With the completion of a story I've been working on, I've decided to focus 100% on my writing. I probably won't update this account too often, but I follow a lot of artists on it so it won't be going away. If you want to continue to follow me, look here:

Writing Blog
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No Capes (updates Sundays)
Drunk Duck (in entirety) | Smackjeeves (part two)

Underdark (updates Fridays)
Drunk Duck | Smackjeeves

Blogs
Personal blog (also writing journal)
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Feminist tumblr
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Times have been tough for me, but thankfully the semester is over. I'll finish posting the last couple chapters of my NaNoWriMo story and then I've got a couple of things I need to start working on. Underdark is undergoing a bit of a change, but it won't affect anything currently (except perhaps the update schedule). There'll be a couple of little updates once I'm back home with my scanner and photoshop, and after that hopefully updates will be a little more regular.

See you in 2012!

I have to not do homework, but I think I'll be okay with that.

I'm still facing technical problems, but they're slowly being fixed.

I'm thinking of posting some prose in the scraps. There's lots of things I write that don't have a place or just aren't ready to be a full story yet, but I'm not sure. I may post a few for my own vindication and just leave out the ends (I never think very linearly).

Anyway I hope to be posting again soon, at least sketches. It will be a busy semester however. Hopefully I'll have time.

I sent off my laptop to be fixed, and now it's back and safe in my arms, just in time for my desktop to burst into flames. My dad's fixing that, but it means I don't have access to my Photoshop. Boo. Hiss.

I'm kind of an activist on the side (mostly I march and protest) and it's pretty much all for the feminist cause. Mostly I fight for reproductive rights as I view having control over your body very basic to being human. Of course this sparks up a lot of controversy, and I have had to have impromptu debates with people who did not agree with me.

I like to believe that people are generally rational human beings. I like to believe that every person can actively listen and understand another person's argument and, even if they can't be convinced, can at least agree at points and if not at least have a rationale for doing so. I think this makes me an optimist, something I've never identified as, but I want to believe that deep down in everyone's core is a place of logic and understanding. So here I go. I am going to explain exactly what feminism entails and why you have been thinking of something entirely different this whole time.

What you need to ask yourself if you want to know if you're a feminist:

• Do I believe that men and women are fundamentally people and should not be treated differently from each other?


• Do I believe women have the ability to make their own choices about what they want and what they need?

The full rant complete with my basic tenants for feminism are at my blog, if you're interested.

I'm doing other things. I'm taking summer classes and looking for a job (and will hopefully get one). I'm going to be spending a lot of time in Denton, so hopefully that won't affect this challenge too poorly. There were other things I wanted to complete this summer:

Full list here.

Just moved all my stuff back home. I can't wait to get my computer set up again. All I wanted to do this week was color and I've had no time.

I’ve been trying to get shit done for a few weeks now, and it just isn’t happening. I’ve barely been able to make myself write. DC was awesome, and we tabled for Don’t Be Fooled by Fake Clinics week, and there’s some neat stuff coming up, but honestly I’ve been doodling and coloring all the time, if you've noticed the constant uploads I've made to the Watch gallery.

If you want to see what I plan to do with them, click here.

I think to keep my blog from dying beneath my poorly motivated supervision I’ll be uploading a sketch every week. Something out of context, something I really like, something new I might’ve tried. Mostly right now I’m just trying to survive, but this’ll give me something to update with. They may go up on my DA, but I'm not really sure right now.

The thing is, I love it too much, or at least don’t have the attention span for what I want to do. Truthfully, I have at least a new idea once a week. One day I’ll be doodling these vampire hipsters I’ve created in between my PoliSci notes, and the next I’ll have moved on to a band that travels through time and space by playing the chords of a guitar. Maybe I’ll finish these one day. Maybe I’ll write them down or draw them or post them on the internet and maybe they’ll even get their own story, but right now they are notes typed into an empty word document or doodles in the corner of a page. If they’ll lucky I’ll come back to them, but if too much time passes, I’ll look upon them with scorn. I’ve grown too much. I can’t look back at them anymore.

There's more, of course.

No Capes
Underdark
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You notice I don't update my journal that much, so if you're interested, I'll post links where you can find me.

Blog
No Capes
Underdark
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Twitter

Come check out the comic where it'll be updating.

Expect sparse updates and periods of filler art.

Doing more work on Underdark. I don't know when I'm going to start putting that someplace for real, but I'll be posting some pictures I did on the side soon. I've only got four more pages for part one left to draw, and I've colored all but two of the ones I have drawn. This is going surprisingly quick.

On top of my DA beginning to take a part of my life, my comic remaining headstrong, and actually taking an interest in social networking sites, I've started a blog, Red-Headed Step Child, a blog about a sundry of various topics.

Expect great things.

On top of my DA beginning to take a part of my life, my comic remaining headstrong, and actually taking an interest in social networking sites, I've started a blog, Red-Headed Step Child, a blog about a sundry of various topics.

Expect great things.

Memory charms disturb me.

People are made up of memories. People are different with different memories. Memories are tricky and deceitful and often what we make of them. I don't like to think about people taking away my memory.

Let's look to Harry Potter. Memory charms clearly had an effect on the muggles. The man running the show at the Quidditch match had had multiple memory charms put on him and was clearly becoming loopy and detached from reality. It's funny in a children's book when physical or mental harm is put on someone and played for laughs, but it has this disturbing undercurrent. Wizards clearly don't care for muggles, and even the ones that aren't Death Eaters are prejudiced. Muggles aren't as powerful as wizards and don't have the means to defend themselves against these charms, so it's okay to use them.

In the Magicians, a botched memory charm causes a character to think she's insane, sink into a deep depression, and ruin her life. There was a promise to fix it, but this promise is never seen fulfilled or the character mentioned again. What other effects do memory charms have? What do multiple memory charms do to a person?

Memory charms are generally used only to keep a secret a secret. In the DC universe, memory-altering magic had been used before to hide tragic events to a clearly disturbing degree. In Harry Potter, when memory charms are used for something besides protecting the wizarding world, everyone is aghast at the terror. When Hermione uses memory charms to hide her parents, we are meant to be sympathetic to her plight.

But what makes it okay to go inside someone's head and pull things out? Where is the line drawn? Is there something in the wizarding bylaw that stipulates what is okay and what is not okay (and, judging by wizarding law practice, how much does it actually matter)?

Memory charms are a disturbingly easy means to an end on why magic is kept secret, on how characters get away with what they do. In a slightly different light, it's an easy way to make a character a villain.

Bonus rant!
Why, oh why, vampire authors, do vampires always have single governing body? You are telling me that in the millenia vampires have walked this earth in all their forms that not a single faction have decided they can do better than the current queen or council or whatever. You are telling me that vampires do not experience in-fighting, coups, overthrows, dissatisfied parties, revolutions, or regime changes. You are telling me that there is only one council/king/mistress for every single vampire all over the world. This is what you are telling me.

How? How do they keep everyone happy? How do they keep themselves protected? I admit vampires are a species not built on change or development, but certainly you would have other groups fighting for power, to gain it. Supposing this council/royalty had been in power since vampires were vampires or at least before the invention of the plane, how did they keep track of everyone on every continent in every part of the world? How did no new vampire councils develop over time? And for god's sake how does every single vampire know them?

I give a lot of leeway for vampires. I'm willing to believe they have some form of governing, at least to keep the more blood thirsty at bay. I'm willing to believe that the king/queen/head would hang out with our mains for whatever reason. I am not willing to believe that everyone is happy with the law or, if not, unwilling to do anything.


Supernatural fiction, get your act together. You've been getting a lot of flak for the current surgence in tween readership, but let's get back on track.

I'm between Merlin fanfic and history exams at the moment, so expect strange things.

I really love (writing) stories where magic isn't hidden. I've tried comprehending why wizards under go the Masquerade (which is an entirely different rant on Why Wizards Are Bastards), and there's not a particularly good reason for it. Supposing magic had been used at all at one point would imply that certain technologies wouldn't go about existing, certain leaps may have already been made, and if wizards were really so much more powerful than those measly muggles, they could have easily overpowered them if any amount of prejudice came up. Which is why I like the subject of magic unhidden. How would modern society be changed? Would it be stuck in medieval stasis? Would magic be available to everyone? Would laws be changed? Would we have a different moral stand point? How would we feel about religion, the afterlife, human nature, any of that?

Stories that hide their magic avoid these issues.

Maybe it's because I don't like to write in the real world (because that restricts me to the real world, and I'm terrible at that), but I love writing fiction where everyone knows about magic, whether they can use it or not. I like the idea of a modern society infused with magic (see: Supernormal Step) or a world where it's mainstream.

Which is pretty much what Underdark is about, so maybe I'm just self-pimping here. Also, more pages of that will appear soon, I promise, I'm just way behind on No Capes and completely and utterly lazy as of recent. It's all this cold weather. I demand it become spring.

Alright, I'm a little more focused now. I'll be uploading stuff when I can, but I mostly do pages and pages of sketches now for my millions of ideas. There's a lot of different stuff I'm working on, but No Capes is getting the most of my attention. Everyone else has to share the left over time.

So what have I been up to? The comic, of course, the other comics no one's seen, my laptop already deteriorating, but it's not so bad. New college besties, next semester will be old high school besties. Vagina Monologues and a new girlfriend. I'm spending all my time with other people which makes it harder to get things done, but I work at it. Things are going well, hopefully things will continue to go well, and in the end we'll all be okay. I've got to choose what type of librarian I want to be ("you should specialize in dinosaurs") and I'm obsessed with twitter (I know, right, but really it's tons of fun). I still hate Apple, I'm still trying to find a better way to ink my comics (if anyone has any ideas you should help me out) and I'm still trying to get my half tone to work (it's not). I still want a tablet but I spend all my money, but I'm working hard.

Well, I'm working.

Just a brief update to my moods and ideas. We'll see what's happening soon.

It's been a while since I've been on DA.

Check out my comic over here.