Birth of a Novel Summer 2015

I haven't pulled this out in quite a while. 

Anyone want to join me?

• Every Friday you post a quick update on how you're doing on your writing projects. 
• It can be combined with Camp Nano or whatever personal goals you've set. 
• All you need is a line or two added to the beginning or end of whatever post you already had planned for the day.
• Then visit the others in the list to encourage them to keep moving forward. 

I'll start with a quick note today.

This summer I'll work on two WIPS: the third book in Talia's series (Demon Rising) and a YA space opera currently nicknamed Eleena's Tale. I've added word counters at the top of my sidebar. Hopefully the need to see the bar fill up will keep me moving forward.

Today's stats:
Demon Rising--5475 words
Eleena's Tale--2119 words

DR will be my writing time novel. ET will be my pool novel. I'd like to get around 500 words a day on each, but since my kids are home I won't beat myself up over it. Truth is I'll probably take turns writing on them on different days. Listen to whoever's speaking the loudest.

What are you working on? How are you going to accomplish your goal?

Sign up if you'd like to join us! Feel free to post the list on your blog on post day. Simply add < to the beginning of the below code and > to the end. 

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Blog Hop Interview for KidLit/YA

I was invited by my friend and fellow WiDo Author, Jadie Jones, to participate in a “blog hop interview.” I think it started as a YA interview blog hop, and in spite of the one project I'm working on (Fade Into Me), I've not considered myself a YA author. Who knows though, right? I do consider my stories to be ageless, meaning I think both teens and adults can read and enjoy. Anyway...

Jadie sent me some interview questions, which I'll answer on my blog. At the bottom, I'm supposed to tag 3 other writers who will, in turn, answer some questions on their blogs next week. Jadie posted her answers to the questions last week. If you like, you can leave a comment on her blog and tell her that you connected to her through me.

Here are my answers to the questions I chose from the list:
What are you working on right now?
Most of you know that I have writing ADD and tend to have several projects going at once. I think I've reached a new record even for me. Here's the current list of stories in various stages. There are others, but these are the ones that still talk to me.

Demon Rising--A novella to connect The Magic Wakes with Battle for Sendek. Just started and currently sitting at 4K.
Fade Into Me--A YA Fantasy of 40K so far that can't decide where to settle. It's currently 2 stories battling it out to see who wins.
Stellar Cloud--a Science Fiction anthology of 6 short stories. This is almost ready for edits and is currently at 45 pages.
Last Christmas--a Romantic Suspense novel about escaping the attentions of a serial rapist in order to have a chance at the love of your life. At 13K.

Why do you write what you do?
I can only write what's taking up space in my head. The voices and ideas that are the loudest get the most "screen" time if you will. I started writing Scifi because that's what I love to read. Creating new worlds and trying to figure out what would make them different and what would make them similar to ours is a lot of fun.

Romance came into the picture because I think we all want to understand how relationships work. We get upset over stupid things, we forget to communicate, we misinterpret intentions or reactions, time/money/jobs/other people get between us, etc. Why? And how do we come back from those problems?

YA started simply because everyone thinks I'm a YA writer. Don't know why, but hey, maybe someone's trying to point me in the right direction.

The new suspense element feeds off of some of my darkest fears. It's time to start digging them up and dealing with them.

What is the hardest part about writing?
The hardest part for me is staying focused.

Yeah, it's kind of like that. Oo, shiny new idea...wait, finish the other idea...or I could do this...Ah, ah, ah! I've got it, this is how it goes...shiny!!...backtrack, etc. I need to learn how to focus and work on just one project at a time and FINISH it! It's just hard to work on Talia's story when Katrina is huddled in the corner crying for help. Or when Ryanne is desperately trying to figure out what she wants. *sigh* Which leads perfectly to the next question.

What scares you?
Several things really. One, that I will continue wandering hopelessly between stories and never finish anything worthy of publishing ever again. And two, that I will let that fear stop me.

I know that I have some great ideas, but what if I can never find the right words to convey the emotions I feel when I think of these characters and the ordeals they go through. I think I can tell a good story. That's not good enough for me. I want to be better. I want to draw emotions out of my readers the way my characters pull them out of me. And that's not going to be easy.

What if I'm never good enough to fit my own standards?

V is for Vengeance

There are a lot of V words associated with Jaron. Who knew?

Vengeance--punishment inflicted in retaliation for an injury or offense : retribution.
Vessel--a : a container (as a cask, bottle, kettle, cup, or bowl) for holding something
b : a person into whom some quality is infused
Venomous--a : poisonous
b : noxious, pernicious
c : spiteful, malevolent
Violence--intense, turbulent, or furious and often destructive action or force

And yet these words are not who he is. They are a part of him, they drive him forward, but he is more than the negative things that the demon brings out of him.

Do you know any positive traits that start with the letter V?

I tried to browse for other actors who could play Jaron, but it's just Jude Law. He became Jaron in my head and no one else will do.

T is for Talia and her Trees

Talia. Where do I even start with her? I talk about her all the time it seems, and yet I still feel like there's so much more to tell. But I can't tell you all or you'll never need to read the next three books that I'm writing about her.

Believe it or not, I do hate having to be mysterious about things.

A friend of mine pointed out some interesting things a while back. I guess I wrote a lot more of myself into Talia's character than I ever thought. Here are a few things we have in common:

• I'm a morning person. Sunrises are one of my favorite things to watch but I don't get to do it very often. 
• I get a lot of energy from the sun. Cloudy days leave me feeling drained and sad, so bring on the sun. 
• I have freaky dreams and the song "It's a Mad World" sort of fits me.
• Talia is deeply spiritual, she loves nature and feels whole when surrounded by the beautiful things of her world. So do I.
• I take great comfort in a warm fuzzy animal curled up on my lap or keeping my feet warm.
• I really wish I could see inside my hubby's head so that we could really understand what we each mean as opposed to trying to translate what's been said. 
• There are times I would rather hole up inside my head and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist so that I don't have to deal with it. 

She does what I wish I could do better. Motivate herself to take action in spite of her fears.

And now, the eye candy gallery for the guys. These are actresses I can see playing Talia.

Ashley Greene--with THIS hair

Amber Heard

Jessica Lowndes

Katharine McPhee

And, last but not least, here is the actress and photo that FIRST inspired Talia's character.

Emily Deschanel

Other Posts About Talia:

First interview-2010
Interview over at Michael Offutt's 2013 (with amazing pictures)
Podcast of an Almost Kiss scene 2013
Valentine's Interview and 1st Kiss scene 2013

Do you ever find bits of yourself in your characters that you didn't plan?

S is for Sendek and Shishali

Sendek is my world. I don't even remember when, where or how I came up with that name, but it stuck. Sendek is a lot like earth, but it resides in a binary system. I think more than anything, its where I'd rather live on days that are hard here on earth. The fact that it was seeded by the dragons because of its potential for magical energies makes it that much more attractive to me.

Shishali (pronounced--Shh-shaw-lee) is perhaps the only truly evil being in The Magic Wakes. She's just down right scary. I've already shared a character snapshot 2010 and the beginning of her final scene with Talia in 2011. Both of those received some edits before the final draft. However there is still so much to her that never made it to the book. This is another reason why I want to write a novella just about the Dragumon and their history.

If anyone is taking my Dragumon Art Contest seriously, maybe you want to draw Shishali? She's the only red Dragumon referenced in the story. Red's are rare and it's always set her apart. I don't know if she could have ever been "nice" but I do know when her spirit was twisted. She was only a year or two old and Elvin took her to visit the red dragon clan. He thought they would want to raise her in their ways instead of having her stay with the greens. However, Thraned called her an abomination and refused to even hear Elvin out. She was turned away for her first exile.

Having heard every word of Thraned against her, she became even more aware of her differences. She watched the others, studied them, waited. Her only goal in life was to become not just one of them, but the best of them. Unfortunately she didn't have any natural charisma that others flocked to. It's like they could sense the darkness in her.

What she did have was the magical ability to twist the emotions of others and augment them. She watched Kansisi for a long time. He had the charisma to lead. She noticed how others followed him without question. But he was good. He wanted to help others and take care of the land. It was only a matter of time before she learned how to twist his goodness to her needs. And the death of Elvin at the hands of the humans sealed her control over him.

She made his emotions stronger and then spread them to the other Dragumon. In essence she created a mob mentality where there was none. And she kept it in place and tweaked it for hundreds of years. This made it possible for her to enjoy the freedom to hunt and kill anything or anyone she wanted. Eventually she didn't need to use her magic to keep it strong, it had become a way of life.

In the end, it didn't matter that returning to Sendek began to heal Kansisi's spirit. She was already the leader and she thought that would be enough. She didn't count on the power of love that one violet eyed mage had for a soldier...

Do you have a favorite villain? What is it you love about them?

Q is for Quest

Quest--a difficult task or jouney that must be undertaken to achieve a goal or earn a reward (Myth Encyclopedia)

Talia's story is in effect several smaller quests leading her on the greatest quest of her life. I believe this is what really gives The Magic Wakes it's natural slant toward fantasy. There will be more science in the fiction as the series continues, but then it will take a decidedly high fantasy turn as well.

Why?

Because that's where the quest leads. The quest in book one isn't obvious. It's more of a series of small quests: find answers, find a certain Tree Elder, find a dragon, find the strength to do what you must. That kind of thing. No where near a traditional hero quest. However, the end of The Magic Wakes leaves Talia and her world with a problem. One that needs solving and quick before things deteriorate into civil war. This leads to her second quest and what she thinks is THE quest. How to blend magic and science peacefully on her world.

This is the quest that sets book two into motion and the consequences of this journey will lead her to the ultimate quest. I never really thought of my plotting as quests building on quests, but there it is.

What are some of your favorite character quests? 

P is for Perseverance

Perseverance. It's a big word that we all need a lot of. As humans and especially as writers don't you think? I like the way Merriam-Webster defines it: continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.

Talia had to keep working toward a solution even though she wasn't making much progress. What was her other choice? Give up and wait to die? I don't think so.

But you know what? I don't really want to talk about The Magic Wakes today. Nope, I want to talk about the ways we persevere as writers. So many of us are on this journey, all in different spots and often on different paths entirely, but all with the same end goal. We want to share our stories with others. So, whether its a dirt path, cobblestone, asphalt or zipway, we have to find ways to keep moving forward.

I wrote an article for Savvy Authors on this very topic the day my novel was released into the world--Finding the Strength to Journey On. In that post I cover 5 things that I feel are important in my journey, the things that I must always remember in order to keep from giving up.

• Remember why you write
• Be willing to learn
• It's all subjective
• Prepare for the reality of being a published writer
• Focus on the positive

Check it out if you'd like to read more.

How/where do you find the strength to keep writing in spite of the obstacles in your way?

O is for Orek

Sendek and Orek. Two planets set on a course by the same creators. Both left to fend for themselves and figure out their greater purposes. One was much older and therefore farther along it's journey. Perhaps this planet could have mentored Talia's world, helped them reach a state of balance between science and magic.

Unfortunately, the Dragumon found Jaron's home world, Orek, long before Sendek. In my mind the two worlds were always similar because they were created or "seeded" by the same beings.

Jaron's world was very much like Alderaan from Star Wars. Beautiful vistas, gorgeous cities sweeping across the horizon. The best in technology and the wisest wizards. Scientists and wizards worked together to keep balance and harmony on their world. This in turn made for an idealistic life for the citizens of Orek. The people were free to travel between other planets or live peacefully at home.

Talia and Landry are going to visit the remains of Jaron's world in Search for Knowledge, the sequel to The Magic Wakes. Their expectations will be way off of course, but there wouldn't be a need for me to write the book if everything were to go as they planned. I mean think about it, a life sustaining empty planet is prime real estate in any universe!

What they find is a microcosm influenced by my love for Firefly. I found it interesting that Whedon's universe had such distinct lines between the haves and have-nots. Whole planets were wealthy and blessed with technology while others were back water dumps. That's what I want the new Orek to be like.

The Controllers have all the power, water, food, tech. The general populace has nothing and is left to fight among themselves for whatever they can get. The Controllers take the children and train them to be soldiers or sell them into slavery, but the people are so busy trying to stay alive that they can't bind together to form a rebellion.

They need a leader. Someone who can teach them to fight. Talia already has a group waiting for her leadership. Will she lose Landry to a cause he can't turn away from?

Oo, that came out pretty good!

Question:
Have you ever watched Firefly? Who was your favorite character?

N is for Nightmares

Nightmares. What a deliciously heart pounding subject. We've all had them. Mine usually involve spiders. In fact for years I had the same recurring dream. I would be asleep in my bed and wake up to find thousands of spiders spinning a cage of webbing around me. Even though I knew I was asleep, my heartbeat would speed up and it would be hard to breathe. Worse was the inability to move and swipe the webs away.

They say that dreams are our brain's way of working through all the psychological mess we avoid during the day. Or maybe I'm making that up, but it sounded good, right? Anyway, I can remember one nightmare from my childhood that seems silly now, but at the time I was terrified (I was around 8 or 9 years old). It went something like this...

I'm hiding behind the couch while my parents watch TV late at night. Suddenly the roof is ripped off the top of the house, my parents disappear and a giant alien space ship is hovering above me in the air. All I want is to remain hidden, but a bright light sucks the couch up and I'm exposed as the alien flies toward me on a large disk. When he's right in front of me I realize it's a humongous chocolate chip cookie. I don't remember what the alien looked like, or what my fate was, but I remember the chips sticking out that were as big as my head.

Weird...

Did you see Rise of the Guardians? It came out last December maybe? Anyway, LOVED the nightmares in it. They're made of black sand, easy to slip into your dreams one grain at a time.

The Magic Wakes all started with a nightmare that I had when I was 19. It grew and developed as I had others that could be linked together. Eventually I gave them all to Talia and let her find a way to work through it.

For those of you who have read the book, each of Talia's dreams were a dream that I had. Yeah, I've got some deep subconscious issues I think. But you know that iconic song...

"And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad, the dreams in which I'm dying are the best I ever had." (I loved Adam Lambert's version)

But, hey. I'm a writer and weird dreams are a blessing I guess. Here's a clip from TMW and one of my disturbing dreams with a bit of extra that didn't make it into the book.

"Talia crouched behind the charred remains of an aeroflyer (was a helicopter in my dream). She squeezed her eyes shut, but since she dreamed, the chaos and carnage remained visible. The familiar scene permanently burned on her retinas.
As she watched, the aeroflyer transformed from a charred mess to a perfectly bright and smooth metal. Her reflection stared back. Half her face was badly burned and falling away from her skull. The other half was blood splattered but otherwise unmarred."

Here I deviate from Talia. My dream jumped to a crowed hospital where I sat on a gurney surrounded by those that barely survived the invasion. People moaned and cried, doctors and nurses ran from place to place, but I sat feeling nothing. I just stared at everything around me until a man came towards me. He was a doctor and he carried a syringe. He lay his hand on the good side of my face and whispered he was sorry and I could feel my heart breaking. The tears burned like acid as they slid down the ruined side of my face. He then kissed my good cheek and gave me the shot. End of dream.

Did I die? Did he kill me? Or was he helping me? I'll never know, but I know I loved him dearly in that dream. *sigh*

Question:
What is the one dream or nightmare that has stuck with you through the years?

M is for Moons

Sendek has three lovely moons to decorate the night skies. This makes it a bit hard to see the stars, but there is almost always a soft glow of some sort on Talia's homeworld. Someone once asked why I chose Greek names for my moons. I simply like the way they sound. Does there need to be any other reason?

Below are my three moons and some information about them. The story behind the Greek mythology is in the parenthesis.

Atreus--(His life was messed up! You can read about it HERE. )

Atreus is the moon closest to Sendek and the most like our own moon. No atmosphere, no water, just barren rock and sand.

Cadmus--(I love Europa but couldn't very well use that name for one of my moons. However, in Greek mythology Cadmus was the brother of Europa and the founder of the city of Thebes. Source)

Cadmus is the smallest of the three moons, and the quickest. It's described as a massive asteroid that got caught in the gravitational pull of the other two moons and Sendek. If not for it's speed, the three competing gravitational forces would pull the small moon apart. As it is, the volcanoes make it the least likely candidate for settlement. And one day it will get ripped apart since it's slowing down with each pass between the two larger moons.

Daedalus--(A famous architect, inventor, and craftsman. Among his inventions and creations were the wooden cow he constructed for the queen Pasiphae, the Labyrinth at Knossos, artificial wings for himself and his son Icarus, and he was even said to have invented images. Source)

Daedalus is Talia's choice for the first Sendekian moon colony. It's only slightly smaller than Atreus, but it has a very thin layer of atmosphere and large polar ice caps. She's spent most of her time working up terraforming simulations for Daedalus.


As she works on this project, Talia begins to hope that she can move to a moon colony and escape the death from her nightmares.

If given the chance, would you be willing to help settle our moon?

L is for Landry, the Love Interest

*sigh*
Landry, my dream man, and yet he's not perfect. I loved that one reviewer said she wanted to slap him in the beginning because of his arrogance and rudeness, but she loved him by the end.

From the beginning I wanted Landry to have all the qualities that I love in my hubby, one or two I wish he had, and enough flaws to make him real. And no, I'll never reveal which traits fall into which category. :)

In a way, Landry is as much a loner as Talia. Even though he has family and people that respect him, he keeps most of them at arm's length. When our lovers meet you have two strong willed, socially inept and fiercely independent people butting heads. That's why I felt it appropriate for them to fight the attraction and each other in the beginning.

There have been two interviews with Landry in my search to know him better. The first was way back in 2010 and you can find it HERE. The second one was part of my release blog tour in February and can be found at Chandara Writes.

It's interesting for me to see the little details that changed as I got to know him better. He went from being older than his cousin to younger. One interview is after he met Talia, the second is before and therefore has a lot of irony in it. :) You'll have to know Talia to understand. And, I've tried to pick younger men to play him in the movie (yes, not a reality yet, but I'm good at dreaming big!) However, for today I'm just going to post the men I would pick to play him without a single thought to appeasing the masses.

Here's my personal eye-candy gallery in no particular order:

Karl Urban looking JUST LIKE THIS.

Chris Pine

David Boreanaz

Henry Cavill

And a dark haired Chris Hemsworth--none of this blonde stuff!

Jay Ryan

Question for you:
Which one of these guys would get you to the theater the fastest?
And guys, you can comment about who you think would be the better action star. ;)

B is for Balance

Today I want to talk about life balance. Talia didn't have any, and I'm pretty sure my balance between writing and being a mom is pretty off kilter as well.

Let's talk about Talia first. With the loss of her family she buried herself in her work. She made sure there was no time for a social life that could lead to emotional attachments. Her loneliness should have clued her in to her lack of balance but she justified that away as well. Her story became about regaining her balance so to speak. She needed to learn how to open up her life and experience something other than fear.

Balance plays another part in the series as a whole, but it's only been hinted at in The Magic Wakes. The balance between magical energies (come back on E day for more on this), the balance of trust vs protection, and the balance between creation and responsibility for those creations will all play a part in the next three novels.

I'm always talking about how I'm trying to balance my life as a mom, wife, daughter, teacher, mentor, blogger, writer, friend... Seems like each week I'm trying something new. It used to bother me that I couldn't get this right, but now I realize it's okay. If I'm still trying then at least I know there are priorities in my life. I just have to keep looking at them and reorganizing them according to the day, week, month, whatever.

Life keeps moving on and somehow we all get through it. Isn't that a wonderful blessing? Hah! Another B word.

Do you feel balanced? What are you doing to regain lost balance?

A is for Arlee and Algodova

Thank you Arlee for starting the A to Z Challenge! Sorry I took so long to join up, but let's have some fun now that I'm here. ;)

As of 6:00 AM US Central time, I'm #531--subject to change. ;)

Algodova is a kingdom ruled by a military monarchy. We'll discuss what that is and how it came about for the letter "R--Royalist", but today I just want to talk about the country's reach and some of the technology.

Geography

The kingdom of Algodova covers almost two-thirds of Sendek's land surface (which is slightly smaller than earth). It's borders encompass vast mountain ranges, forests, plains, desserts and sea ports. Although the citizens share a mono-ethnic appearance (that is never really spelled out other than brown eyes, dark hair), geography and lifestyle add much needed diversity.

The Magic Wakes (TMW) ventures into the mountains, cities and the forests. I hope to take us to the sea and desserts in a later sequel.

Technology

Algodova has focused their scientific research in three main areas: environmental harmony, medicine and military technology. Reaching the stars was not a priority until recent years and that's why their space program is behind the other tech. As part of the environmental push, cities are compact, dense, and tall. They build up instead of out to preserve more natural areas.

Sendek is a lot like earth, but they have a few things I wish we did:
Metabolizers--order food and there it is. When you're finished put everything in for recycling. No need to cook or clean and every member of your family can order exactly what they want!
Aeroflyers--these were needed to cut down on elevator and stair traffic. Many businesses simply added landing pads and doors to their 56th floor store.
Moving Zipways--This is a flat escalator or moving sidewalk like what we have in airports, but Sendek uses them on the land streets. Since there are no cars on wheels, you either take the walkways or an aeroflyer.
The Viewer Screen--it looks like the description of this was cut in the final edits, oops! Anyway, it's basically a HD plasma TV built into a wall that can be a variety of sizes up to the entire wall surface area. When it's not on the wall looks just like a wall and nothing else.
Military Grade Personal Shielding--This refers to Landry's belt that monitors life signs, links with the COM system and includes a multi-layered shielding device. Level one is an optical cloaking device, Level two also cloaks heat and life signs from sensors.

Goodness! This post is getting long, so I'll wrap it up with a question for you.

What bit of technology do you wish we had available to everyone today?

The Big Reveal A to Z 2013 Theme

Mina Lobo had a great idea for a blog hop to reveal our A to Z Challenge Theme. A blog hop within a blog hop if you will. Click HERE to see who all signed up and then check out their themes!

This is Arlee Bird's brainchild. It all began with her post from Saturday, March 27, 2010 when she set forth a challenge to all bloggers for the month of April.

Can you post every day except Sundays during this month? And to up the bar, can you blog thematically from A to Z?

This challenge has grown so popular that it now requires its own Blog and several co-hosts with minions!

The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers)
Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird)
Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas)
Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh)

Life is Good (Tina Downey)

Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons)

Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)

The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)

The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)

Leave it to Livia (Livia Peterson)

No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow)

Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp)

Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)

They also have a Facebook page,
The email address 2012azinfo@gmail.com, and the Twitter hashtag #AtoZChallenge.

This year I'm participating. Starting today I will blog about all things The Magic Wakes A to Z.

A--Alogdova
B--Balance
C--Chase Scenes
D--Dragumon Art Contest
E--Energy the Source of All Magic
F--Fear
G--Gneledar
H--Hope's Driving Force and How History Effects Us Today
I--Inheritance, A Guest Post
J--Jewel, Jaron, Joharadin
K--Keeta the Treeb VS Kansisi
L--Landry the Love Interest
M--The Moons of Sendek
N--Nightmares
O--Orek
P--Perseverance in Writing and Life
Q--Quest
R--Royalist Government
S--Shishali, Sendek
T--Talia and Her Trees
U--Universe
V--Vengeance
W--World Building
X--Xenocide
Y--Youth
Z--Zenith

High School Dances Blog Hop

Today is the day I get to embarrass myself with pictures from my high school dances. This blog hop is being hosted by Emily King. Here is the LINK to the list of participants.

For a little extra fun--can you guess the year?

 My Jr. Prom--scary big hair and puffy sleeves!

 My Sr. Prom--better hair and sleeves.

His Sr. Prom--we both wore tails.

I don't think I've changed much at all over the many years since these pictures were taken. Sure, I weigh 30lbs more, but my face looks just the same!

Dust it Off Blog Hop--Day 3

Theresa Paolo and Courtney Pearson are hosting this blogfest. Here is the idea:

We've all had those manuscripts that we poured our heart into, fell in love with the characters and still think of them at random, but unfortunately had to shelf. Now it's time for a little spring cleaning. Take out those manuscripts and Dust It Off!

The third day, May 7th: Post what you learned from this WIP. You become a stronger, more rounded writer which each manuscript and we want to know what this particular work taught you. 

I've been sharing my Nanowrimo 2009 WIP Draguman. This novel will always hold a special place in my heart for two reasons:

1. As the second completed novel, it proved that I could do this writing thing. That first novel wasn't an accident. After Draguman, I knew that I could sit down and write a novel if I wanted to because I'd done it twice.

2. It helped me understand the history of this world I had created. I knew going into Draguman that it would all be back story, but I like back story. I need to understand all the characters on multiple levels in order to write about them. As I went through the creation, education, presentation and rejection of these creatures from my mind, I began to understand their pain. It is that pain that motivated them to do all that they did.

The rest of this novel covers years on a planet named Demaria where they were exiled by the dragons. Here they suffered through slavery and learned how to give in to their anger and hurt. This propels them across the galaxy leaving pain and death in their wake until they once more return to Sendek. That's where Talia's story begins.

The problem with this novel? It made me feel too much sympathy for my antagonists. They aren't as mean and nasty as they should be, but hopefully my editor will help me there. ;)

Have you ever done that? Liked your antag so much you didn't want anyone else to hate them?

Dust it Off Blog Hop--Day 2

Theresa Paolo and Courtney Pearson are hosting this blogfest. Here is the idea:

We've all had those manuscripts that we poured our heart into, fell in love with the characters and still think of them at random, but unfortunately had to shelf. Now it's time for a little spring cleaning. Take out those manuscripts and Dust It Off!

Second Day, May 5th: Post your favorite excerpt from Ol' Shelvy. 300-350 word limit. ;)

From my Nanowrimo 2009 WIP--Draguman. (Note: This takes place in Sendek's ancient past, thus 3 moons and 2 suns adorn the skies. I have to admit that as I read through what I had written I was pleasantly surprised. There is a lot of work to do, but there were lots of nice scenes. Because of the word limit, I decided to share two snippets from the first five pages. Elvin is 14 and thus it sounds a bit MG although the book is not.)

It was just as beautiful in the moons’ light as it was in the suns’ light. He placed his hands on the sides of the egg and let the warmth flow through his fingers. Concentrating on the life energy he could feel coming through the hard shell, he let his mind drift until he could almost see it. He focused his thoughts into the shell searching for the brightest spark of life. Elvin wasn’t sure if that spark was the brain or heart, but he knew that if he could find that place he would be able to form a connection with the creature growing inside.

When he found the brightest point of light, he wrapped his mind around it, sent some of his energy to that spot, and felt the creature reaching back. The jolt of electricity almost made him drop the egg.

None of the other forest creatures had ever done that. This being was intelligent and had magical abilities of its own. Elvin only knew of one creature that would lay an egg this large and as sentient as what he now sensed—a dragon.

Elvin's gaze darted to the sky, expecting the mother dragon to swoop down and swallow him whole. His tremor of fear was answered by the baby dragon. A gentle nudge moved him to more peaceful thoughts. Whatever had happened, the egg had been alone for most of its life. No dragon was coming for it as far as it knew.

_______

Source

Elvin could see a fine network of cracks webbing their way across the surface of the egg, with one small hole on the side where a small horn like appendage pushed outward.

The egg pulsed with each breath the dragon took, slowly pressing the shell outward, weakening the tough membrane trapping it inside. The cracks grew wider, small pieces flaked away with each breath. Elvin could now see other body parts trying to stretch their way out. He wanted to help, but he knew not to. For a moment, the egg shrank, collapsing in on itself, and then the dragon chick exploded outward as it broke free of the shell. 

It lay exhausted from the effort, green and wet from the moisture that had protected and nourished it. He watched it breathing as it searched for how to use this new body. The egg horn fell off when the little guy rolled over brushing it against the rock. It finally found its hind legs and wobbled into a sitting position, bringing its long neck around so that it could look at the boy. The deep brown eyes looked into his violet eyes. Elvin almost laughed at the comical tilt of the chick’s head, but then he felt an intense hunger burning in his stomach.

And so begins my Sendek Saga. What do you think?

Dust it Off Bloghop Day 1

Theresa Paolo and Courtney Pearson are hosting this blogfest. Here is the idea:

We've all had those manuscripts that we poured our heart into, fell in love with the characters and still think of them at random, but unfortunately had to shelf. Now it's time for a little spring cleaning. Take out those manuscripts and Dust It Off!

The first day, May 3rd: We want you to post a 1-2 sentence pitch (Great way to practice pitches) about the shelved WIP.

I'm going to share my Nanowrimo 2009 WIP--Draguman. This wip will never see the light of day, but it was a great experiment.

Pitch--
When a young man accidentally binds himself to a dragon, he discovers an endless potential for growth for both species. In an effort to share this joy, he creates a creature that is part dragon and part human, but not even the dragon-kin can accept this abomination.


That really doesn't do it justice and there are some clunky phrases I don't like.

Any suggestions?

3rd Annual LDS Writers Blogfest

Today is the 3rd Annual LDS Writers Blogfest! It's really cool for me simply because I've participated from the beginning. I guess three years isn't all that, but image how cool it will be at ten or twenty years?

Anyway, this year was left wide open for me to write about whatever I wanted. I don't do well without rules to break tweak.

As I've pondered what to talk about today, this one talk from our General Conference kept coming to mind. Granted it has been in everyone's conversation the last week, but there is a different part of the talk I want to highlight.

I'm talking about Dieter F Uchtdorf's "Stop It" sermon. The actual talk is titled "The Merciful Obtain Mercy" and you can read the full talk HERE.

Even with all my sins, the one thing I've been fairly good at is loving others. I'm a people person so that isn't hard. One of the things I have a hard time understanding is how people can be so vicious to one another. None of us are perfect, so why do we beat each other up about it? This is what Elder Uchtdorf had to say about it.

This topic of judging others could actually be taught in a two-word sermon. When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following:

Stop it!

It’s that simple. We simply have to stop judging others and replace judgmental thoughts and feelings with a heart full of love for God and His children. God is our Father. We are His children. We are all brothers and sisters. I don’t know exactly how to articulate this point of not judging others with sufficient eloquence, passion, and persuasion to make it stick. I can quote scripture, I can try to expound doctrine, and I will even quote a bumper sticker I recently saw. It was attached to the back of a car whose driver appeared to be a little rough around the edges, but the words on the sticker taught an insightful lesson. It read, “Don’t judge me because I sin differently than you.”

That bumper sticker can be tweaked to fit any situation:

Don't judge me because I dress differently than you.

Don't judge me because I look differently than you.

Don't judge me because I speak differently than you.

Don't judge me because I vote differently than you.

Don't judge me because I write differently than you.

Don't judge me because I believe differently than you.

One day I hope we can find it within ourselves to realize that we are all children of our Heavenly Father. He loves each and every one of us and we should do the same.

Jesus said it is easy to love those who love us; even the wicked can do that. But Jesus Christ taught a higher law. His words echo through the centuries and are meant for us today. They are meant for all who desire to be His disciples. They are meant for you and me: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

And I submit, Love those who are different than you. Diversity is a good thing. Without it this world would be boring.

Check out the other participants:

Amanda Sowards
Angie Lofthouse
Ben Spendlove
Brittany Larsen
Cami Checketts
Charity Bradford
Danyelle Ferguson
Giselle Abreu
Julia Keanini
Julie Coulter Bellon
Kasey Tross
Kayeleen Hamblin
Kelly Bryson
Krista Van Dolzer
Laura Johnston
Melanie Stanford
Rachelle Christensen
Rebecca Belliston
Sierra Gardner
Stephanie Worlton

A Picture Paints 1000 Words--Earth Four

Today is the beginning of the blogfest hosted by Unicorn Bell.

Head over there for full rules and Mr. Linky. I'm participating for fun and to get a new short story started. That was the plan anyway, but I didn't get very far. I have a beginning. My biggest problem was the pictures to choose from were all wonderful--that's why I chose them. ;)

Here's the one I settled on over the weekend. Unfortunately, I wasn't home for much of the weekend. Here's my 200 word start. I don't even know if it's enough to hook someone and make it worth finishing the story. What do you think?

Earth Four

The ship’s engines pitched lower as it dropped out of hyper drive and powered up the reverse thrusters. It wouldn’t be long now.

Overhead lights dimmed then brightened signaling a ship wide message. Thousands of people paused mid-stride and waited.

“Attention all passengers, we are now approaching our destination. Earth Four will be within view of the front and starboard viewing halls in thirty minutes time. We will dock and begin debarkation in two hours. Remember, you may carry your own luggage or recycle it. If you choose to recycle, you will be issued a class two mandate for your stay on Earth Four. Gold members will receive an automatic upgrade.

“Thank you for traveling on the Galaxy Gala. It’s been our pleasure to serve you and we hope you enjoy the rest of your vacation.” The voice fell silent.

Tensati hobbled forward once more on his arthritic legs. He had to find Lyria so they could watch the planet come into view together. They had waited a long time to get passage on a cruise liner destined for a young earth. He wanted to enjoy every minute of it with her.

Two hours. 

Two hours until their dreams became a reality.