted about the Cocoiro pens I was curious enough to and have a look.  I didn't bank on promptly falling in love with either the choice of shell colours or the fact they have mint green and rose pink inks.  After some humming and hawing I finally splurged on two shells in my favourite colours, three brush pen refills and an ever-practical black rollerball refill.

They arrived today in an A5 padded envelope and the first thing that struck me was that they were a little smaller than I was expecting, although to be honest I'm not wholly sure what I was expecting.  From base to cap the shell is around 11.2cm.  I chose shells in Duckegg Blue and Green Apple (neither of which have any justice done to them in my photos as the weather is a bit iffy here and my camera is moody), both of which are lovely.  The blue in particular is a very pretty and delicate shade and I'm already considering buying a couple more to go with my additional refills.

The refills come with their own protective caps which don't fit with the pen once they're combined so can probably be thrown away unless you've got more refills than pens, and a brush protector for the brush pens.  Being the kind of person who doesn't read instructions--which are provided on both the letter pen and refill packets--I did have a short struggle with figuring out how to add refill to shell (I'm bright like that) until I realised the refills have a thread and you screw them into the base.

Once fit together they look both comical and sweet, a little like they've outgrown their refills, but it is a useful way to see what colour is in which pen at a glance, although I don't imagine it helps you tell the difference between the black ballpoint and black brush pen.

With the body shaped as it is you might expect it to feel a little cumbersome to hold, but in reality it's surprisingly comfortable.  The curve of the shell fits neatly in the curve of your thumb, although the edge of the casing at the bottom might rub against your thumb joint if you're not careful.

The first thing that struck me about the brush pens is that they're more solid than I was anticipating.  They'll probably loosen up with use, but it took a moment to get an unbroken line out of the rose pink.  They write with a beautiful and vivid ink with the colours exactly as advertised.

Apologies for my handwriting. Yes that does say 'rose' and not 'nose'!

I'm looking forwards to experimenting with them and I think if I'm not careful they could end up as a guilty pleasure--or an addiction.  All I need to do now is start hand-writing things more often...

Pinup Boy Sunday - Kirill

It was originally going to be "Sexy Boy Sunday" but... really there's no word less appropriate to describe half my characters, so this is what we're stuck with.

Today and nothing to do with procrastination whatsoever it's the turn of the protagonist of the steampunk story I'm working on, Kirill.

Kirill is a quiet and serious young man whose most distinguishing features are the white streak in the front of his hair and the gold scarring covering a large part of his upper face.  At 24 he has the general demeanour of a man twice his age and, until the riots, was living quietly with Nikolai Lunen, his legal owner and best friend.

He likes nice food, the feel of soft fabrics and the sight of Niko's smile; he dislikes people invading his personal space and the cold.  His favourite place to be is curled up in a chair in Niko's conservatory.

This Hasn't Exactly Gone According To Plan

On the 1st July I started Camp NaNoWriMo.  Well, technically I started it.  Just like the title says, it's... not exactly gone according to plan.  Being a naturally seat-of-the-pants writer who carries plotlines in their head rather than in any kind of physical form (incredibly awkward when you forget things), I decided to to take a different approach, and use one of my many notebooks in the process.

I think I'm missing a few here, and yes some are still in their wrapping.

Which was a great idea in theory.  In practice--or at least, in my hands--it was somewhat less so...  It started out well enough, just a short paragraph per section for what was intended to be a novella.

There was a system, honest. Writing in purple seemed like a good idea at the time too.

But the one thing I'm not is brief.  Or tidy.  I've posted about my handwriting a few times on Twitter--mostly that I can't even read it myself on occasions--and it's prone to getting taller and spikier the more tired (or drunk) I am, although the sad irony is that it's when I'm sober that I typo all over the place.  Either way, it somehow got away from me and now I'm left with 17 sides of crabby handwriting that I've got to decipher.

Too many pages... and this is only the last few, where I was mostly making an effort to be legible.

And I'm now also left with the weirdest set of conflicted feelings.

On one hand, this is the first time I've ever finished anything, even if it's badly handwritten and in rambling note form.  That includes ten years' worth of NaNoWriMo projects (I know how some of them end, sure.  I've just never gotten there) and a few side projects.  It's probably the reason why I've been happiest writing a continuing universe in short story form.  So I feel strangely proud, if that makes any sense?

On the other... I've just already written this, and now I have to write it again.  But longer.  With actual dialogue.  And not in purple.

It's the strangest sense of anticlimax.  I wonder if authors who plot everything out in minute detail feel the same way?  The lovely Danni at KenRenStationary/Four Words, Four Worlds did sensibly point out that at least now, even if I don't work on it immediately, I have a complete plot ready to go for when I do, but I'd like to get at least a little done for Camp NaNo even if I don't entirely feel like it...

I've got just over half a month to go, that's got to be good for at least half of it, right?

Right?

No Nonsense Reviews: The Roman Boy / Wine and Honey by Cally Sharp

Anselm Kahler is sold into slavery to pay off his father's debts.  Scared and helpless at a slave auction in a foreign country, he's bought by easily the most terrifying and imposing man in the whole audience.  But Septimus Tuditanus isn't all he seems, and Anselm now has to learn to navigate Roman society under the tutelage of his new master while avoiding the attentions of Septimus' old enemy--which is easier said than done...

Pros
+ Easy and enjoyable style
+ Great use of present tense
+ Genuinely likeable characters
+ Remarkable sex scenes (very hot)

Cons
- The second book ends quite abruptly

I bought the first book because I follow the author on Twitter and she'd just posted about the second.  It was an enticingly affordable price so I bought it and started reading immediately.

And then I couldn't stop.

I finished it the same day I bought it (it's not a long book) and bought the second one the next day, which I devoured at roughly the same rate.  I was a bit disappointed at the suddenness (in my opinion, obviously) of the ending of the second--especially as the first drew to an end beautifully--but the rest of the book was more than enough to make up for that one niggling issue.

Now I just have to cross my fingers that the author will write a third as I did really fall in love with all the characters--in particular Anselm and Septimus, obviously, and Lyudmila in Wine and Honey too--and would love to see how things progress for them.

• Goodreads page for The Roman Boy

I Appear To Be Doing Camp NaNoWriMo

This has kinda come as a surprise to me.  I saw a post by my friend and co-ML Anika Daniels on Tumblr last night about Camp NaNoWriMo--something I've strenuously avoided doing officially as we as a writing group don't treat it like NaNo proper and I am atrocious with deadlines--and idly posted about whether to do it.

Two responses to the affirmative later (hey, I never said I was popular!) and I'm being swayed.  I really should work on how easily influenced I am.

Normally on the lead-in to a NaNo project I'm scrabbling around like a lunatic, trying to scrape together enough inspiration to keep me going over the month.  More than once I've relied on dreams to give me a last minute plot (neither of which actually made it into the prose).  This time, however...

Okay, I'll admit it, I'm at a loss.  I'm normally struggling for ideas, now they're trying to drown me under a mountain of plot-bunnies.  (They look remarkably like shed dog-hair.)

I have, in no particular order:

1. Prince Til and his dragon/lover, who're still tapping their feet and waiting for me to supply them with an adequate adventure;
2. An unnamed princess and her dragon/lover who turned up and promptly insisted she wasn't going to sit around in her tower for a husband, oh no--she was going to be a knight;
3. A completely out-of-nowhere steampunk AU for Milos and Alex--because one AU is never enough, apparently;
4. Continuing my high fantasy AU from the Ridiculous Challenge (but I usually prefer to start a new project, which is probably why I have so many unfinished ones);
5. Leaping forward nine years in the high fantasy AU and having Alex rescue Milos from his new life;
6. Finally picking up with the real-world stories and starting the new arc that came threatening;
7. Or finally finishing one of the two former arcs that are sitting around waiting to be worked on...

Whatever I do, it'll involve plotting, which comes as a shock.  And I have around a week to decide on story and intended word count and work on it.

Still, I'm anticipating having plenty of time to work on it so with any luck (okay, a lot of luck) and some planning it won't be as disastrous as it currently feels like it might be...

ADDENDUM:  Do any of these look interesting?  I'm more than happy to take suggestions!

Taking The Plunge

I finally did it today.

Nope, not writing (bad of me; I realised with horror that today is the 19th and I don't know where the month has gone) but, instead, registering a domain name.

Yep, today I am the proud owner of www.paxasteriae.co.uk.

It's not much to be joyful over, I know, but that didn't stop me from squealing enthusiastically when I dealt with the DNS settings and finally pointed it to this page--especially when it worked immediately and I didn't need to wait the recommended hour or, worse, a potential 48 of them (according to my domain name provider).

Somehow having an actual domain name makes me feel legitimate--no idea why, I'm anything but--and it's a weird, giddy feeling.  Not just dipping a toe into the water of this name, I've finally just thrown myself in.

And I didn't even have to wait an hour before swimming.

The Plot Bunny Avalanche; I Can't Turn My Back For Five Minutes...

I complained at the start of Alternate Universe Month that I don't normally write high fantasy and that it was, pardon the pun, a bit of a closed world to me.  I'm usually far happier with contemporary fantasy or pretending I know what I'm doing with my sci-fi world.

Honestly, quite recently I'd been struggling for plot.  I've got a few stories in Alex and Milos's contemporary world that need writing (one smut, one small arc that I started and then left hanging for AU Month), and the continuation of AU Month itself--I should've known better than to think I could complete a whole story in a month.  It's not worked for the last ten years of NaNoWriMo, why would it work now?

With these on my mind, I was taken by surprise when my friend and co-ML reblogged a writing prompt on Tumblr and the damn thing started writing itself in my head.  I tried to ignore it, I really did, but the more I ignored it, the more lines spiralled through my mind so in the end I caved in and wrote it.  The prompt was about a dragon rescuing a princess from a knight, but this being me the princess turned into a prince long sick of being called "fair maiden" and the dragon turned into a rather handsome man.  It turned into something quite cute and fluffy and I really enjoyed writing it.  (You can read Rescuing The Princess if you're interested, it's only around 1,500 words.)

And I thought there it'd end.  Cute one-shot fluff.

Except today I find that my prince is leaning on the sill of his window tapping his fingers on the brickwork and giving me this expectant look, while the dragon is apparently engaged in working out whether he can become a dragontaur and they both seem to think that I can provide them with another story.  Which, to my horror, seems to be something my brain is actively working on as we speak.

I went from being distinctly uninspired to having to try to fight off ideas with a pathetic wooden sword--with little success.

All I want to know is: when did my own mind become so rebellious?

Memories Only Ever Lead To Trouble: 30 Songs, 30 Works, 30 Days

As you might be able to tell, I’m not very good at remembering to update things.  Well, no, that’s not exactly true: I’ve been thinking up blog posts now and again, but between work and life (and, yes I’ll admit it, some 30 hours in Tales of the Abyss) I’ve not got around to doing it.

It’s probably for the best; you’re all about this far from being introduced to my car.  Even if he is a remarkably handsome CityRover, I’m pretty sure that I’m the only one actually interested in him.

After scraping over the finish line of my last ridiculous challenge, I’ve been recuperating (this is why I’m not a professional author--well, that and the fact I’m a terrible writer), taking time to recharge my writing batteries and play with the Copics I was tempted into buying (you know who you are).  For most of the month my characters have been depressingly silent, but lately they’ve been waking up again.  It usually consists of Milos throwing things at Alex while yelling, and uncharacteristic tenderness from Alex that makes me think he’s itching to return to the real-world setting where he and Milos are coming up to a year of whatever kind of relationship they’re in, but I’m not complaining even if Milos is.

Which clearly means it’s time for another challenge that I will likely fail at!

Only this time, I thought I’d try to bring others along with me (who hopefully won't fail).

I’ve been reminiscing about an old LiveJournal group/challenge called ArtGrind I was once a member of.  The premise was that you took one of your characters and drew them every day for six months, then you’d compare your art at the beginning with your last pieces and hopefully see improvement.  I’d never managed to actually complete it--the closest I came was with Arkadiy, a sci-fi soldier with fun facial hair who returned to the military after a short period of retirement in search of revenge--and, to add insult to injury, I actually think I got worse over time than better, but reviewing the old artworks made me feel nostalgic.

It also made me realise there was a whole subsection of pictures that had been inspired by whatever I’d been listening to at the time.  Some of them were literal--Arkadiy pointing a gun at the camera, inspired by The Hoosiers’ Cops & Robbers, or sprinting forwards across a background of crosses sunk into the ground, inspired by Coldplay’s Violet Hill--and others were obscure, such as leaning against a stone archway because every time I listened to Cemetaries of London I saw the same (as far as I can tell nonexistent--certainly not London) city time and again, but they all reminded me that music can give us the ability to ‘see’ things and none of us will see exactly the same thing.

And it also reminded me that I don’t draw very often any more.

I’d been planning to call it “Pax’s Ridiculously Stupid Challenge Part II” until a couple of friends expressed an interest in taking part too.  Calling something ‘stupid’ doesn’t work so well when you’re trying to encourage others to join, does it?

So in the end I settled on the ever-literal 30 Songs, 30 Works, 30 Days which begins on the stroke of midnight of the 1st June 2013.  It’s not limited to starting then, of course: if someone wants to join halfway through the month, or in two months time, that’s up to them.  If they want to go longer than 30 days because they’re having fun, again that’s up to them.  If they want to write, draw, take photos, render in 3D... it’s all up to them.  The point is only to challenge yourself to create something once a day based on a unique song a day, and hopefully have fun doing it.  Nothing more, nothing less.

I managed to time it so that I’m in Nottingham meeting up with other writers when it starts!  Never let it be said that I am talented at planning.

If anyone feels like taking part, please look over the link and I hope we’ll see you soon.  ♪

Meet My Desk: Lydia

Apologies for missing last week's Meet My Desk. Work and my stupid writing project were both chewing on me, but never fear, I'm back now!

Okay, maybe it's time to fear.

It's taken less than a month for it to look like a bomb hit my desk:-

It's a little tidier now since I took the picture, but... not really by much. But everything important is still in arm's reach so I'm still happy--if feeling a little penned-in. I suspect it's time to tidy again.

Today, I'm introducing a very special lady: Lydia, my Nexus 7.

Her existence is owed in large part to, of all people, Lucy, my Kindle. I take Lucy everywhere with me because you never know when you need an eBook and when I discovered her experimental browser I was hooked. But browsing on a Kindle is a slow and fiddly process.

I'd been wanting a touchscreen system for a while but spent ages agonising over which kind to get. In the end I settled on the Nexus 7. Ordering it was surprisingly stressful (big purchases make me nervous) and while I waited for her to arrive, I turned my mind to the knotty issue of naming. Well, for maybe half an hour until I concluded that since she'd be sworn to carry my burdens, then clearly the only name suitable for her was Lydia.

I may have spent a lot of time playing Skyrim.

She's lived up to her name ever since, not least by being so awkward to get out the packaging when she arrived that I had to loosen it with a metal ruler. Ever since then we've been inseparable--she comes to bed with me and carries my burdens in the form of random notes and snippets of stories, eBooks that don't work on Lucy and is always on hand for those moments when someone says "that person in this film looks familiar, what else were they in?" She's very much the workhorse of my technological items. (She's also quite handy for Temple Run 2. What do you mean "that's procrastination"?)

She's also very useful for my friends when I'm in Nottingham--usually so some of them can update my Tumblr with questionable content and so I can inflict creepy comics on them (that was my achievement last Saturday).

She also is happy to help as a light when I'm wandering around in the dark. That's not a metaphor, by the way: I'm one of those people who never turns on the damn lights. I'd be useless in a slasher movie

Not least 'cause there's no way I'd damage Lydia by bludgeoning the killer with her.

Next week: still no idea. I'm running out of things with personalities. If you're not careful it might end up being my car.

Final Status Update, with Unexpected Artwork and Revised To-Read Pile

In the end I didn't manage to write and post a chapter every day.  There were reasons for this that I won't go into to spare everyone else's sanity, but on the whole when I sat down and actually thought about it, I felt less disappointed in myself than I expected.

I finished the month with a total of 22 chapters that came in at a grand total of 54,366 words.  Considering that this means I missed eight days' worth of chapters I think it's not too bad!  I stumbled over the finish line on 1st May with a mammoth chapter of 5,124 words which contained some awkward scenes to write (not quite what I'd envisioned ending on) and now I'm taking a--well, I'd say 'well-deserved' but I don't know if I'd go that far--break before I carry on.

This means I actually have time to read for a while, yay!  In slightly less yay news, my to-read pile grew yesterday with another trip to Waterstones in Nottingham with friends.

I'm looking forward to actually playing Bioshock finally too.

The weirdest part of the whole writing experience was the sudden realisation of what happens to Alex and Milos nine years in the future in this alternate fantasy world.  Considering that in all of the 64 stories of the regular universe I've been preoccupied enough with keeping them in line and figuring out their past, I'd not had time to consider the future beyond a couple of months.  Realising what happens not just in the future of the current stories, but nearly a whole decade beyond has come as a bit of a surprise.

Unfortunately for everyone, there is also artwork.

I'm intrigued enough that once I've managed to finish these chapters I might start on this new development and see where it goes; half the fun of this AU is mirroring certain events from my main storyline (because I'm easily amused like that) so this would be hurtling into all-new territory for these boys.  Maybe by then I'll even have come up with a better title than the one it's already got (honestly, anything would be an improvement).

Maybe this time, however, I won't try to write it all in a month.  I'm not sure I could take this kind of experience more than once or twice a year.

As always, if you're curious about this ridiculous project and how far I've got, the links to the chapters can be found here, or at the top of the page under "Radial: Unravel - AU".  I did say it needed a better title...!