Thursday, October 21, 2021

Making Kilts--The Plot Thickens

 Wedding Bells, Pleated Kilts, and Plotting


Pleated Kilt Fabric
My daughter, Susan, who writes as Arwen Chandler, and I have been making kilts. My granddaughter is marrying a man of Scottish descent, and all the men in the wedding party are wearing kilts. So, we're making them. (Never say we do anything the easy way!)

The groom's kilt is black, while the officiant, groomsmen, and usher are wearing burgandy kilts. This is the first time we've made kilts, or anything else with pleats. We're also making two plaid kilts for the little ones who share ring bearer responsibility. 

It's been an experience. Basically, it took a week just to figure out the pattern instructions. I couldn't begin to tell you how many times we pleated and unpleated until we figured it out. Then we realized the instructions were incorrect, and they were all 10 inches too small in the waist. So, more adjustments.

Finally, we learned how to make them the right size, so the last two will be much easier than the others. While we were doing all this, making matching sporrans, and sock flashes, we spent time discussing plots.

Homemade Sporan for Scottish Wedding
Years ago, I started a science fiction series, The Griwaldy Chronicles that I never completed, based on The Viper Pit, a space opera short story. Susan has a series called the Pleiades Adventures, in which a female space pirate has adventures fighting against the Militarian, the military government in her quadrant of space. 

While talking about the two characters, my Captain Griwaldy and her Gwyn Casteliano, polar opposites, we thought about how fun it would be if somehow they met and had an adventure together. Well, not together, since they are on opposite sides. Someone wins, someone loses. We decided to go for it. We have about ten thousand words written in the book, so we're well on the way. 

Anyway, we started this collaboration months ago, and it was sidetracked due to so many different issues. Now, we've decided to go forward with it. Much of the time we spent pleating kilts, we spent talking through plot ideas and plot points. It won't come out this year, but hopefully, after I get two other projects completed, including Tala Ridge Hunt and Not For Sale, this series will be on the fast track. 

We're writing book one together. Then Susan will take her characters back to her quadrant of the universe for adventures. I will take my quadrant containing the Empire and write new adventures. The cross-over characters will occasionally pop into each other's stories. Hopefully, we'll have other book collaborations, too. All this will, of course, occur after the October 30th wedding.

Ariana is the first of Susan's children to marry, and my first grandchild to marry, so it's been a whirlwind to prepare. And, as stressful as it's been, and will be for another week, it's been fun to spend so much time with my daughter, talking, laughing, sewing, and plotting. Life is good.

Take care and stay safe,








Texas Ranch Wolf Pack Series