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KiusLady

Gwendolyn Wilkins
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Here, but not

2 min read
I'm still logging in to dA on a fairly regular basis, but it's doubtful I'll be submitting much art anymore.
I've left several groups where the overall quality of the work submitted left much to be desired.

I'll still comment on pieces here and that REALLY catch my eye, but for the most part I'm just going to glance through my inbox and delete whole swaths of stuff.  I just don't have the time these days.

This will mean that I'll let some folders languish for months.  So if I comment on something from almost a year ago, it means I'm only now getting to your folder.

I'll be getting married in a little over a month, so that's been eating up a good chunk of my time.
The martial arts has happily consumed me and I'm starting to get into the higher ranks - which requires a fair amount of active participation on my part.
Writing is an off and on sort of thing: I've got ideas floating around and once in a while I'll even jot them down, but lately the writing muse has been blissfully silent.
The business that Saknika and I started is going strong (in our eyes anyway!) You can find us on Facebook, on etsy, as well as on our own glossy website.
Dance has moved quietly to the back burner; but it continues to quietly boil and once in a while it bubbles over and just can't be denied ;)
I have my own blog these days and I try to touch base at least once a month, so feel free to check in once in a while and see what's buggin' the noggin.

And that's about it!
Thanks for stopping by :)
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Nowhere really - I check in on dA daily and go through my inbox with varying degrees of interest and thoroughness.  I just haven't been creating any new art lately.

Writing in the "book-sense" is taking a little hiatus.  I haven't touched my NaNoWriMo piece since December; I finished the Tree Mage story and month or so ago and it's still with the beta readers.  I'm gearing up to tackle "The Kius Planet" for (hopefully!) the last time so I'm in the midst of pre-planning that project.

Writing in the "blog-sense" however have been very busy! (Just not here obviously! lol!)
I have my own writing-related blog now found here: gwensworlds.blogspot.com/
And I've been writing fairly regular journal posts on a website called The Offbeat Bride.  In fact one of my posts was selected recently as a guest post on the main site page and can be found here: offbeatbride.com/2014/03/asexu…
That was pretty exciting, though nerve-wracking at the same time as it's a very personal post; happily it's received a positive reception :)

Also Saknika and I have decided to step up our business website a notch and we're going to start blogging there twice a month.  She's taking the 2nd week of the month, I'm handling the 4th week.  We're free to chat about whatever we like (so long as it's business/crafting related of course!) dancers-dream.com/

And that's about it!
My brain is thoroughly focused on the wedding coming up in October and so a lot is on hold till that's out of the way.
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Writing

1 min read
So I survived NaNoWriMo!  And now I've been starting to take my writing to the next level!  NaNo has many sponsors, many of whom provide tools and resources to get published.  It's been a really empowering and exciting time!  Not that I plan on publishing my NaNo project any time soon (and it may not even be ever!), but there's many other projects waiting in the wings to take that next step.

Also a writer friend of mine has been pointing all her fellow writing buddies to various writing contests of late - a couple of which I've jumped in to.  Plus I'm nearing the end of the Tree Mage story and will be starting the proof-reading segment of that project within the next month or so.

It's be great if I can sell a couple of these stories!

So I know it looks like I've totally been neglecting dA of late, but I've been doing other stuffz.  If the couple pieces I've submitted for the various contests don't get chosen, I'll post them here eventually :)
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NaNoWriMo!

2 min read
I've known about Nation Novel Writing Month for several years now and really haven't put much thought into participating until this year...like two days ago.
A couple writer friends (who're old hats at this month-long craze to write 50,000 words) are hankering down and getting ready and their excitement was contagious - I just HAD to join!!

I'm kind of cheating a little: I'll be writing the memoir I've been wanting to do for a while.  It'll be about how events in my life have interconnected to bring me to where I am today.  I'm pretty excited about it - even have an outline fleshed out and have broken the book up into five sections of roughly 20 pages a piece (it's easier for me to think in page count than word count and as there's roughly 500 words per page, I just did the math from there).

Twenty pages per section - that's a cake walk! Until I did some more math and realized I really only have about three or four days to write each section! Whew!
Still, since it IS memoir - I'm pretty familiar with the subject matter (lol!) and really hammering out roughly six pages a day shouldn't be too hard - especially if I just steamroller through it and not worry too much about correcting type-ohs and such - just get it out and be quick about it!! ;)
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I hung out with a group of lolitas over the weekend (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita_f… in case that's a new term to you or you instantly thought of kiddie porn) and it got me thinking about what counts as simple clothing, what's fashion and what's a straight-up costume?

To illustrate: I eat anything rice or noodle-related with chop sticks.  I'm not trying to be special, make a statement or bother anybody.  I just prefer to use these simple, easy to clean (and yes, maybe a liiiiitle attention-grabbing) utensils to shovel food into my mouth. Back to the attention-grabbing though - I use chop sticks at home when no one's looking too - and *that* I think is where our distinction should be made about what we wear.

I have my shlep-around-the-house clothes that I feel comfortable going out in to run errands or just sack in front of the compy all day playing Sword Quest.  These are my clothes.  They're rarely more than one or two layers deep and I give them little thought beyond how warm they'll keep me given then general ambient temperature. 

What I wear to work is a mix between fashion and clothing.  I get to wear nicer things that I normally wouldn't be able to justify if just rolling out of bed and over to my computer to sit all day.  These are pieces I like, that I look good in, that are devoid of holes (for the most part) and may lightly keep with current fashion trends.  They raise no eyebrows (for the most part) and fit in with most office dress codes.  One more layer may be added and if I'm wearing a skirt there's almost always a petticoat - nothing too froofy, just enough to flare the skirt out a bit as I feel unless it's a pencil skirt, it needs some froof.
Sometimes I push the envelope a little and wear a skirt that I use for belly dance or throw in a piece that's "very me" but is a little "louder" than my usual cube-farm-friendly garb.

I can take things a step further when I visit my parents (especially on holidays!); in those instances I can bring out that awesome dress that I totally can't wear to work but look really good in.  This swings far more heavily into the "fashion" realm but isn't a costume as it's still "normal".

Belly dance is where things get fuzzy and this is also where lolita comes in:  To me my belly dance garb *is* sort of costume in that it's worn for a specific function and falls waaaaay outside was is considered "normal" fashion.  But my belly dance garments are also a part of who I am because, well, I'm a belly dancer - it's one of the MANY somethings I do.  I've made most of my "costume" pieces and things that were purchase were done so with great thought and consideration.  When I don a full "costume" I feel "whole", I feel that I'm properly expressing who I am through my clothing and (once the music starts!) through my movements.  Apart from wearing make-up (something I don't enjoy, but accept as part of the "look"), I love wearing every single piece.

This is how people who dress in lolita feel.  It's an expression of who they are.
I feel sad when I saw all those lovely loli's over the weekend and thought to myself "COSTUME!"  Granted - pretty can-is-haz? costume, but costume nonetheless.
People who wear lolita do not like their style being referred to as a costume just as I don't think of what I wear when dancing as a costume; but as it's outside the norm, people will think that.

When I cosplay - that's a costume.  It is a series of garments produced (or purchased) for the expressed purpose of personifying a character that isn't you.
Fashion is "expressing" you.  It's you AND MORE!!!!

That's not to say I don't like lolita fashion - I luvz it!
I've been loosely researching it for a while now.  Contemplating where and how to start, figuring out what garments I need and what to make and what to buy.
Over the weekend I purchased my first piece of lolita garb!!  A lovely blouse that I'd totally wear on my own because it IS so me :)
And that's the point. 
Slowly I'll acquire more pieces that scream ME! and then someday I'll put them all together in a lovely loli explosion, and cute and happiness will rein supreme!!!
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Featured

Here, but not by KiusLady, journal

So where have *I* been? by KiusLady, journal

Writing by KiusLady, journal

NaNoWriMo! by KiusLady, journal

On Clothing, Fashion and Costumes by KiusLady, journal