Realm Lovejoy's Blog

A couple months ago, I got to see the Victorian Radicals exhibit, which features the art rebels of the 19th century. It sounded like exactly what I love so had to see it! I'm a big fan of the 19th century. The radicals of the 19th century strayed from the popular grandiose Raphaelite style, and instead focused more on grounded subjects with brilliant mixed colors (magenta, purple, green, etc). My favorite part was definitely the vibrant colors.

Many paintings had Arthurian inspirations, and I even got to see my favorite Morgan le Fay painting in person:





The details are jewel-like and amazing in person. There are ruby droplets coming off the fabric she's cursing which I never noticed before. 
Here are some of the other favorite pieces I saw:








I have been drawing a lot, which is part of the reason why I haven't been on social media much and haven't blogged in a long while. I hope to show you all more of what I'm working on soon.

Happy Fall! 


--Realm

Hope everyone is having a good year so far! Goods new -- GRAIL audiobook is finally out! If your New Year resolutions involve listening to more books, I hope you'll consider adding the LE FAY series to your list. There are three of them out right now so it'll be great to listen to back to back. 

GRAIL Audiobook Links:AudibleAmazonItunes 

The fabulous Isla Lindsay has done a super job narrating once again for the series! Stay tuned for her to narrate the last book. The production begins this year, so I estimate the final audiobook to be ready near the fall/winter time. 

Enjoy!


--Realm

Happy New Year!

How's the first day of 2019 going for you so far? I did the tradition of going for a walk in the morning to see the first sunrise. It was quiet and very chilly. Some people were bravely diving into the ice cold lake.  


Once I got home I made ozoni (Japanese soup made on new year's morning), and for lunch, I made osechi ryori, another Japanese dish for the occasion. 

Osechi Ryori:

And of course Japanese New Year isn't complete without a daruma doll:

The sun was bright so I went outside and saw the camellia blooming:



For the rest of the day I will be doing fun things: drawing and writing.

Some goals for the year:

I started a graphic novel last year, using traditional pen, ink, and paper. I wish to share more of my visual storytelling this year.There is a new novel coming out with a brand new story. It should publish this year.I'd like to focus on being more present.Other goals: being healthy, more yoga, keeping up with my ballet, more drawing, more writing.
It's said that this is a year of celebration due to it being the year of the pig, which ends the Chinese zodiac cycle, and that it's the closing of a decade. A year of joy certainly sounds nice! Another thing I'd like to do more of is pay attention to what brings me joy and I want that to reflect in my creative work.

I hope you'll stay tuned and continue to visit my blog this year. I look forward to sharing more of my work with you. Thank you for your continued support!


--Realm

One of my favorite times of the year, New Year's Eve! I love doing all the Japanese traditions of getting the house all cleaned up and making a bowl of toshikoshi soba at night. We usually go to a NYE event, but this year, we are keeping it low key at home. The only plan is to play Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 for the countdown.

I spent the morning of NYE reflecting on the past year. This year I remember the values my grandparents taught -- to be kind, to keep learning, to connect with one another, and to live each day with intention and grace. My grandfather kept his days full with classes, helping others, and joining activities, and my grandmother always dressed her best, often in clothes she made herself, even if she wasn't leaving the house that day.

Certainly one of the hardest part of the year was saying goodbye to their home, which I have known all my life. It's a very old Victorian home in New England. I was taken there after I was born, and the house was a place I frequented throughout my life. I got to visit the house for the last time during summer, and also took my husband to WaterFire, a place my grandfather took me to when I was younger. The fire burning over the water does remind you of life transitions. Seasons do change -- the important thing is nothing of true value is ever lost. My grandparents values and lessons will always live within me.



I hope you also learned valuable lessons in 2018 to carry forward, and I hope the year was kind to you.




Have a Happy New Year!


--Realm

This year we went to the island of our dreams for our trip: Bora Bora. We always wanted to go so we decided to do the super long travel across the globe to get there. There was nothing on the agenda except for relaxing for five days to rejuvenate. It has been a very busy year!

The water was bright turquoise, more impressive than pictures. It was hard to capture Bora Bora with photographs and I don't think any of the photos I took did the place justice. The smell of gardenia, warm aquamarine-colored waters, and the balmy air were all very healing. Mount Otemanu looked like King Kong's island--very epic. It was very hot and the sun was much stronger than any place I've been to. Even with sunscreen it seemed nearly impossible not to get some burns. 

My favorite parts were swimming, snorkeling in the lagoon, and relaxing by the waters with fresh coconut water. I'm going to have to try buying coconuts in the summer and learn how to open them up.

To remember my trip, I got a small bottle of tiare oil. Whenever we walked past the gardens, I could smell the jasmine-like scent. 

Some photos are below. There are also some videos on my Instagram account.








The paradise worked wonders for rest... I'm ready for the new year!


--Realm

Happy Holidays! Here's a shot from Bora Bora where we spent our winter vacation:



I'll post more photos soon.

GRAIL audiobook was delayed, but it looks like it's still coming out this year. I will post once it releases this week. Today I spent time baking the holiday saffron buns featured in the Le Fay series!  

Have a great holiday week!


--Realm

Happy Winter! Phew, it's been a really busy end of year for me. Good news, the audiobook of GRAIL is finally almost here! It'll be out this month, in time for the holidays! Yay! I estimate within two weeks.

I have another reveal ETA January as well. 

As for the new novel, it has finished the third dev edit and moving onto the line edit this month. I can't believe it's going to be ready for 2019. In other news I also started up a graphic novel.

This winter I got to attend my first Grand Prix ice skating event. Very cool seeing the talented Nathan Chen skate! Prior we went to the Taste of Iceland (cocktail with squid ink!) and then the Borealis Festival, featuring technology and art as images were accurately projected onto the entire face of the building, making it appear to disintegrate in font of our eyes. Soon we won't be able to tell CG from reality!

A shot while at the festival:

Skate America:

Lots of travel... but the view is nice:

I hope you all have a great holiday month. I will be traveling again so hope you'll follow my adventure on Instagram. 
When I get back... more updates!

--Realm

Long time no post! Ah, such a short summer. Are you ready for autumn?
Recently I went to the fair with my husband before summer's end. It's very different to go there as an adult. The food that I remember loving is now scarier than the rides, especially if you watch the people make it. Joe won me a stuffed unicorn at least. There has to be some cool old timey fair (that I imagine) somewhere in the world, right?

I've been taking a social media break lately, so I'm not on my accounts very often. I'm spending time editing my new book when I have free moments. It's kind of hard to believe how far it has come in only a year, since then it's gone through three dev edits, and another edit is fast approaching. 
I posted a tiny hint on Twitter:


I love summer and it's bittersweet to have it go, but at least the smoke is gone:


Cheers!

--Realm

Summer has been busy with travel and business! I've put several books through various stages of editing, and I'm settling into what books I want to publish in the next year or two. It's a good thing because I get to focus on select projects more.

Summer is a time when I balance more breaks in with writing to take advantage of nice weather. 


Photo from sea fair weekend:


One of the things I love to do during my free time is get exposure to great art, and I got to see some neat shows this summer. Recently I saw Love Never Dies. The sequel to my favorite broadway show:

Les Miserables:


The Picture of Dorian Gray. I loved this play so much. Book-It theatre is a wonderful non-profit group turning literature into outstanding plays. I so enjoyed the story of Dorian Gray. If you're looking for a creative cause to donate to, it's a good one:

Three year anniversary dinner. I made a western theme dinner to have outdoors:

I love celebrating Bastille Day (and rose):


Some airplane shots. So much travel... and more travel I have coming up:



Hope you all enjoy the rest of summer!

--Realm

It's been a busy summer! I hope you're all having a great July so far. We had a short trip to New York City, and then to Upstate NY for a wedding around the Catskill area.

New York, NY:

I was thrilled to see Misty Copeland, the first ABT black principal dancer, play the starring role in Swan Lake at the Met. So many kids were excited to see her, and it was great to see how she inspired so many people. Swan Lake was so beautiful. Prince Siegfried was amazing too. He could jump so high, he seemed to float. I was in ballet heaven.

Nice Casablanca anniversary present from the hotel. (We heard "As Time Goes By" live after our engagement and also played it as the last song at our wedding.) We got to the hotel around midnight after a long flight, so it was a really nice surprise.

Pretty upstate! It was so nice to get out of the busy city:



Overall we had a fun trip, but our flight back was horrible. We agreed to never fly United again. Their low quality and terrible customer service is just not worth it. They delayed us for over 15 hours because the co-pilot didn't show up for 4 hours and then got further delayed. They made us get off the plane twice. No compensation offered. We were super tired by the time we finally got back home to Seattle.

I am now catching up with all my book stuff. There's a lot to catch up with, phew! 


--Realm