Work space!

In preparation of getting down to serious work in two weeks (because when the boys go back to school, I'm getting cracking on writing stuff), I am gathering up all my notes and supplies. Pictured to the right is my stack of notebooks and folders. Along with all of that written word, there is my trusty cup of coffee which powers my work and one of several mixed media works I have made based on my little world.

The notebook that my coffee is sitting on is falling apart, as the gap in the binding can clearly show up. It is the oldest of my notebooks. I sat down and realized that that notebook turns 20 this year. It was a sobering thought. I have been keeping notes and writing shorts set in this world for almost half my life. I handle that notebook gingerly because it is so prone to falling apart. It has pages falling out, other pages with notes on them shoved into it, and the binding one step away from disintegrating. Still, it is probably the most important of my notebooks. In here is the core of my world building. In here is the details of the story the entire series is going to tell. Yes, they are rough details, but they are written down and therefore precious to me.

The stack of five folders on the left holds the things I had written up on loose leaf paper. The red folder immediately below the picture holds my maps and actual sketches of persons and scenes in the stories. The folder beneath that has the rambling efforts I have made over the years to develop some kind of language for the elfin people and the rudimentary attempts to flesh out a magical system. I haven't done much with that material in the last two years. It was put aside for safe keeping but I have reached the point now that I need to blow the dust off and dig into that work.

The third red folder down beneath the picture has the disorganized material I developed while going through college. Working on my education full time, it made my efforts to work on this stuff challenging. But, somewhere in the midst of it all, I found time to do a series of pictures based off of stuff. Here's a better shot of a nameless protagonist watching the sun set at the edge of Dragonwoood Forest. I did this in 2000.