A flock of butterflies . . .

March 5, 2010Blog, book marketing, character inspiration, cool posts, fantasy inspiration, fantasy worlds, fantasy writing, manuscript edits, mauscript editing, miniature books, The Last Stitch, The Stumpwork Robe, words, writers, writing inspirationNo Comments

My writing life has the capacity to be chaotic at the moment. Flittering from one direction is the fine-tuning of Paperweights, from another comes the continued creation of the story of The Shifu Cloth, from another direction still comes the writing of a short-story for Bo Press’s new limited edition Masked Ball box and book, and from the busiest corner of all, the development of the ‘virtual’ Masked Ball.

I had the misconception that it would require a bit of work, not much and that my main focus would be on the writing just finished and the writing just begun.  But no. Within seconds of Pat, Rebecca and I beginning this strange ‘virtual’ journey, we had delved across the globe into fashion, food, music and cultural tradition.

Time on my actual work disappeared and yesterday I began to sweat that I was losing focus.  But whilst walking the dogs (moving meditation), I realised that I can file every bit of research for future reference.  That my own file on the world of Eirie was expanding exponentially as the demands of the Ball made themselves felt.  I had to detail the Museo in Veniche, create its collection, find the most startling exhibit within the marble halls.  I found that manufacturing a short-story for Bo Press and my own backstory for the Ball was writing practice of the best kind, and that the theme that was beginning to develop between my two friends and myself had the potential to lead to a sharp and quirky piece of fan-fiction.  Our hope is that guests to the Ball will join in with their own take on the threads that are combining and in amongst it all, we’ll dance, flirt, listen to beautiful music and smooth our hands over the cool folds of expensive silk.  We will win prizes of exceptional and highly collectable  value.  And we will make friends.

So rather like the image to my right,

I am being propelled by a million butterflies who may chose at any moment to fly off in different directions, but fortunately for me they are working together and pushing me in the direction I really want to go.