I'm on Second Life

Hey folks, I'm spending a fair amount of time running around Second Life. I found some great writer's groups and have been getting involved in stuff.

One of the best parts has been some of the exercises the writer's groups have - you have one word for inspiration and 15  minutes to write whatever you come up with. No time to worry about the perfect word or grammar. Just get that idea down!

A lot of what's come out has been surprisingly good, like this small scene:

The hooded hawk strains at the jesses. A monk, cowled in black, holds him fast. Night falls like a cloak across the world as they ascend the tower steps.

High above the sprouting fields, they watch the light fade. When all is dark, the monk removes the hood and jesses.

'Fly, my brother.' He thrusts his arm aloft, and the bird launches itself into the air, circling once before it disappears into the night. 'Let one of us fly free.'

The inspiration word was 'capistrate' which is an adjective meaning hooded or cowled. I found it hard to work with, the image and story did not come easily - which is why after 15 minutes I had such a short scene. When we were done with the exercise, one of the other writers mentioned that he thought this scene was a good starting point for a story. Since I couldn't see myself doing anything with it, I told him to have fun with it, and let me know what he comes up with. Looking forward to whatever it is.

I started a tumblr to share some of the more interesting and fun results of these exercises: Drabbles, Dashes and Waves.

If anyone is interested in looking me up, my account name on SL is akirahaya. I'm still very much a n00b, but having fun learning, and would have happy to have other folks to explore with.

Hey all, randomness

I hate figuring out what to write in the first post of a blog. But, gotta start somewhere. So, this is going to be my personal/writing blog. Posts will be a mix of interesting stuff I find while doing research, personal stuff, tidbits from some of my writing, and links to published stuff.

Right now, my writing is divided into 'personal projects' (fiction and fun stuff I hope to sell/publish one day) and 'professional writing' (non-fiction stuff I get paid for).

So, for something interesting and odd, here are a few things I turned up doing research for a Mongolian steampunk story.

It turns out, Mongolian shamans have a thing for blue. They also wear lots of metal. I can't find a good creative commons licensed pic, but take a scan of a Google image search on Mongolian shaman Turns out the main spirit/diety in Mongolian shamanism is Tengri - the great/endless sky.

Mongol bowmen are rightfully famous, and it just didn't feel right to replace their bows with guns, even in a Steampunk world. So I went searching. While it isn't intended as Steampunk, it think with a little tweaking this recurved hunting bow could be a great part of a Steampunk persona. Sorry I couldn't get a bigger picture.


So, yeah. Random insanity, occasional tidbits, maybe a few recipes. Stop in now and then and see what's up.