Birth of a Novel January 9th

I should be hanging my head in shame. There is no progress to report on Faerie Wings or To Win the Game. I did however redecorate my living room. Although, that was only one day out of the week. We bought new couches and painted. Everything else still worked with the new design. Yay!

Most of the week was spent cleaning or enjoying the beautiful weather we had in North Carolina. The week started really cold and then perked up to a balmy mid 60s for several days. There was no way I was staying inside during such lovely weather. I carried my digital recorder with me and made some notes as ideas popped into my head for either novel.

I also played a bit with the Dragon software. One of these days I'll get around to posting about that, but I need to learn more before then. The day I played with it, I actually wrote a scene from Battle for Sendek (book 3 in the series). The other project I worked on was my short story Fallen Angels. It's almost ready to submit. :)

Wow! I guess I actually did get some writing done last week.

I also created a new website for homeschool cooking classes because I got a phone call about it. The lady was supposed to email me the details for the homeschool fair but I haven't heard back from her. I'm ready when she does though. If you're mildly curious THIS is what I do to earn some extra cash at times.

And finally, I worked some more on my new website. I'm considering switching to wordpress. It has some nice features, but it's taking some getting used to. I like the control that I have over the pages and the ability to create drop down menus.  It just seems easier to get organized and have areas for specific projects. But its easier (for me) to personalize the backgrounds here on blogger.

My biggest concern is will my followers move over there with me? For January I'm going to post here and there. Does anyone know if/how I can just reassign the link to this page to that page?

Anyway, the new website is more novel oriented in address at least--The Sendek Saga. 

How did your writing week go?

No Kiss Blogfest and Birth of a Novel 2012 Edition

Today (Jan 2nd) is Frankie Diane Mills 3rd Annual No Kiss Blogfest. Visit her site to read the rules and find Mr. Linky to find all the other participants. So, here is a snippet from Faerie Wings. I've posted it before, but since I joined this blogfest yesterday it's the best I can do.

If the symphony had been planned for my enjoyment, the dancing was for Heather. She and Scott took to the floor leaving Carter and me sitting in a corner. The music was too loud to talk, but I learned you can say a lot without words.

Carter traced the same circular pattern on my hand over and over. I leaned over and spoke close to his ear.

“Why the circles?”

He turned until his mouth was next to my ear. “Circles have no beginning and no end.” He drew another one on my palm. “There are many other meanings, but that’s my favorite one.”

The warmth of his breath on my skin spread. In the dim lighting of the club, a new boldness came over me. I flipped our hands over and drew a spiral on his palm. We sat so close that I felt his body tense. 

“Ma Cherie?” He exhaled into my hair.

“Did you know that in Celtic symbols, the spiral represents growth, balance, and creativity?” I spoke into his ear.

“It also means awareness and surrender.” He nipped at my ear, and a delicious tremor ran through me. “Please don’t tempt me more than I can take.”

His other hand closed over mine, stopping it’s motion. He didn’t pull away but pulled me closer. I couldn’t hear his breathing, but I felt the quick rise and fall of his chest so near to mine.

When it slowed he pulled back and looked into my eyes.

“Shall we dance?”

And now for the first Birth of a Novel post for 2012

Oh how the holidays derailed all my glorious plans.

Instead of working on Faerie Wings on the drive, I started a new WIP tentatively titled To Win the Game.

Current Word Count: 2,153
This is the story I've been terrified to write. I know I won't be able to do it right, but something moved me to start it. It'll probably sit in the background and get written in sporadic spurts. We'll see. If you are wondering it is contemporary women's fiction. Not a romance either. Totally different from my normal stuff.

In Faerie news, some big decisions WERE made, even though writing did not take place. First off, I made a huge discovery when I was telling my sister about this story. The story I explained to her--very concisely and quite good enough for a pitch btw--was not the story I had started writing. It sounded much better than what I was writing. It was the original idea that somehow I veered away from. I need to get back to THAT story.

Second, with that in mind, I figured out who Ryanne is at the beginning and who I want her to be by the end. I listed several ways to incorporate the changes into the current wip without having to rewrite everything.


I also started listing things that are in Ry's room. This will help me get deeper into Ry's head and then it will be easier to continue her journey. There are all these little things she's held onto from her childhood that show glimpses of her character, what she lost, and what she is searching to gain once again. It's been fascinating. She's finally talking to me!

Next up is Carter. I'll get to him soon I hope. He's still a bit flat in every instance but the romantic side of his roll. That part I've got. It's the rest of him I need to find. ;)

Current Word Count: 32,167