New Blog sites

I don't know how many (if any?) people still follow this page. It's been three years since my last post and... so much has happened in that time. This little fairy girl is now writing under a different pen name, living in a different house, writing about vampires as well as fairies. And that's only the things off the top of my head!

For news on what I'm writing these days, feel free to visit my new author's blog: http://nicole-d-fergusson.blogspot.com.au

If you want to follow me on Twitter, I do love the attention: https://twitter.com/faerywhimsy

And, of course, what author these days would be complete without a Goodreads account? http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6878229.Nicole_D_Fergusson

I am also on Tumblr, Dreamwidth, Google Plus and Facebook (to varying levels and extents).

Come on, follow me on this new journey. :)

Fun had in Ezra Pound

I suppose any bar that calls itself Ezra Pound is going to be a bar that offers artistic types inspiration. I mean, I know that's why I went out of my way to go there while I was here in Perth.



From the red velvet couches, to the murals on the walls, to the cabinet of old books that I want to own, this place was divine. But it was one mural in particular that inspired me.



As I was sitting at the chair, sipping my red wine, the lazy laughing eyes of this mural were staring back at me, tempting me away from the conversation going on with my three companions, whispering of the story it had to tell.

For it was, betimes, an entry into the Underground; the world that had been created for the fae to skip between freely when they were cast out of Ireland. Entry ways like this exist in many places, all leading to the one Underground, sort of like the idea of the One Forest of Charles de Lint fame. The bar is a favourite for the creatures of the Underground, so close to the entryway of their home.

There were more people who walked past us in our unsuspecting chairs and did not come back out. The barman, almost certainly a magician, creates the glamour for these fae creatures in the backroom and the doorman, almost certainly a hunching goblin, escorts us out when the lights of the bar have dimmed. It's time for us to go, so that the fae can play.





Nikki.

Front Cover for The Fairy Girl

Well, it's more simple than I'd imagined, but nicer than if I'd continued sticking things to it and risking it looking cluttered.

Voila!



Today's the first day that I've even seen clouds since being in Perth. As such, I've decided against going out today and am set to knock around at home. And run through the treasures I located in a Salvos scrap bag yesterday.



Exactly half of a full length dress. The front side, as you can see from the below picture, has been completely unpicked.



The lines of color are part of the material, not sewn on as I originally thought. It's a stunning blast from the past.

Insomnia & Cover designs

Last night, was a lovely night. I'd just been in the spa, had two glasses of muscat, showered then sat copying out the latest story for my next chapbook. About the time it got to be able twelve, I was fairly relaxed. I wasn't exhausted, but I was happy to have some sleepy-time.

Ha ha, I realise now. Famous last words.

I commenced to lay in bed, eyes closed, wide awake, for a full hour before I got up to jot some creative ideas down. For, you see, I've recently found a couple of mixed media collages on etsy, and they have inspired me! I don't assume that I can do anything so striking as the ones you'll see there. But it occurred to me, the last picture you guys saw, my front cover was rather... blank.



Not that interesting. I knew that I could do better than that, but I just didn't know what yet. Hey presto, at just after one o'clock in the morning, I had much more of an idea, a projected sketch that I simply had to get up out of bed at one in the morning to do.



Crepe paper and ribbons and feathers and coins, brightly coloured and striking. The more I get into this craft stuff, the more I realise I miss primary school art. You know, before they started telling you how to do art *right*.

Anyway, most of the materials I want to use are at my real home, in Melbourne. So when I get back there, I'm sure to have more photos of my latest experiment.

And hopefully, by posting here, I'll manage to get to sleep tonight...

Almost a year to the day since I last posted.

Today I find myself visiting a friend in Perth. Now, I knew, when I started packing for this outing, that this is a friend who tends to inspire creativity in me. And, just lucky for me, I had a project in mind.

For the past year, I've been working on a series of vignettes focused narrowly around the theme of modern-day fairytales. Much more recently, I have learned the art of Japanese book binding. With a small amount of prompting from some friends of mine, I was persuaded to the idea of writing up and binding these stories into little chapbooks that look a little something like this:



I'm pretty pleased with it. Covered with black cartridge paper, the spine has been sewn with green embroidery thread. You can see the ink and dip pen I've used to write with in the picture. For a better look at the writing itself:



The story inside is my take on W. B. Yeats' poem 'The Stolen Child', but from the fairy changeling's point of view. The next story, which I've just started working on, is about a changeling girl who's grown up with a human family and experiences some amount of disconnect. It's the writing from this story that's visible in the picture above.

Currently still deciding whether these will be put up on my etsy page. At the moment, I'm liking being able to hold and look at my new creative pretties!

Nikki.

Character sketches -- some speed writing

"So you see," he said, over a glass of drink, and with the slumped shoulders of someone who had already had quite a few of them, "The situation is more than anyone could have born."

The redheaded bartender nodded her head sympathetically, and handed over another drink.

"Cheers." This time, the bartender poured herself a drink as well. As Matthew picked up his shot, his clinked it against the glass she'd poured for herself. They both drank deeply.

"Where are you staying tonight?" Charlie asked.

Dejected--looking into his drink as though there should be more--Matthew shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright then, you're staying with me." Picking up her coat, she dragged it over her shoulders. Reaching for his, she threw it onto him before leaning into the staff only section behind the bar. "I'm signing off."

The other man on shift nodded and waved his hand vaguely. He was on the phone. Charlie didn't wait. Grabbing hold of Matthew's arm, she commenced to drag him out of the Fad Bar and Gallery.

*

It wasn't easy being the one gay friend in a group of football loving yobs. Especially not around Grand Final season. They left the ground, already half pissed from drinks had all game, and then had in excess through the final quarter. He doubted they were the only St Kilda fans who were going to have a heady hang over the following day. Come to think of it, there were going to be a lot of sad Geelong fans going into work come Monday.

Now that he thought of it, he figured he might be coming down with that hang over a little bit early.

Thomas kept him standing, at least long enough to get him into the cab. Wouldn't go in there with him, of course. Wouldn't want to risk catching the gay. Gary muttered a slurred thanks he didn't really mean, and told himself that tomorrow it wouldn't matter as the cab pulled away.

Tomorrow it wouldn't matter. Until it did matter. Just the same as always. But soon, he'd be able to close his eyes and go far away into a world where none of this even mattered. In fact, Gary could feel his eyes starting to close even as the cab meter started ticking up the fare of his ride.

*

Darcy jumped awake. Her wrist was damp and she realised she'd been drooling on it; realised too that it was 4 in the morning and she had fallen asleep while trying to get an essay in on time, again. And this week it was worse, because this week it was supposed to be holidays!

Wiping the inside of her wrist absently against her tracksuit pants, Darcy moved things on her bedside table so there would be room to put her laptop when she shut it off. And didn't look at it tomorrow until after her lunch date with Matthew.

And didn't look at it tomorrow until after her lunch date with Matthew.

She sighed as her body touched down on and swiftly relaxed into the mattress of her bed. Her head felt as though it was blissfully sinking into the pillow. She sighed once more, grabbing her blankets around her, and then she fell asleep.

*

Matthew woke up to a glass of water being held up in front of him, and the indulgent look Renee baring down on him.

"I heard it was a big night last night."

Before he could reply, a full-grown Alsatian bumped into the back of Renee's leg in an effort to get to Matthew first. A couple of drops fell from the jolted glass, but the majority of liquid came from the dog's tongue, before Matthew could lift his arm to defend himself.

"Looks like you're going to wear it if you don't take it." Renee put out the water glass right near his hand again. This time, Matthew took it.

"Ah well, Grand Final night. You know how it is." He'd already had the excuse prepared. "We didn't wake you when we came in last night?"

"No." Renee left his side, and went about opening the curtains of the living room. The large dog looked torn, half stepped after Renee, then licked Matthew's arm for good measure.

Life Update.

So! To catch up, I moved house in the first week of August. That move carried with it about the usual amount of stress and upheaval. Internet has and hasn't worked on my laptop, since then, fairly intermittantly, and my computer harddrive completely crashed once as well. Thankfully, I recovered everything and have a shiney new harddrive in the old machine, so that is as good as it gets!

My mother had another heart attack around the middle of August. That has meant that I haven't really been concerned about whether or not I have the internet at home, being as that my spare time hasn't really been spent on a computer in any case.

And lastly, most exciting and least stressful of the lot, my birthday occurred this weekend, on the 12th of September, making me a full rounded 25 years of age.

Anyway, I'll no doubt have much to add on fantasy and writing elements again soon enough.


Nikki.