Congratulations! You've just discovered the Mysterious Blog of Sheila A. Nielson
This is where I post hints, work-in-progress concept items, and information about stories that I'm currently working on, but are not published yet. Many of them will never see the light of publication, but then again--maybe they will.
I will not be posting any outside links to this page, so only those who know their way around Blogger will be able to find it. Now that you've found it, keep the secret and let others find it on their own.
What you are looking at is a doll in progress. A haunted doll. Sort of. I've been working on a story with haunted dolls in it. And I am attempting to recreate one of the dolls in my story as research. A friend of mine, who sews, is creating an authentic Victorian wedding suit to go on the doll for when he is complete. It's coming along quite beautifully, don't you think? She did extensive research into Victorian wedding attire to get it just right. Eventually, I will sculpt a face, hands and feet for him out of clay. But for now, he's just got a suit. A very handsome one though. The exciting part is that he's turning out, just as I pictured him in the story. Which is great--unless he turns out to be haunted, like the doll in my story.
(o_O)
Let's pretend I didn't say that.
I currently have four manuscripts in the works. Two of which are pretty close to being ready for submission. One of those is a manuscript with illustrations! It has been so long since I got to do any illustrating--especially for one of my own stories. The worst part is all of these drawings have to be done in different styles--something I have never tried before. Each character draws differently, you see.
It is nowhere as easy as it looks to draw in manga style when you've never done it before, believe me! The sketch of the kid above is one of the characters for this new story. The characters below are from the same story just in different styles of drawing. They are all three drawn by me of course. What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment.
One of the other manuscripts I'm working on has centaurs in it. I've always wanted to write a centaur book! There just aren't any good ones out there at the moment. Hopefully there soon will be--if my story gets published!
Where the heck is my mermaid tail? Seriously! I, Sheila Nielson, am now the proud owner of a swimable mermaid tail. Or, at least, I should be. I ordered one so we could film some underwater scenes for the Forbidden Sea trailer and it's taking FOREVER to get here. With the amount of time it is taking, you'd think they had to catch and skin a real live mermaid to get me a tail. It's gold, just like Jendayi's tail and I really want it to get here already.
Okay, I'm calm again. Just had to get that out of my system. : )
Every once in a while an author comes up against a difficult chapter. No matter how many times they rewrite the thing--it never seems to work right. You cut things out, you add things back in, you try to cover all that needs to be covered without bogging the whole story down. But it just won't work. Chapter Seventeen in my ghost story is just such a chapter for me. I'm starting to think one of the ghosts from the story has cursed me so I can't get it right. But which ghost? I'm really holding out hope that it's the warm and friendly ghost and not the icy cold, evil one. I might have to move on to Chapter Eighteen for a while and come back to Seventeen when I have more courage. Or patience. Something I'm a little short on at the moment, my little ghosties--so behave already!
I've been learning all about EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) this week as part of my ghost story research. That's when people record ghostly voices talking on digital recorders. Just for the record--very scary stuff. For those who are brave, I am including a link to one such recording. It's a child's voice saying, "Mom, I love you." For those who already have trouble sleeping without a light on each night--you might want to skip this one.
Click here to see EVP video.
Click here if you want to laugh and think happy thoughts instead. : )
Today I received an email from one of my writer's group members asking for help in trying to figure out a way to spread a deadly virus that could wipe out humanity. No she is not a mad scientist set on destroying human life--she's working on a distopian novel and got a little stuck trying to figure out logistics. But it was pretty hilarious finding an email like that in my inbox. Someone who didn't know I was a writer might think I was in cahoots to take over the world. Then again--maybe I am. : )
I've finally decided which of my many projects I am going to write next. I'm extremely excited about this one because I'm going to include illustrations as an intricate part of the storyline. Many of you probably don't realize it, but I actually got my college degree in children's illustration. Being able to put those skills back to work is really exciting for me and adds something extra to my enjoyment in writing this particular story. It's a story that will appeal to boys and girls. I'm going for something a little more light-hearted and hilarious this time around. The polar opposite of the moody, creep-fest ghost story I'm working on at the same time. Should be interesting to say the least.
