Writing – AJ Mullican, Author

Will wonders never cease

Hmm….I wonder what happened to my blog posts when I imported from my old WordPress site?

Yep, I’ve lost pretty much all of 2018…and I think a bit of December 2017.

I’m not going to panic yet, though. I think maybe one of the two exported files didn’t import right, so I probably just have to try, try again. I’d hate to lose 8 months’ worth of posts, but it’s nothing that’s going to make me cry or hurt me in any way. Yeah, it sucks, but I think it’s still fixable.

In other news, (and since the news that I posted on that site this morning hasn’t imported properly yet), nine more days until Abnormal‘s release date!! That’s right, I’m in the single digits now. Nine days. A little over a week. Whew! That’s starting to get nerve-wracking.

Tomorrow’s a full work day, then this weekend is Crown Tournament. I’ve been so busy with Abnormal that I haven’t had time to get excited over who our next King and Queen might be. Having spent the last year serving on the Queen’s guard, however, I’ve decided to take a break from guarding and just enjoy my next six months of play. Not that guarding isn’t fun and rewarding, but sometimes it makes an event a little less fun. I mean, you’ve got usually at least one shift of 2-3 hours where you’re following the Queen around. You have to plan your event around your shift(s), so that you’re not late. You have to keep track of where the Queen’s supposed to be when, so you can find her when your shift starts. It’s not bad, but I’d like to have a series of events where I can just glide through and do whatever I want.

I’ve got some embroidery that needs to be finished before Crown, and then some that needs to be finished before Great Western War in October (probably long before, because it will need to be attached to the garments–and this embroidery needs to be pushed up to the top of the priority pile, because it’s for Their Majesties’ garb), then some that has no *set* date but still needs to be done soonish–before October. Then there’s the research paper for Kingdom A&S that I need to fix. My novice entry was very….novice. Must edit/revise according to the notes/advice I received from judges and Laurels.

Let’s see, there’s the book release, Mace and Greatsword the next weekend, my book signing at the local bookstore the next weekend, the household camping trip for our SCA household the next weekend, then…Hang on. Oh yeah. Rincon (a Tucson annual gaming convention). Then technically a weekend “off,” but it’s a local arts mini-festival thing that our SCA barony usually participates in. Not sure about the following weekend, then the weekend after that it’s my husband’s birthday weekend, so visiting family in Phoenix, then the weekend after that it’s his birthday party, then the weekend after that is Tucson Comic Con (where I’ve got a table reserved in Artist’s Alley) and the deadline for submitting the sequel to Abnormal, then TusCon (a Tucson sci-fi convention–no table for me, but it’s a good idea to at least attend and network), then another weekend “off” so far, then Thanksgiving weekend, then…..Yeah. I’m busy lately.

It’s a good kind of busy, though. I’ll be going going going, but I’ll be going to do fun stuff. Now I’m off to see if I can get the second half of December 2017 and all of 2018 migrated.

Edit: December 2017 and January-April 2018 have been migrated. May-August 2018 I guess are lost to the ether?….

Edit to the edit: I did it! Most of the posts are now here! I have to migrate still the media I think and then I’ll be golden. 🙂

Double Trouble

#dystopian, Cosplay, Novel, Sci-fi, Sewing, Sleep, Work

Ah, this weekend was so nice. Relaxing.

And too damn short.

I’ve been awake for an hour & a half, but I can barely keep my eyes open. They keep crossing and closing, trying to force me back into slumber. They almost succeeded–almost.

Today it’s back to work, followed by (hopefully) more cosplay progress. I got a decent amount done yesterday, but my back started getting sore (and my hubby needed the power strip from the craft room for some of his cosplay work, so there’s that too). Yeah, yeah, I could’ve taken the strip back when he was done & gotten back to it, but damn I was tired. I think I was asleep before 7:30.

The jacket I started working on yesterday has the front two panels sewn and the back is almost done (not counting lining and such–that comes soon).

Damnit, eyes! I can’t be going back to sleep now!

Anywho, I also got a lot of character development done for the dystopian/sci-fi novel I’ve been working on for ages. This book will definitely be slower going than Whispers of Death, mostly because I’m having a more complicated plot…not to mention the research. I have to figure out what kind of tech we’ll have in a few hundred years…or at least speculate to within a reasonable accuracy. For instance, flying cars? Eh, maybe, maybe not. Bionic implants? That I can see happening. Genetic engineering? Yep, can see that too. And as far as current events unfolding in the ages to come, well….I don’t want to give away too much. 😉

Well, it’s time to make my husband’s coffee and see what the rest of the world is up to this early in the morning. Enjoy your work day!

Finally free

Cosplay, Crafting, Diversity, Freedom, Novel, Sci-fi, Sewing

I could be talking about Independence Day today…but I’m not. I’m not overly patriotic. I’m not political. I’m not a historian. I’m just an average Joe (Jill?), and I’m not that into the revolutionary aspect of the holiday. No, I’m talking about a free day off work. After working 12 days in a row, then going on a day trip, then doing laundry all day, I finally have a day off where I can do whatever.

The start of my free day? Fixing my cosplay booboo from yesterday. I got that done and all of the twill fabric pieces cut out; now comes cutting out the interfacing & lining, after which I’ll start putting the pieces together. It should prove interesting since I’m altering the pattern. I keep doing that…and so far, aside from yesterday’s disaster, it’s been turning out well. Guess I have a knack for it…or I’ve been lucky.

Now I’m taking a break from all that pinning and cutting and I’m just chilling on the computer for a while. I might take a nap. I might make some food. Or maybe I’ll just stare at this screen and do nothing.

Sometimes it’s good to take time for yourself. Burnout sucks. Sure, if I spent all day nonstop working on the coat I could probably get it finished…but is that really what I want to do with my free day? Spend the whole thing cutting and sewing until I’m sore and worn out?

Also, I’ve been having some good ideas about my dystopian/sci-fi novel. Yeah, you know the one–the one that’s been stalled since the cosplay stuff went into overdrive? Well, it’s still stalled (narrative-wise), but some new details about the world and the characters have come into my head that I think will give it some depth and diversity. It’s outside of my comfort zone, but isn’t that the point of writing sometimes? Going new places, trying new things…creating new worlds (or destroying them).

Maybe I’ll work on brainstorming today in between cosplay sessions. That sounds like a good idea.

Freedom to do what you want–gotta love it.