Forsaken Talisman

While the cat’s away, this mouse tried to play, but ended up working anyway.

Oh well. I’m glad for it. The print galleys for Forsaken Talisman arrived. It’ll release in paperback in February 2010. In the mean time, Jen and I are working on the next in the Talisman Bay series, Eternal Talisman. It’s gonna be awesome.

During my read through of Forsaken Talisman, I remembered so many nuances and hints of things to come and just so much fun stuff. In fact, after I finished reading it, I ended up reading what we’ve got so far of Eternal Talisman.

I just can’t wait. While Jen’s on vacation, I’m tasked with drafting the next scene and I’m so glad I read Forsaken Talisman before I dove in. Just so I can have fresh eyes. It takes Jen and I so long to write full length novels that it’s easy to forget details if they aren’t in the outline…or if I don’t get the “what were you thinking? Did you forget?” phone call that follows me sending a scene to Jen! I dunno why, but she’s just that much better at remembering what’s been written, what’s been outlined and what we’ve got planned, but aren’t gonna write into a book just yet than I am. I get them all confused. Oh well.

In February of 2010, Ashleigh Raine’s Forsaken Talisman will be available. We’ve added over 20K words to it. Yeah, several new scenes, a few new takes on existing scenes, lots of changes. It’s hardly the same book that it was the first time around. And we’re so thankful for the second chance.

Here’s the blurb:

Kidnapped and mind-wiped by the Shadow Walkers’ greatest nemesis, Skylar has no memories of her own, except for her name. All she knows is what memories she does possess belong to someone else—as does her face—and that she can’t trust anyone, including herself.

Shadow Walker Dusty Clements goes against direct orders to rescue Skylar and take her into hiding. It’s the only way to get to the truth, and keep her out of the hands of an enemy who could use her to wipe out the entire organization. The last complication Dusty needs is to fall for her.

As Dusty and Skylar work to uncover the secrets of her past, they discover a mystery more than twenty years in the making, and a love they can’t deny.

The enemy has one more trick up his sleeve though—a magical kiss capable of probing the deepest secrets of the mind. All he needs to bring the Shadow Walkers down is to get his lips on Skylar one more time…

To read more about it–including excerpts and deleted scenes–click here to go to the Ashleigh Raine website!

It ain’t the greatest

I really need to remember to snap more pics while I’m building stuff. In this case, I didn’t snap any. Although, given that I did make 4 ugly shirts on the way to this only slightly less ugly one, I’m not real sure I should sear your retinas with all that ugliness.

Anyhow, Here’s what I wore to the New Kids on the Block concert last Friday. It’s not the best picture and it’s not the best outfit, but I always build something when I go to their shows. Not because I think they care what I’m wearing, but because otherwise, I’d never actually make anything for myself. I used to make outfits for when I was a seatfiller. My Grammy outfit is still in my closet and I’ve worn my American Music Awards quite a few times since then, too. It’s all incentive to stay the same size.

Admittedly, there are certain things I like to do… Stretch pants, stretch velvet, parts that flow when I spin around. I dunno why, I just like those things. And I usually like to show very little skin. That’s probably why I flailed so much on the concert outfit. In comparison:

This was what I made to wear to the Grammys.

Back to the concert outfit… The fabric is burn-through velvet. I got a few yards in 1999 because it was just so awesome to me. Then, in 2004, I found a partial bolt for $1/yard. I bought the whole damn thing…figuring of course that I’d use it for ‘something’. Well, that something had arrived.

I’d designed it in my head for about two months prior. Nothing actually turned out like what was in my head. I even screwed up the pants. They were supposed to be a little longer. Whoops. Oh well. My seatfiller boots went great anyway.

Initially, I was going to do this cute half shirt on the top and make a bunch of tassels to hang down just above my knee somewhere. Then, that morphed to a tank top…to a long shirt similar to a dress…to a backless, but longer top. When all was said and done, I ended up with a short halter. It’s okay, but not my best work.

I’d never built a halter before and I didn’t have a pattern to pull the shape I wanted, so I just had to guess and drape and make it up as I went along. I only had a few days to get my act together, so once all my important parts were covered, I pretty much had to be satisfied.

Yes, the necklace is holding up the center of the halter. It actually looked better that way rather than letting it hang.

The necklace was also an experiment. It’s my first triple-decker. I might make more, but not necessarily out of crystal unless I receive special requests. 90% of the beads in this particular necklace are upcycled from my grandmother’s broken necklaces. They’d needed restringing when they were given to me in high school (some even earlier!). I kept all the beads around for ‘just the right’ necklace.

That was the only part of this whole outfit that turned out…and was even better in person than what I’d dreamt up in my head. The sparkle on that thing was incredible. It also weighs a lot, though.

I mis-measured the waistline and cut the elastic too big. Luckily it was snug enough not to look too bad. The skirt isn’t really a skirt. It’s just a bit of fabric attached to the waistband and I cut it to give some nice folds. I’d feel better about the skirt if my sewing machine had gotten along better with it. The bobbin kept barfing. I almost gave up, but again, I was pressed for time. The halter top was already done. All I needed were the pants.

Because of the burnthrough aspect of the velvet, I needed to use two layers in a few important spots. I suppose the outfit might’ve turned out better if I’d had more time, but I’m not positive. The good news is that I learned soooooooooooooooooooo much from this adventure that I’m betting the next outfit I make from that fabric will be a billion times better. I already have a few ideas.

I still wanna try the tassels. I’ve never done them. They’d be the same as the ties on the back of the halter…and those went off without a hitch. Here’s hoping I can do a better second rendition.

Or at least use up the remaining 17 yards on the partial bolt!

I Can’t Stand It Anymore!

It’s after 1AM and I just gotta get blog. I just gotta. I’ve gone too long since my last post. There are many really great reasons for that, too, though.

I’ve been making lots and lots of necklaces, developing new designs, even selling them at swap meets just to do that inevitably fun ‘something’ with them this time around.

I just got home from a New Kids on The Block concert. They were awesome as always. I even met them ahead of the show. Tonight was my seventh time. Back in the day, I went to 9 concerts, but was never able to meet them. I suppose I’m making up for that now and I’m sooooooooooo glad for it. They were absolutely worth the wait.

Because I’m too lazy when it comes to myself, I use the concerts as incentive/inspiration for me to create more outfits. I haven’t even twittered the last few days because I was making a little halter top and pants/skirt. I’ve never done a halter top before, so that was quite an experience. I didn’t even have a pattern I could fudge from. I just had to do it on the fly. The pants were easy, though. Yoga pants. I can whip up a pair of ’em in less than an hour. Then, I draped a quasi-skirt over the top.

Yoga is another thing I’ve been doing more of. I barely talk about it on my blog here, but I absolutely love yoga and all that it allows me to do and feel and be. Bending, stretching, twisting…and building tons of strength…while really taking control by doing the poses and in turn, they do me, good golly, I wish I could live on my mat.

I built another website. It’s not completely finished yet, but it’s damn close. Tomorrow, I’ll be helping out at a TAPS boot camp. I absolutely love being a TAPS member. Ghosts were people, too. There’s no reason to be afraid of them. Yeah, strangeness abounds when they’re active, but that’s only if you refuse to admit what your senses are telling you. Some of the most interesting people I’ve met are dead and I plan to meet many, many more.

It seems I’ve got my hands in a little bit of everything these days and I wouldn’t have my life any other way. In fact, just the other day I was telling someone about how even two years later, I still have trouble believing I was paid to drive a Lamborghini Gallardo, a Porsche 911 Turbo and 2 Ferrari F430s. These are the kinds of things that happen in my life and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.

However, I really should blog more about them!

Anyhow, a few weeks back, at a swap meet, I scored a composition ball-jointed antique doll body. It needs to be restrung, but so do several of my other dolls–some are even on display smashed between two others so that it’s not obvious their arms aren’t really attached. Hell, some of them, their heads are just sitting on their bodies. One good earthquake and they come trembling down. Is it wrong for me to find that hilarious?

Anyhow, I wanna blog about restringing. I’ve never done it before, so I wanna see if I can do it.

My cars need some work, too. I’ve had the replacement speaker for my Prowler over 2 years now, at least. Plus, I’m finally sick of the manual switch on the fan in my ’68 Fastback. Well, it’s not really a switch. When I go to drive the car, I have to plug the fan in or it won’t turn on at all. Heaven forbid I should leave it on while I’m in yoga class. I’d come out to a dead battery and that would be very, very bad. I’ve got the proper thermostatic relay switch. I just need to install it. The wiring is already done and everything. I dunno why such a quick job has gotten backed up in my queue.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll also be doing a lot of writing. Jen’s handed the current few chapters to me. One to rewrite/edit/change, the other to draft. Eternal Talisman is gonna be an amazing book when we’re through with it. The characters come alive. They live, they love, they fight, they laugh, they lead very tumultuous lives, but yet somehow they pull it all together and help each other through.

If I can’t be back at the New Kids on the Block concert right now, I’d like to be in Talisman Bay. Maybe I’ll dream myself there tonight. That would be awesome. Have a wonderful weekend!