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May-June 2020 Fly-By Status Report – The Trying Times
I originally wrote this in May to appear in a patron-submission Quaranzie by Sarah Shotts. I’ll add some additional updates after the main post. One never really knows how one will react to a global pandemic until one finds oneself in one. And for me, that meant depression naps, lots of Animal Crossing and ice cream, and many conversations with my mental health specialists. I’ve tried to give myself space to feel and grieve and process, but blessedly, sheltering at home with my husband and two cats, with our jobs still intact, has been the best part of this whole mess. There have been a lot of ups and downs…
- About the Author, Blog, Love Letters, My Creations, Reflections, Slice of Life, Traditional Art, Writing Progress
September/October 2019 Fly-By Status Report – My First Tattoo Experience! (I’m a Grown-Up Hobbit, Part 2)
Posting a month late, twice in one year? Hey, come on, I always have a good reason! This time, I was waiting til a very specific wound healed so I could get a good photo. That is, I took my temporary tattoo idea I mentioned in my January Fly-By Status Report, and made it permanent! I couldn’t shake my desire for one, even though I had some reservations, but finally decided I should just go for it! So I got my first real tattoo the year of my 33rd birthday after all! (If you’re confused or feel like you’re missing context, read the post here.) So what does the tattoo…
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May 2019 Fly-By Status Report – Same Old, Same Old
Well, it’s blog o’clock again! I feel like I have so much going on right now that I don’t want to stop and analyze what has and hasn’t gotten done! But I’ll do my best, in the name of tracking progress! I honestly felt like I’ve been floundering; since I returned from a trip and got sick, I haven’t been doing great with my SMART goals. I always seem to have something big that makes me lose momentum, and it takes me forever to get back into the swing of things. ? MomoCon is fast approaching, and for once this year it isn’t stressing me out because I’m not the…
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September 2018 Fly-By Status Report – VLOG (Happy Early Talk Like A Pirate Day!)
Doing my tri-yearly update as a live vlog just to shake things up! And HAPPY TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY a day early! Things I talked about (which will open in a new browser window): 0:42 – Star Wars Party vlog status 1:31 – Gardening 2:07 – Camp Flix 2:21 – MomoCon 2:40 – Writer’s Group & Critique Help 3:34 – CrossCode Let’s Play Series – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ankDi… 4:02 – Dragon Con & The State of Vlogging 4:48 – Pitch Wars, Editing My Novel, Writing Schedule & December Writing Hiatus 6:09 – Things I’m Planning to Do & Stuff I Have Done 6:26 – Ukulele & Singing 6:40 – New Twitch…
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May 2018 Fly-By Status Report – Gardening, PitMad and Pitch Wars take 2!
Hello, all! Can I just say that I freaking love late spring? It’s warm, things are growing, and down south it’s not too hot yet. We’ve also had a swath of glorious sunny, breezy days one after another, which got broken by rain JUST in time to water everything I’ve recently planted. Yeah, my coping with MomoCon stress mechanism has turned to gardening this year, as we just got some landscaping done and the time feels right. Speaking of MomoCon, IT STARTS THIS WEEK, so I wanted to make sure I got this sucker out before it got completely shoved out of my brain. And as I look back on…
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September 2017 Fly-By Status Report – I have con crud, but summer was great!
Good day and well-met! I’m feeling geeky, I just got back from Dragon Con and bought a whole USB of the Brobdingnagian Bards’ music, so that’s what I’ll be listening to, and eating pumpkin chili while we get our roof replaced as I fight off a cold and make millions of phone calls ? (“Oh, is that all?” I can hear you saying through the computer.) SO, how was the last three months? Busy, yet surprisingly chill! One gigantic highlight was seeing the total solar eclipse, which I made a vlog of, and you should totally watch it! As for writing, I’ve had a lot of success breaking things down into smaller…
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“Zelda: Ocarina of Time” Crocheted Link Hat with Hovering Navi | Original Design
I’ve always loved dressing up, and I’ve loved watching cosplayers show off their hard work at geek conventions (I don’t know how to use a sewing machine, so I’m more of a grab-what’s-in-my-costume-closet kind of a cosplayer) but as I got better at crocheting, it opened up a whole new dimension of costuming for me! I made and designed this Link hat to wear at MomoCon 2017. I based the hat off this free pattern, modifying its size with a thicker yarn and bigger hook. This made the hat heavier, so keep that in mind if you decide to do the same. I wove a headband into the double crochet…
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May 2017 Fly-By Status Report – Just Keep Swimming!
It’s time for another Fly-By Status report! And I’m up to my waist in MomoCon directing duties. But omg, we’re already a third into 2017! Dang, where does the time go? And I feel like I have very few brain cells to even process this blog post with everything going on right now. However, one of my part-time jobs just ended, so I have more time to do everything else I’ve been too busy to work on (in theory). SO, did I achieve my goals for the past 4 months? Long Term Doing some hardcore outlining and rewriting the style of my YA fantasy novel Sign of the Redwing in preparation for an…
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VLOG: MomoCon 2016
At long last, you can see video evidence of me actively crocheting a cosplay piece, and working hard for and geeking out over another amazing time at one of my favorite conventions!
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May Madness
I don’t know how May always becomes a month of crazy, no matter how many times I try to make it NOT crazy. I have such good intentions, but by the time I hit mid-May, I’m consistently neck deep in work! But sarcastic JT aside, other than feeling stressed about it, everything that I’ve been doing the past month has been really awesome! I’ve been juggling two part jobs, as well as a Paint Love project. And I’ve still been crocheting and doing some other art projects, particularly card and gift making (because TONS of family members and friends have anniversaries and birthdays in May, more than any other time…
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May 2016 Fly-By Status Report – I GOT A REAL JOB!
Yes, you read that right: I GOT A REAL JOB! The ultimate happy dance! | via GIPHY It’s a part-time administrative and communication assistant job, which is only a few hours a week, and a few minutes away from my house (YAAAAAY), so hopefully that means I can structure my life around that to get some stability for my creative work! I start today, and I’m really excited to see how it goes! Also, hi, I haven’t seen you since Easter! I’ve been super busy working, arting, volunteering, story researching…in fact, that’s why I decided to do tri-yearly status reports. I figure, if I haven’t blogged or vlogged in a while, I want to make…
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River Tam Vest Cosplay | Crocheted Commission
When a friend of mine commissioned me to make her a River Tam vest for her Dragon*Con cosplay, I was really excited because 1) I love the show “Firefly,” and 2) I’d never crocheted a costume piece before! I was also nervous for that same reason. Thankfully, other yarn-crafting cosplayers have paved the way for me, and I found a wonderful, widely used pattern originating at the Dragon Crafter blog, which includes links to some other blogs that have fleshed out the finishing phase. I ended up finishing it using Rogue Bibliophile’s rundown (the site is weird and doesn’t link directly. If you have a problem, just hunt for “River…
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Two Weekends of Awesome! (And Writing Advice from Maureen Johnson & Stephanie Perkins)
Since I don’t yet have a smart phone, which makes it really hard to live tweet, I need to play a lot of catch up with the cool things that have happened lately! And since I myself have a hard time reading long blogs, I’m going to try to make it short. If you don’t care and want to skip to the writing advice, there ya go. This past weekend I worked MomoCon! A yearly tradition now, but this year I got to do social media for the entire con, posting to Facebook and more often Twitter about all the cool events. This allowed me to go where regular con-goers…
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Reminiscing on MomoCon 2012
MOMOCON! Ohmigosh Momocon! I’ve worked it for two years now (my husband tons more), and it’s just getting better. I even got to join the media group, and entered some artwork that they used around the con! Shameless plug for my portfolio, but seriously, they were super fun to do. Other than working, it’s always fun to see everyone dressed up in costumes, play games, go to interesting panels, browse the artist’s alley and support the talent, and of course hit up the dealers room with your spare cash (or maybe not so spare). This year I also learned how to play Settlers of Catan, and even tried it out in…