For many of you out there, the story of The Captain and The Baroness is not familiar to you. To be honest, it has been a year since I posted a chapter from the story of The Captain and The Baroness. For obvious reasons it took a back seat as I focused on my studies at teachers college. So it has remained on the shelf since them. But once I finished I still had chapters written and a story to finish so I decided to return to it and continue the story.
For those of you who do not know, this story started as a gift to a special person on her birthday. When we first went out and I got to know her and she so inspired me that I came up with an image of a character she could portray in a story or comic. I began sketching and soon came up with a character. The Baroness, a Victorian style Steampunk knight/teacher, with a Hammer of Justice.
She was my muse and I did not stop with the drawing. I wrote a story around the Baroness meeting a Captain (I have always seen myself as a pirate at heart, with a conscience) and thus The Captain and The Baroness: True Peace came into being. She loved it and that was to be all of it. Unfortunately we broke up and I found that the best way to help me get over the breakup was to indulge my artistic talents. Therefore, I decided to continue writing the story using the original as the first chapter. I wrote and wrote that in the end I had so much material that I could not place it all into one document or post; therefore I divided it into chapters. You can see chapters 1 – 9 in the story section of my blog; The Captain and The Baroness.
Each chapter was a way of me reflecting on how I felt after the breakup or something in my life at the time. The characters became extensions of what I was feeling and what I was doing to cope with the situations in my life. In the end it became very therapeutic and I truly enjoyed writing and illustrating the story. Yet it takes time, from writing to reading then rewriting, not to mention the illustrations I created, so it has been a long process, but an enjoyable one.
The latest chapter has to deal with training. I often look to quotes from historical figures, such as Shakespeare, Aristotle, Sun Tzu or Churchill to help inspire my creative juices. The following quote did such that;
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” Aristotle
This quote reminded me of a conversation I had with an artist one day when I was just beginning to flex my artistic muscles. I asked how did he get to the level of just drawing what he saw? He answered by asking if I was good at anything. I told him that I was the lead trumpet in a couple of bands. He asked how did I get to become lead. I said I practiced about 1 – 2 hours a day. He said that is exactly how he got to the level of drawing what he saw. Practice, Practice, Practice, and he was right.
At the time I was and still am working hard to keep healthy and stay in shape. At the time of the breakup I found that working out helped me to focus my mind on things other than the breakup. It also had the extra bonus of lowering my blood pressure and I had lost a lot of weight. This chapter is all about me retraining my mind and body and in the process I discovered what kind of person I am.
In this chapter the Captain embarks on training with the Royal Marines for their part of the liberation of Pilsdreana from the tyrant Baron MacVine. In the process he is reacquainted with the Baroness and reveals something to her that makes her realize what kind of person the Captain truly is.
I hope you enjoy the latest chapter of The Captain and The Baroness: Training.
