Hey there! Seems you've reached Can't Buy Me Love--this is my creative central, where I share my art and writing with others. I'm Leslie.

I post a lot of stuff on this journal, with different levels of privacy and... publicity, I guess? You get the idea.

I post sketches, the most recent of which are public. I also have a few samples of my writing up for public viewing. For a bit more info on the characters and settings involved, check out my userinfo.

I also post links to my finished pieces, which go up on my flickr and my deviantART.

Lastly, I post studies for works-in-progress, along with most of my writing and maybe the odd worldbuilding ramble. THOSE things (and my older sketch-posts) are friends-only, so friend this journal and comment on this entry asking to be added and telling me where you heard about me, to get at the super-secret stuff. Let me know if you'd prefer to see art only or writing only; if you don't say, I'll assume you want only the art.

I'm usually pretty willing to add folks, so don't be shy!

Another drabble! Yes, I am going to keep up with this, by golly.

( Naming )

I am trying to be more diligent about updates, which means formatting a few pages and posting, instead of trying to get a huge update together. Which is probably a smarter idea in general.

( Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter )

I've realized lately that I miss posting the drabbles. I stopped because I'd stopped writing them, and because I began to think I ought to have Serious Plans for them that sharing immediately might handicap. But it struck me that part of the joy in the drabbles was the very unseriousness of them, and the fact that I was comfortable sharing them with just about anyone. That I was sharing stories, none of this writing and writing and not knowing if anyone would ever read it.

So I think they work best as a fun exercise. I'm keeping a handful in reserve, to explore other options, but after a ridiculously long hiatus I'm going to return to posting drabbles, regularly, free for all to read.

I might start writing them again, too. I might even do another prompt-gathering post, although if I recall aright I still have a fairly long list of prompts sitting in my notebook, begging for attention.

That said, here's a drabble!

( Siblings )

I have a bunch of stuff from th'sketchbook scanned, but haven't had time to do the formatting. I do have material for an update, however! It's some stuff I've been sitting on for quite a while. Originally I was going to use the sketches as the basis for a set of finished pieces to upload on dA, but I don't like any of them enough to take that route, any more.

SO! Instead of making reference sheets or whatever, I used these sketches to create a helpful Introduction to Characters in Quoit, the novel I've been rewriting this summer. It's not all the characters, and unfortunately it's not even all the most important ones (two or three are missing, either because I can't get their faces right or I didn't realize, when I made these sketches, how important they'd turn out to be). Be that as it may, without further ado, ( In living color! )

That's all till next time! Hopefully I'll have a more substantial update.

I am, it turns out, a filthy liar, and there will be no artslam post at any point, let alone yesterday when I promised it. The reason being that circumstances forced me to postpone my ArtSlammitude until perhaps July. It turns out that the Matriarchy requires a lot more research than I currently have time or creative energy for. Novel takes priority, all that.

Still, I have a sketchpost left in the files! It's the last of the updates from that 2/3 sketchbook I filled over the course of the semester. This installment is sort of a random selection of all the remaining Menagerie sketches and whatnot, no particular theme.


( but your bicycle's been stolen )

Sooooo, probably that's it for a bit. Haven't done much scanning lately. Whenever the next update comes, though, you WILL see the one or two Matriarchy sketches I did before I realized that artslam was not on the program for this month.

Okay, so. This coming Tuesday I will (hopefully) post the first artdump for my ArtSlam pictures (will also be crossposted to artslam). Because, yes, I haven't talked about it much, but I'm doing the challenge (though I'm currently a day behind). I'm using it to develop the Matriarchy setting, which I've kept incredibly quiet about up till now. But no more! Soon you will know all kinds of things about the setting!

Today, though, you get yet ANOTHER installment in my attempt to get caught up in th'old sketchbook. I... can't really think of any helpful remarks to make on the update as a whole; it's Menagerie, of course, and it has mostly to do with the lads, but that's not particularly illuminating.

So why don't we just get on to the show?

( He's pinched your bird, and he'll probably kick your head in )




...

This is what happens when I visit ozymandiusjones and we gossip about a) our characters, and b) our favourite bands.


NEXT TIME: 100% Matriarchy stuff! Find out all about Pretty Fella, his society, and possibly even dragons!

I think it's time for another update in the attempt to get me up-to-date on my current sketchbook. This is, as hinted previously, an all-Menagerie edition. Not only that, but it's an all-Clairvoyant All-Saul's Stories edition. Which is to say, the first half involves clairvoyants and dream stuff, and the second half mostly novel stuff, with an extra bit about one of Saul's other stories at the end.

So first of all, let's talk about clairvoyance.

( a woman king, wristwatch time slowin' as she goes to sleep )

And now, ladies and gents, it's the third update in this set of updates, attempting to release into the wild at gradual intervals the indecent amount of work I appear somehow to have produced over the course of a semester with no scanning.

This update is mostly Menagerie, and all updates to follow with be entirely Menagerie. Because, well. You know. Menagerie. I draw a lot of it. Given that everything I've written in the past year or so has been Menagerie-related, I guess it's somewhat inevitable.

Note: One of the sketches in here has very slight artistic nudity going on. Consider yourself warned. It's not that hugely shocking, though.

( are plated gold, ivory and opal )




Have a random gremlin for the road! He has long fingers for sabotaging delicate machinery, and wingflaps for quick getaways.

Hey, guys, just want to say, thanks for the encouraging feedback on the (filtered) poem! Again, if anyone has suggestions I am all up for them, but it is also a huge boost to know just that it touches a chord with folks. I will respond to your super-nice comments eventually, I promise!

Okay, so! It's time for another installment of this mondo ginormous set of sketchposts, attempting to get current on the backlog occupying 2/3 of my sketchbook. I figure while I've got all this art I might as well make fairly frequent sketchposts. They always say consistency is the key to... to something magical? I don't know, usually I'm too busy writing (or rewriting, or writing which is at the same time rewriting).

ANYPANTS. The last update was friends-only, because it was rather excruciatingly personal and/or self-focused. This update, however, is a smorgasbord of thingies, only one or two of which have anything to do with me (are we all grateful yes I thought so).

( She no longer needs you )


That's all for the moment--expect another update sometime in the near future, with more story-related stuff.

edit: Hey, don't forget I've got that meme still open, wherein you can convince me to spill the beans on any number of the baffling things I reference in these sketchposts.

Okay, nicking a meme from ozymandiusjones. Ask anything about any idea [..] and I shall attempt to answer it. A complete list of characters. Dialect. history. what form of currency a setting uses. ALMOST ANYTHING!

Like deadvole, I do not have a comprehensive list of my projects (I have such a list on my hard drive, but am still irrationally unwilling to share it). But you can get a sense for the settings by reading the relevant sections of my profile.

I'll take character-related questions and worldbuilding questions, but prefer worldbuilding. Be prepared for tl;dr. I may hedge a question if the answer is too spoilery.

Hey, gang, I'm back from my first year at Patrick Henry College--and I've got an announcement! I've changed my web identity all across the 'Net, for the sake of consistency and easy-to-find-ness. This journal remains as-is, but almost all my other online usernames have changed.

Here's a rundown:

bootheel
bootheel on dA
bootheel on flickr
bootheeling on twitter
bootheel on tegaki

In other news, once I spend a day scanning and formatting the 2/3-sketchbook I filled over the course of the semester, you can expect some sketchposts!

I may also post some writing I'd like feedback on. We'll see.

(also, new layout!)

It's time for an end-of-sketchbook update!

( Was three long mountains and a wood )



Smiley monster! Yeah, just random.

Third update! That's all I have scanned at present. The next update will be an end-of-sketchbook update, as I'm on the cusp of finishing this sketchbook (the two I ordered from Cheap Joe's sit still in their box, tempting me. But I have one unfilled page and half-a-dozen sketches I want to clean up in this one).

Not sure when the next update will be, though... I'm about ready to hurl myself headfirst into paper-writing season.

I should warn you now that this is basically a McCandless Party.

( when the world is puddle-wonderful )



Saul: A Guy Who Likes Hugging People

Cass: A Guy Who Wishes Saul Did Not Like Hugging People

Hey, look, another update! I had this written a while ago, and am sneaking time before evening service to post it. Whooo.

Don't know when I'll have time to reply to comments. I am actually right in the midst of MIDTERMS, so. I have been sneaking on a highly filtered flist on my personal LJ, though! I miss y'all.

This update is aaaaall Menagerie.

( A man and a woman and a blackbird are one )

Stay tuned: next time it's a McCandless Party!