The Power of Organics

I don’t normally do this, but I want to plug my beauty blog GLITTER AND GORE for a moment, because I have an extensive post there about organic, cruelty free beauty products that is probably worth a read.

GLITTER AND GORE – The Power of Organics

Back in a few~

Tadaima! I’m Home?

Well for the longest time, there wasn’t anything for me to say.  I’m ashamed to say that I had actually stopped writing for a while to concentrate on my makeup artistry program, and also when I wasn’t doing that, I was training for my black belt grading, and also looking for another job.  So here’s the beef:

• I’m grading for my black belt in May. I’ve been practically living at the dojo, teaching classes to pay off my grading fee, and training hard to get ready.
• In addition to that, I had been looking for another job. LCBO, my usual haunt, is not bringing anyone back this year, and so I was forced to go out into the world. I did get another job, the job which I had been wanting since the beginning of my hunt. I have been training there for the last three days and I think I will really have fun there. And best of all is no contracts! I’m there until they kick me out.
• Makeup Artistry – I’ve now finished my first two courses of the program, and I’m going onto my third starting next week.

However, as my life settles back into another routine, you can expect that my writing will too.  So here’s my plan for that:

• THE REALITY FILTER is published, (Don’t forgot to pick up your copy – link to the right) and so I found it time to move on to something else.  I will still continue trying to make sales of TRF, but when you’re marketing for yourself and it ISN’T your full time job, it’s really difficult.
• TETHERED ROMANCE is also complete and ready to start sending away to agents and publishers. I will be writing up pitches and all that good material stuff, and sharing them here because I know there are many out there who wonder how to write these things.
• I have been working ever so slowly on my next venture, GOOD FAITH IN MEN, which I had started to introduce a while back. It is so far contained in the back pages of my makeup artistry notebook, but now it will get the time it deserves.

Glitter and Gore Beauty Blog

Just in case you weren’t familiar with it, or had forgotten about it, I would like to reintroduce my beauty blog, Glitter and Gore.

I have been posting for the last little while while I’ve been in school for makeup artistry, beginning with skin care and recently getting into makeup application.  I’ve just posted a Foundation Application with Brush video, so be sure to check it out.

You can also take a gander at my Youtube Channel to keep up with all my makeup/writing/photoshoot videos.

Toronto Publishing House Tour Round 1

Yesterday, Friday, I went off tripping to Toronto to tour the publishing houses, armed with some presentation material and some leave-behind packages.  I was supposed to go with my partner in writing crime, Dew Williams, but circumstances were against us, and we planned a Round 2 instead.  Round 1, I was accompanied instead by my friend and illustrator/graphic designer/fashionista, Gareth Adamson.

So, what WAS this publishing house tour, you are asking.  The point was, I have been in the publishing industry for 10 years now (I am now 25, and I started when I was 15), and with the very recent publishing of my first book THE REALITY FILTER, I was damn hungry for more.  In an effort to avoid the slushpiles again, I decided it was high time I make a personal trip to show my face in some of these houses.  Essentially what I was aiming to do was go in with presentation visual material, make a presentation of three of my books that are ready for the big times, catch their interest, and leave them a package of all the material that I talked about.

What was in this leave-behind package was (In this order):

• My author resume
• one-page pitches for each of the three books which included the hook, the specs, the mini-synopsis, and some marketing points.
• My author bio
• A crapload of contact information including my home phone number, e-mail address, and all my social networking

I managed to visit 5 out of 6 houses that I set out to visit. One of which was Random House

Can you SEE that smile on my face?  Holy crap, I was inside Random House!!  Actually, it wasn’t the first time I’ve been inside Random House, but never the less, it’s always an opportunity.  The thing about Random House is that because they are a very large publisher, they do not accept unsolicited anything. If you are not represented by an agent, Random House will not look at you.  And this is true for the majority of the large houses. To me personally, this is a stupid practice. And this is why:  Whenever a house accepts an author into their stable, they make money.  Don’t they want to make as much money as they can?  Now, I can understand that they wouldn’t accept an author if that author’s work is truly bad, but I can bet that the majority of the authors, myself included, who walk in off the street, are damn good writers who deserve the chance to have their publishing dreams come true.

Just so you’re all on the DL – because I got a nasty surprise – Insomniac Press is no longer in Toronto.  They now reside in London.

Despite these few setbacks, I did manage to make presentations to 3 out of the 5 publishing houses that I saw, and I left packages with 4 out of the 5.

So there we have it.  Publishing House Tour round 1 was a success. Here is my learned knowledge that I will now pass on to you:

• Call ahead to large houses to inquire on the acceptability of your just dropping in to talk.  Ask if they will take unsoliciteds, because it might be a wasted trip to visit them without the initial inquiry.
• Do make an in depth leave-behind package. You want them to remember you if you have made a presentation
• Do bring along visual material for your presentation, which includes the book’s cover.
• Dress for success – I am a goth and proud of it, and it is part of my brand as an author. Naturally, I looked my part. If you are a professional, dress professionally, and so on. Reflect your brand proudly.
• Do state who you are off the top, and what your endeavor is.  My line was, “I’m a published author”, which gave me some credit up front, “I’m looking to join a larger house”, which stated my reason d’etre, “I was wondering if there is someone I can chat with about my work right now”, which stated what I was looking for.

And yes, you will have noticed it correctly:

I went a year and a half without black hair, but it is indeed back.

Recently Tattooed Again, and Other Updates

Well you all know how I love my tattoos, and so I have begun the finishing process on one that I’ve had already for some time.  You probably recognize the writing in this picture as the tattoo I got for my 24th birthday, a year and a half ago. Well, I always knew that I wanted something to go with it, but I wasn’t good at making the decision at the time, so I made the best decision of all – I waited until I was sure. For months and months now, I ended up sure that I wanted a white chrysanthemum. The chrysanthemum is a Japanese symbol of perfection, and the white colour symbolises purity. That sums me up pretty good, right?? PURE PERFECTION. Hahaha….

Anyway, it’s not finished yet. I have already sat for 3 hours, and there is at least another 1-2 hours left to go. But what I didn’t realize is that next to the ribs, that part of the arm is one of the most painful places to tattoo. So yes, along with my first colour experience, this tattoo was also my first painful one. As always, this tattoo was done by Os Peredes at Cottage 13. Would I trust my skin to anyone else?

So what else has been going on?  I’ll make you a list:

• Publishing house tour is happening soon. All my material is pretty much ready to go.
• I’m pitching three books on the tour: THE REALITY FILTER, TETHERED ROMANCE, and GOOD FAITH IN MEN.
• I started my new course in my makeup artistry program last night. Make sure you watch Glitter and Gore.
• I’m going to be in a karate tournament Feb 18th, so I’m ramping up my training these days, while being careful of my healing tattoo.
• I’m competing in kata and weapons, and my husband is also going to be competing. But we are in separate divisions because I have a higher belt.
• I will receive my black stripe very soon (this week!) which means that in the spring, I will be grading for black.

Dir En Grey Live in Toronto, Dec 16 2011

December 16, my husband and I went to see Dir en Grey in Toronto!  It was my 3rd DEG show, and my husband’s 1st, and it was Concert of the Century for him.  I knew what to expect with Kyo’s antics and everything, but he still blew me away with everything I wasn’t expecting.

We all know that Kyo is very dramatic on stage, often cutting himself and contorting, falling off the Kyo Box and knocking himself out at times, even.  He sure didn’t disappoint!  The emotion on his face the whole time was so compelling, I could barely take my eyes off of him. The rest of the band was pretty reserved, though they came up to the front to slap hands in the audience every once in a while. Toshiya, according to my husband, as I couldn’t see him, was very energetic, bouncing around all over the place!  Die was drinking an alarming amount, actually, with glasses of wine and beer bottles all over his side of the stage.

The mosh pit was awesome!  Head banging and thrashing in sequence with a pit full of people is quite the experience, but I have done it before in a DEG pit, and definitely will do it again!  We were squished in the 2nd row from the front, and so we didn’t end up moving too much because we were sooo packed in. We were still able to jump and head bang to the music though, which is the point, of course. I was surprised that I was lacking battle wounds, only one bruise+scratch on my arm, and nothing else. I got more battle wounds at the Miyavi concert!

They played a good mixture of songs from their newest album, and some of their earlier ones. Nothing past Withering to Death, but that’s still quite the old selection!  Kyo is known for singing horribly off key and just butchering the vocal lines, but this time he was surprisingly doing very well staying on key the entire set.

Really good show!

Cruelty Free

Hello!! I haven’t been posting lately, and that’s because my December workload has been on me. Tomorrow, I am going to see DIR EN GREY in Toronto, so if you’re there be sure to say hi to me & my husband.  I’ll be a-posting when I return.

FOR NOW, I would love it if you would check out my post on GLITTER AND GORE about animal testing.  It is something very close to my heart, and I want everyone to make the switch to a cruelty free beauty industry.

See you next time.