An early image

Several years ago when I first started thinking about drawing Steigan and I was just learning how to color in Photoshop, I drew this:

Preparing For Battle 

Digital Image 

© 2007 Dawn Blair

Not too shabby for a beginning. I learned and that's what counts.

But as I came across it not too long ago, I realized that it had a close name as the track by Nathan Chamberland I purchased for the video music from AudioMicro. Very strange. But I loved the Prepare For Battle track ever since the first time I heard it. Whenever I needed inspiration, I'd go out and listen to it. It's like the music fit the story so well as though it were written with it in mind. When this gets made into a movie, I hope Nathan Chamberland can do the film score! That is my greatest hope. To me, Chamberland is the John Williams for Sacred Knight. All I have to do is listen to the music and scenes from this story flow through my head and I get goose bumps down my arms.

Really, with Prepare For Battle, I couldn't have asked for better trailer music and something to build my brand around. If you haven't watched the two book videos, click the YouTube link on the right and go do it now. Enjoy the music!

Thoughts and Passions

On my books for artists blog, I've posted a review for Seth Godin's Poke the Box. The one thing I didn't mention there was how I felt the book related to my own.

This whole Sacred Knight project has been my passion for such a long time. Godin talks about how you've got to try out ideas and you'll probably fail most of the time. But if you don't poke the box, you'll never find out what will happen.

Seventeen years I've spent with my characters, mainly my hero. Multiple drafts I've tried, restarted, written bits and filed them away, tried, failed, wrote more, failed, kept writing, failed, etc. But each time I learned more. I made a few mistakes, but I learned a lot about the story. How could I have grown it if I hadn't kept trying? There were times when I wanted to throw my large storage box of notes off the Perrine Bridge just to hear it splash in the Snake River. Or how about a barbecue in the back yard -- you going to bring the marshmallows?

When you're creating a fantasy world, you're making up everything: religion, culture, speech patterns, fashion, food, history, atmosphere, animals, plants, architecture, everything. It's not a small task. You've got to experiment. It's nothing but poking the box until you find what works.

To stay at such a project, it's got to be a passion. If it's not, it's allowed to fade away. So yes, this story is my passion. When you're reading it, you're seeing the collection of many failures until I had enough faith in it to let it be a success. Is it perfect? No, it's not. But I'm not referring to success here as meaning that it's perfect. Yes, I've already thought of lines I wish I'd been able to put in the book. Oh well, the book lives on and so do it. It is a success because I've put it out there and it speaks my message.

One other point that Godin makes is that too many authors are waiting for someone else to approve them. First they have to get an agent to take them on, then a publisher. He goes on to talk about an event coordinator who would be better off being a promoter -- saying that as an event coordinator, this person is at the mercy of the promoter who holds all the power, so why not move from being an event coordinator to being a promoter? I wish he'd carried through with analogy and just said what I know he wanted to say: why doesn't the author quit waiting for permission from the publisher and just become the publisher. In this day and age, it is easy to jump into being the person in power. It's a matter of remembering that you can do it, then doing it. I can understand why people don't do it too. It took a lot of effort to put together a book, especially carrying all the jobs from writing to editing to cover design. But if it fails at market, I have no one to blame by myself.

Want to know a secret? It can't fail.

My passion is in the story, in releasing it to the world for others to read. Guess what? That's already done. Well, book 1 of 4 is done. Book one is a success, and I'm committed now to finishing books 2-4. Each book will further that success to my commitment to this story. It's a cycle. Passion, commitment, success.

Where are you at with your story? Are you letting your passion fuel it even over hardships. Notice I didn't even mention failure in the above formula. Failures are temporary. When we're learning to walk, we fall down a few times. Being able to walk from one room to another keeps a baby trying. Seeing a published book on the shelf should fuel you to get your own done no matter what it takes. Don't wait for anyone else's approval. Do it.

Webcomic, Abbreviations, and Writing Tip

I was so bad! I forgot to put the next page of Sacred Knight up on the site last night. It hadn't started off very well, but let's just say that two Tylenol, two St. John's Wort, and a Valerian Root made things much better. Half an hour later and the world was once again filled with relaxed and sleepy colors. Didn't bode well for the things I wanted to get done though. I have put the next page up now though and I'll try to be better (no promises).

Don't worry. I did spend some time working on the second book. You know what? I'm getting tired of phrasing it that way. The working title (and most likely the title it'll end up with) is The Saint and The Betrayer. From now on, I'll reference it like I do when I'm making notes -- as SKL2 (meaning Sacred Knight - Legend 2). I started calling my chapters as Legends because in mangas like Immortal Rain, I saw that the artist titled each chapter as Cross 1, Cross 2, etc. and I really liked that. First I did it with Weblinks, calling each chapter a "Bite." It took me forever to come up with "Legend" for Sacred Knight. So, I started calling each chapter a Legend when I was working on the graphic novel. Just to confuse myself, I started calling the book SKL1 (meaning Sacred Knight - Legend 1). I hope that I remember that L1 mean the chapter 1 whereas SKL1 (in most circumstances) referred to the book. Nothing like the author trying to confuse herself! Now, when I talk about it, you'll understand my abbreviations.

Do you ever have obvious syncronicity in your life where you know you're getting a message for a reason? I do often and I'm learning to trust that feeling more. Last night I was looking for an art book. I came across another book that is called Trust the Process. It's about letting the creativity just flow in the direction that it wants to. Sometimes it gets a little too analytical for me, but maybe that's because I'm usually reading before bed and big words on a tired brain is never a good thing. Maybe it's because the visual art that's entered my life really has made me into more of a right brained person. I paused to really look at it and read the title. "Trust the process." It seemed to speak to me and I knew I had to let something flow.



A couple nights ago I had started writing a part of SKL2 that felt weird. While writing, I got an idea that would make a significant change to the story. I let it go until I decided if I wanted to keep it or not. Every so often through the next day, I let my mind ponder this change. I talked with my youngest son about the change. Of course that's hard because I don't want to give him too many spoilers -- I want him to find surprises in the story as he reads it too. But this was too good to keep to myself.

So last night with this message delivered to me, I'm writing along and I'm still not sure about this change or not. Writing, writing, writing. Then BOOM! I know I have to make the change. I'm still not sure why though. I'm not even sure at this point why I'm writing this -- I don't even like what I've written. My characters have taken control and won't give it back.

Then while getting ready for work this morning, it hits me! If I make the change, then it adds this extra dimension to my heroine. She's not stupid, she has already figured out what I'm just beginning to realize. Now I really don't have the choice, but to make the change -- she's made certain of that! Outsmarted by the characters - doh! But now I have more insight into her motivations and her fears.

More than that, when I was driving home today, I realized why I was writing the scene I was on. I didn't know where it was going and what purpose it served, but I was trying to build up one aspect of the story. What I didn't realize was that the heroine was also positioning herself in such a way that aids me in the getting a fact to the reader that will be a necessary clue later on. It amplifies the change I need to make. The whole thing came together like a knitted piece.

None of this would've been possible if I hadn't just trust the process. Sometimes those characters have to get away and go running in directions you don't expect. Trust them. Usually they know something you don't. So much of this whole story has been written because I was just trying a situation out with the characters. I'm glad that the several times I questioned where I was going with the story, I didn't decide to start a new draft, but kept pressing forward. I didn't have the feeling that I was absolutely off-track. A good friend of mine once told me that if I was off-track, just go back to where you last felt you were on-track and move forward from there. It's been good advice I've listened to often.

So, writers, if you feel off-track with your story, make a new draft and go back to where you last felt comfortable with it. Otherwise, trust the process and keep moving forward. You might be surprised where it leads you!

91% can't be wrong!

Yep, that's right. 91% of voters wanted more!

Okay, so you're wondering what's going on. Well, let me explain.

A long while ago I began uploading the first chapter of Sacred Knight as a graphic novel as a preview. It was only meant to be a few pages, but then I started thinking about uploading the whole chapter. Since I wasn't sure if anyone really wanted to finish reading it, I put up a poll to ask the people who mattered -- the readers.

A lot has happened since I first started that poll. For one, I wrote the whole novel (which started out as drafting the the script for the graphic novel) and I've made the decision to redo this whole chapter with color (thanks to Manga Studios 4). Hopefully some better art too -- hopefully I've learned something in this time!

Still, 91% of the voters wanted to see the rest of the first chapter. I don't want to disappoint. So, I'm continuing to post the first chapter in all its "basement art" wonderfulness! We all have to start somewhere.

Here's your preview. Enjoy.

Fear Settling In

Now that The Three Books is out to the world, there's fear now settling in.

For years it's been, "What if this happened to Steigan?" or "What if Steigan did that?" or "What would Steigan do?"

Now it's, "What if no one likes the story?" and "What if it's not nearly as good as I think it is?" and "What if it really wasn't ready?"

Should I have read through it a couple more times? Should I have made sure I that I had pushed the story as hard as I could?

I presume having this kind of fear is normal, right? A parent always worries about their child, right? Releasing a book is a monumental undertaking and when you've been working on it, thinking, and planning for so long, it's only natural to feel a certain amount of let down once it's done, right?

I can either wait for feedback or I can keep working on the next one. Hmmm. Marketing seems so hard when questions keep the fear inside. Steigan would hate for me to make statements that weren't true or fell short of the claims.

So I turn now and work on the next book. Soon, very soon, the fear will disappear and I'll be feeling back on top. I know this because this always happens. I must work through the uncertainty and feedback will come. I'll do shows and signings and get the marketing done. One piece of the puzzle at a time. Fear of failure isn't fatal, just a lesson in patience, don't you think?

Already I can hear Steigan telling me that one never knows what one is capable of until one tries. He'd tell me to keep moving, one foot in front of the other.

What do you do when fear stops you silly?

The Three Books Has Escaped!

“You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don't have that kind of feeling for what it is you are doing, you'll stop at the first giant hurdle.” -- George Lucas


Sacred Knight: The Three Books has escaped!

Physical copy here.

Coming soon to Amazon, only because it takes awhile for them to list the title after my approval. It'll probably come to my Amazon store the fastest.

eBook versions available for NOOK and Kindle.

For all versions, keep an eye on my publishing website as I'll list all the links as they become available.

Yada! It's party time!

And now for the Kindle

Yep, here it is! Yada!

You know, yesterday I was writing (working on book 2) and I needed to check a fact. Instead of opening up the file like I normally would have, I grabbed my proof and flipped to the passage I needed to reference. It was so cool!

Speaking of proof, I have the second one ordered. I certainly hope I don't find issues with it. I hope I'm nearing getting the physical book available. I've had a lot of requests for it -- starting to wonder if I should plan a book launch party! Thank you everyone for your support.

The Beginning!

The Three Books is now available for the NOOK!

I have to say that I'm really not surprised that the universe ended up getting the NOOK version out first. I do love Barnes & Noble!

If you have yet to decide between the NOOK and Kindle, let me just say that both my books look better on the NOOK. There's something strange about the formatting on the Kindle that makes my books just not quite right. I need to borrow a Kindle to see how other people's books look on it. I'm sure I just need to learn more. Still, if I had to only choose one ereader to format my books for, it'd be the NOOK just because of the simplicity.

Well, if you do own a Kindle, hopefully that version will be out by the end of the day. Still waiting on the print version.

Overall, I'm glad that I took the extra time to go through the book again. You'll have a better quality product for it.