The Writer's Hole

"God Told Me to Write This Book"

2012-01-29T08:55:00.005-05:00

Do you ever hear people use that line? Does it make you cringe?

Religious people in publishing have a bad rap, as we do in just about every other industry, for two reasons.

1. We tend to be idealistic and naive, at least at the beginning, and not realize how we sound to others, nor that God might not intend for that particular book to be published, but for us to go through the exercise of being faithful and obedient in writing it.

2. We don't realize how many times before that line has been used to excuse bad writing and demand favor from agents and editors.

As a newbie, struggling to find even a mustard seed of confidence, I wondered why I should bother to do something that has nothing whatsoever to do with feeding the poor or winning souls, yet the story consumed me. I would lose myself in writing for days and weeks at a time, then guiltily abandon it to catch up with other things. I could not find the balance; it was all or nothing.

I have cried out from the bottom of my soul, weeping and wretched, for God to turn off my imagination. I wanted to "die" creatively so that I could function more effectively in other areas. I've given up on that request, the answer is clearly "No, you have to figure this out and do it."

I started this novel by sitting down and making myself write something. Anything. Just to write. That was in February of 2007. Soon it will be the fifth anniversary of that day. The book is a mess. Not plotted, not planned. An organic growth of characters and storyline. I have written umpteen queries, none of which are close to useful. I've done an outline in retrospect. I've completely re-imagined my fictional world and characters twice. I am about to start another major revision.

Why bother? Why not just abandon it as a learning experience and do something else? Because this morning, when I got up to make my coffee, God stopped me in the kitchen, just as he stopped me Friday morning on my way into work, and many other days in the past five years.

"Finish the book," spoke that soft, knowing in my soul.

Instantly I push back. "Is that really You, or just my subconscious desire to escape the drudgery of my daily routine into a fantasy of importance and self-fulfillment?"

Infinitely patient pause.

"Finish the book."

Panic surges. "Technically it is finished. I wrote 'The End.' Do you mean really finish it for publication, because I don't think anyone will like it and I know I don't have time to promote it. You know I'm barely managing all the other things I have to do."

"Just finish it. Trust me."

So, I am going to finish it, if only to get the Creator of the Universe off my back.

God told me to do it.

Things I learned about Writing from Disney World

2012-01-23T20:56:00.003-05:00

Winnie-the-Pooh and me. We both like honey and trees.

My family and I recently returned from our first trip together to Disney World. It was awesome. Mid-January is a great time to go. The parks are not crowded at all. (Shhh! Don't tell anyone.)

Offerings to a Tibetan statue

It was torture, however, in that I did not have good wi-fi or 3G coverage, and so was basically cut off from the Internet. I also couldn't write, as travelling with kids and crowding into one hotel room doesn't leave much time for writing, let alone privacy. But I did have plenty of time to muse as we walked through the various parks and waited in line for rides.

What really impressed me was the power of the imaginary world created in each area of each park. I think it was most noticeable to me in the Animal Kingdom as we moved between Asia and Africa, and in the Magic Kingdom between Tomorrowland and Adventure Land. I recalled from years ago that the rides had lots to keep you interested while you were waiting in line, but it seemed that things had gotten even more engaging since I was there last in 1995.

Perhaps this is because my work-addled brain was desperate for amusement, or perhaps it's because I look at everything now through the eyes of a writer.

What struck me over and over were three things:

Character
Plot
Setting

That is what drives each tale, each area, each ride. Tigger is bouncy, Pooh is sweet, Jack Sparrow raunchy and brave, C-3PO pompus and silly.

There are AT-AT's searching for rebel troops among the redwood forests of Endor. Immediately you have plot and setting. Just add a few troops and a young ewok, and there's your story.
Or in our case, a couple of young Jedi.

The last night we had dinner in the Norweigan Castle. I was in absolute Heaven!

We did not know that this was the"Princess Dinner." Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, Snow White and Ariel (minus fins) all found their way to the table. The boys were absolutely mortified and refused to have a picture taken with any of them.

I have to give Cinderella credit. She really tried to engage our two young princes.

"Will you help defend my castle?" she asked.

My son stared down at his plate. "I'm sorry. I have business with the Vikings. I can't."

THAT is the power of story, folks!

A Fresh Start

2012-01-04T21:15:00.002-05:00

Whoa! It's January. How did THAT happen?

I am so very glad that 2011 is over, I can't even tell you. It was a way too depressing and frustrating year for me, especially in that while I did technically finish my novel, it is a long way from being in publishable form. It needs a ton of editing which I have not the heart to do, frankly, but am working my way up to it.

Things are always so much easier in the first draft. Which is probably why Nanowrimo is so popular.

But I am determined not to lose heart. My goal is to finish my novel and be ready to pitch it at the Lehigh Valley Writer's Conference this spring. May the agent I choose not fail to show up as she did last year. But that was good, because the book wasn't ready.

Working full time really cuts into the whole creativity gig. As do migraines and a massive interactive online fiction obsession. I have done just about everything I can think of to do with my characters and I feel like I've written six books. Look at me, I'm J.R.R. Tolkein!

Anyway, I need a new project. A fresh start. I have a vague idea of one. My goal this year is to FINISH "THE GOLDEN GRYPHON" for good. For better or worse, it needs to be done. Out of my life. Will Faldur and Marenya end up together? The world will never know if I don't wrap it up.

And to write at least two short stories. It's been a looooong time since I wrote a story.

What about you? What fresh starts - or overdue endings - do you have in mind for this year?

(The Mayans were just kidding, by the way. The world will not end so yes, you do need to pay your taxes. I'm just sayin'.)

In Defense of Mentors

2011-10-26T06:34:00.003-04:00

My writer's group has been working through the Hero's Journey in our discussions. Last week we talked about the mentor character, and several people lamented that the Mentor always withholds essential information.

Having had some experience writing mentors lately, I have to step up and defend the mentors from unfair villification.

The mentor seems like he or she knows everything because he has to. After all, the secret to leadership is to act like you know what is going on at all times, even if you don't, but not to commit to anything unless you have good information. So, mentors come across as irriatating know-it-all's, but that is often not the case.

I feel sorry for the mentor, actually. Think of all the responsibility. Not just the burden for developing the hero from hapless youth with unmet potential into a the defender of truth and goodness, but quite often the responsibility for keeping the whole realm from falling apart until he is ready to save it. Mentors must get very little sleep. Like anxious mothers, surely they hide their own fears until the wee hours of the night when no one else can see them weep and rail, then act like a wall of strength when the sun comes up or the monster awakens to threaten their young.

Mentors also get sacrificed in the middle of the plot, because the Hero has to do it by himself. So, off with Obi-Wan's head! Into the abyss with Gandalf! Thanks for everything, but your usefulness has ended and it is time to be replaced.

Sort of like the professional world, now that I think about it. (!)

Anyway... Be kind to Mentors. Remember that they, too, are struggling to fulfill their potential.

Heroes and Heroines, recall that one day soon you may well be in their shoes, and that you, too, might be cast into the abyss to make room for the next generation.

Sunday Snapshot

2011-10-23T22:05:00.003-04:00

Okay, everyone, it's time for a Sunday Snapshot! Post the last paragraph or several lines of dialogue that you wrote.

It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't even have to be good. It just has to be yours.

Here's mine, written on the incredibly low-tech 3"x5" memo pad I found in my purse while sitting at the natural history museum waiting for my son yesterday.

----------------

She left him dripping and went inside for a couple of beach towels from the laundry room off the kitchen.

Callan knows Velyan? What the hell is he doing here? Stalking me? She came back out and handed the towels around the shower door.

"Come in the kitchen when you're ready."

"Thanks." His voice was low, rough. As if he didn't use it much.

Sunday Snapshot

2011-09-26T06:22:00.000-04:00

I didn't do a Sunday Snapshot yesterday because I hadn't written anything and I wanted to make myself write something other than story threads. But... I did all my writing on the internet this weekend.

I decided to stop feeling so bad about that. It's writing. It may not be publishable, but it keeps the old juices flowing. So this is the last thing I wrote. How about you? Post in the comments.

It doesn't have to perfect. It doesn't even have to be good. It just has to be yours!

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Ginger said...

(waits at the glass wall, looking outside at the whirling snow. bent figures hurry from the parking lot towards the building for the next exam period.

her vision seems to shift and she sees what she saw last night, only somewhat clearer: black trails like snakes or curls of smoke following people on the ground.

yet her magic rises against no unusual or particular threat. the people seem to suffer nothing worse than the usual stress of finals. she can perceive something else as well: something brighter than the snow, darting quickly down and attacking the snakes. it reminds her of the flashes of light from the gryphons in Belhanor. the snakes die or coil to strike back and they both disappear. she isn't sure who won.

the whole shifting three-in-one world of light and darkness and people blends together and blows in the door with a gust of cold wind as someone opens it. she realizes this is happening all the time. she's just never noticed it before.

snowflakes spatter her face and she flinches as if it were shrapnel.

when she opens her eyes again the vision is gone.)

Off the Path

2011-09-21T21:32:00.007-04:00

My dear friend and writing partner, Betsy Dornbusch, has a post up at her blog on finding your own path. Now, if you know me at all you may be a little surprised when you read her post that we are friends... but we are. It is a testimony to the depth and richness of the creative life that not only do we write together, we write together really well! At least, I think so.

Anyway, her post made me think about just how far off track I've gotten lately. As I said in my comment on her blog,

"I am so far off my own path right now I might as well be in China. I don't even know myself any more, and I don't know if it's my poor work/sleep habits, the meds I'm on, or my complete lack of religious life lately. But I gotta find me again somehow."

To show how sidetracked I've gotten, I searched through my archives for this little tidbit I wrote back in 2006, when I was just starting to write again after a decade-long haitus. My son was little and I was struggling to stay on top of things as a SAHM and Mothers of Preschoolers group leader. I was very close to the Lord, which was one of the blessings that comes with being in ministry and not having to work outside the home.

Here is the piece. I want to find this Christine again. Not that I want to be in the same place I was then, but I want my heart to be in the same state of tender obedience.

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Stand and Wait

In Greek mythology there is a character named Sisyphus who was punished by the gods. His punishment was to spend eternity pushing a boulder up a mountain each day, only to have it roll back down again at night.

I can’t help wondering what Sisyphus would rather have been doing with his time and energy. Perhaps he was a composer, making symphonies in his head that he never could write down. Or a statesman musing on the problems of Greek society, unable to tell anyone his ideas. Perhaps he was a philosopher like Socrates, or a poet like Homer. We’ll never know.

I’ve been identifying a lot with Sisyphus lately. It seems that this task of being a stay-at-home mom is a boulder I’m pushing day after day, with no time to do anything for myself. I feel as if my God-given talents are being wasted; that my creative energies are being sacrificed. Although I know that being a Christian wife and mother is one the greatest things I can do for the Kingdom of God, it feels as if I’m not really doing anything substantial for Him.

There are people who say “Well, if you want to do something, then you just have to make the time to do it. If you want it badly enough, you’ll find a way.” That’s a fine sentiment, but the ugly truth is that there are only so many hours in the day and I only have so much energy. If I focus my efforts on something creative, then something else always suffers, and I end up doing damage control with my family or a big push to catch up on my chores. I know I can’t do it all.

Nevertheless, I am inspired when I recall the words of the great poet, John Milton. At the end of his life he became blind, and could no longer write down his own poems but had to dictate them to aides. One of them, titled “On His Blindness” includes the line “They also serve who only stand and wait.” He was talking about serving God by waiting upon Him, the way a servant does, standing at attention, willing and obedient, until called upon.

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Let me just close by adding that whenever I pray about this curse of a creative mind, asking God why he burdened me with it, the Holy Spirit reminds me again that my time is coming. "Just wait."

I have some really good content at my old blog, Christine's Cottage. I may post some "best of" content in the future. There's a lot on there about this book I'm *still* writing.

Is Your Smartphone Making You Look Dumb?

2011-09-21T11:32:00.002-04:00

We’ve all seen those really cool commercials where smiling, well-dressed people are using fancy phones while images and words fly into the air above their heads, enhancing the world around them for themselves and all their smiling, well-dressed friends.

But have you ever stopped to think how dumb you actually look standing on a street corner or sitting in your car, ignoring the world around you, with your thumb sliding over your phone?

I got my first smartphone a couple of months ago and instantly succumbed to the crack addiction of my shiny, personalized, electronic little world. I get a physical twitch if I get up to go somewhere and it isn’t in my hand. I love the smoothness of it, the weight of it, the gliding feeling of the screen under my finger.

I do hate the cramping in my fingers from Swyping, and don’t even get me started on the frustrations of trying to use apps – some of which work and some of which don’t – or reading web pages that aren’t mobile enabled. But overall, I’m hooked.

My husband and mother, however, are fed up. They tell me I am acting just like a teenager and they feel it is incredibly rude for me to be constantly checking the thing anywhere we go. I’ve tried to explain that this is What People Do Now, but they don’t get it. They think It’s Rude.

They have a point. I’m trying to cut back on my mobile usage, even to the point of locking the thing where I can’t get at it. I do notice how totally DUMB people with smartphones look when they stand in some public place, head bent to that little electronic rectangle, oblivious to the world passing by.

If we really could see the images and words flicking over their heads it might be a lot cooler. But then, maybe we don’t want to know. There is enough media clutter in our lives already.

Which brings me to my main point: Smartphones have brought overstimulation to a new level. I definitely notice that my brain cannot “wind down” the way it used to. I wake up in the morning to a jolt of regurgitated information from the day before, followed by a wash of guilt for all the things I didn’t do because I was online.

As informed about and connected to others in my field of interest as I think I am now, I am also feeling a strong need need to force myself to unplug and try to find the person I was back when I used my phone to call the people I love and talk to them.

I don’t even recall who she is any more.

Writing Exercise: First thing in the Morning

2011-09-16T10:04:00.002-04:00

Here is a little writing exercise to start your day:

Hop on over to "Come in Character" and describe what one of your characters experiences when they wake up.

First Thing in the Morning

Heck, don't just do one character, do as many as you want!

Structure, Smucture

2011-09-15T05:27:00.004-04:00

Tonight I am talking about story structure at my writer's group. The thought that I am giving anyone instruction on writing is a wee bit frightening.

But it is also more than a wee bit sobering. I have been reminded by the preparation for my lesson that the real reason I haven't sent my novel out isn't the writing, it's the plot. I do have a great story. The plot, not so much. It really needs to be pulled apart and put back together again in a very different shape. There are multiple bad spots.

Like I'm putting the characters somewhere, or preventing them from going there, just for my convenience. But it feels fake and I know it is and they know it is and we're all looking at each other going, "This isn't going to work."

They're stomping for their trailers. "Let us know when you've got it worked out."

Truth be told, I'm tired of working on it, but this is the only project I've had for so long, I really don't know what to do with myself. I had another idea thrown out to me that I love, a collaboration, but that person is too busy right now to get started. So I'm going to have to come up with something all by my lonesome.

Sigh. I'm not an idea person. I don't walk around looking at the world as a thousand potential stories. But if you give me a story, I can come up with a thousand potential angles.

How do you come up with stories? And what do you do when you feel burned out on one?

Or does that never happen?

Controlling the Magic

2011-09-13T06:58:00.000-04:00

I've really been struggling with this gift / curse of a creative mind. I once said to my husband, "I wonder what it would be like to live in only one world at a time."

His reply was, "Well, you'll never know."

At least he's getting it. Dear man!

In my current project, I'm exploring the concept of magic as something that rises innately within the characters and which they struggle to control. Not a novel idea, I know, but new to me.

Anyway, a funny thought occurred to me as I was musing last night over this puzzle of how to function in the workaday world as a creative soul: What if I think of writing as magic?

What if when I feel that urge, I think of suppressing it as the same kind of skill my characters must learn, and releasing it when called upon, another skill? A whimisical thought, but I'm grasping at anything these days.

What have you, dear fellow bloggers, done to control the muse during your non-writing hours? Please... tell me.

2011-09-12T06:14:00.000-04:00

A quick, silver cut
Kills hope
Quickening the tide of grief
For story's leaving

Why Not to Rape Your Characters

2011-09-09T05:18:00.011-04:00

"But Dude! Aren't I supposed to do my worst? Really torment and torture them?"

Yes. And no. Let me explain.

I started out writing my WIP several years ago as gentle exercise, just to get myself writing again. Then I discovered my Inner Mean Author. Astonishing things followed. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am amazed by the diabolical plots that lurk behind the unassuming faces of most writers I meet.

A while ago, my online writing partner and I decided to turn the heat up on one of our characters. I decided to let my poor girl get raped. For me, this served multiple purposes: to bring home to her the realities of the new world she was living in, to provide a vehicle to give her magic, and to give me practice writing a really twisted bad guy.

She was attacked by a magical dude who put her under his control first. The rape was actually secondary, and he believed he was doing her a favor. So it was a fascinating situation as well as a personal challenge for me. I have strenuously avoided any sexual topics in my writing, and since this was fantasy, magical, and he really did have good intentions and want to please her (in a twisted way), it was a semi-"safe" way to explore it.

The problem is that three months later, we are still dealing with the consequences. This character and her storyline have taken over the story thread again and again. From a creative perspective it's a ton of good material to work with, one that I might somehow put into a novel. But from the perspective of the original plot- not so great.

My point: If you decide to put any of your characters through major traumas, think carefully about the implications this will have for them and those around them. You don't want to get sidetracked from your original plot. Nor do you want to ignore the consequences and do it anyway; this will just make your characters seem two-dimensional.

Have you put your characters through major traumas, or pulled back from doing so? What was your experience?

(if you want to read the scene, it is here: Untitled)

Update

2011-09-06T06:33:00.002-04:00

Yeah, so, not so much progress on the editing front. I need to edit something like 4,500 words a day to be done by the end of the month. hahahahahahaha *gasp* hahahahahaha

But we had a great weekend in North Carolina, looking at possible property to purchase for a future home after my husband retires. Decisions, decisions. How'd you like to wake up in the morning and have this be the view from your bedroom window?

Or how about this one?

Or, we could get a less expensive, wooded lot and just walk up the road a short piece to enjoy the view.

But which to choose?

Sunday Snapshot

2011-09-04T05:41:00.003-04:00

It's time for a Sunday Snapshot! I haven't done one of these in ages.

Post an excerpt (100 words or less) of the last thing you wrote. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't even have to be good... it just has to be yours! Here's mine:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Car accident. If anyone asks, I was in a car accident.”

Crystal fumbled with her keys at the back door of her Sea Island, New Jersey, cottage. She dropped them with a clatter on the wooden deck and reached down to pick them up again. Nervous sparks arced between her fingers.

“And staticky.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pre-Novel Writing Month

2011-08-27T16:26:00.002-04:00

November is National Novel Writing Month. "NaNoWriMo." InCaUDiNo. (In case you didn't know.) Every year I lament the fact that I can't start anything new for NaNo because I'm still working on the same book I started in 2007.

But this year I am going to do it. Which means I have to FINISH The Golden Gryphon. I have set a deadline for myself of Sept. 30th to finish my revisions. Then I'm going to give it to a couple of beta readers, make a basket of reeds and send my baby out to sink or float on the great river of query slush.

Further bulletins as events warrant.

Are you planning to do NaNo this year? How are you preparing for it?

Show Your Villains Some Love

2011-08-21T10:04:00.002-04:00

What makes a good villain? Is it the clothes, the snarky dialogue, the diabolically evil plots? We all know they need motivation and depth. But how deep? How much motivation? Do you develop backstory for your villains as well as for your heros?

Do tell.

-------

The photo above is my favorite villain of all time, the fantastically tortured Brian de Bois-Gilbert of Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, portrayed to perfection by the incredibly sexy Ciaran Hinds. I love that man so much, I even recognized him as Aberforth Dumbledore in "The Deathly Hallows, Part II" under all that makeup. It made the movie that much sweeter, knowing he was in it. It's the eyes, oh my God, those eyes! And that slow, rich British cadence to his voice. And that he looks damn fine holding a sword, thank you very much.

Health is the first muse

2011-08-03T22:19:00.001-04:00

Health is the first muse, and sleep is the condition to produce it.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is it about writers that we wear our lack of sleep like a badge? We often write about such young, vigorous characters and yet we ourselves are models of poor health, myself included.

If only I had the energy to caper about as they do. I might if they didn't keep me up so late.

The Monster Lily

2011-07-10T13:27:00.000-04:00

The "monster lily" (as I call it) bloomed a few weeks ago. I finally downloaded the photos from my camera. I don't recall the variety. I bought it from a Von Burgondien's fundraiser for my son's school.

It is enormous!!!! I'm awed every year when it makes its fragrant, spectacular appearance. You can see the bedroom window behind it for reference.

No, I wasn't raptured

2011-06-19T12:57:00.000-04:00

I'm just back to work full-time and not blogging. I miss you all.

Here, have a beer on me while you're waiting.

A Fond Farewell

2011-05-20T19:52:00.000-04:00

It's been a pleasure blogging and sharing with you all the past couple of years. I'm sorry I didn't get to finally finish editing my novel. But since the Rapture is scheduled to take place tomorrow at 6 pm EDT local time, apparently sweeping the globe hour by hour, this will be my last blog post.

I'll see you in Paradise. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying a hot fudge sundae since I'm not sure my heavenly body can tolerate all that fat and sugar!

Sunday Snapshot

2011-05-01T13:27:00.004-04:00

Wow, I can't believe it's May 1st. I have officially spent an entire month on the couch recovering from my various infections. I've lost a whole month of my life. But gotten some good rest and co-written.. get this... over 8,300 comments on the story threads at Come In Character.

The good news is that I am finally able to work on my book again, since the visual problems are getting better. (Writing comments on Blogger is a) slow and b) fixed to a static comment box. Scrolling, however, aggravates my dizziness, so I haven't been able to work.)

So for today's Sunday Snapshot here is the last bit of action I revised, towards the end of the novel. Marenya is trying to get to the castle to warn the King of the coming invasion without getting eaten by a demon first. That's my girl!

Feel free to post your own snapshot in the comments, or include a link to it on your blog. Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't even have to be good. It just has to be yours!

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Marenya cantered Durwyn across the open ground. The doricorn’s hooves were sure and her energy boundless. Tor Aden grew bigger and brighter, as did the wide surface of the lake. She was about halfway there when she sensed shadows approaching from the hills. Glancing to her right, she could see a shape like a wisp of smoke being born on a fast breeze, followed by another, and another. Haggiths.

Durwyn sensed them too, and broke into a full gallop. Marenya leaned forward over her mount’s neck, thinking they could outrun them. But when she looked over her shoulder, she saw the first pursuer was gaining a little. She eased the feather out of her sleeve and held it tightly. They were nearing the lake; she could see the water rippling on its surface now. She wished she could ride straight across it for the hill, but made instead for the road curving along the far side. They passed through the town, galloping down empty streets.

At last they gained the highway that circled the lake. The haggiths were flying directly towards them over the water. The Hedgewood rose up before her and she bent Durwyn towards the gates, praying someone would see her coming and open them.
A cold mist chilled her neck as the first haggith swooped over her and flew ahead to block her path. She reined Durwyn in, glancing back to see the two others still approaching from a distance. The first one wheeled and dived at her, talons wide, red eyes blazing, but she was ready for it. She sent the gryphon feather like a dart between its eyes and it fell with a strangled cry to the ground. The two behind her shrieked and banked in the air over the lake, returning the way they had come. They were not accustomed to being challenged.

Radiance

2011-04-24T07:38:00.010-04:00

"O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" - I Cor. 15:55

I've never understood the miracle of Easter. It moves me more than Christmas, this ultimate triumph against sin and darkness. It moves me like an earthquake shifts the ground; too great to comprehend, too powerful, too indescribably important to ignore or deny.

That my God, my Savior, should have died for me in such a horrifying, undignified way in order to meet the requirement of a righteous and holy God that the penalty for sin is death... that He suffered separation from the eternal deity and presence of the Father... that He cares for me at all... is incomprehensible.


							The Angel Appearing to the Women at the Tomb (window at my church)

Radiance

The light is there, warm and golden
Just beyond my reach
Shaded by the edge of consciousness
It filters through thoughts
And flesh
Tangled regrets
Fears, sorrows binding
Pulling me back into the reek
Of humanity

Oh, don’t slip behind a cloud now!
Hide not your face from me
Let me see it just once unveiled
Shine upon me like glass
Through which the sun’s rays
Show each imperfection
In gilded radiance

- Christine Hardy 2011

Sunday Snapshot

2011-04-17T14:59:00.005-04:00

I haven't been working on my novel much, since I'm not well enough to concentrate that hard and scrolling through the file on my laptop screen gives me a headache. But I did do a little editing yesterday. I thought I should share this scene between Marenya and Faldur (who is NOT dead, despite the fact that I killed him off in the story thread), later in the book.
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Faldur sank down against a tree and fished out a small ration of pipecherry, filled his pipe and lit it. They had all been in what he called “trail trance” since the previous morning. No one talked; it was too exhausting. It had rained, which made everything first damp, then itchy. A hot bath was the principal thing on his mind at the moment. Only two days and one more night to go.

      Marenya sat a little apart from the hamen, hugging her knees to her chest, eyes closed. He had not asked her yet about all that had happened during her captivity. He had been too busy, and she seemed unwilling to confide in anyone. He did not like to press her. But he needed to know what they were up against, and exactly how things stood with her.

      He let her rest for a while, and when he saw her eyes open, went and sat beside her. There were tears on her cheeks. “What is it?”

      “Nothing. I’m just tired.” She rubbed them away.

      “Please, I want to know.”

      She studied him, as if gauging whether he was truly concerned or just collecting information from her. She knew him too well. “It’s Raynor. No one knows anything about him, if he’s alive or dead. Nighfala’s gone, and I don’t know if she’s looking for him, or wandering somewhere in the darkness alone. And the erdmelesz are getting closer every moment. Every time I lie down I think I hear them marching through the ground.

     "Is this what it’s like for you all the time? Because I don’t think I could stand it. I’m ashamed of myself, but all I want is a warm bed and hot food and strong walls to protect me.”

      He tilted his head. “It’s like this sometimes. But it’s also very often boring. The best times are boring, when nothing is happening and you only have to patrol familiar paths and check on old friends. And drill.” He smiled reminiscently. “We’ve had some rowdy contests in the middle of nowhere. You see sunrises no one else sees, and fawns being dropped, and the whole length of the Silverbark River trailing down into the valley. And a certain hawin riding across a meadow, or hanging clothes in the yard with the sun on her bare arms.”

      She looked at him suspiciously. “Are you just saying these things to calm me down?”

      He reached out and drew her to him, and she rested her head against his chest. “I am saying them to calm you down, but they are all true. I have watched you for so long, I can’t imagine not watching you for the rest of my life.” He smiled ruefully at himself. “I don’t know where all these words are coming from; you have opened up some sort of dam. But the truth is, it hurts so much I’m not sure I can bear it.”

      “Why does it hurt?”

      “I don’t know.”

      She was quiet for a minute, then said, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me either. I feel like crying almost all the time.”

      He smoothed her hair. “You’ve been through an ordeal. Heaven gave hawen tears to overcome their demons; we must fight ours.”

      “In other words, we drown our demons, and you conquer them.”

      “Something like that.”

      “Is there no other way?”

      “I can think of one.”

      She tilted her face up, eyeing him quizzically, and he bent his head down and kissed her. He tasted salt, and brushed her tears away with his thumbs, comforting her at the same time he sought to conquer his own demons.

Interview with Betsy Dornbusch: Part 2

2011-04-15T21:08:00.019-04:00

For the past couple of weeks Betsy and I have been conducting an "experiment" in improvisational fiction at Come In Character, a website we've been part of for a few years now. This experiment totally took off in a crazy way, as I've mentioned in several posts already. I interviewed Betsy to get her take on the whole insanely productive experience.

Aidan and Marenya are currently in modern day Canada, trying to find the missing granddaughter of a senator on Sentinel's high council: The Search for Alexia.

For a short excerpt, look here: Marenya's first plane ride

Christine: It's hard to get everything right when you're typing on an iPad at 1 a.m. We had some really funny moments, especially when our comments would juxtapose if we posted at the same time. What was your favorite funny moment?

Betsy: I still laugh every time I think of Raynor rolling over in bed and seeing Aidan standing there naked. [Because he forgot get dressed before he jumped out of bed with Marenya to challenge Raynor to a fight.] And the Darth Vader thing.

Christine: Yeah, I was getting really punchy, and my son was reading over my shoulder. He loves Star Wars, so it just fit. It was funny that it crossed with your comment, so that it seemed like Jason was saying, "Uncle Julian would say... I feel a disturbance in the Force."

My favorite funny was in that same scene, when the gryphons were arguing about how to eat Aidan for insulting their guardian abilities. "Should we bite his head off, nibble at him like a popsicle, or just throw him like a bone to the demon?"

Christine: Our two worlds - polar opposites in construction - seem to blend extraordinarily well. Why do you think that is?

Betsy: Their worlds are more alike than you realize. (or you might be realizing, now that you're reading "Archive of Fire")

Jason and Marc, though they don't act it, are children of a very formal world. They're both nearly a century old. Their casual banter is part cover/part laughing in the face of death. Even Aidan is far more familiar with Belhanor's repressed world than anyone there realizes. Sentinel is an old organization, a legion of demons that turned against their master. In order to work together without killing each other, they form alliances and bonds like the Covenant of Protection his cousins swore to Aidan. A strict code of behavior and courtesy is followed, one Aidan constantly bucks. I love their reactions to him in the thread (especially Prince Mel's and Raynor's) because that is exactly how his own kind reacts to him in the books.

But he knows how to behave in that world, when he chooses to, for instance, when he approaches the king for the first time in the thread. And he would never dream of calling the king by his first name, any more than he would call his Lord Prince by his. Anyone older than him is "sir" or "ma'am" despite his high rank. In fact, he's a little puzzled at the lack of protocol in Belhanor sometimes. The only reason he doesn't call Faldur sir all the time is because there's a lot of tension between them.

Christine: That’s interesting, because I intentionally left out a lot of protocol. I wanted the main characters to be easy with the royal family, as they are close friends. I try very hard to focus on relationships and choices. As well, the King is a metaphor for God. He is meant to be accessible. That is why he tries so hard to put Aidan at his ease.

Not having read any of Archive of Fire when we started this, I was thinking of Sentinel very, very differently than they are. Kind of like “Twilight” but with demons instead of wolves and vampires. AOF is totally not what I expected… and very refreshing. Hard to get through (man, you are one mean author)… but refreshing in its tone and perspective.

Christine: Do you think Marenya would be as successful in Sentinel's world as Aidan has been in her world?

Betsy: I do, actually, and I really want to see her in a world where she has true equality. There'd be expectations placed on her there that she can't experience in her own world. For instance, no one would tease her about fight training because she's a girl. She'd be expected to buck up and take her blows. Marc teasing Faldur about getting beat by a girl is actually him teasing them about their culture.

She also has a lot of qualities Sentinel values, and they're happy to take any weapon they can. The idea that she has a magic management problem wouldn't scare them. They'd just aim her at the enemy and pick up the pieces later. They wouldn't like the power she has over their lord seer, though, and that would put them on edge. Fun stuff!

It'd also be fun to watch her negotiate a world of demons, in which everyone has secrets and there's a ton of subterfuge. Our poor naive Marenya could get caught in many a snare, and maybe learn to set a few herself.

Christine: It totally surprises me that you would say that, because I think she would just fall apart from the strain. Heck, I’m falling apart from the strain of what we’ve already done! Marenya, like all Hanorja, is very tied to the land and to her surroundings. If she doesn’t see the sun often enough, or have a little time by herself outdoors, she will sink into a very black depression. (Like me again.) I don’t even know what would happen to her, physically, if she were transplanted outside of her world. Should be interesting.Assuming she lives that long.

Betsy: I have more faith in Marenya than Christine does, I think. Aidan thinks of her as this quiet strength. He gets bemused when she calls him "my lord." He's just getting a handle on their culture (or so he thinks) and he understands she has these moments of weakness. Whenever he gets a little stern he's pretty sure this is the time she'll push back on it.

But then, other people treat him that way in his world: teasing him one moment and "my lording" him the next.

Christine: Do you think this improv fiction experiment of ours is something other writers might find valuable, or just some "coondog batshit crazy" random lucky streak?

Betsy: (Always fun to see myself quoted, haha) Aidan and Marenya have surprising chemistry. But we, as writers, after realizing what was happening, were willing to put ourselves out there, and that's essential. If I can pontificate for a second, I think you have to be willing, as a writer, to throw your characters into the fire and let them burn. Honestly, I think it's a primary difference between publishable writers and the great unwashed masses. CIC is a great, safe place for writers to do that. No foul, no harm.

Most beneficial, though, is the lack of control. My first two published books were written with a partner, so I've done it before, but not to this degree. Just when Aidan thinks he has the situation in hand, someone from your side leaps in and screws it all up. So he is forced to react in a true way. It's like a writing exercise times 1,000.

We've put some time into it, but I think it's been worth it. It actually happened at a perfect time for me. Very soon I'll be stuck back alone, drafting, as I'm slated to write two books and wrap up a third this year. But I've been a writer and an artist my whole life and it can't be all about word counts to feel like you're making headway. I might have spent hours on character scripts and never come up with this level of detail about Aidan.

Christine: Care to plug "Sentinal: Archive of Fire" while you're here?

This is a bit like having a one night stand and then introducing myself, but I'm a full-time writer of SF/F and erotica (penname Ainsley) with several short story sales, two books out last year and 2-3 this year. I also have edited the magazine Electric Spec with two partners for the past five years. You can find me at http://betsydornbusch.com

ARCHIVE OF FIRE is the first of an urban fantasy series about demidemons (human/demon) who war against their creator, the King of Hell, Asmodai. It'll be out this year from Whiskey Creek Press.

Story Thread Excerpt: Marenya's First Plane Ride

2011-04-14T21:50:00.005-04:00

This is a scene in which Marenya and Prince Raynor take their first plane ride in the legacy's private jet. Raynor can transform into a large falcon, so that is his previous experience of flying. Marc and Jason are Aidan's cousins and sworn bodyguards; Lucy is dating Marc. As a nearly pureblood demon, Aidan is usually hot and avoids wearing a shirt, much to the annoyance of his family.

Marenya and Raynor are my fantasy characters from the kingdom of Belhanor. Aidan, Marc, Jason and Lucy are all Betsy's characters: demidemon rangers in the Sentinel organization. This is the conversation that resulted from their first plane ride together.

Sentences in italic are thoughts rather than spoken words, since Aidan and Raynor can both telepath, and Marenya knows they are listening to her as well as to each other.


Aidan said...: (pulling up to the airport) There. That one's mine.
April 11, 2011 6:42 AM; And it's only a little bit dangerous...
April 11, 2011 6:46 AM
Jason said...: Stop talking, Aidan. You're going to scare your wife.
April 11, 2011 6:46 AM
Aidan said...: (grins and pats his bare chest) That's the plan. Then she might sit on my lap and cling to me...
April 11, 2011 6:47 AM
Raynor said...: Don't worry, Marenya, flying is fun. (puts a hand on her shoulder)
April 11, 2011 6:48 AM
Marenya said...: (looks at Aidan, rolls her eyes)
April 11, 2011 6:48 AM
Marenya said...: (to Lucy) I'm starting to regret that bikini.
April 11, 2011 6:51 AM
Aidan said...: You looking at my wife again, Raynor?
April 11, 2011 6:56 AM
Raynor said...: Only with jealous envy, and the despair of knowing we can never be together. (presses one hand to his heart, and guestures with the other) I admire her from afar, like a jeweled city upon a hill, seen but not visited... a vision of loveliness upon the barren plain of life...
April 11, 2011 6:59 AM
Marc said...: (groan) Oh, Raynor, put a sock in it. I need a drink.
April 11, 2011 7:00 AM
Lucy said...: (smiles at Raynor sweetly) You could do with a bit of that, Marcus.
April 11, 2011 7:01 AM
Aidan said...: (they all troop aboard, finds seats in the private jet) (takes the ones in the back, pulls Marenya down next to him and gives a half-hearted scowl at the others) (nuzzles her cheek and kisses her) We need to build a wall in this thing. Or I can buy you a bigger one...
April 11, 2011 7:03 AM
Marenya said...: I'll take the bigger one. (Feels the plane start to move, taxiing into position, then gather speed, faster, faster) OH SHIT! (clings to him for dear life)
April 11, 2011 7:14 AM
Raynor said...: (grips his seat arms so hard his knuckles whiten, a fake grin plastered on his face)
April 11, 2011 7:16 AM
Aidan said...: (laughs and holds her) Something worked out perfectly for once.
April 11, 2011 7:29 AM
Marc said...: All right, then, Raynor? (presses a drink into his hand)
April 11, 2011 7:30 AM
Aidan said...: It's okay. It's machinery, not magic. And we're really good at it. (strokes her hair) You really are sexy when you're terrified, you know that?
April 11, 2011 8:33 AM
Marenya said...: You are in SO MUCH TROUBLE, Aidan Trevet. Just wait until we land.

Interview with 'Sentinel' series author Betsy Dornbusch (Part 1)

2011-04-11T13:27:00.007-04:00

For the past couple of weeks (especially the last nine days as I have been stuck on the couch recovering from a very nasty virus) Betsy and I have been conducting an "experiment" in improvisational fiction at Come In Character, a website we've been part of for a few years now. This experiment totally took off in a crazy way, as I've mentioned in several posts already. I interviewed Betsy to get her take on the whole insanely productive experience.

(note: as of this posting, the story, which takes place in the form of dialogue in the comments on each post, encompasses 8 posts and over 3700 comments, mostly short snips of dialogue and stage directions, like a screenplay. Faldur and Marenya are the protagonists of my unpublished fantasy novel, The Golden Gryphon, and Aidan is Betsy's main character, a sensitive but deadly demidemon who belongs to Sentinel - an organization of demons who have rebelled in order to protect humanity. Her first book in the Sentinel series, Sentinel:Archive of Earth is due out this year from Whiskey Creek Press.)

Christine: When Aidan first started flirting with Marenya on the website, what did you think would come if it (if anything)?

Betsy: Nothing, of course. Aidan was just being cocky, playing with Faldur almost more than Marenya. He's a tease and a flirt. He also tends to push boundaries, so Faldur, to him, was an irresistible boundary. Then Marenya herself became one. Looking back on that first walk they took, it must be over a year ago, when Aidan kept his hands behind his back for her reputation's sake, with Faldur scowling and Jason disapproving at a distance -- that, I realize now, was when the tables turned on Aidan.

Something you should understand, when I first brought these characters to CIC, they were essentially retired. It was an easy way for me to play with them and not give them up after I believed the books would never sell. I also spent the last two years working on a very grim futuristic novel and the Sentinel characters are fun! Now that the book is sold (to my publisher in January, slated for release this year sometime and completely up-heaving my writing life) and I'm currently writing the sequel, it all feels very different and a hell of a lot more real.

Christine: I knew that this was going to be bad for Faldur, because Marenya was feeling pretty lonely. I was at the point in my revisions of the novel where she is convinced he doesn’t care for her at all. So Aidan coming along at that moment was something she latched onto. I didn’t expect Aidan to fall for her, but just to flirt because he could. When I tried to wrap it up and get her back with Faldur, it felt forced, but I thought I was doing Aidan a favor. His utter misery without her won both Marenya and me back to him.

I do think that Aidan had a totally unfair advantage in the form of Marc and Jason, who form a little Greek chorus interpreting his actions. If Faldur had had someone like that around, things might have turned out differently.

Christine: What has surprised you the most? Shocked you the most?

Betsy: Most shocked, hands down, was Marenya's proposal. Aidan's first response was literally typed the second after I read it--like a lot of writers, I think with my hands (though I think I took some time posting it), and his answers afterward are as blunt and raw as anything on the thread. I loved that scene (despite the typos!) because that is Aidan at his most core: joyous.

Christine: (grin) Marenya is basically me: logical in everything but matters of the heart.

What surprised me the most is the raw chemistry between Marenya and Aidan. There are scenes that just ripped my guts out. I had tears streaming down my face as I typed. I didn’t even know that I could write like this, and it shows how much I learned from what Betsy was doing. The fact that this was interactive, over the course of about two weeks, made it seem so real. We didn’t know what our own characters, let alone the other person’s, would do or say. What Betsy called “thinking with your hands.” They even had very common misunderstandings, and started acting just like any other pair of honeymooners once they were married.

What shocked me most? The vision Aidan had about Marenya’s future. I still don’t know what it was, but to me it seemed like he was seeing the destruction of my fictional world and everyone in it. I sent Betsy a very coarsely worded IM just then. I mean, he didn’t even ask if he could come in the first place. He assumed Marenya was in danger (she wasn’t) and then pushed his way in, declared a situation, and I had to roll with it. It’s my book, darn it!

Also, when he nearly died on the scouting mission. I totally freaked. I got all four Hanorja involved pronto. I was not going to let my girl go to Hell because he decided to get cocky (because they are tied for eternity, and if he dies first and goes to Hell, she will too.)

(note: Hanorja are the race of elf-like people in my book, who have healing powers to varying degrees)

Christine: I know one of your goals in this was to get to know Aidan a little better. How has your perception of him changed? Been confirmed?

Betsy: In the books, he's not given much of an opportunity for true romantic love. They're not love stories in the least (though I'm rethinking that for the 3rd book). He absolutely loves Marenya with an unshakable faith. I thought he could, but now I'm experiencing it firsthand. When he told her he didn't believe he could love, I had no idea where that came from. But it makes sense. He's a demon. Love is something that belongs to the humans.

He also has less integrity than I first believed, being a demon. The speech to Faldur, while bluntly honest, is also highly manipulative. He plays to Faldur's perception of himself as strong and also Faldur's perception of Aidan as weaker. Same with throwing Lord Tarnbel's talk of "his word" back in his face. That's something Lord Tarnbel values, so Aidan decides to value it, too. But his manipulation is never premeditated. If I can capture half the power of those moments for the books, I'll have done well.

His honesty, determination, and imperiousness has never ceased to amaze me, in the books or on CIC. He often does these crazy things without knowing why, someone calls him on it, and he brings them around to his way of thinking. He's always been a true leader in that regard. Oh, and he's always been a scene stealer. Though Kaelin[Aidan's twin brother] gives him a run for his money. I'm really missing Kaelin in this thread!

Christine: I am, too. Kaelin is such a complex character, a hard nut to crack. He is the perfect foil for his twin. I think you said it best: "My stomach is in knots... These people aren't REAL!" But they seem so real to us.

I don't see Aidan as being manipulative as much as emotionally astute. Having ken would kind of necessitate that, being constantly bombarded with others' emotions and thoughts.

I always knew Marenya was me. What I didn't realize was how physical she could get with the fighting scenes (I've never been good at those) or how much she'd enjoy it. Having some extra magic for this story made it more fun. We both kind of went over the top with abilities and dramatic conflicts, which also gave us a chance to explore all those emotions.

The person I learned the most about was Faldur. I knew him very well inside his head, but he is so introverted that I needed to see what he would do when forced to speak via this dialogue-driven format. He also has never been challenged to this extent before, especially not by a cocky young pup like Aidan. His skill makes him so well-respected that he comes across as stodgy, even though he is actually in a similar position to Aidan - younger than his peers. (Hanorja live to about 140 years, so Faldur being 40 is like being 20 in his culture.) His stern demeanor masks his own insecurities about not knowing anything other than Rangering.

His scenes, when he finds out that Marenya and Aidan are married, are the rawest things I've ever written. And so, so real. His later interchanges with Aidan are just incredible: gritty, masculine, with just the right edge to them. I never knew I could write that way, and I owe a lot of it to what you did with your characters, which I then turned around and applied to mine.

Aidan and Marenya are currently in the modern world, having arrived in LA at Aidan's cousin Jason's beach house, where Marenya gets her first look at the ocean. We'll continue the interview in Part 2.

Meanwhile, enjoy the story, which rolls out in the comments as Betsy and I have time during the day to add to it.

A New World: Aidan and Marenya

I swear, I didn't know it was "The Cave"!

2011-04-07T06:52:00.007-04:00

When I posted last about the song that one of Betsy's characters sang to Marenya - the one that made me dissolve into weeping over my laptop - I didn't know it was "The Cave" by Mumford & Sons. I'd never heard of them until yesterday. Now, of course, I'm playing it over and over.

I think it so cool. Betsy's characters - twins Aidan and Kaelin - have such a raw, gut-ripping dynamic, that just knowing their situation and how it affects Aidan, then throwing in a few well-crafted song lyrics with no music whatsoever in my head, tore my heart out. And the way Betsy did it on the thread was just awesome. (Kaelin is undercover as a rogue demon in order to get close enough to the dominus Lorcan to kill him for torturing Aidan, but Kaelin is losing his soul in the process.)

Marenya is trying very hard to figure out what to do to help Aidan cope with the loss of his twin, and Marc, one of Aidans cousins and sworn guards, sings her a song about them. The really sweet thing is that Marenya doesn't get it that she's in danger. She's only thinking about Aidan because he's so obviously in over his head. She thinks Marc is just being sweet, not that he's her bodyguard. But I guess she'll have to figure it out pretty soon.

As Betsy says, "This is seriously nuts. My stomach's in knots." "These people aren't REAL." (to read the scene, go here and start with Aidan's commment @ 5:45 pm. He is about to speak to Faldur about taking Marenya away from him, and is given a vision of an alternate eternity than being in Hell, which is the destiny of all the demons in Sentinel unless they can defeat the demon Asmodai who made them. The contrast between the two eternities - Aidan and Marenya's - brings home even more poignantly Kaelin's tragic self-destruction for the sake of revenge.

Remember folks, this stuff is not planned! It just kinda happens as we write it. We might say, "Marenya needs to figure out she's in danger" but exactly how it plays out is all spontaneous. With some really funny bumps in the road, too.

(Yes, I know I have to get back to real life soon. As soon as these meds wear off, I'll be my usual business-like self, I promise.)

Had my heart ripped out at least five times yesterday

2011-04-06T03:35:00.006-04:00

... by the story thread. I don't know what the heck this is that Betsy and I (and now Michelle Gregory) are writing, but it is lyrical, beautiful, funny, tragic, and raw. Betsy calls it "coondog batshit crazy". I would use my boss's favorite term: Pure Awesomeness!!!

Maybe it's just fanfiction for our own work, but I don't think so. It's a wealth of material for future work. A garden of all kinds of tangled things growing together which can be lifted, transplanted and trained into new directions.

I literally cried when Marc started singing to Marenya last night about Kaelin. Just wept like a baby.

Oh, man.

I hope to be up and around again soon, but I have to admit this has been a helluva way to pass a week in bed.
Tiana Joins the Quest

What happens when two impulsive main characters from different novels fall in love?

2011-04-03T07:08:00.003-04:00

They get married.

*headdesk*

A Night (Okay, a Week) at the Improv

2011-03-31T06:48:00.006-04:00

Something incredible has happened to me, creatively-speaking. I don't quite know how to describe it. I've posted recently about being stuck in revisions and feeling reluctant about bringing my characters to face the world via publication.

Not any more, baby. Wow. Just... Wow.

I've posted before about "Come In Character," the other blog I co-host. Well, last week things took a different turn over there. You see, Marenya has been having an ongoing flirtation there with Aidan Trevet, a sexy, angst-ridden Hot Boy Demidemon from Betsy Dornbusch's "Sentinel" novels. Aidan started flirting with her just to rile Faldur, but Faldur, being his typical cool self, didn't rise to the bait. Much. And Marenya started feeling neglected. So she flirted back.

The next thing you know... Aidan and his cousins are in Belhanor, Marenya and Faldur's world. And Aidan has asked for permission to court her. And a lot of people aren't happy about it. And there might be a collision between the legions of Hell and the Golden Gryphons and other magical creatures in Belhanor.

How the HECK did this happen anyway? Improvisational fiction. That is the term for what we are doing: writing a story in the comments section of posts on Blogger @ CIC (Come In Character). I know what Faldur's fans are thinking: "WHAT??? How could you DO this to him?" But settle down, people. It's an alternate storyline. And Aidan hasn't won the girl yet. He's in Faldur's world, remember? Faldur has an awful lot of fans there. As well, there are things that I can't do in the improv because they are key to the novel, so Faldur has to kind of stay who he is for now.

How is this helpful? Well, pushing the characters out of their storyline has proven to be an incredibly rich mine of material. Marenya, in particular, needed more depth of emotion. I just love letting her get all hot and heavy, and then angry, and then rebellious. Faldur, too, needed to be pushed. He's never been challenged like this before, especially not by an insolent pup half his age. Betsy has informed me that she didn't even know Aidan was capable of loving (which is why he is so nauseatingly infatuated).

I'm going to have Betsy over to discuss it soon. But for now, I would love it if you would drop by and read the story as it unfolds and let me know what you think about the whole concept. We post whenever we have time, and play off each other. I made up some backstory, plot-wise, for my characters and exaggerated the magic a bit. So, the spoilers aren't *really* spoilers. You still have to read the book. (wink)

Tell me what you think. Is this something that might help you find new directions to take your characters? We're looking for other people to participate, and are willing to open new pages for you.

The current story (actually Part Five in the series): Story Thread: Aidan and Marenya

How it started: Getting to Know You: Stress

Part Two: What If... A Leprechaun Granted You Three Wishes (start with Aidan's comment @ 8:05 p.m.

Part Three: Getting to Know You: Spring Has Sprung

Part Four: What If...You Could Harness A Superpower (start with Ginger's comment @ 3:52 a.m.)

Many thanks to Laura Martone, who put up these fabulous prompts and has been so patient with us hijacking the threads.

Nature of Magic Blogfest

2011-03-26T21:01:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Tessa Conte, who prompted me on Facebook to participate! I would not have wanted to miss this one. But it has been an absolute hell of a week. I can't even describe the overlapping, intertwining layers of stress that have converged in the past three days, except to say

"Big Presentation to Entire Company + Severe Cold + Loss of Voice + Child with stomach virus + No Sleep + First Writer's Conf Ever + Unprepared Pitch = ACK!"

But thankfully, we have magical worlds to escape to. Here are the instructions:

Write or share something you've already written that, to you, shows the nature of magic. It can be an excerpt from your WIP, something you've written especially, poetry, whatever strikes your fancy. It just needs to show the nature of magic as it exists for you or for those you write about. Unless you're writing poetry, try to keep the entries somewhere between 250-1000 words.

So, here is Marenya's first experience with creating an orb of light. She can light a fire, which any Hanorja can do, but only the elevja, or magically-gifted royals, can do more sophisticated magic. Or so she thinks.

* * *

The cavern was dark. Raynor had completely disappeared, taking the light with him. She called out, but her voice was swallowed by the sound of the water. What do I do now? she thought.

Cast a light.

The words came unbidden to her mind. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. Could she do that?

If you can make a fire, you can make a light.

She tried what Raynor had done – opening her hand as if throwing something into the air. Nothing happened. She tried again, but as she did so she thought of fire. Again, nothing happened. Frowning, she thought for a moment, and tried again, this time thinking not of fire but of the yellow sun. To her amazement, a small, bright orb left her hand and floated above her.

Perhaps all of the magic didn’t belong to the kings.

I'm An Idiot

2011-03-22T12:43:00.000-04:00

Argh. I looked at the website for this weekend's conference, to double-check what I needed to have with me, and I realized that the agent I have an appt. with doesn't consider fantasy. I had looked all the info over carefully before registering, but somehow I must have gotten confused.

So I emailed the organizer and asked if she could switch me. I doubt it, but it's worth a shot. In any case, I told her to give my appt. with this person to someone else.

Oh well. What can I say? At least I made a lot of progress the past month or so.

(tries not to cry)

Sunday Snapshot, and an update on my retreat

2011-03-20T21:32:00.002-04:00

I had a FANTASTIC weekend "off the grid." I knew we wouldn't have wi-fi, but I wasn't expecting "zero bars" on my cell phone, too. I got so much done, and feel comfortable about talking to an agent next weekend. I sincerely doubt I will get a request for a partial, but if I do, I'm ready.

I could do this once a month. It was just so great to be in a cabin with four other writers, doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and writing. I arrived around 8 pm Friday. It took a while to find the place in the dark. But the cabin was clean and everything was in good order. I wrote until 10:30, went to bed, woke up at four-thirty on Saturday morning, wrote all day (except for meals and a long walk) until after midnight, got up at 6:30 Sunday and wrote until 1:30 pm.

Of course there was plenty of comraderie as well, and food. We used almost an entire can of Melitta coffee in a mere 36 hours! I'm sure the other campers wondered what cult those strange women belonged to who almost never stirred from their cabin.

And now it's time for the Sunday Snapshot. Post the last paragraph (or about five lines of dialogue) that you wrote. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't even have to be good. It just has to be yours.

***
“What else did he tell you?”

“He told me,” said Faldur, “not to bring hawen along on missions, because they waste their breath on useless questions.”

“And distract the Captains from their duties,” added Gorrith, who had come up behind them.

“Hush, you idiot!” hissed Marenya, afraid the men would overhear.

2011-03-18T06:30:00.000-04:00

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

~ C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963)

A Character Playdate

2011-03-17T06:22:00.006-04:00

Last weekend, we talked a little about the difficulty of keeping things fresh when you've been working on the same thing for a while. I have the solution: Come in Character.

I know I've mentioned the site here before, but last night things went to a whole new level of interaction. I had no idea what it would take to make Faldur totally lose his famous cool, but I found out last night when one of author Betsy Dornbusch's characters developed a little crush on Marenya, and she decided to pursue it.

Well, actually, Marenya has had a crush on Aidan for a long time. It's kind of hard not to, considering he's a beautiful boy demon who has nice manners to boot. She kind of threw herself at him and... well.. you just have to read it.

As Betsy said, this type of thing is like improvisational theatre for writers. I had no idea what was going to happen, just that Marenya was so lonely and desperate for affirmation, she was going to latch onto Aidan no matter what. But she did it in a very gracious, Marenya-like way. She is extremely compassionate, and sensed that he needed her to reach out as badly as she wanted to do it. I didn't feel as if I was writing, but rather channeling these characters I know so well.

The key that makes CIC work is that you have to take your characters out of the carefully constructed environment of their own book. The interactions are spontaneous, and take place entirely via the comments. So it's a great way to build your dialogue skills. It also forces you to think about your character's worldview and setting. For example, mine don't live in the modern world so many things the other characters mention are totally foreign to them. I have to think carefully about what they would say or do in response, as well as how they would explain their own world. By this time, however (it's been what...2 years?) they've picked up some of the jargon and begun to use it themselves.

I do feel a little guilty for spending a couple of hours just playing around, but I know I'm going to dive into my revisions tonight with a new enthusiasm and a much better understanding of who my characters are. I realized that Marenya is not just lonely, but insatiably curious, and that Faldur would do almost anything to avoid a scene.

The other key that makes CIC work: Participation. We can always use more writers who are willing to think outside the box and bring their characters out to play.

So... come on over to Come in Character! You'll be glad you did.

Sunday Snapshot

2011-03-13T08:34:00.001-04:00

Time for the Sunday Snapshot! Post the very last paragraph (or up to 5 lines of dialogue) that you wrote. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't even have to be good. It just has to be yours!

Here's mine:

Marenya was shaken from a kind of stupor by a deep, hollow rumbling from under the earth behind them. Everyone turned to look over their shoulders. A great white column of steam rose up to join the clouds that coated the sky like ice on a frozen pond. They waited, but nothing else happened other than that the birds flew up from the valley and wheeled south on the wind in one long, trailing mass.

Painfully Familiar

2011-03-12T19:40:00.005-05:00

After working on the same book for so long, the characters with whom I was once so rapturously in love have now become like painfully familiar relatives I am reluctant to introduce to society.

Insert gratuitous Hugh Jackman photo here:

Lost in Revision

2011-03-12T10:34:00.002-05:00


"It was so much easier in the first draft."

I am really struggling to come out of the fog here. Final revisions are going nowhere. I'm just so stuck! Things keep changing, which requires more revision, and I'm getting lost in all the additional emotion and plot complications. Don't get me wrong - both of those things were needed (emotion and plot complication) but I am desperate to finish the manuscript by the 26th.

I don't see how I can possibly do it without help. My husband is helping today by taking our son out for the day so I can be alone, but the house needs cleaning, we need laundry done, we have no groceries, and I MUST go to the post office before it closes. I have decided to write for 50 minutes, then do chores for 10 minutes, until they come home.

I need another form of help, too. I need a few objective readers to look at the first several chapters and tell me if
a) it's crap and
b) I should re-restructure the opening.

So if anyone who reads or writes fantasy is willing to do a quick read and get back to me by mid-next-week, please let me know in the comments. Thanks.

In the meantime, forget the "Tea, Earl Grey, hot." I need a double cappuchino pronto! Good thing my favorite coffee shop is right next to the post office.

Blog Encouragement and Sunday Snapshot

2011-03-06T13:36:00.004-05:00

Michelle Gregory at Beautiful Chaos (what a fantastic name for a blog!) has generously given me the "Friends for the Journey" award.

She says, "Every one of us in on a journey called life. If we’re fortunate, we find friends along the way who can help us with their words of encouragement, something to laugh over, or a shoulder to cry on. Some friends stay with us for our whole lives, but often, they are with us for only part of the journey. I have friends like these in my life – some I see in person, and some I know via the internet."

Thank you so much Michelle. The feeling is absolutely mutual. I don't know if I would have kept going in the beginning if it hadn't been for your kind, sweet, generous friendship. And I hope that one day we can get to know each other in person, too.

I am supposed to pass this on to seven other bloggers. The first person is Kristal Shaff, whom I met through Michelle and who has been a fantastic encourager and critique partner, someone who is tough on me when I need her to be and from whom I've learned a lot. She also has one of the most unique careers I've ever heard of: Professional Face Painter!

The next person is Donna Hole, who always comments, always supports, and has that dry, cutting humor that so often makes me laugh.

Another person I'd like to pass this on to is Laura Martone, the perky blogging diva at Laura's Simple Pleasures and Come in Character, and author of Ruby Hollow. Thank you so much for your steady support and encouragement, Laura, and all the fun we've had along the way with our characters.

I must include Jessica Bell, the Alliterative Allomorph, who always is so encouraging on both Blogger and Facebook;

Krista at Literary Debauchery - I can't tell you how much I appreciate all you do for our writer's group and the personal encouragement you've given me;

Elaine Smith at Wordsmithing (whom I met at Come In Character, through our characters) - I hope we can meet in person some day, too. You are so good for my writing soul!

Last, but not least, is Betsy Dornbusch, aka Sex Scenes at Starbucks. You write some funky stuff there, girl, but without Aidan's crush on Marenya, and all the back and forth our characters have had, I don't think Marenya and Faldur's relationship would have grown to be quite what it is now. Your interaction with my characters has truly been invaluable, and I've learned a lot from you, writing-wise, along the way.

Time for the Sunday Snapshot

Post the very last paragraph (or 5 lines of dialogue) that you wrote. It doesn't have to perfect; it doesn't even have to be good. It just has to be yours!

Faldur crouched opposite them, catching his breath. He found himself suddenly afraid to draw Marenya's attention. But when she saw him, she jumped up with a small cry and ran to him. He took her in his arms and felt the frailness of her, as her hands fastened around his waist and her head pressed into the hollow of his neck. She was surprisingly thinner for having only been gone a fortnight, dirty, scarred and strangely dressed, and yet he thought her the most beautiful creature he had ever longed to hold. She began to cry deep, gasping, tearless sobs, her whole body shuddering against him, and he found that he was doing the same.

My First Live Pitch: I need your help!

2011-03-04T20:32:00.000-05:00

I have an appointment with a real, live agent in three weeks. This will be my first big writer's conference as well as my first pitch. I am desperately trying to finish my manuscript and polish it by then, but I also have to think about the interview and what I'm going to say.

I also don't know what to bring with me. Should I have the first three chapters? A synopsis? Business cards?

Help! Give me your best tips, helps, anything you can suggest. Thanks!

You Gotta Have Soul

2011-02-28T21:32:00.000-05:00

Agent Rachelle Gardner wrote a post on her blog comparing the competition for publishing contracts to American Idol. "The talent here is ridiculous," she quotes one contestant as saying (also the title of the post). Then she goes on to make the analogy about how you don't just need to be talented, you need to be better than everyone else to break into the biz. All that stuff that just makes my confidence fall to zero every time I hear it, especially from an agent.

Then someone who chose to post anonymously (but gave me permission to use his comment) said this:

I am a 50 year old man whose first book is about to arrive in the shops. On the face of it my path to publication has been embarrassingly easy. Was taken on by the agent of my choice overnight on the strength of one chapter, and this was followed by an auction between every publisher my work was sent to (5 of them.)

BUT (and it's a big but) as a young man I dreamed of being a writer. I wrote daily, relentlessly ...and got absolutely nowhere. Finally I put down my pen, and got on with my life. I lived a little, and then I lived a lot. Finally I decided the time was right. I walked out on my job and started writing again.

Which brings me back to the singing competition. Almost anyone can learn to sing - you can go to vocal coaches, you can learn the techniques. But out of that pool of talent, there will be one or two who stand out, because they've got soul. Their voice somehow projects the weight of a human life in a way that goes beyond technique. It's that and only that which will make you stand out from the competition.

I don't know who this person is, but I would like very much to buy him a drink. Because I felt like he was telling me my own story. At least, the "putting down my pen and getting on with life until I felt it was time to start up again" part. The "embarrassingly easy path to publication" remains to be seen.

I stopped writing in my twenties because I realized that I didn't have anything to say. It wasn't until I'd really put myself out there in the world and suffered a while (I know this is a cliche' but it's the truth, dammit!) that I felt I had something to write about.

Now I've got so much going on in my story that it overwhelms me, and I'm afraid it may overwhelm the readers. Good God, my characters suffer! And it seemed like so much sweetness and light at first. But isn't that the way life always is?

This story is emotionally powerful. And that is why I feel it needs to be told. I may or may not get published. It may or may not be easy. But thank you, Anonymous, from the bottom of my heart for reminding me why it's worth writing.

Image courtesy of PD Photo.org

Sunday Snapshot

2011-02-27T07:45:00.003-05:00

Okay, it's time again for a Sunday Snapshot. Post one paragraph (or up to 5 lines of dialogue) that represents the very last thing you wrote.

Seriously. Just cut and paste it.

It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't even have to be good. It just has to be YOURS!

Here's mine:

She was covered with dirt from head to toe, dressed in a grey garment of what looked like goat’s hair, and seemed strangely thinner for having been gone less than a fortnight. Deep smudges of fatigue shadowed her eyes. But her eyes themselves burned with an intensity he had never seen before. Even here, in the half-light, s

Yeah, that's where I stopped last night.

Writing is Like Sesame Street

2011-02-26T07:23:00.000-05:00

I feel exactly like Don Music today. "I'll never finish it. Never!"

How about you?

Let's just hope that, at least, it's a sunny day.

Almost 100K!

2011-02-20T06:00:00.010-05:00

I just looked at my word count. 97, 815! I had no idea I was so close to my target. This is incredible news!

I am planning to write a total of at least 110K because I know I'm going to end up going back and cutting stuff. But for those of you who know how many times I've gone back to the beginning and started over, well,... you understand how HUGE this is for me!

Nothing like a deadline to light a fire under my butt.

I know some people are shocked that I've taken so long to write this book. Personally, I'm a little surprised too. But it all made sense last Friday when our human resources director took the seven of us in my department through our personality profiles. She said that I am a "dominant introvert who is very high on structure and precision." This means that "I have very high standards and am very, very hard on myself. I get my confidence from knowledge and have to become an expert at whatever I do."

Well, DUH!!!! That totally makes sense. It's perfect for my job... guess what? Almost all of us have the same profile. That's what analysts need to be. But it kinda stinks on the creative side. I feel like I can't let it go until it's absolutely perfect, but at least I know it's not a flaw... it's a personality type.

How do you think your personality affects your writing style?

Oh, and don't forget to take my Writer's Satisfaction Survey.

I want to know how you feel about your progress as a writer, your ability to juggle tasks, and your outlook for the future. It's your chance to speak!

Writer's Satisfaction Survey

2011-02-19T07:04:00.012-05:00

I really want to know what you think about being a writer. Here's your chance to tell me.

Please take my Writer's Satisfaction survey by clicking on the link below, and I'll share the results next month. Thanks! And, have a cookie.

Writer's Satisfaction Survey

Bernard Pivot Blogfest

2011-02-16T05:00:00.010-05:00

Today is the Bernard Pivot blogfest hosted by Nicole Ducleroir. Each participant has to answer the same ten questions (originally crafted by interviewer Bernard Pivot) that James Lipton asks of his guests on "Inside the Actor's Studio." I love that show and am thrilled to participate and get to know other bloggers better.

For a complete list of participants, look here.

What is your favorite word? Onomotopoeia. Only, I can't figure out what it sounds like.
What is your least favorite word? Morning.
What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? A long walk in the woods.
What turns you off? People who do nothing but complain. It's not about you. Really. It's not. That's life so suck it up and move on.
What is your favorite curse word? Crap. That's as close to cursing as I get.
What sound or noise do you love? The wind rising in the trees before a rainstorm.
What sound or noise do you hate? Heavy traffic.
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Wildlife photographer
What profession would you not like to do? Sales of any kind.
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? "I just want you to know, I love your books. Fantastic job! Really. So I have this castle all set up for you to live in, and I want you to keep on writing novels for eternity, for My pleasure. With plenty of divine inspiration, of course. Not that I'm saying you need it. As much or as little as you want, I just want you to know I'm here for you. Now come on in and start picking out furniture."

Authors are Cruel Gods

2011-02-14T06:09:00.008-05:00

We authors really are cruel gods in our fictional worlds, aren't we?

I just did something truly horrible to my heroine. She's going have post-traumatic stress for a long time. No, seriously, she will. I'm going to have to deal with the aftereffects into the sequels.

(Before I go any further, let me just say that there's nothing sexual involved. I don't do sex, good or bad, in my stories. There's enough of that elsewhere. Sexual tension, yes, but not the act itself. Just so we're clear.)

So why did I do that? Because I could? Well, yeah. But also because the story needed it. She needed it. She needed to mature, as well as to fully realize the danger that the hero has been trying to protect her from all along.

There is a matter of building tension in a story, which eventually has to be brought to fruition. I had been hinting all along about bad things that could happen and the characters and I had gone to great lengths to prevent those things, but I realized I needed to let a few of them actually occur. For one thing, it brings in a lot of intense emotion. For another, it raises their motivation to never, ever let anything like that happen again.

And, lastly, it makes her vulnerable. I've done such a good job of shutting Faldur out of Marenya's life that I had to find a way of letting him back in. Though I'm at the point again where I'm not exactly sure how this romantic triangle is going to work out. I've always been somewhat ambivalent about the ending. Who lives, who dies, and who gets the girl? I could easily go either way.

How do you feel about doing bad things to your characters? Are you ever shocked by the vicarious deeds you commit?

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day! I am a firm believer in this holiday. Even if you don't have anyone to cuddle today, go eat some CHOCOLATE!!!!

Six Sentence Sunday

2011-02-13T06:41:00.003-05:00

I saw this on J C Martin's blog and think it's a great idea. You have to post six sentences of your writing for critique. This is what I was trying to get at with the Sunday Snapshots here at the Writer's Hole - something very short, just to share.

But it's hard to get people to limit their sharing to something really short. I feel that we are in a very quick-paced social media universe; people don't have time to read pages and pages and comment on it. (Well, at least I don't.) But I love sharing stuff I'm working on, 'cuz writing is a lonely profession. ("One is such a lonely number...")

So, here are my six sentences. I know there are a lot of "ands" but I don't know how to describe this kind of action without them.

With a great effort she whispered, “Raynor, please don’t.”

“You may not speak to me!” He lunged at her as if to tear her apart with his hands. She screamed and Nighfala leapt up, caught his arm in her teeth and pulled him down. He hit his head on the floor and grunted. The spell died. Nighfala let him go and began licking his face.

Afraid of the Words

2011-02-10T19:58:00.004-05:00

Do you ever feel afraid of the words on the page? I do.

I write something and then think, "I can't leave that. It's too [mushy][crude][lame][stupid]."

We are trained to be lean, mean writing machines. It's all about story arc, tension, and micro-tension. You've gotta have voice and style and tone. You've gotta be polished. Perfect. Publishable.

Yet sometimes I feel like I'm editing the guts out of my work. There is such a thing as too much revision. I recall reading something by an editor who lamented that new authors are like over-eager English students, who when you ask them to change something, change it so completely that they lose the spirit of the original work.

"When we speak we are afraid

Our words will not be heard nor welcomed.

But when we are silent, we are still afraid.

So it is better to speak.” - Audre Lorde

"Today we are afraid of simple words like goodness and mercy and kindness. We don't believe in the good old words because we don't believe in good old values anymore. And that's why the world is sick." - Lin Yu-tang

"Studying craft... can create timid writers. Ones who are afraid to make giant awkward splashes and instead write safe, neat sentences that may conform to guidelines but are often uninspired. There is a time for rules in writing, but one should only cage the beast after it has been let free to run and wrestle and tumble in the mud until it is exhausted and ready to collapse, willingly, inside the cage." - Rebecca Hargreaves

Have you ever been afraid of words? How did you overcome it? Or are you still working to find the right balance?

Poll: What's your favorite chocolate?

2011-02-08T06:41:00.000-05:00

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, all hearts turn to... Chocolate!

Next to coffee and beer, chocolate is (to borrow the words of Benjamin Franklin) "proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." There are so many kinds and forms it can take. White, dark, milk, super-dark. Truffle, bar, with almonds, with fillings.

So, what is your favorite kind of chocolate? Do tell.

We Have Winners!!!

2011-02-06T13:07:00.003-05:00

Wow, this is so cool. I have the winners. The three people who have been chosen (totally randomly by RANDOM.ORG) are three very special friends who have been truly encouraging and inspiring to me.

But what has also been hugely encouraging and inspiring is all of the entries. I love blogfests because I love reading snippets of others' work. We in the blogosphere talk a lot about writing, but in the end it all comes down to the writing itself, doesn't it? And no matter how much we might know about our craft, the key is getting those words on the page. Nothing else really matters.

I truly appreciate everyone who entered and commented. And I do have a warm, fuzzy feeling about my own work now. I hope you all weren't just being nice. Seriously - I want honest feedback from anything I post. So if you really thought it was awful shoot me an email or post a comment, okay?

Oh, yeah, the winners! Who are they?

Well, Olivia Herrell has won the signed copy of Eldala. It was fate, Olivia.

The author of Eldala, Michelle Gregory, has won the butterfly calendar. May it help you count the days until your flight to your new home in Montana, Michelle.

And Tessa Conte has won the mug and chocolates. I am sorry to say that I was unable to find another mug with the same design as the one in the photo, but I will substitute something comparable for you.

I will be emailing you for your contact information.
Have a great weekend everyone!!! Thanks again!!! It was a fabulous anniversary celebration for sure.

And, check out Tessa's Blurb for "Sort Yourself Out Month" in February. A fabulous way to get oneself organized and stay accountable with each other. Something I, personally, need quite badly. "Kind of like Nano.. for your life."

You've Come a Long Way, Baby Blogfest/Contest

2011-02-04T20:38:00.007-05:00

It's time to dust off some of our old writing and take an unflinching look at how far we've come. It's not too late to sign up to win prizes or to join the Blogfest.

When I started writing "The Golden Gryphon" I was basically daring myself to write something. Anything. Just write!

So I started with a place. I made up a castle on a hill in a UK-ish setting, then I put some people in it and moved them around like paper dolls in my head. Pretty soon they started moving around by themselves. And talking. And feeling. Before I knew it, my first draft was in full, riotous gallop through my imagination.

This is that first paragraph.

Glenholm Castle stood in the rolling foothills of the Dagger Mountains. It was a squat stone fortress that had housed the Eorl’s ancestors for ten generations. Behind it, the hills sloped gently upwards until they finally crested with bare rock and then climbed sharply to join the mountains. The land below the castle spread out in a vast patchwork of farms and woodlands, with a village along the central road. On far side of the village, the Glenholm Road led down to the bank of the Silverbark river, which formed the eastern boundary of the Eorl’s lands. Crossing the river, it then merged with the Forest Road, which led through the Great Forest to the capital at Cairwyn, the western reaches of the kingdom and eventually the sea.

Now for the revision:

(chirping crickets)

There is none. All that opening exposition got cut. But it was a crucial first step in the writing process.

Actually, I did incorporate some of it into the description of the family's departure for the capital.

In the bottom of the valley the new crops grew in bright green rows, and sheep and cattle grazed on the lush grass. Before them the Silverbark River flowed in a winding ribbon spanned by a stone bridge. On the far side, silver birches stretched along its banks, their smooth, grey trunks gleaming in the sunlight as if to live up to their name. Beyond them loomed the dark mass of the forest.

The party crossed the bridge, hooves clattering on the stone, and turned to look one last time at the slope behind them. There was the village, looking very small now, and the castle raising its towers in the sunshine, with the orchard in blossom tumbling about its feet. Behind it rose the hills in purple and grey succession, capped by the dazzling white of the morning peaks. It seemed impossible to Marenya, as she gazed upon its stalwart beauty, that any harm could ever come to Glenhym.

What did I learn? That setting needs to be tied to emotion. It has to mean something to the characters before it will mean anything to the reader.

I also learned something that has become my writing mantra: It is always better to have something horrible to edit, than to have written nothing at all.

Enjoy the entries and the contest! But don't forget to "Write first, blog later."

Did I Miss a Blogfest???

2011-02-03T21:11:00.003-05:00

I have this horrible feeling that I signed up to participate in a blogfest this week (other than my own) but I can't for the life of me remember which one.

So, if you are popping by expecting to see something that isn't here, please leave a comment, would you?

Meanwhile, grab a cookie and sign up for my contest on Saturday if you haven't already. There are a book, a gorgeous calendar, and chocolate to be won.

Darth Cookies

That is all. Good night!

Postscript, 6:08 a.m. Friday morning.

I broke 85,000 words. I'm writing a totally new scene. I don't get to do that much anymore. I've been revising for so long that I forget sometimes how hard it is to write from scratch.

I have about seven weeks to finish, edit and polish my masterpiece before I attend The Write Stuff conference and pitch it to a real, live agent!

This is going to take a lot of cookies.

2011-02-01T05:25:00.002-05:00

"The good writer seems to be writing about himself, but has his eye always on that thread of the Universe which runs through himself and all things."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Why Fantasy? Part II

2011-01-29T15:49:00.003-05:00

Pennsylvania Renaissance knight

A couple of weeks ago, I asked if there isn't something a little wrong with a 40-year-old woman writing medieval fantasy. Why fantasy? Why is it at all popular or relevant in 2011?

I got some great answers from you in the comments. The desire to escape into another world was primary, along with capturing the magical feelings of childhood and, yes, pretty clothes!

But I think that it goes deeper than that. All genre fiction is an escape from reality to some degree. I'm not talking about nitty-gritty realistic or literary fiction, but the stuff that we read for fun. And it seems to me that, despite the general claim that traditional fantasy is out of mode, there is a faithful cache of readers who love it.

But why swords instead of six-shooters? Why magic instead of science?

These questions have plagued me for months, and I find myself uncharacteristically at a lost for answers. Being an analytical, big-picture kind of person, the fact that I can't pin it down bothers me. So here are my random theories, and I'm genuinely interested to know what other people think.

My first theory is that, due to the highly technological and time-bound culture in which we live, a world without machines or clocks or anything that ties us to half a billion other people every second of the day is tremendously appealing. I think we long for a sense of mental and personal space. A chance to find out who we are when not driven by the whip of technology. But we don't like being bored, either, which is why we want a story and not just a vacation to Ireland.

Not that Ireland is boring! I'm going to get myself in trouble here. I really want to go to Ireland some day. What I mean is... not just to reside in a castle somewhere for a week but to have an adventure populated with living, breathing contemporaries and an element of danger.

Speaking of danger, the world around us is dangerous enough. I take my life in my hands when I drive to work each morning in New Jersey traffic. I'm haunted by the images of body parts in the Moscow airport after last week's suicide bomb, and I would really like to know about the other people who were shot at the same time as Congresswoman Gifford. Who are they? How is their recovery process going? I actually gave my husband an itinerary of where I was going to be last Sunday at the Philly Area Writer's Meetup, in case someone decided to go on a shooting spree in Center City. It was eerie, knowing that was my conscious reason for being so detailed in communicating my plans. I'd never done that before.

But all of these things are out of our control. We can't go after the bad guys with a sword, or shoot a catapult at our irritating neighbor's house no matter how many times they block our driveway with their car. We need a release. I know that video games serve that purpose to an extent. I also believe that the reason the states in these "United States" don't break out into wars all the time like Eastern Europe does is that we have football instead. The solution to world peace is the NFL.

But besides just emotional release, we want a story. We want the struggle to have meaning. So much of life does seem meaningless. When your number is up, it's up. And when you lose your job, tough luck. There is a sense of drudgery underlying all the flash and hype. I am bombarded with ads constantly everywhere I go. "Be healthier. Have more fun. Eat this. Drink that. Wear these." But no matter how many {blank} I buy, I will still have to get up and go to work and meet my boss's (and my own) expectations, fight the traffic home again, make dinner, walk the dogs and cope with all the family stuff, good and bad, or with being sick or with not sleeping well.

It *feels* like a heroic struggle some days. Yesterday was one of them. I wasn't sure if I'd pull through. I had a killer headache, been unable to sleep the night before, spent two-and-a-half hours in traffic, had a huge presentation due at 2 p.m. that wasn't ready, and I really thought I'd just throw up right there in the big corporate meeting I'd been summoned to. But I didn't. When lunch was brought in I ate something, grabbed a Coke, slipped out to the atrium and finished my presentation. I gave it at 2:00 with enthusiasm and a smile, with much success.

But I felt like Faldur. I think that his character - totally unexpectedly - has tapped into something very deep in me. His endurance, discipline and unwillingness to let go of a mission, is something that I think I have been unconsciously cultivating my entire life. There are those of us Who Do It - and those of us Who Don't. Not that it's always a person's choice. I had a hard time at first with the concept of a "hero" until I realized that sometimes it's just a question of being born strong. (Or pig-headed, if you ask my husband.)

Some of us start out life charmed, and some struggle for every accomplishment. Marenya is one of those who struggles. She doesn't see herself as important or capable except in very small, domestic things. But in the end she realizes that she is exceptionally gifted and powerful in ways she could never have understood if she hadn't been tested.

One more thing... Magic is a universal stand-in for spirituality. C.S. Lewis has a quote that I cannot for the life of me find again about how fairy tales let us put spiritual truths in beautiful stained-glass colors for anyone to see. That's what I'm trying to do with "The Golden Gryphon." I hope that it will resonate with my audience as much as it does with me. Because ultimately I'm writing myself a story.

99th Page Blogfest Entry

2011-01-28T20:33:00.005-05:00

I stumbled across the 99th Page Blogfest in my Friday night browsing and couldn't resist entering. I don't even know what is on my 99th page, but you will as soon as I cut and paste some of it below.

You are supposed to think about 3 questions as you read it:

1. Would you turn to page 100?
2. Why or why not?
3. Based on what you read, how likely would you be to buy the book?

(peeking through my fingers)

Okay?.... here we go..

(I can't look)

* * * * *

Faldur took a long drink and splashed cold water on his face, trying to clear the fog in his brain. The fog cleared quickly enough when he pulled his shirt away from his shoulder. He cried out and staunched the fresh flow of blood with the fabric. It was red, swollen and very painful.

Marenya heard him and came running. When she saw him, her face tightened. “Let me.”

She cleaned the wound, stitched it up with a needle and thread retrieved from her sewing kit, then dressed it with faithflower leaves to draw out any infection. When she had finished, Faldur wiped the sweat from his face and reached for the flask of velasz he had recovered from his saddle. He took a searing mouthful, then handed it to Marenya. She was pale and her hand, which had been so steady throughout the process of stitching him, were shaking slightly as she took it and sipped. She coughed as it hit the back of her throat, but her color returned.

Together they went back to where Gorrith lay, and she stitched him up as well. This was a longer, more difficult business, made easier by the fact that he was still deep. Faldur assisted her as well as he could, marveling at how capable her slender fingers were. She used the rest of the faithflower leaves on him, spreading them out carefully over each wound on his chest.

When at last she was finished, Marenya took another sip of velasz. “He’ll be painful and stiff for a while, but he’ll recover.”

* * * * *

List Your Accomplishments

2011-01-26T06:16:00.001-05:00

Laura Diamond has a great post on her blog about the importance of Self-Evaluation which reminded me of last week's meeting of my writer's group. We were setting goals for 2011, but first we took a few minutes to tally and share our writing accomplishments in 2010. You know what? When you actually write down what you've done in a year, it's pretty impressive.

Here's my list:

Joined a writer's group
Wrote/revised 30,000 words for JanNoWriMo
Started a blog and attracted 130 followers
Hosted my first Blogfest
Wrote a Doctor Query-approved query letter
Took an online writing class worth college credit
Beta read a novel and wrote a long commentary (requested by the author)
Completed nearly 80,000 words by the end of the year on my own book

One of my writing friends recently bemoaned the fact that no matter what else he accomplishes in a given day, he feels like he hasn't done anything if he hasn't written. That is so true!

I think it's because we tend to focus on what we *want* to get done rather than what we actually do. This is true in other parts of life as well. Don't laugh, but I have made lists for myself of what I accomplished on a given weekend: laundry, cleaned the bathroom, food shopping, etc. It really helps keep things in perspective.

Two other things really help with the writerly woes:

1. Try to make sure that the things you do are the things you wanted to get done, as much as reasonably possible. Don't offer to critique someone else's work if it means not finishing your own. Write first, blog later.

2. Accept the fact that there is no such thing as balance. A balanced life - like a balanced diet - is an illusion. You can't eat freshly picked blueberries in January (at least not here), and you can't write 1,000 words a day every day (or whatever your goal is.) But everything you do adds to the life experiences you can draw on.

During the past four years, I went from being a stay-at-home mom to full-time professional and I changed my career three times. I also spent a year in night school getting a certification I will probably never use again, but the experience was definitely worth it.

There is a time and a season for everything. Learn to appreciate the season you are in!

Write, Blog or Sleep?

2011-01-24T20:10:00.007-05:00

I am so tired. I kind of wish I were a vampire so I could stay up all night. If I did stay up all night, I would look like a vampire... all pale and stringy-haired. Not glittery. I don't think I could do glitter.

Anyway, I really appreciate everyone who has promoted and joined the contest. Yay! So far it looks like any of you have a really good chance of winning. Heh heh. "Several will enter, three will win."

But this brings up the whole writing/blogging issue that so many of us struggle with. I have been known to say "write first, blog later" [*ahem*] but I really tend to blog first. Today I did the opposite. I woke up at 3 a.m. because my son had the bright idea to set his alarm for 3:00 so he could get up early. Who got up? ME. Then I couldn't go back to sleep. I got a couple of hours of really good writing in... I love when the house is quiet.

But I'm wondering how I can promote my contest and keep the blog presence going and finish my novel in March. And there's the little matter of my day job. Pesky things, day jobs.

Any thoughts? Magic wands? Foolproof potions? Seriously, how important do you think an online presence really is compared to having a good manuscript?
And I'm not just talking about blogging, because the truly serious are on FB and Twitter and god knows what else these days.

Speaking of magic, Michelle Gregory, my fantastic blogging buddy, has made a button to help promote the blogfest. She waved her wand over the computer and made this little puppy. So if you would like to put it on your blog, just copy the code below the photo and put it in the sidebar of your blog in an "Add a Gadget > Add java script or HTML code" box.

Have a great week!

Anniversary Contest Prizes!

2011-01-22T09:13:00.010-05:00

Announcing the prizes in the "You've Come A Long Way, Baby" contest/blogfest! You don't have to participate in the blogfest to be entered in the contest. Winners will be chosen randomly among everyone who has become a follower of The Writer's Hole and posted a comment that they want to enter, by Saturday, Feb. 5th.

You can earn additonal entries as follows:

+1 for promoting the contest on your blog
+1 each for tweeting or posting on FB
+2 entries if you put up a sample of your own early-in-my-learning-process, sort-of-awful-but-I-don't-mind-embarassing-myself writing.
+1 more for a rewrite of it, showing off your improved skills.

Please let me know if you've promoted the contest and in what forms, so I can give you credit for it.

To enter the blogfest, sign up on Mr. Linky below.

You've Come A Long Way Baby Blogfest/Contest

Saturday, Feb. 5th

(P.S. I have no idea why Mr. Linky is acting so weird, but the links appear to work despite the red X's.)

Now for the prizes:

One lucky winner will receive a 2011 'Butterflies by Wendi" calendar featuring incredible butterfly photos by my good friend, Wendi Marchesani.

Another lucky winner will receive a gorgeous Starbuck's travel mug with the blue starburst design, and filled with chocolate. (I promised that Starbuck's and chocolate would come into somehow!)

Last, but not least, a third very lucky winner will receive a copy of Eldala by Michelle Gregory. Update: Michelle has informed me that she can send a personally signed copy to the winner, or if you prefer, get a free download of the e-book from Smashwords. For more information about this compelling fantasy-romance, look here.

So hurry up and join, and spread the word! The contest ends Feb. 5th. Thank you all for helping me celebrate my anniversary.

Oh Fudge!

2011-01-21T06:44:00.001-05:00

I just looked carefully at the rules for the Amazon Breakout Novel contest. I thought that I didn't have to submit the entire manuscript unless and until I reached the semifinal stage. But they want it up front. Probably to prove that the thing is actually written and complete.

Oh, fudge! The contest opens Monday and they are taking submissions for two weeks, but the number of entries is limited. I just know that the slots will fill up fast.

So now I'm debating what to do. Should I go for it anyway, and hope that a) I can finish it by the deadline and b) there are still slots left when I'm done, or should I let it go and wait for next year?

The importance of preparedness cannot be overstated, my friends. Nor of keeping track of these things so that one doesn't find out at the last minute.

You've Come a Long Way, Baby

2011-01-18T19:57:00.019-05:00

photo courtesy of freephoto.com

This February will be the four-year anniversary of when I started my novel. Yes, you read it right: 4 years. No, I'm not kidding.

At that time back in 2007, I was just starting to write again after nearly a decade's hiatus. A fiction writing course in college discouraged me so much that I quit completely. I finished college, went to grad school, threw myself into my career, met my husband, got married, and had a baby. It wasn't until my son was about two that I started to think about writing again. But the thought scared me so much I didn't even want to try. The only way I could convince myself to pick up a pen again was to promise myself that I was just doing this for my own enjoyment and no one would ever, ever have to read it but me.

That first, slow draft was truly awful. But the past four years of blogging, reading and learning have gradually improved my understanding and skill. Now I'm seriously thinking of submitting my pitch to the Amazon Breakout Novel contest this month. I never would have imagined myself trying it four years ago. I have no expectation of winning, but the deadline is what counts. I think I can be done in time if I push myself.

Some superior literary types are shocked that I have been working on the same book for so long. They screw up their faces and study me like an embodiment of literary incompetence, then say "But you're going to finish it soon, right? Don't you want to work on something else?"

Well, no. I don't want to work on something else until I'm satisfied with this one. Conventional wisdom says that you have to write at least three books before you can consider yourself a real writer, so many people dash off those three books just to be done with them. But that means that they are basically "throwaways." Why bother? What I've chosen to do instead, is write this novel over three times. (Or is really 2.5? or 4? I've gone back to the beginning so many times I've lost count.)

Each time it gets a little better. Each time I get closer to feeling that I really know what I'm doing. And that it might, in fact, be publishable. Even if I publish it myself. Enough people seem to have enjoyed the bits I've given them to read that I have the confidence to share it in its entirety.

And that, my friends, is definitely worth a four-year investment of my time and energy! Of course, I never would have come this far without all of YOU encouraging me along the way.

So, to celebrate my 4th anniversary, I am announcing the
"You've Come A Long Way, Baby, Contest/Blogfest."
Here's how it works, kind of the standard contest thing:

1. Post in the comments that you want to participate in the contest, and become a follower. That's easy, right?
2. Sign up in the Mr. Linky thingy if you want to also participate in the blogfest.

You get:
+1 entry for being a follower by Saturday, Feb. 5th.
+1 for promoting the contest on your blog
+1 each for tweeting or posting on FB
+2 entries if you put up a sample of your own early-in-my-learning-process, sort-of-awful-but-I-don't-mind-embarassing-myself writing.
+1 more for a rewrite of it, showing your improved skills.

The prizes... I haven't figured out yet, but I'll come up with something good, I promise! I know Starbuck's will probably figure into it somehow, and chocolate, of course, and maybe even a subscription to the "Bookmark of the Month Club." (Okay, I don't know if there is a "Bookmark of the Month Club" but there should be.)

So, sign up now! I hope you will share a little in the comments about your own writing journey. I look forward to reading about it, and your writing samples, and promise to post my own on Feb. 5th.

You've Come A Long Way Baby Blogfest/Contest

Saturday, Feb. 5th"

p.s. I have no idea why Mr. Linky looks so wierd, but the links appear to be working despite the red X's.

Why Fantasy?

2011-01-16T06:59:00.003-05:00

For a long time now I've been wondering if there isn't something a little wrong with me. Why am I writing medieval fantasy? And why would it be relevant to modern readers, if at all?

Is there something inherently "off" about a grown-up, middle-class, professional woman living in one of the most technologically advanced parts of the world and of human history, who spends her free time writing stories about maidens in distress, magical gryphons, and heros with swords and magical abilities?

(You know, just in case on or the other fails. No sword? Use magic. No magic? Use sword.)

It amazes me how popular the "The Lord of the Rings" books and movies still are, sixty years after their publication. And Harry Potter. And all the vampire, werewolf, etc. movies. Why did the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series take off the way it did? And oh, my goodness, did we really need another Robin Hood movie last year? Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed it but I kept asking myself "Why?"

Why is a modern, socially and intellectually enlightened audience so fascinated with tales we associate with the Dark Ages- a time steeped in poverty, violence, disease and ignorance? Particularly the paranormal or magical aspect. Shouldn't we be past this? Haven't we grown up yet? What does this say about us?

Is there something unacknowledged in modern life which we are trying to find or to escape from? Or is it just a general love of adventure stories, well-told or well-acted, that keeps drawing us in?

That nagging feeling

2011-01-15T07:46:00.002-05:00

Becoming a writer means that for the rest of your life, no matter what you are doing, there will be this nagging feeling that you should be writing. You can have no rest or peace of mind until your current project is done, and even in the midst of it you'll think of one or two or ten other things to start on.
- Christine Hardy

79,602 Words

2011-01-08T15:30:00.003-05:00

I am now at 79,602 words of my nth draft. Since I keep going back to the beginning and starting over, this is actually only the second draft of this latter portion of the book.

Plot is key at this point - it's pretty much all tension and action. Groan! Why couldn't I have written a nice children's book about cute furry mice or something like that?

If you also write fantasy, in case you aren't insecure enough already, here's a excellent article at "Writing World" which I re-discovered recently:
Keeping Your Fantasy Armies a Little Less Fantastic

Author

2011-01-08T09:04:00.000-05:00

It's a universal truth

That when the writer's muse is hiding

The primary topic she writes about

Is writing.

If the author is feeling tired,

Her characters fall asleep.

If she's been thwarted in love,

The hero is chained in a keep.

But if she is dieting

What miserable tragedies then

Will be unfurled in the fictional world

By the tip of her omnipotent pen.

~ Christine Hardy

2011-01-08T08:29:00.000-05:00

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
~Toni Morrison

Authors vs. Writers

2011-01-04T19:13:00.001-05:00

"Authors are rareified creatures, you know, who write serious fiction."
"And writers...?"
"Write books people buy," she explained, with a twinkle of mischief.

- Susanna Kearsley, Named of the Dragon

Describing Point-of-View Characters

2011-01-01T08:01:00.000-05:00

Ray Rhamey at Flogging the Quill has a great post up on his blog about this topic. I've struggled mightily with decisions about how much to describe and how.

I've come to the conclusion that although Ray's post is right on the nose for the kind of fiction he writes (mostly suspense), the question of how much to describe does differ among genres. Romance seems to almost require detailed physical descriptions of main characters. Science fiction and fantasy require some description as well, since the characters are expected to be physically unusual in some way. Other genres can leave more to the imagination, since they are more obviously ordinary humans except for some distinguishing characteristic like a unibrow or flaming red hair.

What do you think? How do you handle the problem of describing point-of-view characters? Or do you prefer to leave it up to the reader? How much description do you think is expected in your genre?

A Fit of Poetry

2010-12-24T08:48:00.006-05:00

Occasionally I suffer from fits of poetry, especially if I've been reading Tolkein again (which I have).
I came down with one yesterday and this was the result, dedicated to all of my wonderful friends - old, new, local, distant and virtual. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

At the Year's Ending

At the year’s ending we find our hearts wending
Through the flotsam and jetsam on shores in our tending
The trials and the pleasures, the hardly won treasures
And burdens of sorrow beyond our soul’s measure

We each seek a fastness to hide from the vastness
Of all of the bedlam that life hurtles past us
So, friend take my hand, and walk up to the land
To the shelter which raging of winds can withstand

And there at the beacon of hope and good keeping,
Let us gather up joy and set aside weeping,
Remember this year for its goodness and cheer
And pledge faith, help and strength for those yet to appear.

Haul Out the MasterCard

2010-12-16T06:10:00.004-05:00

"Haul out the Mastercard

Wrap up these gifts before my spirit falls again

Where did I park my car?

Wish I could find it 'cuz its starting to to rain again now...

"'Cuz we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

Where's my CD starring

Carols at the spinet?"

So it's been crazy the past week or so, trying to get shopping done after work in preparation for my parents' visit this weekend. We are having "four Christmases" as my son says, since we are getting together with different parts of our family on different weekends, and also exchanged gifts with my mother-in-law at Thanksgiving. My mom and dad are going to take all the family gifts back with them, so I need to have them wrapped and ready.

It's actually a good thing that I'm getting all this stuff done early. Well, I guess it's not technically "early" any more. But it *feels* early. I'm just not mentally ready for Christmas, because I haven't really had time to stop and think about it. My mom, who retired this year, said that she is actually enjoying Christmas shopping now because she can take her time with it.

Sooooo... I haven't written anything except for a little bit on Sunday morning. I would love to finish this novel by Christmas, but there is just no way. I feel like one of those people who always says, "I'm writing a book" but never actually finishes it. I could be "writing a book" until I retire. But I won't even let myself think that way.

How are you guys doing?

Sunday Snapshot

2010-12-12T07:26:00.001-05:00

Okay everyone, here's your chance to share again! This time, just post the last 50 words of whatever you wrote. It doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense. The point is to take a quick snapshot of your style and genre.

Enter your snapshot below!

Remember: It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't even have to be good. It just has to be yours!

2010-12-07T21:39:00.000-05:00

There is no greater burden than great potential. - Charles Schultz

A Testiomony of Timing

2010-12-04T10:05:00.010-05:00

The holiday season (and yes, I mean "holiday" as in Thanksgiving + Christmas + Hanukkuh + Kwanzaa + New Year's) is a time of reflection for most of us. Even in the midst of all the rushing around, I find myself thinking about the past year: its accomplishments, its failures, its joys and its sorrows.

In case you haven't picked up on this before, I'm a born-again Christian. I don't really like that term because of the negative connotations that get attached to it, but it does accurately reflect my belief system. I don't just believe that God exists and is in charge of the universe, but that He is personally involved in my life on a daily basis through His Spirit. Everything I do is either in accordance to His will and purpose, or against it.

It's not always easy to know God's will. Sometimes I sense His Spirit speaking clearly in my heart. Sometimes, I hear nothing but my own anxiety and confusion. Sometimes He just tells me He loves me.

Which is nice and all, but it can be annoying when I want an answer, darn it!

This year has been one of transition. I sensed that things were about to change drastically. I didn't know what would happen, just that it would be different.

Two major things changed: I gained new confidence in my writing, and I went back to full-time employment in an office. Both of these were a matter of timing.

I had been agonizing for about three years as to whether I was "good enough" to write for publication. I spent about half that time just uncurling from my creative fetal position. I spent the rest of it learning all I could about writing and publishing, mostly from other blogs. I also found a local writer's group which has been a huge boost for me.

I finally reached a point of clarity with my novel: I know what to write, and how to write it. I just need to find the time to concentrate enough to do it.

I tend to beat myself up over how long it's taken me to get here, but I have to remember that this is a learning process. Moses spent 40 years in the desert before God sent him to free Israel from Pharoah. So I shouldn't feel bad about not getting published before age 40. I know I needed this time to learn enough that I can trust myself now.

I know my instincts are good. I have confidence in my voice. That is HUGE.

The other big thing was getting my job. I recently passed my 90-day probation period. I'm an official full-time employee now. Although it's been a tough transition for all of us, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do for child care Christmas week, I know I'm in the right place. I couldn't imagine a better company to work for. My boss and I get along excellently. This makes up for all the hassle and the long commute.

Earlier in the year, I was beginning to panic about looking for a job. I felt enormous financial pressure; I was literally sick to my stomach with worry. When I prayed about it, however, I felt God telling me "Not yet. Wait."

So, I waited.

When that feeling finally left me, we were down to the wire. But by then I had come to trust in the God who provides every day, every month just what we need. There were so many times that I thought, "This is it. This is the month things will fall apart." But you know what? Something always came through.

We were so blessed! I decided that "my worrier was done busted." I just couldn't worry any more.

Then I applied for this job and was brought in for an interview. They called me at 6:30 the same evening and offered me the position, for three times what I was earning part-time. It was like a shower of blessing!

If you have stayed with me this long (and I hope you have) my testimony to you is this: Wait, prepare, be ready!

I have heard over and over how important it is for writers to be prepared for unexpected opportunities. So don't worry if none of your queries have been accepted. Just make sure you are ready when you do get a response.

If you aren't at the querying stage yet (like me), don't worry how much time you spend training yourself in your craft. Every little bit adds to your marketability and skill. Don't worry if the manuscript isn't done yet. Just focus on making it your best work possible.

It will happen at the right time.
When it is meant to happen.
When the right people are positioned to help you succeed.

Trust yourself. Trust God, however you perceive Him.

There is no other, no better, no more satisfying way.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Note: Please do not post religious comments that have nothing to do with my post! This is a writing blog, not a religious blog. Thank you for respecting my virtual space.

Sunday Snapshot

2010-11-28T08:27:00.002-05:00

Okay, you crazy, hazy-brained, cross-eyed Nanowrimoers! And sane cowards, like myself, who watch you from the sidelines and secretly envy your determination.

What was the last thing you wrote? Post it in the comments below. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't even have to be good. It just has to be YOURS.

Here's mine:

The first bird of morning trilled with freshly-wakened enthusiasm somewhere on the castle roofs as Faldur strode down the walkway of the circular courtyard where he had first arrived. A troop of mounted soldiers waited there, the best of the half-elevjan who served the King, with Mel at their head. Tall of stature and strong of girth, clad in the King’s armor, their breath steamed in the pre-dawn chill along with their horses’.

Faldur hoped that as a display of the King’s favor, they would so impress Chalmeth as to make use of their swords unnecessary, but he was glad to have the swords just the same. He clasped hands with Mel, and then turned to the groom who held Strider for him. The dory seemed small and lost beside the tall, gleaming horses; the upper curl of his thick horns came only to the nearest one’s withers. He butted Faldur impatiently.

“We’re going,” Faldur murmured. “We’ll bring her home.”

Shhhhhhh!!!!!

2010-11-25T06:52:00.002-05:00

Be wery, wery quiet. I'm hunting word counts.

It's 6:42 on Thanksgiving morning. And yes, I'm very thankful for my family, my job, health, a safe place to live and all that good stuff.

But what I'm REALLY thankful for is a still, quiet house.

I realized yesterday that I have over 70,000 revised words. 70,000!!! And the remainder of the book is still in first draft form, which means I get to do some real writing now. I am hoping to make a huge leap forward this holiday weekend.

I hope all of you find some quiet space to pursue your private goals between now and Monday.

Shhh!!! Don't wake anybody up. And have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Editing The Guts Out of the Story

2010-11-22T22:14:00.002-05:00

Did you ever look at something you wrote a long time ago and think, "Wow, that was really passionate and moving and... I killed it."

That happened to me today. This morning I grabbed my original notebook for my novel, the one with the first handwritten scenes and the precious syllables of my language, to write in if I had some free time today. I ended up reading one of the pivotal scenes in the heroine's story. One of those so-called "candy scenes" that are a pleasure to write because they are so compelling, and which drive the rest of the plot.

It made me realize how much I've lost in the editing process through the desire to be "tight" and "clean." I just edited the same scene last week for the third or fourth time. I wasn't satisfied with it, but I just moved on. Because that's what I'm doing now: Moving on. But now I'm thinking, "Hoooold it! What happened here?"

Did you ever have one of those moments? Have you gone back and resurrected the dead?

Where Do You Find the Time?

2010-11-19T06:40:00.003-05:00

It's an awfully good thing I'm not doing Nano this year, because I would be so far behind I'd never catch up! Life has just been crazy. I just got back from New York again, and was in D.C. earlier this week. I keep having this insane idea that I'll write in my hotel room, but I get so exhausted by the time I get back in the evening I just fall asleep.

The only writing I got done was for about an hour yesterday while in transit, and half an hour while eating in a restaurant alone on Tuesday. And that's probably the most I've done in weeks.

I'm looking forward to being with my long lost family this weekend, but I doubt I'll get any writing done.

How in the world do you all find time to write?

What Makes You Feel Good?

2010-11-08T22:53:00.007-05:00

I'm taking a break from writing-themed posts this week, as NaNoWriMo is consuming the blogosphere. I haven't time for NaNo this year. I actually haven't had time for NaNo any years. Anyway, I was editing some recent photos in my camera and just had to share some of the things that make life worthwhile for me.

Like sunrises

And pom-pom covered pumpkins

Cute little puppy faces

Finding Darth Vader and Cad Bane in my front yard

A glass necklace, brought all the way from Italy by someone who loves me

The last fall bouquet


Good friends


Beautiful places

And the occasional miniature tree frog.

At the end of the day, when you can't think or type or do a single thing more, what makes YOU feel good?

No pressure

2010-10-30T09:22:00.001-04:00

"One should be able to return to the first sentence of a novel and find the resonances of the entire work." - Gloria Naylor

Forty is Fine

2010-10-18T05:42:00.006-04:00

40 is an achievement
40 shuts the door on the insecurities of youth
I wouldn't be 21 again for a million trillion dollars
Or even 29
40 is fine

I've learned from my mistakes
Watch me prove it
I know what I want
Watch me do it

I have great friends, the right friends
to see me through it

My parents are my friends, not a mystery
I love them more now, knowing what they did for me.

And the future is growing so fast, it seems
Every week he needs new jeans

Pretty soon he'll want the car
I'll say, "Drive me to my book signing, son. It's not far."

40 is a release, a shout!
"Hey world, Look out!"

Christine Hardy, 2010

Sunday Snapshot

2010-10-17T08:34:00.003-04:00

Last week's Sunday Snapshot was so much fun, let's do it again! Post the last paragraph (or last ten lines) of whatever you've most recently written in the comment section.

If you want to link to your work, you can us the following to insert a url in the comment section: < a href="http://mywebsitename.com"> My Website Name < /a> BUT take out the spaces after the <'s at the front and end of the command. I had to put those in so a real link wouldn't show up.

Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect, it doesn't even have to be good, it just has to be yours! I haven't done much writing this week because I've been really busy at work and had a horrible cough that I'm still fighting to get rid of. But here's the last thing I wrote (well, revised.)

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Marenya slumped down on the rocky floor. She was cold and bone-tired, and her leg ached. There was no way back through the waterfall, and she had no food nor fuel for a fire. She had no choice but to go with him. Still, she lacked the will to move, and gazed at the sun striking the top of the waterfall. Beyond that glittering curtain lay everything she had ever known, and everyone she had ever loved. Somewhere out there her mother was worrying and Pelwyn was waiting for her. Somewhere, Faldur was searching for her. She felt a strong certainty that if she left this spot now, she would never return to them.

First 250 Word Blogfest

2010-10-16T10:00:00.001-04:00

In my aimless Saturday morning surfing, I came across Elle Strausse's First 250 Word Blogfest and foolishly decided to sign up.

I have revised my first page so many times that I don't have a clue whether it's good, bad or indifferent. I don't recognize my own story any more. It's like a child that has run off to college and become someone completely different. Most writers don't feel that way until after their book is published. Or perhaps I'm the one who has changed.

But, anyway, for what it's worth... here it is. Please let me know if it's too boring.

Moonlight cast blue shadows on the snow, turning the great drifts that stretched across the parkland into waves in a silent sea. Crikhaven Castle rose like a battered island from the whiteness. A decade of impoverished neglect had left its mark on the ancient walls. The brightly painted stucco depicting the Chalmeth family history was faded and flaking off. The carved ravens and gryphons adorning the rooftops had been worn smooth by the elements and not replaced. Now they were buried beneath a white mantle so thick that only an occasional head or wing protruded.

However, the windows were bright with candlelight and smoke billowed from the chimneys. Friendly voices called out in greeting as carriages and lone riders arrived one after another. It was Midwinter’s Eve, the one night of the year when it was not only permitted but expected to eat much, drink more, and dance with every hawin in the room: pretty or ugly, young or old. Tonight was a night for celebration. A night to prove you were alive.

Captain Faldur Relaszen observed the occasion by sitting in a fir tree overlooking Crikhaven’s courtyard. His light gray Ranger’s cloak was drawn tightly against the cold. He felt like an oversized owl, sitting perfectly still behind the sheltering boughs. From his perch he watched each guest arrive, taking careful note of their faces, families, attendants, and liveries. He wished he could be among them. Not to join the feast, but to hear the furtive conversation of the...

Sunday Snapshot!

2010-10-09T11:51:00.002-04:00

(This wasn't supposed to show up until tomorrow, but for some reason it did anyway.)

I just had a really cool idea. Let's take a snapshot of all of our work... right now... What's the last thing you wrote? Even if you haven't written for a while just open the last file you worked on.

Then put the last paragraph you wrote into the comment section. If it's very short, or back-and-forth dialogue, you can include up to ten lines. But only ten lines. Just a quick little glimpse into your writing world.

I can't wait to see what everyone is working on! I love reading other people's styles and voices. Don't be shy.. it doesn't have to be perfect. Heck, it doesn't even have to be good. It just has to be yours!

Here's mine: (as of Saturday morning, when I made this post)

He fumbled with the flask and took a drag himself. “You will be sore for a while, but you can walk. We have to get out of here.” He helped her to her feet and she swayed a little. Her newly-healed leg felt strange and raw.

“Take me home.”

“You can’t go home.”

Beer for my Horses

2010-10-09T10:25:00.001-04:00

Yes, I have been listening to country music lately. Out of sheer desperation and boredom, I am streaming live country music station feed into my computer. I used to listen to country all the time when I was younger, but it isn't very popular here on the east coast so I hid my preference for it.

But, today I have a cold and am feeling goofy! So I will now sing Toby Keith and Willie Nelson's song "Beer for my Horses" which I can't get out of my head.

No, not really. But you can watch it on YouTube.

"Justice is the one thing you should always find
You gotta saddle up your boys
You gotta draw a hard line
When the gunsmoke settles, we'll sing a victory tune
And we'll all meet back at the local saloon
We'll raise our glasses against evil forces
Singin' 'Whiskey for my men and beer for my horses.'"

Kind of appropriate for the part of my book that I'm working on right now. I'm at 63,400 words and hoping to break 70K today.

OMG - someone actually made a LOTR video for it! I'm dying laughing!

2010-10-08T20:01:00.002-04:00

"I want to do something splendid…
Something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead…
I think I shall write books."
— Louisa May Alcott

Writers are Like Toddlers

2010-10-03T08:54:00.000-04:00

Writers are like toddlers. We keep turning simple, everyday events into huge scenes.
- Christine Hardy

To Be Understood

2010-10-02T06:43:00.003-04:00

My brain is finally waking up. My coffee and an hour of Internet surfing are kicking the neurons into activity.

Simon C. Larter (whom I love to tease) posted the following on Facebook:

I will consider it an honor if someday the words I write make someone feel less alone in the world. Everyone should have the chance to feel understood.

Which made me think for a minute. And my thought was that, honestly, I don't write to make other people feel less alone. I write to make myself feel less alone. Telling you guys that my dogs woke me up at 5 a.m. as I sit in this dark and silent house makes me feel less alone. Taking the crucial moment in my protagonists' relationship and posting it on the Internet and reading "Oh, how sweet. I loved it!" makes me feel less alone.

I write so I can be understood. I want my readers to understand all those things that burn inside of me, which can only be explained through story because no one would ever actually sit down and listen to me explain them over coffee. Heck, I wouldn't even listen to them over coffee because without story, they're boring! Meaning themes and such. Who likes discussing themes? Yuck. But when the hero's world is falling apart and he has to choose between what he wants to do and what he is supposed to do, suddenly theme is fascinating.

Perhaps I'm selfish. I want to be understood.

And let's face facts: Nobody understands writers. Except other writers. Which is why we are all here on the Internet, pouring our hearts out and complaining about dogs and writer's block and such.

Simon, I admire your generosity of spirit and believe you will succeed. How about a group hug?

Nah. Pass the vodka.

Saturday

2010-10-02T05:26:00.000-04:00

So it's Saturday, and the dogs woke me up at 5 a.m. Who needs an alarm clock when you have two "whimper alarms?" That high pitched sound just pierces through the fog of sleep. This is followed by the impatient jangling of metal tags and the "whip-whap" of ears flapping as they shake their heads to be certain that I know they are hungry.

I guess I'll write then.

Real Writers

2010-09-30T17:53:00.002-04:00

It is impossible to discourage the real writers - they don't give a damn what you say, they're going to write.

~Sinclair Lewis

Getting It Right

2010-09-27T21:00:00.006-04:00

"A writer and nothing else: a man alone in a room with the English language, trying to get human feelings right."
~John K. Hutchens, New York Herald Tribune, 10 September 1961

The toughest part of writing has to be making human feelings come across on bare paper (or a bare screen) without sounding trite or forced. And yet, if we know our characters well enough, they speak for themselves.

The trick, my friends, is knowing them well enough.

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When her tears had subsided, he murmured, “A’er marenken, Marenya. M’ashkenai el folmendur.” I hold you in my heart, Marenya. My heart burns forever.

“M’ashkenai el folmendur,” she replied.

A line from an ancient poem, quoted by lovers through the ages. He kissed her again, not carelessly as he had done before, but fearfully, longingly, asking for her reply and receiving it back, drawing strength from her and giving her strength in return. He had been living under the sun for forty years, and had only just been born.

=================================
As I struggle to find my voice again, these are the passages that make the characters come alive. These are where the characters speak.

This is where I begin.

Do you look like your Main Character?

2010-09-25T20:12:00.004-04:00

I'm just curious.

At the moment, I resemble Marenya more than I did before. Unintentionally.

Those of you who color your own hair are familiar with that wildly unpredictable game of "hair color roulette" that we all play. Will the color I end up with actually resemble the color on the box? Or will it turn out completely different? Even your hairdresser doesn't know for sure.

My hair was a bleached blonde over the summer. "Neon" would be a more appropriate term. Remember Pony Boy from "The Outsiders?" I have a lot of natural red tones, so even the lightest color kits - those that are supposed to make you look like an albino - still come out golden yellow. But it was summer, I was at the beach, what the hey!

My personnel photo for my new job, however, looked really tacky. So I decided to try to go back to my natural color. In order to do this, I used a medium ash blonde over the yellow. "Ash" refers to the greyish blondes and is supposed to be good for reducing red and gold tones.

Well, it came out "ash" all right. Literally grey. I looked like I'd just gained twenty years.

In desperation, I went and got a golden blonde to put over the grey, thinking that the two tones would then balance out. Well, they didn't quite balance. Instead, the ash reacted with the gold and gave me... brown!

Yes, brown. Which has since faded to a light auburn.

Like oak leaves in autumn.

Like... Marenya.

I'm Not Really a Writer

2010-09-12T18:27:00.003-04:00

At least, I haven't been one for a long time.

Why?

I haven't written anything. I've thought about writing, talked about writing, read about writing and blogged about writing. I've read a lot of other people's writing and given feedback. I've done a ton of editing of my work in progress, though not for several weeks.

It's been a very long time since I've actually written something new and fresh.

Does that make me a candidate for Nanowrimo? I don't know. It's kind of tempting.

However, I think my husband would be very upset if I started something new, and he became a writing widower again. Especially before I finish the novel I'm working on.

No, I need to finish before I start something new. But I need to keep my WIP fresh as well. It's time to get back to being a writer.

It's Official!

2010-09-08T22:54:00.001-04:00

I completed my Advanced Fiction Writing Course and have a fancy certificate with my name on it. Okay, it's really just a .pdf document, but it certifies me as having completed 24 hours of training. So am I officially a writer now? I'm gonna say "yes."

By the way, prizes in the 100 Followers Contest were mailed Saturday. Please let me know when they arrive, okay?

I found this photo in my files from this summer. A friend and I were visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art one Saturday. She was taking an online course in art appreciation, and asked me to go to the museum with her for a big project she had to do - a sort of detailed scavenger hunt for various paintings. Since I have spent quite a bit of time there, I acted as tour guide for the day.

We had a lovely time, and on the way back I took this photo of City Hall viewed between a pair of skyscrapers. The way the past seemed squeezed between the two tall buildings and yet scattered brilliant reflections from its impersonal windows seems to me like a metaphor for modern American life.

We talked about metaphors in my writing class, too, and how they can be used not just to enhance the imagery in one's writing but to convey themes and symbolism. What powerful metaphors, similes or other images can you recall reading or seeing? Have you used any in your own work?

Where's Miss Manners when you need her?

2010-09-06T09:40:00.000-04:00

Dear Readers, I have a social dilemma. Perhaps you can give me some advice.

My birthday is approaching soon. I typically give a tea luncheon for my friends, not mentioning that it is my birthday. The ones who know me well bring small gifts anyway. I made quiche, cucumber sandwiches, scones, etc. and we have a lovely visit.

This year is a milestone for me and I want to celebrate it. (For one thing, if I don't, I'm going to be mighty depressed on that day!) I want to have the tea at my favorite local tea shop. But I feel awkward sending the invitations to celebrate my own birthday. It's not really appropriate for DH to send them, because
a) He's not a tea-and-crumpets kind of guy
b) He won't be attending the event
c) Everyone will know the moment they see the invitations that I wrote them.

A friend offered to help DH a while ago, but she is going through a very difficult divorce, and I just don't feel I can add to her burdens by asking her to do this right now. But then, she might be offended if I don't ask her. But if she can't do it, she'll still say "yes" because she's that kind of person, and I don't want to ask.

What should I do?

* Put DH's return address labels on the invites and pretend I don't know everyone will see through the charade?
* Ask the friend who's getting divorced to send the invites for me, even though I'll feel horribly guilty about it?
* Just send them in my name and hope everyone doesn't think I'm conceited?
* Ignore the birthday and just send invitations to tea?
* Ignore the birthday, and do all the work at home again this year?

Help!

Thank Goodness It's Saturday (and some background on "Gryphon")

2010-09-04T10:48:00.007-04:00

Dear friends,

Oooh, am I glad it's Saturday! I'm home alone today. All Day. Woo-hoo!

Not to say that I don't have a ton of housework and laundry to do, but I'm planning to fit in a little writing, too. And a run.

I've started running. If you can call it that. Let's call it "Interval Jogging," since I'm walking and running at intervals, working up to a goal of actually running the whole time. Hey, we've all got to start somewhere, right?

I'm also working through the blogfest entries. I am totally impressed with the quality of the writing in your posts. You guys and gals are amazing! I'm blown away.

Several people have asked about my WIP, so I thought that I'd explain a bit for those of you who don't know the whole story behind "The Golden Gryphon."

I wrote all the time as a child and in high school. When I got to college, my coursework started to get overwhelming. I took a Fiction Writing course as an elective and did horribly in it. I was so discouraged that I gave up writing completely. Looking back, I think the instructor wasn't very good.

Now fast forward twelve years or so. I'm a stay at home mother, desperate for mental activity and adult interaction. A flier arrives from our local regional high school, advertising their adult education classes. I see one on writing and decide to take it. The instructor, a lovely woman named Esther Hughes, was so encouraging that I decided to try writing again.

I started a romance novel, a scene from which I posted for the Beach Scene Blogfest.
I submitted the proposal to a publisher for whom I had tailored it and it was rejected, so I laid it aside and stopped writing again. (Since it was a Christian romance, tailored specifically for their criteria, I didn't think I could sell it to anyone else.)

But the creative muse had been re-awakened. I tried to ignore her, but couldn't. At the same time, I was so terrified of writing garbage and being rejected again, that I felt like hiding in a corner and never coming out. But I knew I had to write something, just for the sake of writing. So I started a story in which my best friend and I were the starring characters. It was meant to be a Tolkein-like adventure in which we - two elf maidens - were the heroines. Silly, I know! I had no plan. I just began writing whatever came into my head.

It didn't take long for me to decide that I didn't want to write fan fiction. So I started over, creating a whole new world and even a language. At first the characters were human, then I decided to make them only kind of human. They are like hobbits in the sense that hobbits could be described loosely as a cross between men and dwarves. (They would certainly object to this description themselves, but it fits.) My people are a cross between men and elves. I'm not sure if I humanized the elves or majifyed the humans, but the idea was to take those distant, elevated creatures of Middle-Earth and make them more approachable and understandable.

I soon realized that the hero was a two-dimensional sword-wielder (kind of like the prince in Snow White) and I needed to flesh him out. To my surprise, Faldur became more and more real to me, and in the course of events became pivotal to the story. So he and Marenya must share the narrative now. They still argue sometimes, over at Come in Character, whom the book is really about. CIC, by the way, has been instrumental for me in developing my characters. It really is a fabulous tool for those who have time to play around in character.

Only just when this happened, I started working again. So for the past three and half years, I have been tortured by my "persistent novel." I keep trying to put it away, and it keeps insisting on being written. I have nearly 100,000 words of material (probably more like a million words if you include all the revisions). But it's not complete, and keeps getting more complex all the time.

I've also been immersed in the Internet, meeting other writers and learning as much as I possibly can about the craft and the business. I can't believe how supportive the writing community is, or the wealth of information out there. I didn't start using the Internet until a few years ago. I had no access at my previous job, for confidentialty reasons, and no reason to use it or anyone to teach me at home. I went to college when computers were too expensive for average people to afford, and my master's thesis was programmed in FORTRAN, if you can believe that. Does anyone use FORTRAN any more?

So all this stuff is new for me. I don't think I would have gotten this far without my blogging friends, especially the incredibly sweet and inspiring Michelle Gregory. Never let anyone say that you don't make "real" friends on the Internet!

My original plan this year was to have it finished by the end of July. That deadline is long gone, so I'm hoping for the end of December. But with my new job and all, that may not be doable either.

I don't want to just write it and be done. I want it to be good. And even if I have time to write, I don't always have the focus or mental energy to put words together. So... it's going slow. But I'm greatly encouraged by all of your positive responses to the snippets I've posted here and there and I promise you: One Day, There will be a book! Even if I have to publish it myself.

My Apologies

2010-09-01T05:56:00.002-04:00

I am so sorry that I have only read a couple of blogfest entries so far. This whole "working full time thing" has really put a damper on my blogging. The weekend also turned out to be quite busy, in terms of food shopping, laundry, and just spending time with the family.

I promise to keep going through them when I can, and appreciate your patience. How do all you working moms do it?

Contest Winners!!!

2010-08-28T11:17:00.000-04:00

I couldn't wait until Monday to post the winners of the 100 Followers Contest. My deepest appreciation to everyone who participated and who promoted it. I literally couldn't have done it without you.

The winner of the book "Break Into Fiction" is Coreen (Velvet Over Steel.)
Congratulations, Coreen!

The winner of the Gevalia mug is our moonlight writer, Roh.

Jennifer Daiker gets the Starbuck's mug in which to drink her tea.

and the memo pad goes to busy mom Elizabeth Mueller.

I will be contacting each of you through the email accounts associated with your Blogger account. If you don't hear from me because you don't use that email any more, please email me via my Blogger account profile or leave a comment here as to where I can get in touch with you. I promise to delete your information soon as I read it.

Congratulations! And don't forget: Write First, Blog Later.

Last Day to Enter

2010-08-27T06:20:00.001-04:00

Hey, everyone... I just want to remind you that today is the last day to enter my 100 Followers Contest. You have to post a comment in the contest post to be entered, so if you are a follower and didn't enter, please be sure to do that to have a chance to win one of the prizes. Winners will be announced on Monday.

I have not had a chance to even glance at any Blogfest entries yet. I've been totally overwhelmed with my first week on the job. I'm learning a whole new field from what I did previously, so my brain is on overload from all the training sessions I've been attending. I'm looking forward to kicking back this weekend and browsing through your entries. Have a great weekend!

Rainy Day Blogfest

2010-08-25T06:00:00.063-04:00

"He sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." - Matt. 5:45

At last, it's time for the Rainy Day Blogfest! I can't wait to read everyone's entries.

And don't forget that my 100 Followers Contest ends Friday, so please pass the word to gain additional entries for the prizes. Since we've already passed 100 I've decided to give away both the Starbuck's and Gevalia mugs. Thank you, thank you, thank you, one and all, for your help in spreading the word!

My entry is after the Mr. Linky code. If you just stumbled across this, it's not too late to join the fun!

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Here is my entry. Marenya is currently staying inside a giant tree. Because, as you know, I've always wanted to live inside a tree.

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Marenya woke to grey twilight and the sound of rain. The others were still sleeping. She lay, warm and comfortable, watching drops fall from the leaves outside the window. Although only a few hours seemed to have passed, she felt as alert as if she had rested an entire night. It occurred to her that perhaps she had done so, and slept right through to the next day. It was impossible to tell.

Something she couldn’t name pressed on her mind, making her feel that she must go up to the top of the tree. She tried to push the feeling aside, but the harder she tried, the stronger it grew. At last she got up. She wrapped the blanket around herself over the yellow robe. Then, creeping soundlessly on her bare feet, she tiptoed up the stairs and climbed onto the platform of branches above. The moist air hit her face and she raised her head to its coolness, eyes closed, drinking in the wonderful, rich smell of the forest. When she opened them, what she saw made her stop still.

There in front of her on a thick branch stood a gryphon. Its wings were folded and it was facing away from her, but even so, she could see the faint glow that shone from beneath its feathers, each of which looked as if it were made of purest gold. It was twice as tall as she, with sharp claws and pointed ears. It turned its head toward her, and she saw the curve of its gleaming beak and the depthless pools of its eyes. It was at the same time the most beautiful and the most fearsome thing she had ever beheld.

The gryphon turned on the branch so that she could see his full splendor. The raindrops caught the light that shone from him and glittered golden as they fell.

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