RE: BurdaStyle: Where do you find sewing inspiration?

Well as is one of my usual habits, I was zipping around BurdaStyle checking out the new stuff, when I found THIS. Well, as not my usual style I decided to comment. I rarely ever say anything over there, so no one even knows I’m there half the time! LOL! Anyways, here is my answer:

***Where do you find sewing inspiration?***

EVERYWHERE! My mom was a seamstress, sew I was already sewing at age 6. I was 16 when I graduated from a fashion design college. In the 20+ years since, I have created tons of patterns and sew all my own fashions.

I not only create my own patterns, but I also design my own fabrics as well. I paint up watercolors and than get short runs of the fabric printed up. I get ideas for a lot og my designs from nature: birds, cats, the sky, waterfalls, trees – everything inspires me to paint. Than the fabric made from the paintings inspire the flow of the dress pattern as well.

Erte is my biggest inspiration. Much of my designs are reinterpretations of his designs. I just love his art deco and flapper styles.

Also, Japanese Kimono, esp those from the Momoyama period (1500′s). I love sewing kimono, because the lines are simple and allow for display of big bold fabric prints, which thus allows me to create huge print fabric designs as well.

***What magazines, websites, books do you look at for project ideas?***

Dover Books are my #1 source of inspiration. You see, I’m a life actor, which I means I CosPlay 24/7/365 and have for years. My daily wear consists of recreations of garb from the 1500′s – 1800′s as well as the 1920′s. Dover reprints tons of French, fashion illustrations, vintage paper dolls, Goody Lady, etc. Of course they are the ones who reprint Etre’s fashion prints as well.

National Geographic and Smithsonian Museum books are huge sources of inspiration as well. I get lots of ideas from cultural photos and antique paintings. I enjoy creating ethnic and historic bases patterns.

And than of course there’s my #1 source of inspiration: comic books. Yep, you heard me: comic books! I’m a huge fan of comic books, manga, graphic novels, super heroes, etc, and well, like I said, I’m really big into CosPlay, so of course a lot of what I design was inspired by comic books.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

Obsessed? I’m Not Obsessed… REALLY, I’m not!

When Next You See Me I’ll Look Like This:

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Categories: About me · Anachronism · Anachronist · Business · CosPlay · Gothic · Life · Lifestyle · Maine · Old Orchard Beach · SCA · Wendy C. Allen · comic books · cosplay in public · costume making · costumer · costumes · creativity · cross dressing · crossplay · drag queen · dressmaking · fabric · fashion · fashion design · fun things to do · inspiration · interesting facts · life blogging · medieval · my thoughts on… · painting · pattern making · patterns · sewing · sewing a costume · sewing a kimono · sewing advice · theater

Tagged: About me, Anachronist, Black Bobcat Fashions, BurdaStyle, CosPlay, cosplay in public, dressmaking, EelKat, Erte, inspiration, Japan, kimono, pattern making, Purple Peacock Patterns, sewing, The Rabbit Hole, Wendy C. Allen

Waiting for Emmett to come.

http://twitter.com/EelKat
http://www.facebook.com/EelKat
http://eknano.blogspot.com
http://eelkat.wordpress.com
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/132659
http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/user/132659

What is your inspiration for this year’s NaNovel?

As I said, my first thought was: “I want to write about a creepy circus”. From there on in, I threw around ideas about a vampire circus, a zombie circus, a circus from hell, a ghost circus, a circus that shows up every year, a circus that appears every 100 years, and other assorted various ideas about a circus that was not all it seemed.

The plot remained Gothic steampunk for the most part. The original idea itself came from “From Out of the Rain” a Tourchwood episode about a ghostly circus that showed up every time it rained. In that episode, Captain Jack and the gang noticed that every time a theater played old reels of circus side shows on a rainy night – people from the reels vanished from the film, while people from the theater were found frozen to death. Somehow the circus people had been literally captured on film and trapped on the film reels and could only escape if the film was played on rainy nights. Than they became soul sucking vampires who drained the life out of the living and returned to the film reel once it stopped raining. It was one of my favorite episodes of Tourchwood, and I wanted to write a book based on that same basic story line.

Something Wicked This Way Comes, another book/movie based around a ghostly circus, was also attracting my attention. Another circus that appears with changes in the weather – this one riding in on a ghost train, just before lightening storms. These shadowy carnies are attracted to the wicked desires of the hearts of mankind, more or less a circus straight from hell itself sent to give wicked men everything their hearts desire at the cost of their souls. In this story the men no sooner get their wish, than they are swept away and trapped forever as slaves to the circus’s evil leader Mr. Dark.

Another inspiration was “Dig This Cat, He’s Real Gone”, an episode of Tales From the Crypt. Again a circus theme, but this time an ordinary, every day, non-supernatural circus, which gets swindled by a freak of science – a man with a cat’s brain grafted to his own brain, thus giving him 9 lives to live and 8 times to die. He becomes a modern day Houdini, who instead of escaping actually died before your very eyes. After swindling the circus to near bankruptcy he gets his own just deserts when he remembers too late that he only had 7 lives to die because the cat had to die to give him it’s brain.

So throughout August and most of September, while my plot changed quite a bit on a daily basis, it remained firmly in the idea that it was to be based around some sort of creepy circus that could embody the terror these three circuses held for their audiences. And so while it had it’s basic theme, it still had neither plot nor characters to write about.

Find Out More About My 2009 NaNoWriMo Project

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

———-
Editing and Drafts
Create a Fantasy Realm
Advice For NaNoWriters!
Creating Character Profiles
Are You A Renegade A Writer?
How To Become a Better Writer
The Top 5 Tools For NaNoWriMo
What Genre Is My Vampire Story?
Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
Improving your writing with what you read.
Have You Written Your Author’s Interview Yet?
How I Reached 50,000 in 30 Days and You Can Too!
———-

. . .

————-

>What is your inspiration for this year’s NaNovel?

>

As I said, my first thought was: “I want to write about a creepy circus”. From there on in, I threw around ideas about a vampire circus, a zombie circus, a circus from hell, a ghost circus, a circus that shows up every year, a circus that appears every 100 years, and other assorted various ideas about a circus that was not all it seemed.

The plot remained Gothic steampunk for the most part. The original idea itself came from “From Out of the Rain” a Tourchwood episode about a ghostly circus that showed up every time it rained. In that episode, Captain Jack and the gang noticed that every time a theater played old reels of circus side shows on a rainy night – people from the reels vanished from the film, while people from the theater were found frozen to death. Somehow the circus people had been literally captured on film and trapped on the film reels and could only escape if the film was played on rainy nights. Than they became soul sucking vampires who drained the life out of the living and returned to the film reel once it stopped raining. It was one of my favorite episodes of Tourchwood, and I wanted to write a book based on that same basic story line.

Something Wicked This Way Comes, another book/movie based around a ghostly circus, was also attracting my attention. Another circus that appears with changes in the weather – this one riding in on a ghost train, just before lightening storms. These shadowy carnies are attracted to the wicked desires of the hearts of mankind, more or less a circus straight from hell itself sent to give wicked men everything their hearts desire at the cost of their souls. In this story the men no sooner get their wish, than they are swept away and trapped forever as slaves to the circus’s evil leader Mr. Dark.

Another inspiration was “Dig This Cat, He’s Real Gone”, an episode of Tales From the Crypt. Again a circus theme, but this time an ordinary, every day, non-supernatural circus, which gets swindled by a freak of science – a man with a cat’s brain grafted to his own brain, thus giving him 9 lives to live and 8 times to die. He becomes a modern day Houdini, who instead of escaping actually died before your very eyes. After swindling the circus to near bankruptcy he gets his own just deserts when he remembers too late that he only had 7 lives to die because the cat had to die to give him it’s brain.

So throughout August and most of September, while my plot changed quite a bit on a daily basis, it remained firmly in the idea that it was to be based around some sort of creepy circus that could embody the terror these three circuses held for their audiences. And so while it had it’s basic theme, it still had neither plot nor characters to write about.

Find Out More About My 2009 NaNoWriMo Project

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

———-
Editing and Drafts
Create a Fantasy Realm
Advice For NaNoWriters!
Creating Character Profiles
Are You A Renegade A Writer?
How To Become a Better Writer
The Top 5 Tools For NaNoWriMo
What Genre Is My Vampire Story?
Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
Improving your writing with what you read.
Have You Written Your Author’s Interview Yet?
How I Reached 50,000 in 30 Days and You Can Too!
———-

. . .

————-

>Need Help With NaNoWriMo Plot: Circus From Hell . . . Got any ideas for me?

>

Okay, I started a new thread on NaNoWriMo asking for help with my plot. Here’s a copy of that post:

I think I’ve decided more or less on my plot’s basic base line, which is: a “circus from hell” comes to town, abducts local girl, who by the time she’s rescued has fallen in love with one of the freak-acts and decides to marry him instead of going back with her rescuers. WOW! My entire plot in a single sentence! YAY! (That does not happen very often.)

Here’s the stuff I need help on if anyone has any ideas they want to bounce around:

I’m not sure if these guys are dead (zombies, vampires, ghosts etc.) or alive ( deal with the devil immortals, gypsies trapped in time, a band of extra freaky thugs, etc.) or if they are even human (alien invaders, wizards, faeries, trolls, etc.). What do you think? If you met up with this circus, what type of “creatures” would they be? Human? Not human? Dead? Alive? Alive but immortal?

I haven’t decided yet, if these guys are really actually FROM HELL and are like demons or lost souls or if they are just really creepy dudes who bill themselves as “From Hell” just to shock the crowd. Any thoughts on which way I should go here?

In all likelihood the ringmaster/band leader will be a violent tyrant and most of the acts his prisoners, in the side show against their will and kept locked in cages like animals, when not on stage. It’s very possible that he has killed several of them in the past and threatens to kill them as well if they don’t obey him, thus how he’s able to keep them obedient to him.

The genre is steampunk-Gothic-horror-Stockholm romance, that’ll probably get very dark and bloody/gory, since that’s just the way I write. Setting will be late 1800′s-1920′s -ish probably 1870′s there abouts.

The circus will be very Victorian side show/freak show type – more “freak of nature” people and less animal menagerie. It’ll probably have a great ape of some sort (a gorilla or orangutan?) and maybe a big cat or two, but basically not many animal acts. It’ll be mostly Barnum type acts: Siamese twins, midgets, giants, bearded lady, alligator man – that type of stuff. Okay, here’s the thing, I’m not sure what type of characters I want in the circus.

So I was wondering if you could do this: pretend you are going to this circus yourself, what would be the one thing you would most want to see? A guy with two heads? The Figi Mermaid? What? Since this’ll be a fantasy you can go ahead and be as creative as you want here, doesn’t have to actually be something that really happened. However, if you could recommend some REAL acts (and possibly links to sites about them???) that you wish you could have seen for yourself, that’d be really, really, really helpful to me. Again, the freakier the better – I’m looking for some really out-there stuff that would shock, stun, or terrify the audience when they saw it face to face.

Also, do you know are there any books like this already written – maybe something I could read to see what’s already been done, both to get ideas from and to avoid redoing the same thing?

Thanks for your help guys!

I’m leaning towards them being ghosts – maybe they died in a train crash in the 1800′s and now they haunt the same town 100 years later or something like that.

I started trying to figure this out in August and it took me until last week to get THAT much decided! I’ve only got 40 days left to come up with characters and a story-line/motive to go with the basic plot/idea that I’ve got. I’m hoping the new DARES Thread (after the Oct reboot) will help me flesh out the rest. I usually have really good luck fleshing out my plots using the DARES Thread and I’ve already worn out the 3 from 08 so I’m waiting for the new one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also – I’m going to try a repeat of last year (writing 5 novels simultaneously) only 5 novels was way to nerve racking, so I’m going to just stick with 2 novels this year.

That said, my second novel plot idea is to retell the NT Bible story of the Immaculate Conception as a science fiction, alien abduction story, told from the PoV of the 13 year old Mary Mother of Christ (did you know she was only 13 years old when Jesus was born?!?!) – her frustrations at trying to tell adults what happened, but having to deal with them ignoring her story and making it seem like something “sacred” by covering up what really happened and telling people it was God that took her. Than when the alien hybrid Jesus is born and starts doing “miracles” people REALLY start to believe he IS the son of God, and everything gets out of control, not because either Mary or Jesus claimed he was God’s son, but because the town’s folk said he was.

WOW! And my bishop is mad enough at me for my NaNo 08 – what’ll he say when he finds out about THIS one!?!?!

———-
Create a Fantasy Realm
Advice For NaNoWriters!
Creating Character Profiles
Are You A Renegade A Writer?
How To Become a Better Writer
Improving your writing with what you read.
Have You Written Your Author’s Interview Yet?

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

. . .

Hey, you know what? I sell Avon! I’m an Independent Avon eRepresentative and that means you can buy Avon from me, 24 hours a day, from your computer, from anyplace in the world, and Avon will ship it to you.

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

.
.

.

Need Help With NaNoWriMo Plot: Circus From Hell . . . Got any ideas for me?

Okay, I started a new thread on NaNoWriMo asking for help with my plot. Here’s a copy of that post:

I think I’ve decided more or less on my plot’s basic base line, which is: a “circus from hell” comes to town, abducts local girl, who by the time she’s rescued has fallen in love with one of the freak-acts and decides to marry him instead of going back with her rescuers. WOW! My entire plot in a single sentence! YAY! (That does not happen very often.)

Here’s the stuff I need help on if anyone has any ideas they want to bounce around:

I’m not sure if these guys are dead (zombies, vampires, ghosts etc.) or alive ( deal with the devil immortals, gypsies trapped in time, a band of extra freaky thugs, etc.) or if they are even human (alien invaders, wizards, faeries, trolls, etc.). What do you think? If you met up with this circus, what type of “creatures” would they be? Human? Not human? Dead? Alive? Alive but immortal?

I haven’t decided yet, if these guys are really actually FROM HELL and are like demons or lost souls or if they are just really creepy dudes who bill themselves as “From Hell” just to shock the crowd. Any thoughts on which way I should go here?

In all likelihood the ringmaster/band leader will be a violent tyrant and most of the acts his prisoners, in the side show against their will and kept locked in cages like animals, when not on stage. It’s very possible that he has killed several of them in the past and threatens to kill them as well if they don’t obey him, thus how he’s able to keep them obedient to him.

The genre is steampunk-Gothic-horror-Stockholm romance, that’ll probably get very dark and bloody/gory, since that’s just the way I write. Setting will be late 1800′s-1920′s -ish probably 1870′s there abouts.

The circus will be very Victorian side show/freak show type – more “freak of nature” people and less animal menagerie. It’ll probably have a great ape of some sort (a gorilla or orangutan?) and maybe a big cat or two, but basically not many animal acts. It’ll be mostly Barnum type acts: Siamese twins, midgets, giants, bearded lady, alligator man – that type of stuff. Okay, here’s the thing, I’m not sure what type of characters I want in the circus.

So I was wondering if you could do this: pretend you are going to this circus yourself, what would be the one thing you would most want to see? A guy with two heads? The Figi Mermaid? What? Since this’ll be a fantasy you can go ahead and be as creative as you want here, doesn’t have to actually be something that really happened. However, if you could recommend some REAL acts (and possibly links to sites about them???) that you wish you could have seen for yourself, that’d be really, really, really helpful to me. Again, the freakier the better – I’m looking for some really out-there stuff that would shock, stun, or terrify the audience when they saw it face to face.

Also, do you know are there any books like this already written – maybe something I could read to see what’s already been done, both to get ideas from and to avoid redoing the same thing?

Thanks for your help guys!

I’m leaning towards them being ghosts – maybe they died in a train crash in the 1800′s and now they haunt the same town 100 years later or something like that.

I started trying to figure this out in August and it took me until last week to get THAT much decided! I’ve only got 40 days left to come up with characters and a story-line/motive to go with the basic plot/idea that I’ve got. I’m hoping the new DARES Thread (after the Oct reboot) will help me flesh out the rest. I usually have really good luck fleshing out my plots using the DARES Thread and I’ve already worn out the 3 from 08 so I’m waiting for the new one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also – I’m going to try a repeat of last year (writing 5 novels simultaneously) only 5 novels was way to nerve racking, so I’m going to just stick with 2 novels this year.

That said, my second novel plot idea is to retell the NT Bible story of the Immaculate Conception as a science fiction, alien abduction story, told from the PoV of the 13 year old Mary Mother of Christ (did you know she was only 13 years old when Jesus was born?!?!) – her frustrations at trying to tell adults what happened, but having to deal with them ignoring her story and making it seem like something “sacred” by covering up what really happened and telling people it was God that took her. Than when the alien hybrid Jesus is born and starts doing “miracles” people REALLY start to believe he IS the son of God, and everything gets out of control, not because either Mary or Jesus claimed he was God’s son, but because the town’s folk said he was.

WOW! And my bishop is mad enough at me for my NaNo 08 – what’ll he say when he finds out about THIS one!?!?!

———-
Create a Fantasy Realm
Advice For NaNoWriters!
Creating Character Profiles
Are You A Renegade A Writer?
How To Become a Better Writer
Improving your writing with what you read.
Have You Written Your Author’s Interview Yet?

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

. . .

Hey, you know what? I sell Avon! I’m an Independent Avon eRepresentative and that means you can buy Avon from me, 24 hours a day, from your computer, from anyplace in the world, and Avon will ship it to you.

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

.
.

.

>The gothic-horror-steampunk-fantasy-Stockholm-romance genre?

>

I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out what to write. I know I’ve started a few threads already, about various plot ideas I was tossing about, but none of them has really stuck yet so I’m still searching for a plot. I’ve been trying different angles: create a character, than figure out what happened to them and why. That didn’t pan out. Than I tried: take an event and figure out a background story to it. Nothing. Next I went for: take a fairy tale and turn it inside out. A few ideas came, but quickly flew out the window. Than I thought – well maybe if I knew what genre I wanted to write, that might help me find my plot.

So here I am sitting here thing: What genre do I want to write? Well, what genre do I usually write? I have no idea.

I write lots of stuff. I have 30 years of various short stories, novellas, chap books, and novels kicking around. I’ve never been able to specifically place any of it in a single genre. Some of it reads like romance, but I don’t writ romance – it’s more: villain tortures damsel in distress and she goes head over heels for him, stuff – very Stockholm freak-out. But than, some of it reads like science fiction, in a very H.G.Wells Time Machine/Crystal Egg/Island of Dr Morue Victorian sci-fi/horror “steampunk” sort of way. Half of my character are not even from our galaxy let alone our solar system and a few alien abduction-UFO-Fox Mulder type scenes find their way into the stories. There’s more than a few morbid goth/emo haunted houses complete with “”Heathcliff” and “Rochester” dark moody freaky guy-with-a-dark-secret characters. Than I’ve got the whole slasher Freddy Krueger high on Stephen King type of stuff mixed in with everything else. To make things just a bit more out of the norm, mermaids, faeries, flying cats, and once in a while a unicorn or three sort of show up for no good reason at all.

So, I’m looking at the stuff I write and I’m asking myself “What the hell genre is this anyways?” It’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that and touch of these and a smattering of those all rolled into one mixed up surreal mess and I can’t make anything I write fit nicely in any of the standard genres! Finally I came up with the answer. I write: gothic-horror-steampunk-fantasy-Stockholm-romance genre

The gothic-horror-steampunk-fantasy-Stockholm-romance genre? I can’t even Tweet that on Twitter! It takes up the entire Tweet! LOL!

Okay, so now I have a name for the genre I want to write. It’s the ONLY genre I ever write, so I’m pretty much 110% positive that it’s the genre I’m going to be writing for NaNo 09. Now all I got to do is figure out what type of plot best matches this genre. Any one got any thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?

Is any one else writing/planning to write a story that could be considered part of the gothic-horror-steampunk-fantasy-Stockholm-romance genre? Have you got a plot yet? If so, can I borrow pieces of it? I need plot ideas!

Oh yeah — and I’ll looking for any character “ideas” as well.

And I don’t know why but for some reason I just started thinking: “Wouldn’t it be nice to write about a dark traveling side show.” (Thinking of the Tourchwood episode “Into the Rain” or whatever that episode was called – the one with the 100 year old freak show filled with ghosts that survived by sucking the life out of the living. – or sort of Ray Bradbury’s “Something Wicked This Way Comes” evil circus type of thing.) Hey! I like that idea! I wonder what kind of characters I could come up with for a plot like that?

Steampunk-Goth-Stockholm evil traveling circus from hell? oooh, I gave myself a plot idea while asking you guys to help me come up with a plot idea! YAY! Must go think on this some more – I think I could work with this.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

. . .

Hey, you know what? I sell Avon! I’m an Independent Avon eRepresentative and that means you can buy Avon from me, 24 hours a day, from your computer, from anyplace in the world, and Avon will ship it to you.

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:
.
.

.

The gothic-horror-steampunk-fantasy-Stockholm-romance genre?

I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out what to write. I know I’ve started a few threads already, about various plot ideas I was tossing about, but none of them has really stuck yet so I’m still searching for a plot. I’ve been trying different angles: create a character, than figure out what happened to them and why. That didn’t pan out. Than I tried: take an event and figure out a background story to it. Nothing. Next I went for: take a fairy tale and turn it inside out. A few ideas came, but quickly flew out the window. Than I thought – well maybe if I knew what genre I wanted to write, that might help me find my plot.

So here I am sitting here thing: What genre do I want to write? Well, what genre do I usually write? I have no idea.

I write lots of stuff. I have 30 years of various short stories, novellas, chap books, and novels kicking around. I’ve never been able to specifically place any of it in a single genre. Some of it reads like romance, but I don’t writ romance – it’s more: villain tortures damsel in distress and she goes head over heels for him, stuff – very Stockholm freak-out. But than, some of it reads like science fiction, in a very H.G.Wells Time Machine/Crystal Egg/Island of Dr Morue Victorian sci-fi/horror “steampunk” sort of way. Half of my character are not even from our galaxy let alone our solar system and a few alien abduction-UFO-Fox Mulder type scenes find their way into the stories. There’s more than a few morbid goth/emo haunted houses complete with “”Heathcliff” and “Rochester” dark moody freaky guy-with-a-dark-secret characters. Than I’ve got the whole slasher Freddy Krueger high on Stephen King type of stuff mixed in with everything else. To make things just a bit more out of the norm, mermaids, faeries, flying cats, and once in a while a unicorn or three sort of show up for no good reason at all.

So, I’m looking at the stuff I write and I’m asking myself “What the hell genre is this anyways?” It’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that and touch of these and a smattering of those all rolled into one mixed up surreal mess and I can’t make anything I write fit nicely in any of the standard genres! Finally I came up with the answer. I write: gothic-horror-steampunk-fantasy-Stockholm-romance genre

The gothic-horror-steampunk-fantasy-Stockholm-romance genre? I can’t even Tweet that on Twitter! It takes up the entire Tweet! LOL!

Okay, so now I have a name for the genre I want to write. It’s the ONLY genre I ever write, so I’m pretty much 110% positive that it’s the genre I’m going to be writing for NaNo 09. Now all I got to do is figure out what type of plot best matches this genre. Any one got any thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?

Is any one else writing/planning to write a story that could be considered part of the gothic-horror-steampunk-fantasy-Stockholm-romance genre? Have you got a plot yet? If so, can I borrow pieces of it? I need plot ideas!

Oh yeah — and I’ll looking for any character “ideas” as well.

And I don’t know why but for some reason I just started thinking: “Wouldn’t it be nice to write about a dark traveling side show.” (Thinking of the Tourchwood episode “Into the Rain” or whatever that episode was called – the one with the 100 year old freak show filled with ghosts that survived by sucking the life out of the living. – or sort of Ray Bradbury’s “Something Wicked This Way Comes” evil circus type of thing.) Hey! I like that idea! I wonder what kind of characters I could come up with for a plot like that?

Steampunk-Goth-Stockholm evil traveling circus from hell? oooh, I gave myself a plot idea while asking you guys to help me come up with a plot idea! YAY! Must go think on this some more – I think I could work with this.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

. . .

Hey, you know what? I sell Avon! I’m an Independent Avon eRepresentative and that means you can buy Avon from me, 24 hours a day, from your computer, from anyplace in the world, and Avon will ship it to you.

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:
.
.

.

More Info On My Business Plans

I was just posting a comment on some one else’s blog and it got so long that I’m copying it to here:

I have been mulling a similar idea of my own… I even had a blog I started just for randomly posting my “start my business” ideas on, so I could see them on screen and sort out what I did and did not want to do. I think I made like 5 posts on that blog and than never went back! LOL! I need to go back and throw some more ideas around.

Well, I got my own “business” to the point where I had written up a basic business plan, not very detailed though, I need to rewrite it. And I have a portfolio of my designs that I want to do. Plus I have the business name all set up and a logo. But that’s as far as I got.

What stopped me? Well, money for one. I had originally planned on opening a shop and selling direct to the public, but that was going to require a minimum of $200,000 because rent for a store is so high and they required a 3 year payment up front! So I temp. changed my idea from a store selling costumes and patterns to just selling patterns online, at least until I had enough money to do the store thing.

My next problem, was I had no idea how to get my patterns printed up so I could sell them! I checked with local print shops, but none of them did this sort of thing, and I couldn’t find any online either. So I was sunk for a while and have not yet found a way to do this.

Well, lets see what I can answer of your questions:

My proposal:
- Patterns would be in english and french.

great!

- They could be printed as booklets, because the papers never want to go back in the envelopes anyway.

ugh! fighting with paper vs envelope is such a nightmare! I like the booklet idea

- The steps would have to be clearly explained and illustrated.

always good… I often find illustrations easier to understand than the instructions, so the more illustrations the better, I say

What I still don’t know:
- Should they be basic designs to be modified by the user, or artsy personal designs?

maybe you could have a line for each? one line of simple “create your own style” patterns, and a second line with the designer originals created by you?

when I’m using a pattern I never stick with the pattern no matter how simple or hoe fancy it may be, cause I like to add my own personal touches to everything.

- Should I focus on styles that are not usually represented by major pattern brands (gothic, lolita, punk, etc.)?

YES! YES! YES! OMG! It is sooooo hard to find patterns for these styles. It’s the lack of patterns for these style that resulted in me making my own patterns in the first place! With the “business” I was planning my goal was to design patterns for Gothic, Lolita, and CosPlay because those are the patterns I end up designing because no one sells them.

- Should I include a few costumes as well? Historical or fantasy (or else)?

It can’t hurt. The more the merrier I say. For me, my focus would be largely costume and fantasy, because I planned the patterns I wanted to sell to be aimed mostly for CosPlayers and LARPers and SCAdians, all of whom are into the whom fantasy costume thing, so those were the target audience I was aiming for.

And most important: do I have any chance of selling any? I’m aware that I do not have any example of my apparel work on the net, but do you think the concept could work?

I think it would work (otherwise I wouldn’t be planning to do the same thing! LOL!) I think there are enough folks out there who can’t find goth type patterns who would love to buy them once you had them listed for sale.

Work From Home, Is It Possible?
The Goldeneagle
How to Start a Publishing Company
Self-Publish vs Vanity Press vs Traditional Publisher

All donations to Star Log go to The Rabbit Hole Fund. The Pidgie Fund buys food for pets in Southern Maine.

More Info On My Business Plans

I was just posting a comment on some one else’s blog and it got so long that I’m copying it to here:

I have been mulling a similar idea of my own… I even had a blog I started just for randomly posting my “start my business” ideas on, so I could see them on screen and sort out what I did and did not want to do. I think I made like 5 posts on that blog and than never went back! LOL! I need to go back and throw some more ideas around.

Well, I got my own “business” to the point where I had written up a basic business plan, not very detailed though, I need to rewrite it. And I have a portfolio of my designs that I want to do. Plus I have the business name all set up and a logo. But that’s as far as I got.

What stopped me? Well, money for one. I had originally planned on opening a shop and selling direct to the public, but that was going to require a minimum of $200,000 because rent for a store is so high and they required a 3 year payment up front! So I temp. changed my idea from a store selling costumes and patterns to just selling patterns online, at least until I had enough money to do the store thing.

My next problem, was I had no idea how to get my patterns printed up so I could sell them! I checked with local print shops, but none of them did this sort of thing, and I couldn’t find any online either. So I was sunk for a while and have not yet found a way to do this.

Well, lets see what I can answer of your questions:

My proposal:
- Patterns would be in english and french.

great!

- They could be printed as booklets, because the papers never want to go back in the envelopes anyway.

ugh! fighting with paper vs envelope is such a nightmare! I like the booklet idea

- The steps would have to be clearly explained and illustrated.

always good… I often find illustrations easier to understand than the instructions, so the more illustrations the better, I say

What I still don’t know:
- Should they be basic designs to be modified by the user, or artsy personal designs?

maybe you could have a line for each? one line of simple “create your own style” patterns, and a second line with the designer originals created by you?

when I’m using a pattern I never stick with the pattern no matter how simple or hoe fancy it may be, cause I like to add my own personal touches to everything.

- Should I focus on styles that are not usually represented by major pattern brands (gothic, lolita, punk, etc.)?

YES! YES! YES! OMG! It is sooooo hard to find patterns for these styles. It’s the lack of patterns for these style that resulted in me making my own patterns in the first place! With the “business” I was planning my goal was to design patterns for Gothic, Lolita, and CosPlay because those are the patterns I end up designing because no one sells them.

- Should I include a few costumes as well? Historical or fantasy (or else)?

It can’t hurt. The more the merrier I say. For me, my focus would be largely costume and fantasy, because I planned the patterns I wanted to sell to be aimed mostly for CosPlayers and LARPers and SCAdians, all of whom are into the whom fantasy costume thing, so those were the target audience I was aiming for.

And most important: do I have any chance of selling any? I’m aware that I do not have any example of my apparel work on the net, but do you think the concept could work?

I think it would work (otherwise I wouldn’t be planning to do the same thing! LOL!) I think there are enough folks out there who can’t find goth type patterns who would love to buy them once you had them listed for sale.

Work From Home, Is It Possible?
The Goldeneagle
How to Start a Publishing Company
Self-Publish vs Vanity Press vs Traditional Publisher

All donations to Star Log go to The Rabbit Hole Fund. The Pidgie Fund buys food for pets in Southern Maine.

More Info On My Business Plans

I was just posting a comment on some one else’s blog and it got so long that I’m copying it to here:

I have been mulling a similar idea of my own… I even had a blog I started just for randomly posting my “start my business” ideas on, so I could see them on screen and sort out what I did and did not want to do. I think I made like 5 posts on that blog and than never went back! LOL! I need to go back and throw some more ideas around.

Well, I got my own “business” to the point where I had written up a basic business plan, not very detailed though, I need to rewrite it. And I have a portfolio of my designs that I want to do. Plus I have the business name all set up and a logo. But that’s as far as I got.

What stopped me? Well, money for one. I had originally planned on opening a shop and selling direct to the public, but that was going to require a minimum of $200,000 because rent for a store is so high and they required a 3 year payment up front! So I temp. changed my idea from a store selling costumes and patterns to just selling patterns online, at least until I had enough money to do the store thing.

My next problem, was I had no idea how to get my patterns printed up so I could sell them! I checked with local print shops, but none of them did this sort of thing, and I couldn’t find any online either. So I was sunk for a while and have not yet found a way to do this.

Well, lets see what I can answer of your questions:

My proposal:
- Patterns would be in english and french.

great!

- They could be printed as booklets, because the papers never want to go back in the envelopes anyway.

ugh! fighting with paper vs envelope is such a nightmare! I like the booklet idea

- The steps would have to be clearly explained and illustrated.

always good… I often find illustrations easier to understand than the instructions, so the more illustrations the better, I say

What I still don’t know:
- Should they be basic designs to be modified by the user, or artsy personal designs?

maybe you could have a line for each? one line of simple “create your own style” patterns, and a second line with the designer originals created by you?

when I’m using a pattern I never stick with the pattern no matter how simple or hoe fancy it may be, cause I like to add my own personal touches to everything.

- Should I focus on styles that are not usually represented by major pattern brands (gothic, lolita, punk, etc.)?

YES! YES! YES! OMG! It is sooooo hard to find patterns for these styles. It’s the lack of patterns for these style that resulted in me making my own patterns in the first place! With the “business” I was planning my goal was to design patterns for Gothic, Lolita, and CosPlay because those are the patterns I end up designing because no one sells them.

- Should I include a few costumes as well? Historical or fantasy (or else)?

It can’t hurt. The more the merrier I say. For me, my focus would be largely costume and fantasy, because I planned the patterns I wanted to sell to be aimed mostly for CosPlayers and LARPers and SCAdians, all of whom are into the whom fantasy costume thing, so those were the target audience I was aiming for.

And most important: do I have any chance of selling any? I’m aware that I do not have any example of my apparel work on the net, but do you think the concept could work?

I think it would work (otherwise I wouldn’t be planning to do the same thing! LOL!) I think there are enough folks out there who can’t find goth type patterns who would love to buy them once you had them listed for sale.

Work From Home, Is It Possible?
The Goldeneagle
How to Start a Publishing Company
Self-Publish vs Vanity Press vs Traditional Publisher

All donations to Star Log go to The Rabbit Hole Fund. The Pidgie Fund buys food for pets in Southern Maine.

Who Are You REALLY?

Another question found on CosPlay.com, asked:

[QUOTE=DarknessSummit] Who are you when ur “not cosplaying”? what kind of person are you, what social group are u, what clothes do u wear, random hobbies, things like that…[/QUOTE]

I am a writer, editor, publisher, artist, doll maker, animal rights activist, costume maker, make-up artist, sale representative, and fashion designer.

I write in the Gothic, Horror, and Science Fiction genres. My works include a horror series, and it’s spin-offs. Some of my other writing habits include children’s stories, comic books, and the dark retellings of classic folk lore & fairy tales. I am the owner of The Twighlight Manor Press.

I live on a farm, which is the headquarters for The Pidgie Fund, where we take in roosters and feral cats, and other animals in need of a home. I’m currently caring for 70+ roosters and hens, 14 cats, and 1 dog, but the animals here change over time and have in the past included horses, goats, ducks, squirrels, turtles, wild birds, and just about every type of domestic animal you could name.

I also do gardening, both flowers and veggies.

I live on a farm, in the forest, on the beach. I am very in touch with nature. I spend more time with animals and trees than I do with humans. Me and my dog spend hours each week on the beach collecting shells.

In alphabetical order: I like Alan Rickman, Alice Cooper, Alice in Wonderland, anime, birds, candy, Carl Barks, cartoons, cats, C*C*DeVille, Colombo, comic books, CosPlay, Darkwing Duck, David Bowie, Disney, dogs, Don Rosa, Donald Duck, Dr. Who, dvds, eels, Etiole, fashion, Gothic, haunted houses, horror, ice cream, InuYasha, Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp, Kieth Laumer, manga, movies, NegaDuck, peacocks, pigeons, Lord Sesshomaru, Prof. Snape, Retief, roosters, sci-fi, Scrooge McDuck, Sir Roderic, Star Trek, Tom Baker, Twighlight Manor, Uncle Scrooge, video games, Vincent Price, Willy Wonka, writing, X-Files, Xena, Zorro.

When I go out in public, usually it’s to one of the five local libraries, where I practically live. I am a complete and total bookworm, and own a private library with a collection of more than 10,000 books and over 7,000 comic books, and still I end up at the public libraries doing research for my writing, mostly because I just love being in a library surrounded by all those books!

I dream about opening my own Gothic fashion shop; Gothic~Lolita~CosPlay Clothen Store, that has yet to be built. Everything is still in the planning stages.

As for what I wear: I change from CosPlay to Glam to Gothic to Lolita to Punk to Renaissance depending on my current mood. I’ve been one or the other since the early 1980′s, and often a mixture of all at once. Most people who see me call me “Goth”, but I don’t really think I fit in with the overall Goth look, but whatever. I prefer the term historical reenactor myself.

One of the dangers of being a Goth-CosPlay-type person in an area where no one but you is a Goth-CosPlay-type person, is that every time you set a foot outside, people gawk at you and start asking the silliest stupid dang questions. Like:

Are you promoting a play for the local theater?

Are you on the way to a costume party?

Is there a Renaissance Fair nearby?

Are you a circus clown?

OMG! It’s a Harry Potter fan!

Are you a witch?

. . .and my personal favorite:

What the hell planet did you drop off of?!?

yea . . .okay . . . whatever.

So what prompts these non-ending string of questions everywhere I go? My cloths.

CosPlay is my life. I have never been to a Con, but that hasn’t stopped me from wearing “costumes“, though technically these are not costumes as they are my actual street cloths or garb and therefor I do not call them costumes because I do not think of them as costumes. I do not own any “normal” non-costume “street cloths”. What you see me wearing as CosPlay type things IS the way I dress when I’m not CosPlaying, because for me, this is not about “playing”. My CosPlay can more correctly be termed as “historical reenactment of fantasy costumes“.

My clothen style includes velvet, capes, empire gowns, gowns with trains, burnoose, shawls, runas, fishnet hose, striped stockings, combat boots, velvet, top-hats, long dresses, ruffled frilly skirts, cosplay, Gothic, Lolita, Victorian, Edwardian, velvet, frock coats, Alice in Wonderland, vampire fashions, Medieval fashions, crinolines & petticoats, kimono, ethnic costumes, eyelash-fringe fabric, sequins, beads, glitter, lace, cloaks, ruffles, broomstick skirts, stripes, plaid, poet blouses, peasant dresses, fairy tale princess gowns, faerie outfits, wizard-look stuff, big hats, bright colored hats, ballet flats, platforms, anything that Dracula would love to wear, and also stuff like worn by Jem*, The Holograms, and The Misfits.

Whenever I go out in public, my conversations with strangers sounds something like this:

I was dressing like Jem, before Jem was invented.

I love anything made of velvet!

I don’t like pants: won’t wear them, won’t own them.

I the 1980′s I wore min-skirts, but as the years have gone by, my dresses and skirts got longer; today my hems sweep the floor and they often have trains. I have one dress that has 7 yards of fabric on the skirt alone, it can be worn with or without hoops.

No, what I’m wearing is not a costume.

Yes, I dress like this every day, all day long, even around the house, when working in the garden, and when shoveling manure out of the barn. Yes I am a farmer. Yes I do dress like this while doing farm work.

No, I don’t own any “normal” clothes.

No, I can’t tell you where I bought them, because I didn’t buy them, I sewed them.

No, I can’t tell you where to buy the pattern, I didn’t buy a pattern I made the pattern. I’ve been sewing since I was 6 years old when I made my first doll. I made my first ball-gown at age 12. At age 16 I graduated from a 2 year course in fashion design & merchandising. I’ve spent most of my life studying fashion history and the art of recreating historical clothen from the Gothic periods (1300 – 1500 & 1850 – 1930), and those are the clothes I thus wear.

No I already told you this is not a costume, these are my regular cloths, I don’t care if you think this is a costume, it is not, please stop asking me if it is.

I don’t like people who think I’m wearing a costume even after been told that I am not.

Yes, I know this looks like a Willy Wonka costume, yes, Johnny Depp inspired it. Yes, I do wear a top hat everywhere I go. No, I repeat this is not a costume.

Yes, I REALLY am making a historical reproduction of Lord Sesshomaru’s costume, and yes, I do intend to wear it daily as part of my street cloths, fluffy tail, battle armor, and all.

No, I’m not crazy, I just hate that Halloween only comes once a year so now I live every day like it was Halloween.

No, THIS . . . IS . . . NOT . . . A . . . COSTUME . . . I already told you, I always dress like this. I’ve been dressing like this for the last 20 years. Please stop making me repeat myself.

I have had that conversation so many times now it’s burned in my brain.

I think the funniest thing is that I am constantly asked for my ID….“You got to be over 18 . . .” yadda, yadda, yadda

Than I whip out my ID… “Is this real? Wait, you’re really THAT old? . . .but . . .but . . your cloths…. I thought you were a teenager! I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize… it’s just that your cloths… I thought…”

Honey, I haven’t been a teenager for 20 years! But thank you for thinking I was one, it’s not every day some one my age gets mistaken for a teenager… will, with me it is, but for other folks my age . . .

Well, that’s me. And as you can tell, I really like to write . . . a lot! LOL!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

Publishing Your Novel? Find out more about Publishing Methods and did you ever wonder How to Start a Publishing Company?

Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat’s Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Here is where you can find out How To Start Your Own POD Business to sell your art online and How I Became An Artist and What Art Equipment I Use and where
My Art is For Sale Online.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

. . .

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:
.
.

.

<!–
amazon_prw_id = “V20070822/US/spacedock13-20/8100/cb2ec468-f833-4c8e-875f-9c73abbe33ac”; amazon_prw_width = “728″; amazon_prw_height = “90″;//–>

Who Are You REALLY?

Another question found on CosPlay.com, asked:

[QUOTE=DarknessSummit] Who are you when ur “not cosplaying”? what kind of person are you, what social group are u, what clothes do u wear, random hobbies, things like that…[/QUOTE]

I am a writer, editor, publisher, artist, doll maker, animal rights activist, costume maker, make-up artist, sale representative, and fashion designer.

I write in the Gothic, Horror, and Science Fiction genres. My works include a horror series, and it’s spin-offs. Some of my other writing habits include children’s stories, comic books, and the dark retellings of classic folk lore & fairy tales. I am the owner of The Twighlight Manor Press.

I live on a farm, which is the headquarters for The Pidgie Fund, where we take in roosters and feral cats, and other animals in need of a home. I’m currently caring for 70+ roosters and hens, 14 cats, and 1 dog, but the animals here change over time and have in the past included horses, goats, ducks, squirrels, turtles, wild birds, and just about every type of domestic animal you could name.

I also do gardening, both flowers and veggies.

I live on a farm, in the forest, on the beach. I am very in touch with nature. I spend more time with animals and trees than I do with humans. Me and my dog spend hours each week on the beach collecting shells.

In alphabetical order: I like Alan Rickman, Alice Cooper, Alice in Wonderland, anime, birds, candy, Carl Barks, cartoons, cats, C*C*DeVille, Colombo, comic books, CosPlay, Darkwing Duck, David Bowie, Disney, dogs, Don Rosa, Donald Duck, Dr. Who, dvds, eels, Etiole, fashion, Gothic, haunted houses, horror, ice cream, InuYasha, Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp, Kieth Laumer, manga, movies, NegaDuck, peacocks, pigeons, Lord Sesshomaru, Prof. Snape, Retief, roosters, sci-fi, Scrooge McDuck, Sir Roderic, Star Trek, Tom Baker, Twighlight Manor, Uncle Scrooge, video games, Vincent Price, Willy Wonka, writing, X-Files, Xena, Zorro.

When I go out in public, usually it’s to one of the five local libraries, where I practically live. I am a complete and total bookworm, and own a private library with a collection of more than 10,000 books and over 7,000 comic books, and still I end up at the public libraries doing research for my writing, mostly because I just love being in a library surrounded by all those books!

I dream about opening my own Gothic fashion shop; Gothic~Lolita~CosPlay Clothen Store, that has yet to be built. Everything is still in the planning stages.

As for what I wear: I change from CosPlay to Glam to Gothic to Lolita to Punk to Renaissance depending on my current mood. I’ve been one or the other since the early 1980′s, and often a mixture of all at once. Most people who see me call me “Goth”, but I don’t really think I fit in with the overall Goth look, but whatever. I prefer the term historical reenactor myself.

One of the dangers of being a Goth-CosPlay-type person in an area where no one but you is a Goth-CosPlay-type person, is that every time you set a foot outside, people gawk at you and start asking the silliest stupid dang questions. Like:

Are you promoting a play for the local theater?

Are you on the way to a costume party?

Is there a Renaissance Fair nearby?

Are you a circus clown?

OMG! It’s a Harry Potter fan!

Are you a witch?

. . .and my personal favorite:

What the hell planet did you drop off of?!?

yea . . .okay . . . whatever.

So what prompts these non-ending string of questions everywhere I go? My cloths.

CosPlay is my life. I have never been to a Con, but that hasn’t stopped me from wearing “costumes“, though technically these are not costumes as they are my actual street cloths or garb and therefor I do not call them costumes because I do not think of them as costumes. I do not own any “normal” non-costume “street cloths”. What you see me wearing as CosPlay type things IS the way I dress when I’m not CosPlaying, because for me, this is not about “playing”. My CosPlay can more correctly be termed as “historical reenactment of fantasy costumes“.

My clothen style includes velvet, capes, empire gowns, gowns with trains, burnoose, shawls, runas, fishnet hose, striped stockings, combat boots, velvet, top-hats, long dresses, ruffled frilly skirts, cosplay, Gothic, Lolita, Victorian, Edwardian, velvet, frock coats, Alice in Wonderland, vampire fashions, Medieval fashions, crinolines & petticoats, kimono, ethnic costumes, eyelash-fringe fabric, sequins, beads, glitter, lace, cloaks, ruffles, broomstick skirts, stripes, plaid, poet blouses, peasant dresses, fairy tale princess gowns, faerie outfits, wizard-look stuff, big hats, bright colored hats, ballet flats, platforms, anything that Dracula would love to wear, and also stuff like worn by Jem*, The Holograms, and The Misfits.

Whenever I go out in public, my conversations with strangers sounds something like this:

I was dressing like Jem, before Jem was invented.

I love anything made of velvet!

I don’t like pants: won’t wear them, won’t own them.

I the 1980′s I wore min-skirts, but as the years have gone by, my dresses and skirts got longer; today my hems sweep the floor and they often have trains. I have one dress that has 7 yards of fabric on the skirt alone, it can be worn with or without hoops.

No, what I’m wearing is not a costume.

Yes, I dress like this every day, all day long, even around the house, when working in the garden, and when shoveling manure out of the barn. Yes I am a farmer. Yes I do dress like this while doing farm work.

No, I don’t own any “normal” clothes.

No, I can’t tell you where I bought them, because I didn’t buy them, I sewed them.

No, I can’t tell you where to buy the pattern, I didn’t buy a pattern I made the pattern. I’ve been sewing since I was 6 years old when I made my first doll. I made my first ball-gown at age 12. At age 16 I graduated from a 2 year course in fashion design & merchandising. I’ve spent most of my life studying fashion history and the art of recreating historical clothen from the Gothic periods (1300 – 1500 & 1850 – 1930), and those are the clothes I thus wear.

No I already told you this is not a costume, these are my regular cloths, I don’t care if you think this is a costume, it is not, please stop asking me if it is.

I don’t like people who think I’m wearing a costume even after been told that I am not.

Yes, I know this looks like a Willy Wonka costume, yes, Johnny Depp inspired it. Yes, I do wear a top hat everywhere I go. No, I repeat this is not a costume.

Yes, I REALLY am making a historical reproduction of Lord Sesshomaru’s costume, and yes, I do intend to wear it daily as part of my street cloths, fluffy tail, battle armor, and all.

No, I’m not crazy, I just hate that Halloween only comes once a year so now I live every day like it was Halloween.

No, THIS . . . IS . . . NOT . . . A . . . COSTUME . . . I already told you, I always dress like this. I’ve been dressing like this for the last 20 years. Please stop making me repeat myself.

I have had that conversation so many times now it’s burned in my brain.

I think the funniest thing is that I am constantly asked for my ID….“You got to be over 18 . . .” yadda, yadda, yadda

Than I whip out my ID… “Is this real? Wait, you’re really THAT old? . . .but . . .but . . your cloths…. I thought you were a teenager! I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize… it’s just that your cloths… I thought…”

Honey, I haven’t been a teenager for 20 years! But thank you for thinking I was one, it’s not every day some one my age gets mistaken for a teenager… will, with me it is, but for other folks my age . . .

Well, that’s me. And as you can tell, I really like to write . . . a lot! LOL!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

Publishing Your Novel? Find out more about Publishing Methods and did you ever wonder How to Start a Publishing Company?

Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat’s Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Here is where you can find out How To Start Your Own POD Business to sell your art online and How I Became An Artist and What Art Equipment I Use and where
My Art is For Sale Online.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

. . .

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:
.
.

.

<!–
amazon_prw_id = “V20070822/US/spacedock13-20/8100/cb2ec468-f833-4c8e-875f-9c73abbe33ac”; amazon_prw_width = “728″; amazon_prw_height = “90″;//–>

Who Are You REALLY?

Another question found on CosPlay.com, asked:

[QUOTE=DarknessSummit] Who are you when ur “not cosplaying”? what kind of person are you, what social group are u, what clothes do u wear, random hobbies, things like that…[/QUOTE]

I am a writer, editor, publisher, artist, doll maker, animal rights activist, costume maker, make-up artist, sale representative, and fashion designer.

I write in the Gothic, Horror, and Science Fiction genres. My works include a horror series, and it’s spin-offs. Some of my other writing habits include children’s stories, comic books, and the dark retellings of classic folk lore & fairy tales. I am the owner of The Twighlight Manor Press.

I live on a farm, which is the headquarters for The Pidgie Fund, where we take in roosters and feral cats, and other animals in need of a home. I’m currently caring for 70+ roosters and hens, 14 cats, and 1 dog, but the animals here change over time and have in the past included horses, goats, ducks, squirrels, turtles, wild birds, and just about every type of domestic animal you could name.

I also do gardening, both flowers and veggies.

I live on a farm, in the forest, on the beach. I am very in touch with nature. I spend more time with animals and trees than I do with humans. Me and my dog spend hours each week on the beach collecting shells.

In alphabetical order: I like Alan Rickman, Alice Cooper, Alice in Wonderland, anime, birds, candy, Carl Barks, cartoons, cats, C*C*DeVille, Colombo, comic books, CosPlay, Darkwing Duck, David Bowie, Disney, dogs, Don Rosa, Donald Duck, Dr. Who, dvds, eels, Etiole, fashion, Gothic, haunted houses, horror, ice cream, InuYasha, Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp, Kieth Laumer, manga, movies, NegaDuck, peacocks, pigeons, Lord Sesshomaru, Prof. Snape, Retief, roosters, sci-fi, Scrooge McDuck, Sir Roderic, Star Trek, Tom Baker, Twighlight Manor, Uncle Scrooge, video games, Vincent Price, Willy Wonka, writing, X-Files, Xena, Zorro.

When I go out in public, usually it’s to one of the five local libraries, where I practically live. I am a complete and total bookworm, and own a private library with a collection of more than 10,000 books and over 7,000 comic books, and still I end up at the public libraries doing research for my writing, mostly because I just love being in a library surrounded by all those books!

I dream about opening my own Gothic fashion shop; Gothic~Lolita~CosPlay Clothen Store, that has yet to be built. Everything is still in the planning stages.

As for what I wear: I change from CosPlay to Glam to Gothic to Lolita to Punk to Renaissance depending on my current mood. I’ve been one or the other since the early 1980′s, and often a mixture of all at once. Most people who see me call me “Goth”, but I don’t really think I fit in with the overall Goth look, but whatever. I prefer the term historical reenactor myself.

One of the dangers of being a Goth-CosPlay-type person in an area where no one but you is a Goth-CosPlay-type person, is that every time you set a foot outside, people gawk at you and start asking the silliest stupid dang questions. Like:

Are you promoting a play for the local theater?

Are you on the way to a costume party?

Is there a Renaissance Fair nearby?

Are you a circus clown?

OMG! It’s a Harry Potter fan!

Are you a witch?

. . .and my personal favorite:

What the hell planet did you drop off of?!?

yea . . .okay . . . whatever.

So what prompts these non-ending string of questions everywhere I go? My cloths.

CosPlay is my life. I have never been to a Con, but that hasn’t stopped me from wearing “costumes“, though technically these are not costumes as they are my actual street cloths or garb and therefor I do not call them costumes because I do not think of them as costumes. I do not own any “normal” non-costume “street cloths”. What you see me wearing as CosPlay type things IS the way I dress when I’m not CosPlaying, because for me, this is not about “playing”. My CosPlay can more correctly be termed as “historical reenactment of fantasy costumes“.

My clothen style includes velvet, capes, empire gowns, gowns with trains, burnoose, shawls, runas, fishnet hose, striped stockings, combat boots, velvet, top-hats, long dresses, ruffled frilly skirts, cosplay, Gothic, Lolita, Victorian, Edwardian, velvet, frock coats, Alice in Wonderland, vampire fashions, Medieval fashions, crinolines & petticoats, kimono, ethnic costumes, eyelash-fringe fabric, sequins, beads, glitter, lace, cloaks, ruffles, broomstick skirts, stripes, plaid, poet blouses, peasant dresses, fairy tale princess gowns, faerie outfits, wizard-look stuff, big hats, bright colored hats, ballet flats, platforms, anything that Dracula would love to wear, and also stuff like worn by Jem*, The Holograms, and The Misfits.

Whenever I go out in public, my conversations with strangers sounds something like this:

I was dressing like Jem, before Jem was invented.

I love anything made of velvet!

I don’t like pants: won’t wear them, won’t own them.

I the 1980′s I wore min-skirts, but as the years have gone by, my dresses and skirts got longer; today my hems sweep the floor and they often have trains. I have one dress that has 7 yards of fabric on the skirt alone, it can be worn with or without hoops.

No, what I’m wearing is not a costume.

Yes, I dress like this every day, all day long, even around the house, when working in the garden, and when shoveling manure out of the barn. Yes I am a farmer. Yes I do dress like this while doing farm work.

No, I don’t own any “normal” clothes.

No, I can’t tell you where I bought them, because I didn’t buy them, I sewed them.

No, I can’t tell you where to buy the pattern, I didn’t buy a pattern I made the pattern. I’ve been sewing since I was 6 years old when I made my first doll. I made my first ball-gown at age 12. At age 16 I graduated from a 2 year course in fashion design & merchandising. I’ve spent most of my life studying fashion history and the art of recreating historical clothen from the Gothic periods (1300 – 1500 & 1850 – 1930), and those are the clothes I thus wear.

No I already told you this is not a costume, these are my regular cloths, I don’t care if you think this is a costume, it is not, please stop asking me if it is.

I don’t like people who think I’m wearing a costume even after been told that I am not.

Yes, I know this looks like a Willy Wonka costume, yes, Johnny Depp inspired it. Yes, I do wear a top hat everywhere I go. No, I repeat this is not a costume.

Yes, I REALLY am making a historical reproduction of Lord Sesshomaru’s costume, and yes, I do intend to wear it daily as part of my street cloths, fluffy tail, battle armor, and all.

No, I’m not crazy, I just hate that Halloween only comes once a year so now I live every day like it was Halloween.

No, THIS . . . IS . . . NOT . . . A . . . COSTUME . . . I already told you, I always dress like this. I’ve been dressing like this for the last 20 years. Please stop making me repeat myself.

I have had that conversation so many times now it’s burned in my brain.

I think the funniest thing is that I am constantly asked for my ID….“You got to be over 18 . . .” yadda, yadda, yadda

Than I whip out my ID… “Is this real? Wait, you’re really THAT old? . . .but . . .but . . your cloths…. I thought you were a teenager! I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize… it’s just that your cloths… I thought…”

Honey, I haven’t been a teenager for 20 years! But thank you for thinking I was one, it’s not every day some one my age gets mistaken for a teenager… will, with me it is, but for other folks my age . . .

Well, that’s me. And as you can tell, I really like to write . . . a lot! LOL!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

Publishing Your Novel? Find out more about Publishing Methods and did you ever wonder How to Start a Publishing Company?

Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat’s Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Here is where you can find out How To Start Your Own POD Business to sell your art online and How I Became An Artist and What Art Equipment I Use and where
My Art is For Sale Online.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

. . .

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:
.
.

.

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Who Are You REALLY?

Another question found on CosPlay.com, asked:

[QUOTE=DarknessSummit] Who are you when ur “not cosplaying”? what kind of person are you, what social group are u, what clothes do u wear, random hobbies, things like that…[/QUOTE]

I am a writer, editor, publisher, artist, doll maker, animal rights activist, costume maker, make-up artist, sale representative, and fashion designer.

I write in the Gothic, Horror, and Science Fiction genres. My works include a horror series, and it’s spin-offs. Some of my other writing habits include children’s stories, comic books, and the dark retellings of classic folk lore & fairy tales. I am the owner of The Twighlight Manor Press.

I live on a farm, which is the headquarters for The Pidgie Fund, where we take in roosters and feral cats, and other animals in need of a home. I’m currently caring for 70+ roosters and hens, 14 cats, and 1 dog, but the animals here change over time and have in the past included horses, goats, ducks, squirrels, turtles, wild birds, and just about every type of domestic animal you could name.

I also do gardening, both flowers and veggies.

I live on a farm, in the forest, on the beach. I am very in touch with nature. I spend more time with animals and trees than I do with humans. Me and my dog spend hours each week on the beach collecting shells.

In alphabetical order: I like Alan Rickman, Alice Cooper, Alice in Wonderland, anime, birds, candy, Carl Barks, cartoons, cats, C*C*DeVille, Colombo, comic books, CosPlay, Darkwing Duck, David Bowie, Disney, dogs, Don Rosa, Donald Duck, Dr. Who, dvds, eels, Etiole, fashion, Gothic, haunted houses, horror, ice cream, InuYasha, Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp, Kieth Laumer, manga, movies, NegaDuck, peacocks, pigeons, Lord Sesshomaru, Prof. Snape, Retief, roosters, sci-fi, Scrooge McDuck, Sir Roderic, Star Trek, Tom Baker, Twighlight Manor, Uncle Scrooge, video games, Vincent Price, Willy Wonka, writing, X-Files, Xena, Zorro.

When I go out in public, usually it’s to one of the five local libraries, where I practically live. I am a complete and total bookworm, and own a private library with a collection of more than 10,000 books and over 7,000 comic books, and still I end up at the public libraries doing research for my writing, mostly because I just love being in a library surrounded by all those books!

I dream about opening my own Gothic fashion shop; Gothic~Lolita~CosPlay Clothen Store, that has yet to be built. Everything is still in the planning stages.

As for what I wear: I change from CosPlay to Glam to Gothic to Lolita to Punk to Renaissance depending on my current mood. I’ve been one or the other since the early 1980′s, and often a mixture of all at once. Most people who see me call me “Goth”, but I don’t really think I fit in with the overall Goth look, but whatever. I prefer the term historical reenactor myself.

One of the dangers of being a Goth-CosPlay-type person in an area where no one but you is a Goth-CosPlay-type person, is that every time you set a foot outside, people gawk at you and start asking the silliest stupid dang questions. Like:

Are you promoting a play for the local theater?

Are you on the way to a costume party?

Is there a Renaissance Fair nearby?

Are you a circus clown?

OMG! It’s a Harry Potter fan!

Are you a witch?

. . .and my personal favorite:

What the hell planet did you drop off of?!?

yea . . .okay . . . whatever.

So what prompts these non-ending string of questions everywhere I go? My cloths.

CosPlay is my life. I have never been to a Con, but that hasn’t stopped me from wearing “costumes“, though technically these are not costumes as they are my actual street cloths or garb and therefor I do not call them costumes because I do not think of them as costumes. I do not own any “normal” non-costume “street cloths”. What you see me wearing as CosPlay type things IS the way I dress when I’m not CosPlaying, because for me, this is not about “playing”. My CosPlay can more correctly be termed as “historical reenactment of fantasy costumes“.

My clothen style includes velvet, capes, empire gowns, gowns with trains, burnoose, shawls, runas, fishnet hose, striped stockings, combat boots, velvet, top-hats, long dresses, ruffled frilly skirts, cosplay, Gothic, Lolita, Victorian, Edwardian, velvet, frock coats, Alice in Wonderland, vampire fashions, Medieval fashions, crinolines & petticoats, kimono, ethnic costumes, eyelash-fringe fabric, sequins, beads, glitter, lace, cloaks, ruffles, broomstick skirts, stripes, plaid, poet blouses, peasant dresses, fairy tale princess gowns, faerie outfits, wizard-look stuff, big hats, bright colored hats, ballet flats, platforms, anything that Dracula would love to wear, and also stuff like worn by Jem*, The Holograms, and The Misfits.

Whenever I go out in public, my conversations with strangers sounds something like this:

I was dressing like Jem, before Jem was invented.

I love anything made of velvet!

I don’t like pants: won’t wear them, won’t own them.

I the 1980′s I wore min-skirts, but as the years have gone by, my dresses and skirts got longer; today my hems sweep the floor and they often have trains. I have one dress that has 7 yards of fabric on the skirt alone, it can be worn with or without hoops.

No, what I’m wearing is not a costume.

Yes, I dress like this every day, all day long, even around the house, when working in the garden, and when shoveling manure out of the barn. Yes I am a farmer. Yes I do dress like this while doing farm work.

No, I don’t own any “normal” clothes.

No, I can’t tell you where I bought them, because I didn’t buy them, I sewed them.

No, I can’t tell you where to buy the pattern, I didn’t buy a pattern I made the pattern. I’ve been sewing since I was 6 years old when I made my first doll. I made my first ball-gown at age 12. At age 16 I graduated from a 2 year course in fashion design & merchandising. I’ve spent most of my life studying fashion history and the art of recreating historical clothen from the Gothic periods (1300 – 1500 & 1850 – 1930), and those are the clothes I thus wear.

No I already told you this is not a costume, these are my regular cloths, I don’t care if you think this is a costume, it is not, please stop asking me if it is.

I don’t like people who think I’m wearing a costume even after been told that I am not.

Yes, I know this looks like a Willy Wonka costume, yes, Johnny Depp inspired it. Yes, I do wear a top hat everywhere I go. No, I repeat this is not a costume.

Yes, I REALLY am making a historical reproduction of Lord Sesshomaru’s costume, and yes, I do intend to wear it daily as part of my street cloths, fluffy tail, battle armor, and all.

No, I’m not crazy, I just hate that Halloween only comes once a year so now I live every day like it was Halloween.

No, THIS . . . IS . . . NOT . . . A . . . COSTUME . . . I already told you, I always dress like this. I’ve been dressing like this for the last 20 years. Please stop making me repeat myself.

I have had that conversation so many times now it’s burned in my brain.

I think the funniest thing is that I am constantly asked for my ID….“You got to be over 18 . . .” yadda, yadda, yadda

Than I whip out my ID… “Is this real? Wait, you’re really THAT old? . . .but . . .but . . your cloths…. I thought you were a teenager! I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize… it’s just that your cloths… I thought…”

Honey, I haven’t been a teenager for 20 years! But thank you for thinking I was one, it’s not every day some one my age gets mistaken for a teenager… will, with me it is, but for other folks my age . . .

Well, that’s me. And as you can tell, I really like to write . . . a lot! LOL!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles

This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat’s Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Who Are You REALLY?

Another question found on CosPlay.com, asked:

[QUOTE=DarknessSummit] Who are you when ur “not cosplaying”? what kind of person are you, what social group are u, what clothes do u wear, random hobbies, things like that…[/QUOTE]

I am a writer, editor, publisher, artist, doll maker, animal rights activist, costume maker, make-up artist, sale representative, and fashion designer.

I write in the Gothic, Horror, and Science Fiction genres. My works include a horror series, and it’s spin-offs. Some of my other writing habits include children’s stories, comic books, and the dark retellings of classic folk lore & fairy tales. I am the owner of The Twighlight Manor Press.

I live on a farm, which is the headquarters for The Pidgie Fund, where we take in roosters and feral cats, and other animals in need of a home. I’m currently caring for 70+ roosters and hens, 14 cats, and 1 dog, but the animals here change over time and have in the past included horses, goats, ducks, squirrels, turtles, wild birds, and just about every type of domestic animal you could name.

I also do gardening, both flowers and veggies.

I live on a farm, in the forest, on the beach. I am very in touch with nature. I spend more time with animals and trees than I do with humans. Me and my dog spend hours each week on the beach collecting shells.

In alphabetical order: I like Alan Rickman, Alice Cooper, Alice in Wonderland, anime, birds, candy, Carl Barks, cartoons, cats, C*C*DeVille, Colombo, comic books, CosPlay, Darkwing Duck, David Bowie, Disney, dogs, Don Rosa, Donald Duck, Dr. Who, dvds, eels, Etiole, fashion, Gothic, haunted houses, horror, ice cream, InuYasha, Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp, Kieth Laumer, manga, movies, NegaDuck, peacocks, pigeons, Lord Sesshomaru, Prof. Snape, Retief, roosters, sci-fi, Scrooge McDuck, Sir Roderic, Star Trek, Tom Baker, Twighlight Manor, Uncle Scrooge, video games, Vincent Price, Willy Wonka, writing, X-Files, Xena, Zorro.

When I go out in public, usually it’s to one of the five local libraries, where I practically live. I am a complete and total bookworm, and own a private library with a collection of more than 10,000 books and over 7,000 comic books, and still I end up at the public libraries doing research for my writing, mostly because I just love being in a library surrounded by all those books!

I dream about opening my own Gothic fashion shop; Gothic~Lolita~CosPlay Clothen Store, that has yet to be built. Everything is still in the planning stages.

As for what I wear: I change from CosPlay to Glam to Gothic to Lolita to Punk to Renaissance depending on my current mood. I’ve been one or the other since the early 1980′s, and often a mixture of all at once. Most people who see me call me “Goth”, but I don’t really think I fit in with the overall Goth look, but whatever. I prefer the term historical reenactor myself.

One of the dangers of being a Goth-CosPlay-type person in an area where no one but you is a Goth-CosPlay-type person, is that every time you set a foot outside, people gawk at you and start asking the silliest stupid dang questions. Like:

Are you promoting a play for the local theater?

Are you on the way to a costume party?

Is there a Renaissance Fair nearby?

Are you a circus clown?

OMG! It’s a Harry Potter fan!

Are you a witch?

. . .and my personal favorite:

What the hell planet did you drop off of?!?

yea . . .okay . . . whatever.

So what prompts these non-ending string of questions everywhere I go? My cloths.

CosPlay is my life. I have never been to a Con, but that hasn’t stopped me from wearing “costumes“, though technically these are not costumes as they are my actual street cloths or garb and therefor I do not call them costumes because I do not think of them as costumes. I do not own any “normal” non-costume “street cloths”. What you see me wearing as CosPlay type things IS the way I dress when I’m not CosPlaying, because for me, this is not about “playing”. My CosPlay can more correctly be termed as “historical reenactment of fantasy costumes“.

My clothen style includes velvet, capes, empire gowns, gowns with trains, burnoose, shawls, runas, fishnet hose, striped stockings, combat boots, velvet, top-hats, long dresses, ruffled frilly skirts, cosplay, Gothic, Lolita, Victorian, Edwardian, velvet, frock coats, Alice in Wonderland, vampire fashions, Medieval fashions, crinolines & petticoats, kimono, ethnic costumes, eyelash-fringe fabric, sequins, beads, glitter, lace, cloaks, ruffles, broomstick skirts, stripes, plaid, poet blouses, peasant dresses, fairy tale princess gowns, faerie outfits, wizard-look stuff, big hats, bright colored hats, ballet flats, platforms, anything that Dracula would love to wear, and also stuff like worn by Jem*, The Holograms, and The Misfits.

Whenever I go out in public, my conversations with strangers sounds something like this:

I was dressing like Jem, before Jem was invented.

I love anything made of velvet!

I don’t like pants: won’t wear them, won’t own them.

I the 1980′s I wore min-skirts, but as the years have gone by, my dresses and skirts got longer; today my hems sweep the floor and they often have trains. I have one dress that has 7 yards of fabric on the skirt alone, it can be worn with or without hoops.

No, what I’m wearing is not a costume.

Yes, I dress like this every day, all day long, even around the house, when working in the garden, and when shoveling manure out of the barn. Yes I am a farmer. Yes I do dress like this while doing farm work.

No, I don’t own any “normal” clothes.

No, I can’t tell you where I bought them, because I didn’t buy them, I sewed them.

No, I can’t tell you where to buy the pattern, I didn’t buy a pattern I made the pattern. I’ve been sewing since I was 6 years old when I made my first doll. I made my first ball-gown at age 12. At age 16 I graduated from a 2 year course in fashion design & merchandising. I’ve spent most of my life studying fashion history and the art of recreating historical clothen from the Gothic periods (1300 – 1500 & 1850 – 1930), and those are the clothes I thus wear.

No I already told you this is not a costume, these are my regular cloths, I don’t care if you think this is a costume, it is not, please stop asking me if it is.

I don’t like people who think I’m wearing a costume even after been told that I am not.

Yes, I know this looks like a Willy Wonka costume, yes, Johnny Depp inspired it. Yes, I do wear a top hat everywhere I go. No, I repeat this is not a costume.

Yes, I REALLY am making a historical reproduction of Lord Sesshomaru’s costume, and yes, I do intend to wear it daily as part of my street cloths, fluffy tail, battle armor, and all.

No, I’m not crazy, I just hate that Halloween only comes once a year so now I live every day like it was Halloween.

No, THIS . . . IS . . . NOT . . . A . . . COSTUME . . . I already told you, I always dress like this. I’ve been dressing like this for the last 20 years. Please stop making me repeat myself.

I have had that conversation so many times now it’s burned in my brain.

I think the funniest thing is that I am constantly asked for my ID….“You got to be over 18 . . .” yadda, yadda, yadda

Than I whip out my ID… “Is this real? Wait, you’re really THAT old? . . .but . . .but . . your cloths…. I thought you were a teenager! I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize… it’s just that your cloths… I thought…”

Honey, I haven’t been a teenager for 20 years! But thank you for thinking I was one, it’s not every day some one my age gets mistaken for a teenager… will, with me it is, but for other folks my age . . .

Well, that’s me. And as you can tell, I really like to write . . . a lot! LOL!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles

This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat’s Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Who Are You REALLY?

Another question found on CosPlay.com, asked:

[QUOTE=DarknessSummit] Who are you when ur “not cosplaying”? what kind of person are you, what social group are u, what clothes do u wear, random hobbies, things like that…[/QUOTE]

I am a writer, editor, publisher, artist, doll maker, animal rights activist, costume maker, make-up artist, sale representative, and fashion designer.

I write in the Gothic, Horror, and Science Fiction genres. My works include a horror series, and it’s spin-offs. Some of my other writing habits include children’s stories, comic books, and the dark retellings of classic folk lore & fairy tales. I am the owner of The Twighlight Manor Press.

I live on a farm, which is the headquarters for The Pidgie Fund, where we take in roosters and feral cats, and other animals in need of a home. I’m currently caring for 70+ roosters and hens, 14 cats, and 1 dog, but the animals here change over time and have in the past included horses, goats, ducks, squirrels, turtles, wild birds, and just about every type of domestic animal you could name.

I also do gardening, both flowers and veggies.

I live on a farm, in the forest, on the beach. I am very in touch with nature. I spend more time with animals and trees than I do with humans. Me and my dog spend hours each week on the beach collecting shells.

In alphabetical order: I like Alan Rickman, Alice Cooper, Alice in Wonderland, anime, birds, candy, Carl Barks, cartoons, cats, C*C*DeVille, Colombo, comic books, CosPlay, Darkwing Duck, David Bowie, Disney, dogs, Don Rosa, Donald Duck, Dr. Who, dvds, eels, Etiole, fashion, Gothic, haunted houses, horror, ice cream, InuYasha, Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp, Kieth Laumer, manga, movies, NegaDuck, peacocks, pigeons, Lord Sesshomaru, Prof. Snape, Retief, roosters, sci-fi, Scrooge McDuck, Sir Roderic, Star Trek, Tom Baker, Twighlight Manor, Uncle Scrooge, video games, Vincent Price, Willy Wonka, writing, X-Files, Xena, Zorro.

When I go out in public, usually it’s to one of the five local libraries, where I practically live. I am a complete and total bookworm, and own a private library with a collection of more than 10,000 books and over 7,000 comic books, and still I end up at the public libraries doing research for my writing, mostly because I just love being in a library surrounded by all those books!

I dream about opening my own Gothic fashion shop; Gothic~Lolita~CosPlay Clothen Store, that has yet to be built. Everything is still in the planning stages.

As for what I wear: I change from CosPlay to Glam to Gothic to Lolita to Punk to Renaissance depending on my current mood. I’ve been one or the other since the early 1980′s, and often a mixture of all at once. Most people who see me call me “Goth”, but I don’t really think I fit in with the overall Goth look, but whatever. I prefer the term historical reenactor myself.

One of the dangers of being a Goth-CosPlay-type person in an area where no one but you is a Goth-CosPlay-type person, is that every time you set a foot outside, people gawk at you and start asking the silliest stupid dang questions. Like:

Are you promoting a play for the local theater?

Are you on the way to a costume party?

Is there a Renaissance Fair nearby?

Are you a circus clown?

OMG! It’s a Harry Potter fan!

Are you a witch?

. . .and my personal favorite:

What the hell planet did you drop off of?!?

yea . . .okay . . . whatever.

So what prompts these non-ending string of questions everywhere I go? My cloths.

CosPlay is my life. I have never been to a Con, but that hasn’t stopped me from wearing “costumes“, though technically these are not costumes as they are my actual street cloths or garb and therefor I do not call them costumes because I do not think of them as costumes. I do not own any “normal” non-costume “street cloths”. What you see me wearing as CosPlay type things IS the way I dress when I’m not CosPlaying, because for me, this is not about “playing”. My CosPlay can more correctly be termed as “historical reenactment of fantasy costumes“.

My clothen style includes velvet, capes, empire gowns, gowns with trains, burnoose, shawls, runas, fishnet hose, striped stockings, combat boots, velvet, top-hats, long dresses, ruffled frilly skirts, cosplay, Gothic, Lolita, Victorian, Edwardian, velvet, frock coats, Alice in Wonderland, vampire fashions, Medieval fashions, crinolines & petticoats, kimono, ethnic costumes, eyelash-fringe fabric, sequins, beads, glitter, lace, cloaks, ruffles, broomstick skirts, stripes, plaid, poet blouses, peasant dresses, fairy tale princess gowns, faerie outfits, wizard-look stuff, big hats, bright colored hats, ballet flats, platforms, anything that Dracula would love to wear, and also stuff like worn by Jem*, The Holograms, and The Misfits.

Whenever I go out in public, my conversations with strangers sounds something like this:

I was dressing like Jem, before Jem was invented.

I love anything made of velvet!

I don’t like pants: won’t wear them, won’t own them.

I the 1980′s I wore min-skirts, but as the years have gone by, my dresses and skirts got longer; today my hems sweep the floor and they often have trains. I have one dress that has 7 yards of fabric on the skirt alone, it can be worn with or without hoops.

No, what I’m wearing is not a costume.

Yes, I dress like this every day, all day long, even around the house, when working in the garden, and when shoveling manure out of the barn. Yes I am a farmer. Yes I do dress like this while doing farm work.

No, I don’t own any “normal” clothes.

No, I can’t tell you where I bought them, because I didn’t buy them, I sewed them.

No, I can’t tell you where to buy the pattern, I didn’t buy a pattern I made the pattern. I’ve been sewing since I was 6 years old when I made my first doll. I made my first ball-gown at age 12. At age 16 I graduated from a 2 year course in fashion design & merchandising. I’ve spent most of my life studying fashion history and the art of recreating historical clothen from the Gothic periods (1300 – 1500 & 1850 – 1930), and those are the clothes I thus wear.

No I already told you this is not a costume, these are my regular cloths, I don’t care if you think this is a costume, it is not, please stop asking me if it is.

I don’t like people who think I’m wearing a costume even after been told that I am not.

Yes, I know this looks like a Willy Wonka costume, yes, Johnny Depp inspired it. Yes, I do wear a top hat everywhere I go. No, I repeat this is not a costume.

Yes, I REALLY am making a historical reproduction of Lord Sesshomaru’s costume, and yes, I do intend to wear it daily as part of my street cloths, fluffy tail, battle armor, and all.

No, I’m not crazy, I just hate that Halloween only comes once a year so now I live every day like it was Halloween.

No, THIS . . . IS . . . NOT . . . A . . . COSTUME . . . I already told you, I always dress like this. I’ve been dressing like this for the last 20 years. Please stop making me repeat myself.

I have had that conversation so many times now it’s burned in my brain.

I think the funniest thing is that I am constantly asked for my ID….“You got to be over 18 . . .” yadda, yadda, yadda

Than I whip out my ID… “Is this real? Wait, you’re really THAT old? . . .but . . .but . . your cloths…. I thought you were a teenager! I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize… it’s just that your cloths… I thought…”

Honey, I haven’t been a teenager for 20 years! But thank you for thinking I was one, it’s not every day some one my age gets mistaken for a teenager… will, with me it is, but for other folks my age . . .

Well, that’s me. And as you can tell, I really like to write . . . a lot! LOL!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles

This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat’s Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Who Are You REALLY?

Another question found on CosPlay.com, asked:

[QUOTE=DarknessSummit] Who are you when ur “not cosplaying”? what kind of person are you, what social group are u, what clothes do u wear, random hobbies, things like that…[/QUOTE]

I am a writer, editor, publisher, artist, doll maker, animal rights activist, costume maker, make-up artist, sale representative, and fashion designer.

I write in the Gothic, Horror, and Science Fiction genres. My works include a horror series, and it’s spin-offs. Some of my other writing habits include children’s stories, comic books, and the dark retellings of classic folk lore & fairy tales. I am the owner of The Twighlight Manor Press.

I live on a farm, which is the headquarters for The Pidgie Fund, where we take in roosters and feral cats, and other animals in need of a home. I’m currently caring for 70+ roosters and hens, 14 cats, and 1 dog, but the animals here change over time and have in the past included horses, goats, ducks, squirrels, turtles, wild birds, and just about every type of domestic animal you could name.

I also do gardening, both flowers and veggies.

I live on a farm, in the forest, on the beach. I am very in touch with nature. I spend more time with animals and trees than I do with humans. Me and my dog spend hours each week on the beach collecting shells.

In alphabetical order: I like Alan Rickman, Alice Cooper, Alice in Wonderland, anime, birds, candy, Carl Barks, cartoons, cats, C*C*DeVille, Colombo, comic books, CosPlay, Darkwing Duck, David Bowie, Disney, dogs, Don Rosa, Donald Duck, Dr. Who, dvds, eels, Etiole, fashion, Gothic, haunted houses, horror, ice cream, InuYasha, Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp, Kieth Laumer, manga, movies, NegaDuck, peacocks, pigeons, Lord Sesshomaru, Prof. Snape, Retief, roosters, sci-fi, Scrooge McDuck, Sir Roderic, Star Trek, Tom Baker, Twighlight Manor, Uncle Scrooge, video games, Vincent Price, Willy Wonka, writing, X-Files, Xena, Zorro.

When I go out in public, usually it’s to one of the five local libraries, where I practically live. I am a complete and total bookworm, and own a private library with a collection of more than 10,000 books and over 7,000 comic books, and still I end up at the public libraries doing research for my writing, mostly because I just love being in a library surrounded by all those books!

I dream about opening my own Gothic fashion shop; Gothic~Lolita~CosPlay Clothen Store, that has yet to be built. Everything is still in the planning stages.

As for what I wear: I change from CosPlay to Glam to Gothic to Lolita to Punk to Renaissance depending on my current mood. I’ve been one or the other since the early 1980′s, and often a mixture of all at once. Most people who see me call me “Goth”, but I don’t really think I fit in with the overall Goth look, but whatever. I prefer the term historical reenactor myself.

One of the dangers of being a Goth-CosPlay-type person in an area where no one but you is a Goth-CosPlay-type person, is that every time you set a foot outside, people gawk at you and start asking the silliest stupid dang questions. Like:

Are you promoting a play for the local theater?

Are you on the way to a costume party?

Is there a Renaissance Fair nearby?

Are you a circus clown?

OMG! It’s a Harry Potter fan!

Are you a witch?

. . .and my personal favorite:

What the hell planet did you drop off of?!?

yea . . .okay . . . whatever.

So what prompts these non-ending string of questions everywhere I go? My cloths.

CosPlay is my life. I have never been to a Con, but that hasn’t stopped me from wearing “costumes“, though technically these are not costumes as they are my actual street cloths or garb and therefor I do not call them costumes because I do not think of them as costumes. I do not own any “normal” non-costume “street cloths”. What you see me wearing as CosPlay type things IS the way I dress when I’m not CosPlaying, because for me, this is not about “playing”. My CosPlay can more correctly be termed as “historical reenactment of fantasy costumes“.

My clothen style includes velvet, capes, empire gowns, gowns with trains, burnoose, shawls, runas, fishnet hose, striped stockings, combat boots, velvet, top-hats, long dresses, ruffled frilly skirts, cosplay, Gothic, Lolita, Victorian, Edwardian, velvet, frock coats, Alice in Wonderland, vampire fashions, Medieval fashions, crinolines & petticoats, kimono, ethnic costumes, eyelash-fringe fabric, sequins, beads, glitter, lace, cloaks, ruffles, broomstick skirts, stripes, plaid, poet blouses, peasant dresses, fairy tale princess gowns, faerie outfits, wizard-look stuff, big hats, bright colored hats, ballet flats, platforms, anything that Dracula would love to wear, and also stuff like worn by Jem*, The Holograms, and The Misfits.

Whenever I go out in public, my conversations with strangers sounds something like this:

I was dressing like Jem, before Jem was invented.

I love anything made of velvet!

I don’t like pants: won’t wear them, won’t own them.

I the 1980′s I wore min-skirts, but as the years have gone by, my dresses and skirts got longer; today my hems sweep the floor and they often have trains. I have one dress that has 7 yards of fabric on the skirt alone, it can be worn with or without hoops.

No, what I’m wearing is not a costume.

Yes, I dress like this every day, all day long, even around the house, when working in the garden, and when shoveling manure out of the barn. Yes I am a farmer. Yes I do dress like this while doing farm work.

No, I don’t own any “normal” clothes.

No, I can’t tell you where I bought them, because I didn’t buy them, I sewed them.

No, I can’t tell you where to buy the pattern, I didn’t buy a pattern I made the pattern. I’ve been sewing since I was 6 years old when I made my first doll. I made my first ball-gown at age 12. At age 16 I graduated from a 2 year course in fashion design & merchandising. I’ve spent most of my life studying fashion history and the art of recreating historical clothen from the Gothic periods (1300 – 1500 & 1850 – 1930), and those are the clothes I thus wear.

No I already told you this is not a costume, these are my regular cloths, I don’t care if you think this is a costume, it is not, please stop asking me if it is.

I don’t like people who think I’m wearing a costume even after been told that I am not.

Yes, I know this looks like a Willy Wonka costume, yes, Johnny Depp inspired it. Yes, I do wear a top hat everywhere I go. No, I repeat this is not a costume.

Yes, I REALLY am making a historical reproduction of Lord Sesshomaru’s costume, and yes, I do intend to wear it daily as part of my street cloths, fluffy tail, battle armor, and all.

No, I’m not crazy, I just hate that Halloween only comes once a year so now I live every day like it was Halloween.

No, THIS . . . IS . . . NOT . . . A . . . COSTUME . . . I already told you, I always dress like this. I’ve been dressing like this for the last 20 years. Please stop making me repeat myself.

I have had that conversation so many times now it’s burned in my brain.

I think the funniest thing is that I am constantly asked for my ID….“You got to be over 18 . . .” yadda, yadda, yadda

Than I whip out my ID… “Is this real? Wait, you’re really THAT old? . . .but . . .but . . your cloths…. I thought you were a teenager! I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize… it’s just that your cloths… I thought…”

Honey, I haven’t been a teenager for 20 years! But thank you for thinking I was one, it’s not every day some one my age gets mistaken for a teenager… will, with me it is, but for other folks my age . . .

Well, that’s me. And as you can tell, I really like to write . . . a lot! LOL!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles

This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat’s Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Who Are You REALLY?

Another question found on CosPlay.com, asked:

[QUOTE=DarknessSummit] Who are you when ur “not cosplaying”? what kind of person are you, what social group are u, what clothes do u wear, random hobbies, things like that…[/QUOTE]

I am a writer, editor, publisher, artist, doll maker, animal rights activist, costume maker, make-up artist, sale representative, and fashion designer.

I write in the Gothic, Horror, and Science Fiction genres. My works include a horror series, and it’s spin-offs. Some of my other writing habits include children’s stories, comic books, and the dark retellings of classic folk lore & fairy tales. I am the owner of The Twighlight Manor Press.

I live on a farm, which is the headquarters for The Pidgie Fund, where we take in roosters and feral cats, and other animals in need of a home. I’m currently caring for 70+ roosters and hens, 14 cats, and 1 dog, but the animals here change over time and have in the past included horses, goats, ducks, squirrels, turtles, wild birds, and just about every type of domestic animal you could name.

I also do gardening, both flowers and veggies.

I live on a farm, in the forest, on the beach. I am very in touch with nature. I spend more time with animals and trees than I do with humans. Me and my dog spend hours each week on the beach collecting shells.

In alphabetical order: I like Alan Rickman, Alice Cooper, Alice in Wonderland, anime, birds, candy, Carl Barks, cartoons, cats, C*C*DeVille, Colombo, comic books, CosPlay, Darkwing Duck, David Bowie, Disney, dogs, Don Rosa, Donald Duck, Dr. Who, dvds, eels, Etiole, fashion, Gothic, haunted houses, horror, ice cream, InuYasha, Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp, Kieth Laumer, manga, movies, NegaDuck, peacocks, pigeons, Lord Sesshomaru, Prof. Snape, Retief, roosters, sci-fi, Scrooge McDuck, Sir Roderic, Star Trek, Tom Baker, Twighlight Manor, Uncle Scrooge, video games, Vincent Price, Willy Wonka, writing, X-Files, Xena, Zorro.

When I go out in public, usually it’s to one of the five local libraries, where I practically live. I am a complete and total bookworm, and own a private library with a collection of more than 10,000 books and over 7,000 comic books, and still I end up at the public libraries doing research for my writing, mostly because I just love being in a library surrounded by all those books!

I dream about opening my own Gothic fashion shop; Gothic~Lolita~CosPlay Clothen Store, that has yet to be built. Everything is still in the planning stages.

As for what I wear: I change from CosPlay to Glam to Gothic to Lolita to Punk to Renaissance depending on my current mood. I’ve been one or the other since the early 1980′s, and often a mixture of all at once. Most people who see me call me “Goth”, but I don’t really think I fit in with the overall Goth look, but whatever. I prefer the term historical reenactor myself.

One of the dangers of being a Goth-CosPlay-type person in an area where no one but you is a Goth-CosPlay-type person, is that every time you set a foot outside, people gawk at you and start asking the silliest stupid dang questions. Like:

Are you promoting a play for the local theater?

Are you on the way to a costume party?

Is there a Renaissance Fair nearby?

Are you a circus clown?

OMG! It’s a Harry Potter fan!

Are you a witch?

. . .and my personal favorite:

What the hell planet did you drop off of?!?

yea . . .okay . . . whatever.

So what prompts these non-ending string of questions everywhere I go? My cloths.

CosPlay is my life. I have never been to a Con, but that hasn’t stopped me from wearing “costumes“, though technically these are not costumes as they are my actual street cloths or garb and therefor I do not call them costumes because I do not think of them as costumes. I do not own any “normal” non-costume “street cloths”. What you see me wearing as CosPlay type things IS the way I dress when I’m not CosPlaying, because for me, this is not about “playing”. My CosPlay can more correctly be termed as “historical reenactment of fantasy costumes“.

My clothen style includes velvet, capes, empire gowns, gowns with trains, burnoose, shawls, runas, fishnet hose, striped stockings, combat boots, velvet, top-hats, long dresses, ruffled frilly skirts, cosplay, Gothic, Lolita, Victorian, Edwardian, velvet, frock coats, Alice in Wonderland, vampire fashions, Medieval fashions, crinolines & petticoats, kimono, ethnic costumes, eyelash-fringe fabric, sequins, beads, glitter, lace, cloaks, ruffles, broomstick skirts, stripes, plaid, poet blouses, peasant dresses, fairy tale princess gowns, faerie outfits, wizard-look stuff, big hats, bright colored hats, ballet flats, platforms, anything that Dracula would love to wear, and also stuff like worn by Jem*, The Holograms, and The Misfits.

Whenever I go out in public, my conversations with strangers sounds something like this:

I was dressing like Jem, before Jem was invented.

I love anything made of velvet!

I don’t like pants: won’t wear them, won’t own them.

I the 1980′s I wore min-skirts, but as the years have gone by, my dresses and skirts got longer; today my hems sweep the floor and they often have trains. I have one dress that has 7 yards of fabric on the skirt alone, it can be worn with or without hoops.

No, what I’m wearing is not a costume.

Yes, I dress like this every day, all day long, even around the house, when working in the garden, and when shoveling manure out of the barn. Yes I am a farmer. Yes I do dress like this while doing farm work.

No, I don’t own any “normal” clothes.

No, I can’t tell you where I bought them, because I didn’t buy them, I sewed them.

No, I can’t tell you where to buy the pattern, I didn’t buy a pattern I made the pattern. I’ve been sewing since I was 6 years old when I made my first doll. I made my first ball-gown at age 12. At age 16 I graduated from a 2 year course in fashion design & merchandising. I’ve spent most of my life studying fashion history and the art of recreating historical clothen from the Gothic periods (1300 – 1500 & 1850 – 1930), and those are the clothes I thus wear.

No I already told you this is not a costume, these are my regular cloths, I don’t care if you think this is a costume, it is not, please stop asking me if it is.

I don’t like people who think I’m wearing a costume even after been told that I am not.

Yes, I know this looks like a Willy Wonka costume, yes, Johnny Depp inspired it. Yes, I do wear a top hat everywhere I go. No, I repeat this is not a costume.

Yes, I REALLY am making a historical reproduction of Lord Sesshomaru’s costume, and yes, I do intend to wear it daily as part of my street cloths, fluffy tail, battle armor, and all.

No, I’m not crazy, I just hate that Halloween only comes once a year so now I live every day like it was Halloween.

No, THIS . . . IS . . . NOT . . . A . . . COSTUME . . . I already told you, I always dress like this. I’ve been dressing like this for the last 20 years. Please stop making me repeat myself.

I have had that conversation so many times now it’s burned in my brain.

I think the funniest thing is that I am constantly asked for my ID….“You got to be over 18 . . .” yadda, yadda, yadda

Than I whip out my ID… “Is this real? Wait, you’re really THAT old? . . .but . . .but . . your cloths…. I thought you were a teenager! I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize… it’s just that your cloths… I thought…”

Honey, I haven’t been a teenager for 20 years! But thank you for thinking I was one, it’s not every day some one my age gets mistaken for a teenager… will, with me it is, but for other folks my age . . .

Well, that’s me. And as you can tell, I really like to write . . . a lot! LOL!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

Publishing Your Novel? Find out more about Publishing Methods and did you ever wonder How to Start a Publishing Company?

Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat’s Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Here is where you can find out How To Start Your Own POD Business to sell your art online and How I Became An Artist and What Art Equipment I Use and where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Who Are You REALLY?

Another question found on CosPlay.com, asked:

[QUOTE=DarknessSummit] Who are you when ur “not cosplaying”? what kind of person are you, what social group are u, what clothes do u wear, random hobbies, things like that…[/QUOTE]

I am a writer, editor, publisher, artist, doll maker, animal rights activist, costume maker, make-up artist, sale representative, and fashion designer.

I write in the Gothic, Horror, and Science Fiction genres. My works include a horror series, and it’s spin-offs. Some of my other writing habits include children’s stories, comic books, and the dark retellings of classic folk lore & fairy tales. I am the owner of The Twighlight Manor Press.

I live on a farm, which is the headquarters for The Pidgie Fund, where we take in roosters and feral cats, and other animals in need of a home. I’m currently caring for 70+ roosters and hens, 14 cats, and 1 dog, but the animals here change over time and have in the past included horses, goats, ducks, squirrels, turtles, wild birds, and just about every type of domestic animal you could name.

I also do gardening, both flowers and veggies.

I live on a farm, in the forest, on the beach. I am very in touch with nature. I spend more time with animals and trees than I do with humans. Me and my dog spend hours each week on the beach collecting shells.

In alphabetical order: I like Alan Rickman, Alice Cooper, Alice in Wonderland, anime, birds, candy, Carl Barks, cartoons, cats, C*C*DeVille, Colombo, comic books, CosPlay, Darkwing Duck, David Bowie, Disney, dogs, Don Rosa, Donald Duck, Dr. Who, dvds, eels, Etiole, fashion, Gothic, haunted houses, horror, ice cream, InuYasha, Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp, Kieth Laumer, manga, movies, NegaDuck, peacocks, pigeons, Lord Sesshomaru, Prof. Snape, Retief, roosters, sci-fi, Scrooge McDuck, Sir Roderic, Star Trek, Tom Baker, Twighlight Manor, Uncle Scrooge, video games, Vincent Price, Willy Wonka, writing, X-Files, Xena, Zorro.

When I go out in public, usually it’s to one of the five local libraries, where I practically live. I am a complete and total bookworm, and own a private library with a collection of more than 10,000 books and over 7,000 comic books, and still I end up at the public libraries doing research for my writing, mostly because I just love being in a library surrounded by all those books!

I dream about opening my own Gothic fashion shop; Gothic~Lolita~CosPlay Clothen Store, that has yet to be built. Everything is still in the planning stages.

As for what I wear: I change from CosPlay to Glam to Gothic to Lolita to Punk to Renaissance depending on my current mood. I’ve been one or the other since the early 1980′s, and often a mixture of all at once. Most people who see me call me “Goth”, but I don’t really think I fit in with the overall Goth look, but whatever. I prefer the term historical reenactor myself.

One of the dangers of being a Goth-CosPlay-type person in an area where no one but you is a Goth-CosPlay-type person, is that every time you set a foot outside, people gawk at you and start asking the silliest stupid dang questions. Like:

Are you promoting a play for the local theater?

Are you on the way to a costume party?

Is there a Renaissance Fair nearby?

Are you a circus clown?

OMG! It’s a Harry Potter fan!

Are you a witch?

. . .and my personal favorite:

What the hell planet did you drop off of?!?

yea . . .okay . . . whatever.

So what prompts these non-ending string of questions everywhere I go? My cloths.

CosPlay is my life. I have never been to a Con, but that hasn’t stopped me from wearing “costumes“, though technically these are not costumes as they are my actual street cloths or garb and therefor I do not call them costumes because I do not think of them as costumes. I do not own any “normal” non-costume “street cloths”. What you see me wearing as CosPlay type things IS the way I dress when I’m not CosPlaying, because for me, this is not about “playing”. My CosPlay can more correctly be termed as “historical reenactment of fantasy costumes“.

My clothen style includes velvet, capes, empire gowns, gowns with trains, burnoose, shawls, runas, fishnet hose, striped stockings, combat boots, velvet, top-hats, long dresses, ruffled frilly skirts, cosplay, Gothic, Lolita, Victorian, Edwardian, velvet, frock coats, Alice in Wonderland, vampire fashions, Medieval fashions, crinolines & petticoats, kimono, ethnic costumes, eyelash-fringe fabric, sequins, beads, glitter, lace, cloaks, ruffles, broomstick skirts, stripes, plaid, poet blouses, peasant dresses, fairy tale princess gowns, faerie outfits, wizard-look stuff, big hats, bright colored hats, ballet flats, platforms, anything that Dracula would love to wear, and also stuff like worn by Jem*, The Holograms, and The Misfits.

Whenever I go out in public, my conversations with strangers sounds something like this:

I was dressing like Jem, before Jem was invented.

I love anything made of velvet!

I don’t like pants: won’t wear them, won’t own them.

I the 1980′s I wore min-skirts, but as the years have gone by, my dresses and skirts got longer; today my hems sweep the floor and they often have trains. I have one dress that has 7 yards of fabric on the skirt alone, it can be worn with or without hoops.

No, what I’m wearing is not a costume.

Yes, I dress like this every day, all day long, even around the house, when working in the garden, and when shoveling manure out of the barn. Yes I am a farmer. Yes I do dress like this while doing farm work.

No, I don’t own any “normal” clothes.

No, I can’t tell you where I bought them, because I didn’t buy them, I sewed them.

No, I can’t tell you where to buy the pattern, I didn’t buy a pattern I made the pattern. I’ve been sewing since I was 6 years old when I made my first doll. I made my first ball-gown at age 12. At age 16 I graduated from a 2 year course in fashion design & merchandising. I’ve spent most of my life studying fashion history and the art of recreating historical clothen from the Gothic periods (1300 – 1500 & 1850 – 1930), and those are the clothes I thus wear.

No I already told you this is not a costume, these are my regular cloths, I don’t care if you think this is a costume, it is not, please stop asking me if it is.

I don’t like people who think I’m wearing a costume even after been told that I am not.

Yes, I know this looks like a Willy Wonka costume, yes, Johnny Depp inspired it. Yes, I do wear a top hat everywhere I go. No, I repeat this is not a costume.

Yes, I REALLY am making a historical reproduction of Lord Sesshomaru’s costume, and yes, I do intend to wear it daily as part of my street cloths, fluffy tail, battle armor, and all.

No, I’m not crazy, I just hate that Halloween only comes once a year so now I live every day like it was Halloween.

No, THIS . . . IS . . . NOT . . . A . . . COSTUME . . . I already told you, I always dress like this. I’ve been dressing like this for the last 20 years. Please stop making me repeat myself.

I have had that conversation so many times now it’s burned in my brain.

I think the funniest thing is that I am constantly asked for my ID….“You got to be over 18 . . .” yadda, yadda, yadda

Than I whip out my ID… “Is this real? Wait, you’re really THAT old? . . .but . . .but . . your cloths…. I thought you were a teenager! I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize… it’s just that your cloths… I thought…”

Honey, I haven’t been a teenager for 20 years! But thank you for thinking I was one, it’s not every day some one my age gets mistaken for a teenager… will, with me it is, but for other folks my age . . .

Well, that’s me. And as you can tell, I really like to write . . . a lot! LOL!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

Publishing Your Novel? Find out more about Publishing Methods and did you ever wonder How to Start a Publishing Company?

Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat’s Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Here is where you can find out How To Start Your Own POD Business to sell your art online and How I Became An Artist and What Art Equipment I Use and where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Who Are You REALLY?

Another question found on CosPlay.com, asked:

[QUOTE=DarknessSummit] Who are you when ur “not cosplaying”? what kind of person are you, what social group are u, what clothes do u wear, random hobbies, things like that…[/QUOTE]

I am a writer, editor, publisher, artist, doll maker, animal rights activist, costume maker, make-up artist, sale representative, and fashion designer.

I write in the Gothic, Horror, and Science Fiction genres. My works include a horror series, and it’s spin-offs. Some of my other writing habits include children’s stories, comic books, and the dark retellings of classic folk lore & fairy tales. I am the owner of The Twighlight Manor Press.

I live on a farm, which is the headquarters for The Pidgie Fund, where we take in roosters and feral cats, and other animals in need of a home. I’m currently caring for 70+ roosters and hens, 14 cats, and 1 dog, but the animals here change over time and have in the past included horses, goats, ducks, squirrels, turtles, wild birds, and just about every type of domestic animal you could name.

I also do gardening, both flowers and veggies.

I live on a farm, in the forest, on the beach. I am very in touch with nature. I spend more time with animals and trees than I do with humans. Me and my dog spend hours each week on the beach collecting shells.

In alphabetical order: I like Alan Rickman, Alice Cooper, Alice in Wonderland, anime, birds, candy, Carl Barks, cartoons, cats, C*C*DeVille, Colombo, comic books, CosPlay, Darkwing Duck, David Bowie, Disney, dogs, Don Rosa, Donald Duck, Dr. Who, dvds, eels, Etiole, fashion, Gothic, haunted houses, horror, ice cream, InuYasha, Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp, Kieth Laumer, manga, movies, NegaDuck, peacocks, pigeons, Lord Sesshomaru, Prof. Snape, Retief, roosters, sci-fi, Scrooge McDuck, Sir Roderic, Star Trek, Tom Baker, Twighlight Manor, Uncle Scrooge, video games, Vincent Price, Willy Wonka, writing, X-Files, Xena, Zorro.

When I go out in public, usually it’s to one of the five local libraries, where I practically live. I am a complete and total bookworm, and own a private library with a collection of more than 10,000 books and over 7,000 comic books, and still I end up at the public libraries doing research for my writing, mostly because I just love being in a library surrounded by all those books!

I dream about opening my own Gothic fashion shop; Gothic~Lolita~CosPlay Clothen Store, that has yet to be built. Everything is still in the planning stages.

As for what I wear: I change from CosPlay to Glam to Gothic to Lolita to Punk to Renaissance depending on my current mood. I’ve been one or the other since the early 1980′s, and often a mixture of all at once. Most people who see me call me “Goth”, but I don’t really think I fit in with the overall Goth look, but whatever. I prefer the term historical reenactor myself.

One of the dangers of being a Goth-CosPlay-type person in an area where no one but you is a Goth-CosPlay-type person, is that every time you set a foot outside, people gawk at you and start asking the silliest stupid dang questions. Like:

Are you promoting a play for the local theater?

Are you on the way to a costume party?

Is there a Renaissance Fair nearby?

Are you a circus clown?

OMG! It’s a Harry Potter fan!

Are you a witch?

. . .and my personal favorite:

What the hell planet did you drop off of?!?

yea . . .okay . . . whatever.

So what prompts these non-ending string of questions everywhere I go? My cloths.

CosPlay is my life. I have never been to a Con, but that hasn’t stopped me from wearing “costumes“, though technically these are not costumes as they are my actual street cloths or garb and therefor I do not call them costumes because I do not think of them as costumes. I do not own any “normal” non-costume “street cloths”. What you see me wearing as CosPlay type things IS the way I dress when I’m not CosPlaying, because for me, this is not about “playing”. My CosPlay can more correctly be termed as “historical reenactment of fantasy costumes“.

My clothen style includes velvet, capes, empire gowns, gowns with trains, burnoose, shawls, runas, fishnet hose, striped stockings, combat boots, velvet, top-hats, long dresses, ruffled frilly skirts, cosplay, Gothic, Lolita, Victorian, Edwardian, velvet, frock coats, Alice in Wonderland, vampire fashions, Medieval fashions, crinolines & petticoats, kimono, ethnic costumes, eyelash-fringe fabric, sequins, beads, glitter, lace, cloaks, ruffles, broomstick skirts, stripes, plaid, poet blouses, peasant dresses, fairy tale princess gowns, faerie outfits, wizard-look stuff, big hats, bright colored hats, ballet flats, platforms, anything that Dracula would love to wear, and also stuff like worn by Jem*, The Holograms, and The Misfits.

Whenever I go out in public, my conversations with strangers sounds something like this:

I was dressing like Jem, before Jem was invented.

I love anything made of velvet!

I don’t like pants: won’t wear them, won’t own them.

I the 1980′s I wore min-skirts, but as the years have gone by, my dresses and skirts got longer; today my hems sweep the floor and they often have trains. I have one dress that has 7 yards of fabric on the skirt alone, it can be worn with or without hoops.

No, what I’m wearing is not a costume.

Yes, I dress like this every day, all day long, even around the house, when working in the garden, and when shoveling manure out of the barn. Yes I am a farmer. Yes I do dress like this while doing farm work.

No, I don’t own any “normal” clothes.

No, I can’t tell you where I bought them, because I didn’t buy them, I sewed them.

No, I can’t tell you where to buy the pattern, I didn’t buy a pattern I made the pattern. I’ve been sewing since I was 6 years old when I made my first doll. I made my first ball-gown at age 12. At age 16 I graduated from a 2 year course in fashion design & merchandising. I’ve spent most of my life studying fashion history and the art of recreating historical clothen from the Gothic periods (1300 – 1500 & 1850 – 1930), and those are the clothes I thus wear.

No I already told you this is not a costume, these are my regular cloths, I don’t care if you think this is a costume, it is not, please stop asking me if it is.

I don’t like people who think I’m wearing a costume even after been told that I am not.

Yes, I know this looks like a Willy Wonka costume, yes, Johnny Depp inspired it. Yes, I do wear a top hat everywhere I go. No, I repeat this is not a costume.

Yes, I REALLY am making a historical reproduction of Lord Sesshomaru’s costume, and yes, I do intend to wear it daily as part of my street cloths, fluffy tail, battle armor, and all.

No, I’m not crazy, I just hate that Halloween only comes once a year so now I live every day like it was Halloween.

No, THIS . . . IS . . . NOT . . . A . . . COSTUME . . . I already told you, I always dress like this. I’ve been dressing like this for the last 20 years. Please stop making me repeat myself.

I have had that conversation so many times now it’s burned in my brain.

I think the funniest thing is that I am constantly asked for my ID….“You got to be over 18 . . .” yadda, yadda, yadda

Than I whip out my ID… “Is this real? Wait, you’re really THAT old? . . .but . . .but . . your cloths…. I thought you were a teenager! I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize… it’s just that your cloths… I thought…”

Honey, I haven’t been a teenager for 20 years! But thank you for thinking I was one, it’s not every day some one my age gets mistaken for a teenager… will, with me it is, but for other folks my age . . .

Well, that’s me. And as you can tell, I really like to write . . . a lot! LOL!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

Publishing Your Novel? Find out more about Publishing Methods and did you ever wonder How to Start a Publishing Company?

Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat’s Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Here is where you can find out How To Start Your Own POD Business to sell your art online and How I Became An Artist and What Art Equipment I Use and where
My Art is For Sale Online.

>Who Are You REALLY?

>

Another question found on CosPlay.com, asked:

[QUOTE=DarknessSummit] Who are you when ur “not cosplaying”? what kind of person are you, what social group are u, what clothes do u wear, random hobbies, things like that…[/QUOTE]

I am a writer, editor, publisher, artist, doll maker, animal rights activist, costume maker, make-up artist, sale representative, and fashion designer.

I write in the Gothic, Horror, and Science Fiction genres. My works include a horror series, and it’s spin-offs. Some of my other writing habits include children’s stories, comic books, and the dark retellings of classic folk lore & fairy tales. I am the owner of The Twighlight Manor Press.

I live on a farm, which is the headquarters for The Pidgie Fund, where we take in roosters and feral cats, and other animals in need of a home. I’m currently caring for 70+ roosters and hens, 14 cats, and 1 dog, but the animals here change over time and have in the past included horses, goats, ducks, squirrels, turtles, wild birds, and just about every type of domestic animal you could name.

I also do gardening, both flowers and veggies.

I live on a farm, in the forest, on the beach. I am very in touch with nature. I spend more time with animals and trees than I do with humans. Me and my dog spend hours each week on the beach collecting shells.

In alphabetical order: I like Alan Rickman, Alice Cooper, Alice in Wonderland, anime, birds, candy, Carl Barks, cartoons, cats, C*C*DeVille, Colombo, comic books, CosPlay, Darkwing Duck, David Bowie, Disney, dogs, Don Rosa, Donald Duck, Dr. Who, dvds, eels, Etiole, fashion, Gothic, haunted houses, horror, ice cream, InuYasha, Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp, Kieth Laumer, manga, movies, NegaDuck, peacocks, pigeons, Lord Sesshomaru, Prof. Snape, Retief, roosters, sci-fi, Scrooge McDuck, Sir Roderic, Star Trek, Tom Baker, Twighlight Manor, Uncle Scrooge, video games, Vincent Price, Willy Wonka, writing, X-Files, Xena, Zorro.

When I go out in public, usually it’s to one of the five local libraries, where I practically live. I am a complete and total bookworm, and own a private library with a collection of more than 10,000 books and over 7,000 comic books, and still I end up at the public libraries doing research for my writing, mostly because I just love being in a library surrounded by all those books!

I dream about opening my own Gothic fashion shop; Gothic~Lolita~CosPlay Clothen Store, that has yet to be built. Everything is still in the planning stages.

As for what I wear: I change from CosPlay to Glam to Gothic to Lolita to Punk to Renaissance depending on my current mood. I’ve been one or the other since the early 1980′s, and often a mixture of all at once. Most people who see me call me “Goth”, but I don’t really think I fit in with the overall Goth look, but whatever. I prefer the term historical reenactor myself.

One of the dangers of being a Goth-CosPlay-type person in an area where no one but you is a Goth-CosPlay-type person, is that every time you set a foot outside, people gawk at you and start asking the silliest stupid dang questions. Like:

Are you promoting a play for the local theater?

Are you on the way to a costume party?

Is there a Renaissance Fair nearby?

Are you a circus clown?

OMG! It’s a Harry Potter fan!

Are you a witch?

. . .and my personal favorite:

What the hell planet did you drop off of?!?

yea . . .okay . . . whatever.

So what prompts these non-ending string of questions everywhere I go? My cloths.

CosPlay is my life. I have never been to a Con, but that hasn’t stopped me from wearing “costumes“, though technically these are not costumes as they are my actual street cloths or garb and therefor I do not call them costumes because I do not think of them as costumes. I do not own any “normal” non-costume “street cloths”. What you see me wearing as CosPlay type things IS the way I dress when I’m not CosPlaying, because for me, this is not about “playing”. My CosPlay can more correctly be termed as “historical reenactment of fantasy costumes“.

My clothen style includes velvet, capes, empire gowns, gowns with trains, burnoose, shawls, runas, fishnet hose, striped stockings, combat boots, velvet, top-hats, long dresses, ruffled frilly skirts, cosplay, Gothic, Lolita, Victorian, Edwardian, velvet, frock coats, Alice in Wonderland, vampire fashions, Medieval fashions, crinolines & petticoats, kimono, ethnic costumes, eyelash-fringe fabric, sequins, beads, glitter, lace, cloaks, ruffles, broomstick skirts, stripes, plaid, poet blouses, peasant dresses, fairy tale princess gowns, faerie outfits, wizard-look stuff, big hats, bright colored hats, ballet flats, platforms, anything that Dracula would love to wear, and also stuff like worn by Jem*, The Holograms, and The Misfits.

Whenever I go out in public, my conversations with strangers sounds something like this:

I was dressing like Jem, before Jem was invented.

I love anything made of velvet!

I don’t like pants: won’t wear them, won’t own them.

I the 1980′s I wore min-skirts, but as the years have gone by, my dresses and skirts got longer; today my hems sweep the floor and they often have trains. I have one dress that has 7 yards of fabric on the skirt alone, it can be worn with or without hoops.

No, what I’m wearing is not a costume.

Yes, I dress like this every day, all day long, even around the house, when working in the garden, and when shoveling manure out of the barn. Yes I am a farmer. Yes I do dress like this while doing farm work.

No, I don’t own any “normal” clothes.

No, I can’t tell you where I bought them, because I didn’t buy them, I sewed them.

No, I can’t tell you where to buy the pattern, I didn’t buy a pattern I made the pattern. I’ve been sewing since I was 6 years old when I made my first doll. I made my first ball-gown at age 12. At age 16 I graduated from a 2 year course in fashion design & merchandising. I’ve spent most of my life studying fashion history and the art of recreating historical clothen from the Gothic periods (1300 – 1500 & 1850 – 1930), and those are the clothes I thus wear.

No I already told you this is not a costume, these are my regular cloths, I don’t care if you think this is a costume, it is not, please stop asking me if it is.

I don’t like people who think I’m wearing a costume even after been told that I am not.

Yes, I know this looks like a Willy Wonka costume, yes, Johnny Depp inspired it. Yes, I do wear a top hat everywhere I go. No, I repeat this is not a costume.

Yes, I REALLY am making a historical reproduction of Lord Sesshomaru’s costume, and yes, I do intend to wear it daily as part of my street cloths, fluffy tail, battle armor, and all.

No, I’m not crazy, I just hate that Halloween only comes once a year so now I live every day like it was Halloween.

No, THIS . . . IS . . . NOT . . . A . . . COSTUME . . . I already told you, I always dress like this. I’ve been dressing like this for the last 20 years. Please stop making me repeat myself.

I have had that conversation so many times now it’s burned in my brain.

I think the funniest thing is that I am constantly asked for my ID….“You got to be over 18 . . .” yadda, yadda, yadda

Than I whip out my ID… “Is this real? Wait, you’re really THAT old? . . .but . . .but . . your cloths…. I thought you were a teenager! I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize… it’s just that your cloths… I thought…”

Honey, I haven’t been a teenager for 20 years! But thank you for thinking I was one, it’s not every day some one my age gets mistaken for a teenager… will, with me it is, but for other folks my age . . .

Well, that’s me. And as you can tell, I really like to write . . . a lot! LOL!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

Publishing Your Novel? Find out more about Publishing Methods and did you ever wonder How to Start a Publishing Company?

Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat’s Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Here is where you can find out How To Start Your Own POD Business to sell your art online and How I Became An Artist and What Art Equipment I Use and where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Who Are You REALLY?

Another question found on CosPlay.com, asked:

[QUOTE=DarknessSummit] Who are you when ur “not cosplaying”? what kind of person are you, what social group are u, what clothes do u wear, random hobbies, things like that…[/QUOTE]

I am a writer, editor, publisher, artist, doll maker, animal rights activist, costume maker, make-up artist, sale representative, and fashion designer.

I write in the Gothic, Horror, and Science Fiction genres. My works include a horror series, and it’s spin-offs. Some of my other writing habits include children’s stories, comic books, and the dark retellings of classic folk lore & fairy tales. I am the owner of The Twighlight Manor Press.

I live on a farm, which is the headquarters for The Pidgie Fund, where we take in roosters and feral cats, and other animals in need of a home. I’m currently caring for 70+ roosters and hens, 14 cats, and 1 dog, but the animals here change over time and have in the past included horses, goats, ducks, squirrels, turtles, wild birds, and just about every type of domestic animal you could name.

I also do gardening, both flowers and veggies.

I live on a farm, in the forest, on the beach. I am very in touch with nature. I spend more time with animals and trees than I do with humans. Me and my dog spend hours each week on the beach collecting shells.

In alphabetical order: I like Alan Rickman, Alice Cooper, Alice in Wonderland, anime, birds, candy, Carl Barks, cartoons, cats, C*C*DeVille, Colombo, comic books, CosPlay, Darkwing Duck, David Bowie, Disney, dogs, Don Rosa, Donald Duck, Dr. Who, dvds, eels, Etiole, fashion, Gothic, haunted houses, horror, ice cream, InuYasha, Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp, Kieth Laumer, manga, movies, NegaDuck, peacocks, pigeons, Lord Sesshomaru, Prof. Snape, Retief, roosters, sci-fi, Scrooge McDuck, Sir Roderic, Star Trek, Tom Baker, Twighlight Manor, Uncle Scrooge, video games, Vincent Price, Willy Wonka, writing, X-Files, Xena, Zorro.

When I go out in public, usually it’s to one of the five local libraries, where I practically live. I am a complete and total bookworm, and own a private library with a collection of more than 10,000 books and over 7,000 comic books, and still I end up at the public libraries doing research for my writing, mostly because I just love being in a library surrounded by all those books!

I dream about opening my own Gothic fashion shop; Gothic~Lolita~CosPlay Clothen Store, that has yet to be built. Everything is still in the planning stages.

As for what I wear: I change from CosPlay to Glam to Gothic to Lolita to Punk to Renaissance depending on my current mood. I’ve been one or the other since the early 1980′s, and often a mixture of all at once. Most people who see me call me “Goth”, but I don’t really think I fit in with the overall Goth look, but whatever. I prefer the term historical reenactor myself.

One of the dangers of being a Goth-CosPlay-type person in an area where no one but you is a Goth-CosPlay-type person, is that every time you set a foot outside, people gawk at you and start asking the silliest stupid dang questions. Like:

Are you promoting a play for the local theater?

Are you on the way to a costume party?

Is there a Renaissance Fair nearby?

Are you a circus clown?

OMG! It’s a Harry Potter fan!

Are you a witch?

. . .and my personal favorite:

What the hell planet did you drop off of?!?

yea . . .okay . . . whatever.

So what prompts these non-ending string of questions everywhere I go? My cloths.

CosPlay is my life. I have never been to a Con, but that hasn’t stopped me from wearing “costumes“, though technically these are not costumes as they are my actual street cloths or garb and therefor I do not call them costumes because I do not think of them as costumes. I do not own any “normal” non-costume “street cloths”. What you see me wearing as CosPlay type things IS the way I dress when I’m not CosPlaying, because for me, this is not about “playing”. My CosPlay can more correctly be termed as “historical reenactment of fantasy costumes“.

My clothen style includes velvet, capes, empire gowns, gowns with trains, burnoose, shawls, runas, fishnet hose, striped stockings, combat boots, velvet, top-hats, long dresses, ruffled frilly skirts, cosplay, Gothic, Lolita, Victorian, Edwardian, velvet, frock coats, Alice in Wonderland, vampire fashions, Medieval fashions, crinolines & petticoats, kimono, ethnic costumes, eyelash-fringe fabric, sequins, beads, glitter, lace, cloaks, ruffles, broomstick skirts, stripes, plaid, poet blouses, peasant dresses, fairy tale princess gowns, faerie outfits, wizard-look stuff, big hats, bright colored hats, ballet flats, platforms, anything that Dracula would love to wear, and also stuff like worn by Jem*, The Holograms, and The Misfits.

Whenever I go out in public, my conversations with strangers sounds something like this:

I was dressing like Jem, before Jem was invented.

I love anything made of velvet!

I don’t like pants: won’t wear them, won’t own them.

I the 1980′s I wore min-skirts, but as the years have gone by, my dresses and skirts got longer; today my hems sweep the floor and they often have trains. I have one dress that has 7 yards of fabric on the skirt alone, it can be worn with or without hoops.

No, what I’m wearing is not a costume.

Yes, I dress like this every day, all day long, even around the house, when working in the garden, and when shoveling manure out of the barn. Yes I am a farmer. Yes I do dress like this while doing farm work.

No, I don’t own any “normal” clothes.

No, I can’t tell you where I bought them, because I didn’t buy them, I sewed them.

No, I can’t tell you where to buy the pattern, I didn’t buy a pattern I made the pattern. I’ve been sewing since I was 6 years old when I made my first doll. I made my first ball-gown at age 12. At age 16 I graduated from a 2 year course in fashion design & merchandising. I’ve spent most of my life studying fashion history and the art of recreating historical clothen from the Gothic periods (1300 – 1500 & 1850 – 1930), and those are the clothes I thus wear.

No I already told you this is not a costume, these are my regular cloths, I don’t care if you think this is a costume, it is not, please stop asking me if it is.

I don’t like people who think I’m wearing a costume even after been told that I am not.

Yes, I know this looks like a Willy Wonka costume, yes, Johnny Depp inspired it. Yes, I do wear a top hat everywhere I go. No, I repeat this is not a costume.

Yes, I REALLY am making a historical reproduction of Lord Sesshomaru’s costume, and yes, I do intend to wear it daily as part of my street cloths, fluffy tail, battle armor, and all.

No, I’m not crazy, I just hate that Halloween only comes once a year so now I live every day like it was Halloween.

No, THIS . . . IS . . . NOT . . . A . . . COSTUME . . . I already told you, I always dress like this. I’ve been dressing like this for the last 20 years. Please stop making me repeat myself.

I have had that conversation so many times now it’s burned in my brain.

I think the funniest thing is that I am constantly asked for my ID….“You got to be over 18 . . .” yadda, yadda, yadda

Than I whip out my ID… “Is this real? Wait, you’re really THAT old? . . .but . . .but . . your cloths…. I thought you were a teenager! I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize… it’s just that your cloths… I thought…”

Honey, I haven’t been a teenager for 20 years! But thank you for thinking I was one, it’s not every day some one my age gets mistaken for a teenager… will, with me it is, but for other folks my age . . .

Well, that’s me. And as you can tell, I really like to write . . . a lot! LOL!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

Publishing Your Novel? Find out more about Publishing Methods and did you ever wonder How to Start a Publishing Company?

Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat’s Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Here is where you can find out How To Start Your Own POD Business to sell your art online and How I Became An Artist and What Art Equipment I Use and where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Some Thoughts On Life Acting

Life acting is living in costume 24/7, it is when your costume is no longer considered a costume, because it is actually your street cloths. While reading the threads on CosPlay.com, I find that most folks CosPlay only one or two days a year. Only a few live “in costume”. Interesting.

I live in costume, have been nearly 15 years now. I love it when people come up to me and ask if there is a fair or a carnival or something near by. Because I live in “the arts district” a lot of people ask me if I’m promoting a play for a local theater or something! LOL!

It’s a bit creepy though when you go shopping and the store security guards follows you all over the place! 0.O When I first started doing this, this kind of thing happened A LOT! Most stores see me in there building so much now (as I shop in the same places over and over again) that they are used to me and don’t bother with me anymore.

I’ve been doing this so long now, though, that most folks around here have seen me at some point and I’m just “one of the weird locals”.

People are always asking me what I look like in my street cloths, and I tell them, these are my street cloths; than they say, “No, I mean, what do you wear around the house?”… you’re looking at it. “But what do you wear when you are not in costume?… Honey, I am NOT in costume NOW, this REALLY IS the way I dress every day 24/7!

It farther shocks people when I tell them that I am a farmer, I even dress like this when doing chore such as tilling the garden and shoveling out stalls.

Fact is, I do not even own any “normal” cloths, that “normal” people would consider “normal” street cloths.

When asked why I do this, I explain that originally Halloween was my favorite day, and I hated that I only got to “dress up” one day of the year, so each October, I would wear my costumes every day of the month. After a couple of years of doing this though, I realized, that wearing costume only for the month of October wasn’t cutting it for me either, these cloths were the cloths that I REALLY liked wearing, I hated my “normal” street cloths, I loved my costumes, and before I knew it I was wearing them 356 days a year.

I don’t do it to scare anybody, or to shock anybody, or to make any kind of statement or anything like that, I do it because this is just who I am, and these are the cloths I just feel most comfortable wearing.

For the most part, I do historical reenactment stuff, and when I do characters, I do what they would have worn had they been real, and not exactly what they wore in the books/shows.

Would you get on the news? Not unless you were really doing something newworthy, likely robbing banks in costume… if you are not breaking any laws, news reporters are not interested in you.

You will get people who want to take your picture though… I get that.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles

This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat’s Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Some Thoughts On Life Acting

Life acting is living in costume 24/7, it is when your costume is no longer considered a costume, because it is actually your street cloths. While reading the threads on CosPlay.com, I find that most folks CosPlay only one or two days a year. Only a few live “in costume”. Interesting.

I live in costume, have been nearly 15 years now. I love it when people come up to me and ask if there is a fair or a carnival or something near by. Because I live in “the arts district” a lot of people ask me if I’m promoting a play for a local theater or something! LOL!

It’s a bit creepy though when you go shopping and the store security guards follows you all over the place! 0.O When I first started doing this, this kind of thing happened A LOT! Most stores see me in there building so much now (as I shop in the same places over and over again) that they are used to me and don’t bother with me anymore.

I’ve been doing this so long now, though, that most folks around here have seen me at some point and I’m just “one of the weird locals”.

People are always asking me what I look like in my street cloths, and I tell them, these are my street cloths; than they say, “No, I mean, what do you wear around the house?”… you’re looking at it. “But what do you wear when you are not in costume?… Honey, I am NOT in costume NOW, this REALLY IS the way I dress every day 24/7!

It farther shocks people when I tell them that I am a farmer, I even dress like this when doing chore such as tilling the garden and shoveling out stalls.

Fact is, I do not even own any “normal” cloths, that “normal” people would consider “normal” street cloths.

When asked why I do this, I explain that originally Halloween was my favorite day, and I hated that I only got to “dress up” one day of the year, so each October, I would wear my costumes every day of the month. After a couple of years of doing this though, I realized, that wearing costume only for the month of October wasn’t cutting it for me either, these cloths were the cloths that I REALLY liked wearing, I hated my “normal” street cloths, I loved my costumes, and before I knew it I was wearing them 356 days a year.

I don’t do it to scare anybody, or to shock anybody, or to make any kind of statement or anything like that, I do it because this is just who I am, and these are the cloths I just feel most comfortable wearing.

For the most part, I do historical reenactment stuff, and when I do characters, I do what they would have worn had they been real, and not exactly what they wore in the books/shows.

Would you get on the news? Not unless you were really doing something newworthy, likely robbing banks in costume… if you are not breaking any laws, news reporters are not interested in you.

You will get people who want to take your picture though… I get that.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles

This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat’s Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Some Thoughts On Life Acting

Life acting is living in costume 24/7, it is when your costume is no longer considered a costume, because it is actually your street cloths. While reading the threads on CosPlay.com, I find that most folks CosPlay only one or two days a year. Only a few live “in costume”. Interesting.

I live in costume, have been nearly 15 years now. I love it when people come up to me and ask if there is a fair or a carnival or something near by. Because I live in “the arts district” a lot of people ask me if I’m promoting a play for a local theater or something! LOL!

It’s a bit creepy though when you go shopping and the store security guards follows you all over the place! 0.O When I first started doing this, this kind of thing happened A LOT! Most stores see me in there building so much now (as I shop in the same places over and over again) that they are used to me and don’t bother with me anymore.

I’ve been doing this so long now, though, that most folks around here have seen me at some point and I’m just “one of the weird locals”.

People are always asking me what I look like in my street cloths, and I tell them, these are my street cloths; than they say, “No, I mean, what do you wear around the house?”… you’re looking at it. “But what do you wear when you are not in costume?… Honey, I am NOT in costume NOW, this REALLY IS the way I dress every day 24/7!

It farther shocks people when I tell them that I am a farmer, I even dress like this when doing chore such as tilling the garden and shoveling out stalls.

Fact is, I do not even own any “normal” cloths, that “normal” people would consider “normal” street cloths.

When asked why I do this, I explain that originally Halloween was my favorite day, and I hated that I only got to “dress up” one day of the year, so each October, I would wear my costumes every day of the month. After a couple of years of doing this though, I realized, that wearing costume only for the month of October wasn’t cutting it for me either, these cloths were the cloths that I REALLY liked wearing, I hated my “normal” street cloths, I loved my costumes, and before I knew it I was wearing them 356 days a year.

I don’t do it to scare anybody, or to shock anybody, or to make any kind of statement or anything like that, I do it because this is just who I am, and these are the cloths I just feel most comfortable wearing.

For the most part, I do historical reenactment stuff, and when I do characters, I do what they would have worn had they been real, and not exactly what they wore in the books/shows.

Would you get on the news? Not unless you were really doing something newworthy, likely robbing banks in costume… if you are not breaking any laws, news reporters are not interested in you.

You will get people who want to take your picture though… I get that.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume.

Do you think Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser? Join the debate and tell the world what you think!

Do you CosPlay? Here is A List of my CosPlay Aticles

This is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Want to join Squidoo? Than you need to read EelKat’s Secrets To Squidoo Success and What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Are you seeking an online debate to join and tell the world what you think about it? Than you need to check out this List of Active Debates that are waiting for you to speak out on them!

Where
My Art is For Sale Online.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!