Let the Colors Shine

September 2, 2015September 2, 2015 ~ shawnaborman ~ 2 Comments

Hello once again! Recently, a friend of mine released an adult coloring book (Enigmatic Mind, Vol. 1 by Shiraishi Art). I totally encourage you to purchase it and a set of markers or colored pencils, and get to coloring! Aside from making me want to shamelessly promote a wonderful artist, the release of this book got me thinking about other facets of my creative side (yes, I occasionally do more than write). I used to cross-stitch, draw, paint, color, and do all kinds of artsy craftsy things before my hands decided to be evil and lose a lot of their range of motion. It was all very relaxing. So, I’ve decided to dedicate today’s post to alternative passions, namely coloring and drawing.

“Fishing” (Acrylic, 38¼” x 31”) by 6-year-old me for MDA.

When I was younger, I used to do a lot of paintings for MDA. They used them to make gifts and thank yous for big donors and stuff like that. But as I got older and my hands started screwing up, my mom started helping (read as: started doing most of the work). I still draw sometimes, but if it’s anything more complicated than my usual flower design, I use my tablet (do they even call them that anymore, what with all these half-phone/half-computer tablet things?). I haven’t even done that in a while since I’m too lazy to ask anyone to hook it up to my computer. Honestly, the only reasons I draw anymore are either to design clothes or because I want to color.

A gift I made for a friend. It says Lunar with Cyn below it (our nicknames).

One of my favorite types of drawing has always been to scribble random lines and color in the spaces between them. It requires zero talent and gets you into the coloring portion of drawing pretty quickly (which is why I enjoy it so much). Granted, my earlier pieces were simplistic and boring, but as I kept trying to make them more interesting, I discovered shading and even started hiding messages in them. The piece above is one of my favorites.

On the rare occasion that I do try to draw people, I tend to focus on the clothes (I suck at faces and hair and hands and things), I always have. Even then, I start with a line and work my way out from there with the end goal of being able to color. No idea why. I think it’s mostly because of that random love of designing clothes that I mentioned (I don’t usually wear fancy things, but it’s fun to imagine them).

Random Pose — Something drawn out of boredom. The dress is an oddly simple design.

It is an oddly refreshing experience to control something down to its very color. You control the light, the texture, everything. It’s very much like writing in that way, only more visual. A lot of people equate creativity with freedom, but for me, it’s more about control. I have complete control over the worlds I create, whether writing or drawing. It’s kind of a relief when compared to living in the real world.

I’m Sexy and I Know It (Not Really)

August 26, 2015August 25, 2015 ~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello again! Apparently people like reading about the lives of cripples (who’da thunk it?). My last post crushed all of my others by at least three times the views. Thank you for that. It’s kind of creepy, considering I’m not all that interesting, but yeah… thanks! Since I’m still out of ideas for writerly topics and have no pictures of food to share, I thought I’d continue in the more personal vein to see if last week was some weird fluke. Rather than focusing on general cripple life, I think I’ll talk about sexiness!

Over the past year or so, I’ve read quite a few articles about crippleness and everything from fashion to sex appeal (usually from male perspectives). Pile that on top of a ton of negative commentary on how males objectify females (but never vice versa which is total crap), and it spawns many an eye-twitch inducing moment, but I always manage to keep my mouth shut.

1341394127-Im-sexy-and-I-know-it — Pretty much.

You see, unlike most of the females I know (and a number of the males), I’ve never had to endure wolf whistles and cat calls and all of that creeptastic behavior. Why? Because (biologically speaking), I’m undesirable as a potential mate. When straight males look at me, that primal part of their brains that focuses on reproduction isn’t activated. I know that, and over the years, I’ve come to accept it. But because of this lack of being lusted for (yeah, I went there), it grates on my nerves when I hear how horrible objectification is. Don’t get me wrong, when it’s creepy and makes someone uncomfortable, it’s B-A-D bad, but a random “looking good” from across the way isn’t. Being constantly overlooked or not considered mate-worthy isn’t as nice of a thing as many people imagine. Keep that in mind the next time you’re so disgusted with the person who whistled at you from the other side of the street.

On the flipside of growing up without being sexually objectified (yes, there are other kinds of objectification I’ve encountered), it has forced me to learn how to look at myself and acknowledge the sexy bish inside since no one else is going to do it. It’s exceedingly rare for this to happen, but it does. Also, it’s a fairly recent development, so it still weirds me out a little. I mean, I constantly hear about how you have to learn to love yourself and how you shouldn’t need the validation of others (which is theoretically true), but I wonder if people realize how much easier said than done that is! It’s taken me near thirty years to accomplish it, and it’s still something I can’t admit in the moment. Only when I’m looking back can I say “Damn, I was sexy there!”

MiyaviConcert — In my Sixh top and the pants I designed.

Shawna14 — Why yes, that is a riding crop in my hand.

Self-perception is everything, but it’s fed by public-perception, so the next time you’re walking (or rolling) down the road, throw someone a whistle or a “looking sexy” or “cute top” or “great shoes” or something. Then, you keep going so you don’t make it creepy. Yeah, some people might accuse you of being a perv depending on your statement, but you never know whose day you might make a little brighter.

Growing Up Cripple

August 19, 2015August 18, 2015 ~ shawnaborman ~ 6 Comments

Hi all! I really had no idea what to blog about, so I procrastinated for a while with the help of social media, and that’s when I noticed something strange. I’ve seen a lot of “growing up” hashtags on Twitter (growing up a girl, growing up black, etc.), but there isn’t a hashtag for growing up cripple. Yeah, you can find growing up disabled and growing up in a wheelchair, but they’re few and far between (plus, they’re mostly depressing). Since I’m not all that Twitter adept (140 characters just isn’t enough), I decided to blog about it.

Young Me (Color Correction) — It’s me! According to the copywrite date, I was four. I used to be so cute. What happened?

People act like growing up anything but a straight, white, able, cis, male puts you at some kind of disadvantage (cue the “privileged” arguments), but I disagree. Growing up, I never really felt like my crippleness put me at a real disadvantage or made me any less of a person. Don’t get me wrong, back then and to this day I’ve encountered people who seem to think I’m invisible, people who actually cross the street when they see me (I’m not contagious, I swear! Though, I do bite.), people who say or ask less than intelligent things, and the like, but I learned quickly that that was their problem, not mine. Just because some people are idiots doesn’t mean their behavior is in any way my fault.

Were things ever more difficult than they should’ve been? Yeah, of course! I mean, when stairs and curbs are your mortal enemies, you’re going to run into problems. Luckily, I was raised in a family where finding ways around obstacles was a challenge readily accepted. Can’t reach your mouth with that fork? Let’s tape a plastic one to a skewer! Can’t reach the keyboard with your right hand? Try this backscratcher! Keep getting stuck in the mud out back? Let’s build a deck! And the list goes on and on.

ShawnaProm2 — Prom. I designed the dress and Mom made it.

ShawnaGrad12 — High school graduation. Most of the immediate family.

Granted, the whole stuck in a chair thing also makes outings much more annoying (no, it’s not just something that affects home life), but it doesn’t stop me. That’s one thing Dallas has going for it, most places are accessible at least to a point (SMU, I’m looking at you when I say “to a point”), so I go to clubs and concerts and out to eat and to cons and renfests and all of that delightful stuff. You want to talk about privilege? Try being a cripple at clubs and cons and such. I was raised never to expect special treatment, but you’d be surprised how often places offer front of the line privileges among other stuff (and who am I to turn such thoughtfulness down?). Let’s see the straight, white, able, cis dude get that kind of treatment on a regular basis… I think not.

Shawna54 — I miss my purple hair. And the red hair. And the teal. You get the idea.

Anyway, I guess my point is that life is what you make of it. Yes, my crippleness makes life a pain in the ass sometimes, but it’s the hand I was dealt. I’m not inspirational (though I kindly thank those who think I am, because they’re being nice when they say that kind of stuff). I’m simply living my life. Life is hard, but do you want to know a secret? Everyone has problems (even that privileged white guy). You can either deal with your own issues and try to live happily for the most part, or you can focus on all the bad and be miserable forever. It’s your battle. No one can fight it for you.

Inspiration Time!

August 12, 2015August 11, 2015 ~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hi all! It’s been another week. If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+, you know that I randomly post inspirational images (like inspiration for stories, not those motivational posters). Recently, I’ve had some people who were interested in how I find these images, why them and not others, etc. Today, I guess we’ll talk about art! Or ekphrastic writing (no, it’s not limited to poetry) at least.

11794602_882993428422252_886712451765386778_o — “Pagan Poetry: The Devourer” — Photographer: Kay Klages Model: Felipe García

Lately, I’ve found most of the pictures I share (as well as the ones here) on Dark Beauty Magazine’s Facebook page. One reason I gravitate towards them lately is because of all of the credits they provide (often with links), so if I find a particular artist or model I enjoy, I can follow them. I like places that give credit where credit is due. Not to mention that it frustrates me to no end when I want to find a particular artist, but no one seems to know their name. Other places I find art include DeviantArt, a lot of the pictures of models or bands I like, artist websites (Nene Thomas for example), and random Google searches. If you had asked me ten years ago where to find art, I could’ve listed at least fifty sites without effort, but I suppose I’ve become more selective as I grew up (or just too lazy to keep track of so many things).

As far as why I choose certain images, I honestly don’t know. Something about them speaks to me. The one above, contrary to popular opinion, attracted me because of the blood, not the very lovely man (he’s a bonus). I enjoy dark themes, so I lean toward creepier artworks. I tend to prefer night to day, black and white or muted colors to vivid ones, water and fire to earth and wind, things like that. Granted, there are exceptions, and keep in mind that these preferences refer to images that inspire me to write.

11403383_864922466896015_7584895949992164359_n — Photographer: Johann Kopf Makeup/Model: Tina Lakos

On the other hand, some images simply tell their own stories. You can’t look at them without formulating a tale leading to that particular moment captured by the camera (or the brush), or what you imagine is going to happen from that point in time on. You’re story will probably be different from mine, but a story will be conjured nonetheless.

Take the Johann Kopf picture for instance. My first thought upon seeing it was “what post-apocalyptic hell is this?,” but the more I look at it, the more ideas I get. Is it post-apocalyptic or is it an alien planet? What’s with the axe? Are the doggies going to survive? And then my brain has to answer all of those questions. It’s the same thing for less chatty images (ones that intrigue, but don’t give you much of an outright story to work with), like the one below. The questions just start flowing. Who is she? Why is she in an alley? Is it an alley or is it a portal to another world? And on and on and on…

11742673_868721543182774_5118565906848926820_n — Photographer: Digital Art by Rachid de Wind Model: Queenie Constancia

I suppose what all this means is that I really don’t know why I pick certain pictures over others. It’s not that other images don’t speak to me (I can come up with a story for just about anything if I try), they just speak louder than the rest. I try to post things that my followers might respond to, so I choose from a wide variety of styles in case some of you don’t find something particularly inspirational. Then again, maybe I’m just weird.

A Look Inside the Free Man Cajun Cafe and Lounge

August 5, 2015August 4, 2015 ~ shawnaborman ~ 7 Comments

Hi there! Since I didn’t get a chance to do a food review last month, here’s one early this month. This week, I’ll introduce you to the Free Man Cajun Cafe and Lounge. It’s another one of Deep Ellum’s many restaurants, also on Commerce Street (up the road from the Dancing Marlin, actually). Check out their website (linked above) for their address and other information. Also, it’s not a seafood place!

Here’s a reminder of the rating system:

MMMMM = Everything is magnificent!
MMMM = Great, but something is off.
MMM = Pretty good, but a couple of things could be better.
MM = The bad’s starting to outweigh the good.
M = Definitely more cons than pros.
… = I couldn’t find anything nice to say.

Accessibility… It’s actually really accessible unless they’re super packed and you have to squeeze all the way into the back for a table. Even then, it’s mostly just a matter of asking people to move, which is definitely one of my least favorite things to do. Most people are super nice about it, but it’s still not something I enjoy. Anyway, I like the table set up at Free Man’s. Aside from being a good height, the half-booth half-chair arrangement is good for me AND lets whomever I’m with have a choice (namely, Dad).

The service here is kind of hit and miss in a lot of ways. A lot of the time, I’m invisible, but occasionally (like this last time) I’m treated normally. To be fair, we usually go when there’s live music (7pm-2am every day), so it’s really hard to hear me anyway, but I prefer it when waiters at least try to talk to me. We went last Thursday around four in the afternoon, so maybe that’s why the waitress treated me like a person right off the bat. Also, sometimes the staff is really attentive, sometimes not. It just depends on how busy they are. Speaking of busy, if they are super busy, the food comes out fairly slow, but if they’re not, it has a tendency to come out boom boom boom, so take that into account when you order.

034 — Blackened shrimp cocktail and hot crab dip.

Onto the thing everyone cares about: the food! We went with the blackened shrimp cocktail and the hot crab dip for appetizers this time. It was our first time trying the cocktail, and I’m happy to say it was super yummy. There was a little spice to it, but not much, and the shrimp were nicely cooked. As far as the crab dip goes, it’s cheese, crab, and bread! You can’t go wrong.

036 — Half-eaten gumbo (it’s hard to remember pictures when food is around).

The entrees. Back when we first started going to Free Man’s, the menu was extremely limited (not a bad thing at all). They still have a fairly small selection, but it’s slowly growing. My go-to is usually the Cajun crawfish pasta. It’s got a lovely creamy sauce and they top it with chicken. I love it. Dad went for the etouffee this time, which is also delicious. They don’t make it too spicy, but they have a number of hot sauces on the table for you heat lovers to choose from. We also split a cup of gumbo (yum!). They do it right! Plus, the entrees come with a hunk of cornbread. I’m not a big fan of cornbread, but this stuff has won me over. Try it. You might like it.

039 — Bacon cheesecake with a bite missing.

040 — Cut into cranberry wheat bread pudding (aka Heaven on a plate).

The dessert! Again, you have a limited choice, but that’s totally okay here. Dad tried the bacon cheesecake (something new since our last trip). Sounds absolutely amazing, right? Looks tasty, no? Honestly, it’s kind of meh. It’s one of those “at least we can say we tried it” experiences. The bread pudding, on the other hand, has got to be the BEST pudding of its kind that has entered my mouth. You want a foodgasm? Go get some. Don’t like bread pudding? Try it anyway!

And now, the thing no one wants to talk about: the price. It’s not the cheapest meal you can find, but it’s not horribly expensive. Go one evening, listen to some live jazz, and relax. You’ll get your money’s worth.

My overall rating:
MMMM

See you next week!

More Revision? Ugh…

July 29, 2015July 28, 2015 ~ shawnaborman ~ 2 Comments

Hey all! I know I would usually do a food review today, but I haven’t really been anywhere. I could gush about Dad’s cooking for a while if you wanted, but I don’t know if you want me to, so I won’t. I do plan on going somewhere this week, so hopefully I’ll have something delicious for you next Wednesday. Anyway, what shall we talk about today? How about another discussion about revision? Namely, my revision process (which is being quite evil this go around).

So, I don’t recall if I’ve shared this, but I’ve recently started revising G&G (see a description here). My problem is that I’ve never really revised anything on this large of a scale. I only ever wrote short stories before. Needless to say, my usual approach to revision failed me miserably. Normally, I do a read-through then another read-through/dive right into revising. I did my read-through (of course I hated it again), then I hit a wall.

I tried to work my way through it, but when I hit the third day of staring at the screen with my eye twitching, I decided something had to give. I went and I added an extra step (a read-through with notes), which I finished Monday. It actually went pretty well. I feel much better about going in and skinning my baby alive then fattening her up and making her all pretty again.

Part of me wonders if maybe I was simply suffering from some random bout of angst or something. I normally don’t have any major attachment to my writing (don’t judge me), but maybe after nursing this thing for two or more years, I was feeling a little clingy. However, when you write yourself a note that says “Is it necessary or was it simply to meet word count?,” it becomes a lot easier to take a knife to that section. Ah well. At least I feel much more confident about getting into the big changes now.

I guess what I’m trying to say is be open to tweaking your routine. A lot of people call me OCD because I like to do things certain ways, but at the same time, if something isn’t working, I’m willing to change it. Writers need to be flexible when it comes to these things. After all, we all know the definition of insanity.

78b5227b687eb6bd7bb4d05a75d277aa — If you say so…

Anyway, enough about me! Let’s hear about you. What’s your revision process? Do you just jump right in? Maybe you make notecards or charts or something. Do you print your manuscript and lay it out everywhere? What kind of revision magic do you work?

Until next week!

My Heroes (Part Two)

July 22, 2015July 21, 2015 ~ shawnaborman ~ 1 Comment

Konnichiwa (Ohayou? Konbanwa?)! I suppose it all depends on when you’re reading this. Anyway, I’ve decided to continue with my hero chat. You can see the previous installment here if you missed it. This week, I’ll be focusing more on my anime and manga heroes and heroines. Like I said before, most of my favorite female role models came from anime and manga, so I suppose this should be called “My Heroines” instead. Ah well. Too late now.

AlltheSailors4 — Who’s your favorite Sailor Scout?

First up (of course) is Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon. Now, my first experience with this show was the horrible dub where they tried change all the things they thought our little brains couldn’t handle (remember when Neptune and Uranus were “cousins?”), but I still fell in love with it. Imagine my delight a few years later when I was first exposed to its pure awesomeness in fansubs, when everything actually started making sense!

Much like with X-Men, I never really had a reason for liking the show beyond the fact that I adored all of the characters and had a huge crush on Prince Demando (Diamond if you prefer). My favorite Scouts were Mercury (super smart and kind of a loner) and Saturn (a sickly girl with the power to destroy the world). Nowadays, I could argue that it was my first experience where an eclectic group of girls kicked monster ass (yeah, Tuxedo Kamen helped, but the girls did the hard part) while working through personal issues and differences. It’s something that I quickly found out wasn’t an unusual thing in the magical girl genre.

Sakura&Gaurdians3 — Sakura is another favorite.

Just look at Cardcaptor Sakura. I admit my love for this show wasn’t solidified until after I read the manga and saw a fansub. The dub tried to give Li a bigger role to appeal to a male audience, plus they tried (and failed miserably) to gloss over the shounen-ai (boy love) aspects of the story. Aside from that, I always liked that Sakura was a major klutz who tried her best at everything she did. Yeah, she got discouraged, but she worked through it. That’s what the whole magical girl thing always seemed to be about and it was something I needed to be exposed to when I was a kid.

As I grew older, I moved away from things like Sailor Moon and Digimon and the like to things like Fullmetal Alchemist (still my favorite dub to this day!) and Neon Genesis Evangelion and Trigun. All of which are favorites in some way or another, but I think my last mention will be Angel Sanctuary. That manga is all kinds of screwed up, which is why I love it. Some of my favorite characters are Alexiel (an angel who is punished for taking actions against the other angels who are slaughtering demons for the fun of it), Kira Sakuya (I can’t tell you much about him unless you like spoilers, but he is greatness), and Kurai (one of the demons Alexiel saved). It’s all about angels who are worse than devils and demons who just want to survive and a bunch of other deeply disturbing things.

I suppose my real attraction to the heroes and heroines of Angel Sanctuary (you can decide which characters you consider heroic for yourself) is because of the fact that they’re all deeply flawed. Whether they’re humans or angels or demons, they are seriously screwed up and they all (even the bad ones) believe what they’re doing is in the best interest of some group of beings.

I mean, yeah, I love a lot of the obvious “heroes,” but sometimes it’s good to see a hero who falls on a spectrum of good to evil, rather than fitting into a specific mold. What about you? Do you like your heroes clear cut or more of a mix?

My Heroes (Part One)

July 15, 2015July 14, 2015 ~ shawnaborman ~ 3 Comments

Hello there! I’ve been thinking a lot about Stonecoast and all of the awesome people I’m missing right now (it’s summer residency and I’m not there *sadness*), plus all of the conversations I’ve had with these people. One topic that never seemed to lose its attractiveness was superheroes. A hazard of specializing in popular fiction, I guess. These talks ranged from debates about who would beat who to the lack of females (as strong primary characters) and POC (persons of color) characters when we were growing up.

Personally, I grew up with the Bishoujo Senshi and a ton of other magical girl anime (a topic for another time), so I never really noticed a lack of strong female role models in my superheroes. I suppose I should thank my obsession with anime and manga for that. Honestly, I never really paid attention to any of the lacking qualities of the genre until I got to grad school. Even when the flaws were pointed out, they didn’t really bother me much. I was always the kind of person who could find some character to relate to regardless of how dissimilar our outer appearances were. I mean, come on. Do you know how hard it is to find a wheelchair bound superhero? Let alone someone who started out that way (meaning their disabilities weren’t caused by accidents and injuries). Yeah… Charles Xavier and Barbara Gordon as Oracle are the two who spring to mind most readily (both of whom were injured, not born that way).

Actually, Oracle never really interested me that much anyway, so I’m not entirely sure she even counts as one of my heroes. Yeah, Batman will always hold a special place in my list of favorites because he was one of the superheroes my dad and I always followed together. Bats, Gargoyles (does anyone else even remember that show?), some Superman stuff. It was all daddy-daughter time, thus it was all special. I still love all of those heroes, but they were never my favorites. The X-Men held the number one spot in my ranking from the very beginning.

Now, I could go into some deep philosophical debate as to why they were my favorite, but it’d be a load of crap. I could tell you that I fell in love with the idea that a random genetic screw up could lead to superpowers instead of crippleness and the like. I could tell you it gave me role models who were similar to me in the fact that nature had messed with us and turned us into freaks. Today, yeah, that might be part of why they continue to hold the number one place for me. When I was a kid, though? No way! Rogue and Storm were kickass, I was utterly in love with Gambit, and I totally adored so many of the “villains.” There was no deeper meaning. I was simply enamored by the X-Men.

So, who were/are your (super)heroes? Are they all from western comic books? I have way too many from both comic books and manga (hence the “part one”). I’ll talk more about my anime and manga heroes later. Now, I kind of want to binge watch all the X-Men things.

Until next time!

Knowing when to Stop and Breathe

July 8, 2015July 7, 2015 ~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hi everyone! So, I’m not really the best person to talk about stopping and smelling the roses, mostly because I’ve never been really good at that when I have specific goals to achieve. In fact, if I have goals, chances are that nothing else in the world will exist for me, especially roses. But when that happens, I have a tendency to burn myself out and end up overcompensating in the other direction (a.k.a. goals suck, let’s just veg in front of Netflix forever). It’s an annoying balancing act that I can never really get… well, balanced.

Rose1 — I traced a photo of a rose, then colored it in Photoshop a long time ago.

Is this a common problem among writers? Honestly, I don’t know. A lot of the people I talk to seem to have more problems meeting goals rather than being obsessed with them, so of course I feel like the odd man (woman?) out. I guess my biggest problem is knowing when to let goals slide. Granted, I’m more apt to look at my list of goals and push reading off to make time for writing, but it makes me feel super guilty. I also push the things on my list that are for other people higher than things like my word count. I can always make up my word count tomorrow, right? Like that ever happens. It actually usually means not taking that second day off. *eye-twitch*

And, of course, when I do find a nice balance, I have to start changing things. I recently decided to try upping my word count from 900 words five days a week to 1500 words. Throw some new obligations on top of that, and I end up spending all my time doing everything except having a life. It got a little rough this past week, which is what brought on this ramble.

Weirdness — A random thing I made a long time ago. I like structure.

I needed to stop and take a breath, which I did. I’ve proven to myself that, under normal circumstances, I can do 1500 words five days a week with no problem. Right now, I can’t. As much as it ticks me off to say that, I just can’t do 1500 words AND everything else I need to do AND have time to relax. It’s impossible. Thus, my new plan for balance!

I will continue with the new obligations for as long as they last (three to six months at the moment), because I made a promise, I enjoy what I’m doing, and I’m gaining a lot of experience should I decide to teach at some point in the future. That’s my first priority. Second, instead of worrying about words for a while, I’m going to work on revising my first novel again (surprisingly not as time consuming or stressful as writing all the words!). When I do get back to writing toward a word count, I’ve decided 1000 words are good enough until I have fewer things to worry about. And apparently I have to add a goal to my list that boils down to “have fun away from the computer, or GO OUTSIDE, IDIOT!”

Boredom1 — I should probably add “draw something” to that list.

It’s not an easy thing to achieve, but balance is necessary. We can’t always focus on work (that’s a fast-track to insanity), just like we can’t always focus on fun (unless you’re a billionaire, then yeah). Remember to stop and take a breath, or smell the roses, or whatever. Just don’t kill yourself to achieve all the things on a list that doesn’t account for spontaneous interruptions or miscalculated times (we all have those things we say will take half an hour, then three hours later it’s still not done). Take some time and go outside! Or whatever.

The Writing Space of Doom!

July 1, 2015June 30, 2015 ~ shawnaborman ~ 4 Comments

Howdy, howdy! Happy (almost) Fourth of July to all of my American peoples! Also, happy Canada day to all of my Canadian friends! If I’m missing any other holidays being celebrated this week, let me know. Anyway, today I wanted to share my writing space (more commonly known as my bedroom) with you. I haven’t done that yet, right? Be afraid. Be very afraid. Not really. But do be prepared for extra pictures!

025 — My desk and armoires, built by Dad (he installed the floor, too)! That’s where the writing happens.

Not sure if I’d call it magic, but this is where it happens! It’s a very busy space, I know, but I like it that way. I don’t understand how people can get anything creative done when surrounded by white walls and an empty desk. That’s so boring to me. I really like the fact that everywhere I look, there’s some kind of inspiration. And mirrors! I can’t turn my head without moving my whole chair, so my mirrors let me see all around me at once. If I want to stare out of the window, there’s a mirror for that! Want to check my door to make sure no one’s sneaking up on me? Mirror! Okay, maybe I’m just lazy.

024 — Better view of the beer signs (they’re Dad’s, but they look better in my room), and my stuffed animals.

The best part about being able to glance up at all of these knickknacks and things is that each one has a number of stories to tell. There’s the story of how I received each one (and I fully admit many of those tales are long forgotten), the story each one immediately brings to mind, and all of the stories they inspire or take part in after hours of staring at them. And, of course, sometimes they’re stubborn and won’t give me any ideas to work with.

That’s my basic writing area. It’s where I’m facing 90% of the time when I’m doing writerly things. However, I do get stuck. Some days, nothing in that little corner helps me. What do I do then? Well, I stop relying on the mirrors, and I turn around. What? You think my desk is the only interesting part of my room? You’re funny.

020 — My doorway. It’s been redecorated a bit, but you get the gist.

Posters, pictures, weapons, musical paraphernalia (up above the door). Ignore the nightstand. Dad hasn’t gotten around to making one of those, yet. But anyway, you can see how nowhere in my room is boring. I keep myself immersed in stories. Is that what a writer does? Oh, and if you’re noticing a severe lack of books, that’s because the spare room doubles as a library, so they’re all in there.

Up last, is the actual bed area. Definitely no magic going on there, but there’s even a lot of inspiration there, too.

026 — The tree Dad painted above my bed!

027 — Okay. Now, I might just be showing off Dad’s skill.

So, that’s my writing space! What’s your workspace like? Are you like me, where you enjoy a ton of stimuli? Or do you prefer more of a blank canvas kind of space? Maybe you’re in between? Let me know in the comments, or on Facebook, or Twitter, or G+!

Shawna's Blog of Doom

Maybe just randomness