Feywriter

Tilara Scarlet (NaNoWriMo character)

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:33:00 +0000

Not meeting my word count for the week (hubby took sick day yesterday). I’ll just spread the word count over the next few weeks. Rather than stress, I’d like to share one of my characters with you. I first created this character for a joint story/game that I never ended up participating in. It’s exciting finally getting the chance to write about her.

Tilara is an elf from the Scarlet Clan, named for the Scarlet Oak and known for making wine from the acorns of such trees.

Tilara and two other elves from trusted families were chosen by Queen Baowen Willow to serve as diplomats to Pallovia, the neighboring human kingdom.

Tilara is taller than most humans at 6’3”. Like most elves, her skin is very pale. Her chestnut hair is very long. She wears a black key around her neck to remind her of a box waiting at home, a gift from her favorite niece.

In my initial character sketch, Tilara is uninterested in romance, and a vegetarian. I have learned that in Race to 100 Deaths she doesn’t start that way. By the end of the story, she will have very good reasons to acquire those traits.

She is very loyal to her queen and people. She wants to complete the task set by the queen, and return to her family. She is calm, trusting, and has no prejudice against the humans.

Along with her fellow elven diplomats, Tilara is taken captive by a human baron that wants war. He forces them into a contest, a Race to 100 Deaths. The first to get their kills and return will become his personal assassin. The other two will die. With the restrictions and spells in place, Tilara soon learns that the only way she can serve her queen and return home, is to first conquer the baron’s challenge.

NaNo Update

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:58:00 +0000

I should be up to almost 17k words, but I’m behind. Took a couple sick days last week, and had a surprise mid-day date with my husband yesterday. My current count is 10,645. I am my own worst enemy. Too easy to get distracted and let a valuable hour disappear. I haven’t been writing on weekends. If I get near the end of the month too far behind, that may change.

My goal for this week is to get to 25,000 by the end of Friday. My half way point.

One tool that has helped me get this far is Write or Die. I set a word count and/or time goal, and go for it. With the screen going red, and warning sounds when I don’t write, I’m encouraged to write without over thinking. I can’t stop and spend ten minutes coming up with a name, or looking up a fact that is overall unimportant. I have to go with my gut, let the story take me. My monitor is big enough that I can have a word document open on the left with my outline, and Firefox open on the right with the Write or Die box. That way I don’t even have the excuse of stopping to look up what comes next. I have my one paragraph description per chapter, and go from there.

Without Write or Die: average 1000 words/hour.

With Write or Die: average 1600 words/hour.

Best uses: to start of the day. Great encouragement starting off with a big chunk in half an hour. Also to make most use of short period of time.

Here’s the banner for my NaNoWriMo Novel:

Make your own banner at MyBannerMaker.com!

Death count: 1.

99 + to go.

Other interesting tidbit: Race to 100 Deaths has now matched Trinity Coven in word count. In a matter of ten days! I need to be this disciplined all year round. :-)

Tuesday Tally, Micro version

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:32:00 +0000

Last week goals done.

This month = NaNoWriMo

Today: woke up sick (sore throat, aches, blahs). will write something anyway, but no set goals. priorities today will include nap.

Mixed Bag of Updates

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:32:00 +0000

I survived Halloween. B was a pirate. He didn’t care that he didn’t have a hat, or a fancy costume, just a printed shirt from Walmart. This was B’s first time trick-or-treating. He was happy and excited, and that’s what matters. Plus, he had a pumpkin bucket. Pumpkin = B’s favorite thing about fall.

We went to the school carnival on Thursday, then Saturday went trick-or-treating at the mall. My husband and I wore our long, hooded cloaks. We had no idea how packed the mall would be, and next year will go at the start instead of an hour in. After shuffling around the mall line for treats, B had a decent amount of candy (at least for him).

I’m guessing we missed some visitors during the hour we were gone. Only got one late group of six or so kids. We have LOTS of extra candybars. Mmm, chocolate.

Being a weekday writer (less distractions), today is my official NaNoWriMo start. Went to the site this morning, and it logged me out. :-( After being logged in for a month, I have forgotten my password! None of my usuals work, or some of my not so usual combinations, so did a password reset. But with the huge backlog of site emails, it may be another day until I get mine.

Once B is off to school, I will get started. Armed with chocolate for progress rewards, and Mountain Dew Voltage for the slumps. I have a water bottle for my desk and will break every hour to get house stuff done, snack, and move around.

I have 17 days for my writing (after accounting for weekends and holiday). That means I need about 3,000 words on my working days. I’ll post periodic updates in twitter. Wish me luck!

And now to get an unusually reluctant child ready for school.

A Cold Tuesday Tally

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:37:00 +0000

Last week’s goals:

~~update blog look and sidebar~~
update websites
~~poetry submission~~
~~finish current chapter of TC~~

Goals for this week:

final preparations for NaNoWriMo
- transform plot into bullet point outline
- brainstorm ways to kill people in a fantasy setting (Race to 100 Deaths, remember?)
- flesh out Tilara’s two companions/competitors
- stock up on chocolate (should be easy over Halloween weekend)
send out four more queries for EotF
submit more poetry
finish updating websites

Woke up this morning to snow. I have a feeling it will be winter in my NaNo Novel.

In unrelated news, I now have a Facebook account.

Are you ready for NaNoWriMo?

Commenting fixed

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:01:00 +0000

Turned out pretty simple. Template didn’t like embedded comments. Switched to pop-up and it works fine. At least for me. Let me know if it works for you. (As it would be hard to let me know if it doesn’t, seeing as you couldn’t comment… you’d have to email or twitter.)

Template trouble?

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:53:00 +0000

I have just been informed that the comment feature on my blog is no longer working. I may have to switch to a different template, or figure out the problem with this one. In the meantime, feel free to email me any comments (feywriter at hotmail dot com) or say hi through twitter.

Agent Update

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Last night I got a response from the agent I pitched to. Form rejection. :-( Oh well. Time to get the query train going again.

Warning: Changes ahead

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:39:00 +0000

I’m going to try out a new template. Be patient with me. If you see something you like, or don’t, feel free to speak up. I want something my readers enjoy as well. :-)

Tuesday Tally, time for cleanup

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:53:00 +0000

Goals for this week:

update blog look and sidebar
update websites
poetry submission
finish current chapter of TC

Makeover time for my Tuesday Tally’s. I’m getting invested in too many stories, and want to clean up the look of my posts.

I’m going to move all the WIPs to the sidebar, with less focus on the numbers. I like progress bars, but the novelty of the TickerFactory icons has faded, so those will go for now as well.

Maybe cleaning my desk this past week is carrying over. De-clutter my physical workspace, de-clutter my computer and online space. Very freeing.

Beautiful Morning, Beautiful Muse

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:41:00 +0000

Yesterday marked the end of the Muse Online Writers Conference. This was my 2nd year participating. I always make sure to sign up for a variety of workshops, because I never know which ones I’ll end up most interested in. Last year I got the most out of two poetry workshops – one on breaking creative blocks, and the other on creating a chapbook. This year my favorite courses were very different.

The first was the Dialogue Workshop with Devon Ellington. I started a new story just for the workshop. It was one already in my idea file (#2 from my NaNo ideas), but only very basic, one paragraph idea. I didn’t get much critique on the dialogue itself, which reassured me I shouldn’t over think the dialogue that comes naturally. What I really learned is that I can form an emotional connection to characters that I’m only beginning to know. I can write entire scenes with only a vague idea of plot. What an eye opener that was. Very reassuring with NaNoWriMo around the corner. I didn’t get through all the assignments, but really enjoyed and benefited from those I did.

The other course that really impacted me was Facing Your Fear of Writing with Tamlyn Leigh. She set us up to discover our own answers, through use of our inner two year olds. On that note, I have to share one way this has affected me beyond the conference.

My son woke up during the night, and I was up for an hour. I went to bed tired and frustrated, fully expecting to be cranky in the morning. But I woke up and my inner two year old was right there, making it impossible to be in a bad mood. I turned on some music for her, and I feel like I can do anything. This day is beautiful and promising.

One other beautiful thing about the Muse Conference was the opportunity to pitch to editors and agents. Through a live chat, I pitched EotF to an agent. Despite incredible nerves, I kept my head above water. She requested pages and a synopsis. Those are with her now, so hopefully she likes them enough to ask for more. Whatever the response, I’m grateful for the experience.

At the end of the month, registration will open for next years conference. I’m already marking my calendar. October 11-17, 2010. I’ll post another reminder once it opens up. For a free conference, that I can attend from my computer, the Muse Online Writers Conference offers a wealth of information and is worth every moment.

Two-thirds to the finish and turning around

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:33:00 +0000

What a bloody mess. I added in the spiders. Love the build up, and the chapter where they get them… then nothing. They don’t contribute enough to the rest of the story. It’s possible I simply don’t know how best to utilize them, maybe too stuck seeing the story how it is, but right now it’s not working. Two-thirds to the finish line, and I’m turning back to get back on the previous horse.

I did do some good tightening in other scenes, though, so I’ll have to compare versions, take some and leave some. Ugh. I guess that’s what I get for trying to add a new element after it had been sitting in a “finished” state for most of the year.

What I need to do is a quick edit for what changes to keep and what to throw out, then work on selling it, leaving the manuscript alone until I get some revision letters from agents or editors.

Tuesday Tally 10/6

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:49:00 +0000

EotF Status

# of queries out: 7

# of fulls out: 0

status: additional querying on hold until after Muse Conf

T.C. Status

word count: 9,634

status: first draft in progress

FwM Status

word count: 5,751

status: first draft in progress, taking backseat for TC

Color Poems

complete: 15

min needed for chapbook: 20

Previous goals:

edit six chapters – B’s fall break (5 day weekend) really threw me off. I got two done.
~~submit poem revised last week~~

Goals for this week:

finish editing EotF (30 pages/day)
polish pitch

I can still get EotF ready for the Muse Conference next week. I will have it ready. I wanted to get another chapter of TC written this week, but editing takes priority.

In the midst of all this, I started a few new color poems. Those take time to ripen, so having the first few lines on a page is exciting; gives me something to mull over and add to at my leisure.

If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo and have tried to find me, I realize the search page is still having issues. Here’s the direct link to my profile: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/511015

Now back to editing.

October Thoughts

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:34:00 +0000

October 15 looks to be a busy day. B has a dentist appointment. My sister is coming up to spend her fall break with us. It’s also smack dab in the middle of the Muse Conference. And, wonderful timing, also the next 10K day for Writers which I really want to try again.

On the plus side, I have no chats for the conference scheduled that day. I could use some of the workshop assignments toward my word count. I should still have the same uninterrupted six hours, while B is in school. If my sister comes early, she can keep me in check, and play video games. She can help entertain both my husband and son if I want to try writing more in the evening. Even more so than last month, I need to really make use of my time. See if I can beat my record of 3700 words.

It would also be great preparation for NaNoWriMo.

Speaking of which, the interest from Tuesday’s vote seems to be in projects #1 (Race to 100 Deaths) and #4 (traditional fantasy about Tilara Scarlet). Lynn had the brilliant idea of combining them. Now I need to dig out all my notes on Tilara. I have a drawing of her somewhere, as well as a page on her personality, heritage, etc.

So, plans for this month:

Finish edits for EotF by Oct 9 (that’s one week from now!)
Muse Conference Oct 12-18
update website before pitch (see point below)
online pitch with agent on Oct 14 (part of conf.)
10k day Oct 15
write 3 more chapters in TC (with use of 10k day and last couple weeks of month)
NaNo preparations – one paragraph plot summary, brief outline, antagonist character sheet
jumper cables on my poetry submission group (been quiet, needs revitalizing. I haven’t helped)

Whew, that’s a lot. Going to be a busy month. Enough slacking. Time to get my son out of the bath and get back to editing.

Tuesday Tally and NaNoWriMo

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:21:00 +0000

EotF Status

# of queries out: 7

# of fulls out: 0

status: additional querying on hold until after Muse Conf

T.C. Status

word count: 9,634

status: first draft in progress

FwM Status

word count: 5,751

status: first draft in progress, taking backseat for TC

Color Poems

complete: 15

min needed for chapbook: 20

Previous goals:

~~edit another five chapters~~
submit some poetry – revised a poem, but didn’t actually submit

Goals for this week:

edit six chapters
submit aforementioned poem

NaNoWriMo, here I come! I signed up. *gulp* My username is Feywriter. I’ll have to explore the site more. One month to prepare!

I really don’t know if I should NaNo with two books already in progress, but it’s only one month, right? Then the NaNo book can sit while I write the others. A big part of this is simply seeing if I can do it. Like the 10k day for Writers. I don’t know what I’m capable of if I don’t push myself. And I need deadlines to do so. I really don’t have an excuse not to go for it this year.

Plot ideas at various stages:

Race to 100 Deaths – I found this phrase in my notes. Sounds like an awesome title. No idea what it meant.
Contemporary Fantasy – A woman divorces her husband because he believed in magic. Their teenage daughter gets kidnapped by something obviously out of this world, and the woman has to turn to her ex-husband for help.
Rumpelstiltskin is leprechaun gone bad. Beware the rainbow trap.
Traditional Fantasy about Tilara Scarlet, an Elven diplomat with a little assassination on the side. Her symbol is the leaf of a Scarlet Oak. I have a character sketch on her already.

I’ll take a vote: Which story should I write?

Signs a Book was written by Me

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:00:00 +0000

The topic of the week on Fangs, Fur, & Fey is “5 Signs a Book was Written by You.” I put some thought into it, and here’s my list. I went over five, and may add more later if I think of them. These are based on the following stories:

Emergence of the Fey (complete)

Fly With Me (in progress)

Trinity Coven (in progress)

The Blazing Princess (complete novelette with plans to expand)

death in the family - sometimes background, sometimes on screen, not always parents. (exception with BP - but not really, because in a sense the Main Character dies)
magic
flight. either magical creatures that fly (dragon, pegasus, pixie) or characters that can fly
romance. not always the main characters, but someone will hook up during the course of the story.
identity issues. an individual's reality shaped by their beliefs.
no clear-cut good vs. evil.
fairy tale reference – a cameo, painting, story premise
dark haired men. Blonde males are reserved for secondary characters apparently.

What do your stories have in common?

new TT

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:34:00 +0000

EotF Status

# of queries out: 7

# of fulls out: 0

additional querying on hold

T.C. Status

word count: 9,634

FwM Status

word count: 5,751

Color Poems

complete: 15

min needed for chapbook: 20

Previous goals:

edit seven more chapters in EotF – did 5. not bad.
participate in 10k Day for Writers – participated. :-) (recap if you missed it)

Goals for this week:

edit another five chapters
submit some poetry

I’m going to continue using Thursday as my writing day until I finish editing EotF. I’m not going to go all out like I did last week, but it’s a nice break from editing, and the actual writing progress feels good.

Some high-jacking, rambling, fun

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:55:00 +0000

And yes, Dr. Horrible won!

5,000 Questions... My answers so far...

671. If you saw The Queen of the Damned did you want to be a vampire/Goth afterwards? Haven't seen it. But now that I've looked it up, I'm interested in seeing it.

672. If you saw SLC Punk did you want to be punk afterwards? Haven't, and probably not.

673. What is your favorite zombie movie? ooh, tough question. I love the Resident Evil movies, my favorite of which is Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Zombies on a Plane was hilarious. 28 Days Later and sequel 28 Weeks Later are great ones focused less on the chasing and eating and more on the personal/society horrors of a zombie apocalypse.

674. Best kids birthday party: ceramics, chuck-e-cheese, roller rink, bowling, sleep over, movie theater. sleep over. never heard of a ceramics party.

675. What were your parties like when you were a kid? due to so many kids, we only had birthday parties every four years: ages 4, 8, 12, and 16. Mom always made the cake herself. We got to choose a theme, and it was a big deal. The other birthdays were celebrated as a family.

676. Best teen (about 15-16) birthday party: ceramics, chuck-e-cheese, roller rink, bowling, sleep over, movie theater, house party, catered in a hall, restaurant, family trip, concert. concert would have been awesome

677. What are/were your 15-16 year old parties like? I had a murder mystery party with a small group of friends.

678. Best 18th birthday party: ceramics, chuck-e-cheese, roller rink, bowling, sleep over, movie theater, house party, catered in a hall, restaurant, family trip, concert, club, pool hall, college party. restaurant with a few close friends

679. If you are 18 what was your party like? I didn't have a party.

680. Best 21st birthday party: ceramics, chuck-e-cheese, roller rink, bowling, sleep over, movie theater, house party, catered in a hall, restaurant, family trip, concert, club, pool hall, college party, bar, Atlantic city/Las Vegas trip. I was five months pregnant at the time. I was happy going to a nice sit-down restaurant.

681. If you saw The Craft were you interested in wicca/paganism/magic afterwards? haven't seen it

682. What are your top 3 priorities? relationships, making sure I have time for myself, and the written word

683. If you saw fight club did you want to get into a fistfight afterwards? dumb question

684. What is your favorite smell? the smell walking by The Body Shop. I don't know what it is, but it's rejuvenating.

685. Give everything below a humor rating (1 = laugh your ass off, 2 = lol, 3 = smile, 4 = lame, 5 = not funny, 6 = offensive): going to do this a little different than asked for, and group them into three categories: offensive, not funny, and potential for humor (can be anywhere from 1-4 depending on the joke/situation)

People falling: not funny
Rape jokes: offensive
Sarcastic comments: potential
Blonde jokes: potential
Dirty jokes: not funny
God/religion jokes: potential
Long-ass jokes: potential
Death jokes: potential
Pain/sickness jokes: not funny
Animals doing cute stuff: potential
Bodily functions: potential
Knock jokes: potential
Ethnic jokes: offensive
Puns: potential
Ironic situations: potential

685. If you saw Cruel Intentions did you want to have lots of meaningless sex afterwards? getting tired of these questions... especially as I've never seen these movies.

686. Do you get at least three hugs per day? yes. my husband, my son, and I are all physically affectionate.

687. What should someone never say to you/call you if they want to remain on your good side? Don't ever call me "Doll."

688. If you saw Trainspotting did you want to do drugs afterwards? not applicable

689. Do movies have a great influence on you? At last! the basic question these were leading up to. They have an emotional influence, but not a lifestyle one.

690. Do you have a favorite reality TV show? The Colony. What an interesting social experiment. We discovered the show when we saw it available to purchase on Xbox Live, and have been watching it on Discovery Channel's website ever Thursday. The Colony replicates a post-apocalyptic world. How would ten people survive? They have to scavenge for their own food, find ways to get and sanitize water, create electricity, and ensure their survival.

691. Are there certain roles that people are pressured to play in society or can they basically do whatever they want? In these days, you can basically do what you want. But some paths have more challenges, and all choices have consequences.

692. How does the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake compare to the original movie? I didn't see the original. I thought the remake was well done.

693. Have you ever held a magnifying glass over an insect to burn it? No.

694. Have you ever pulled the wings off a fly, butterfly or any other insect? No. I don't torture insects. And I only kill them if they are inside the house.

695. What would you think of a guy (if you're into guys) or a girl (if you're into girls) who wanted to take you to the park to feed the birds and look at the turtles and fish in the water on a date? I think that would be cool. I like parks.

696. Do you use public pools? Yes. Been a long time since I've been swimming though.

697. Do you use public bathrooms? yes. out of necessity.

698. Do you use public showers? only after using the public pool. swimsuit still on.

699. How old will you be in 17 years? 43. Wow.

700. Would it affect you at all if you knew that a very large meteor was headed towards earth that would impact in 17 years? I would hope that I'm already making the most of my life. Is this a kill everyone meteor, or a create a post-apocalyptic world, or merely cause much devastation? If it's not guaranteed death, I'd start doing better on my food storage.

10k Day Follow-Up

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:10:00 +0000

The 10k Day for Writers yesterday was quite an experience. I’ve never tried NaNoWriMo or anything with big numbers in a limited time, so wasn’t sure how I’d do. My previous high was 1500 words in one day. On normal days I’m happy to get 500. With the edits I’m focusing on, and the general procrastinations, and legitimate distractions (such as new house), I’ve probably written 1500 words (novel related) in the past three months.

So, I cleared my day. Once I got back from walking B to school, I had a good six hours to write before picking him up again. I wrote 3700 words! That’s more than double my previous record. No gold medal, but I’m very pleased with what I did. I learned that once I got into it, I write at about 1000 words/hour.

What I did right:

Had notes/outlines for what I wanted to write
Once I started, didn’t look back to edit or research
If I wasn’t sure on a detail (ex name spelling), or had a comment for a tie-in earlier or later in the story, I used Piers Anthony’s method: put it in brackets right where I’m at, and keep going
stopped every 1.5 to 2 hours to stretch, shower, eat, report in
alerted my husband to my goals, so he could check in on me, make sure I was writing
closed TweetDeck and browser during writing times
had caffeine on hand to survive usual afternoon slump

What to improve for next time:

corral husband into preparing dinner, and dealing with kid (maybe even picking him up), to keep writing streak going later in the day
not take half an hour to really get started; even though I had read the previous chapter the day before, and had my notes, I still didn’t trust myself to just write
have chocolate

And yes, there will be a next time. I will be signing up for next month when the RSVP goes up. I’m hoping my body and brain will be more ready for it next time, and I will beat my record. What I didn’t expect out of this was the aftermath. Today my brain is totally fried. I can’t seem to write a thing. And I took a one hour nap, which probably would have lasted longer if the dryer hadn’t buzzed.

NaNoWriMo has always scared, yet intrigued, me. I had a wonderful excuse of a pre-school aged child to deal with in previous years. This year he's in full-day kindergarten. And I just learned that I can write nearly 4k words in one day just during the hours he's at school. I may have to move NaNoWriMo off the "try someday" list to "give it a go this year." The biggest con is that I already have two WIPs going, and would have to start a new project for NaNo.

What have you done to challenge yourself lately? Have you participated in NaNoWriMo before?

T.T., some good news, and a self challenge

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:58:00 +0000

EotF Status

# of queries out: 7

# of fulls out: 0

additional querying on hold

T.C. Status

word count: 9,034

FwM Status

word count: 5,751

Color Poems

complete: 14

min needed for chapbook: 20

Previous goals:

~~make some progress editing EotF without overworking myself~~ – edited four chapters
~~get well~~ – a little gunky, but definitely on the verge of full recovery.

Goals for this week:

edit seven more chapters in EotF
participate in 10k Day for Writers

My poem “Princess of the Waters” is part of the September issue of Moon Drenched Fables. You can go directly to it here or follow the link to the main site and look on the Poetry Page.

To take a break from my editing, and increase my general productivity, I’m participating in the 10k Day for Writers on the 17th. The goal is to write 10,000 words in one day. I may not reach the word count, but the main purpose is to overcome blocks and simply write! I plan on writing the new chapter for EotF on acquiring a spider, and spend time working on Trinity Coven or Fly With Me. Maybe both. Wherever the words take me. If this goes well, I’ll sign up again next month.

100 word pitch - Revised

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:53:00 +0000

I need a 100 word pitch for the Muse Online Conference to pitch to agents/editors. Here’s my current version. Opinions please!

In Dashevona, where females with magic can be killed by law, Marian discovers she has not one magic, but two: enchanter and fey. When the elemental fey burn Marian's village, her mother within, Marian is knocked out before she can stop them or exact revenge. The Fey realize their mistake when Marian shows signs of being the woman to open the return for their goddess. Without the goddess, anything touched by fey, including Marian, could die as the source fades away. Hiding is no longer an option. Can Marian forgive those who killed her mother, in order to save herself?

Emergence of the Fey (97,000 words)

Edit: After the feedback here (thanks!) and from my husband, here’s my revision (at 105 words):

In Dashevona, where females with magic are executed, Marian discovers she has not one magic, but two: enchanter and fey. When the elemental fey burn Marian's village, her mother within, Marian is knocked out before she can stop them or exact revenge.

The Fey seek forgiveness when they learn Marian can hear their banished goddess, a sign of Marian's ability to initiate Her return. Anything touched by fey, including Marian, will perish as the goddess’ power fades.

Marian must overcome anger, heartbreak, and betrayal, while being hunted by the Enchanter Council. Can she do all this when her heart has been stolen by a thief?

I don’t want to take space on describing the differences in magic. Or give too much away by going into detail on why the village is burned. Some questions are good, as long as the reader is interested. Thoughts?

((removed poll. getting weird error in Windows Live Writer, which poll seemed to contribute to.))

Tuesday Tally; Sept off to a sick start

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:09:00 +0000

EotF Status

# of queries out: 7

# of fulls out: 0

additional querying on hold

T.C. Status

word count: 9,034

FwM Status

word count: 5,751

Color Poems

complete: 14

min needed for chapbook: 20

Previous goals:

edit four chapters – edited one
one new chapter for Trinity Coven – nothing new

Goals for this week:

make some progress editing EotF without overworking myself
get well

My goals did not include getting sick. My son stayed home Thursday and Friday with a fever and runny nose. Taking care of him, I didn’t get much done. Then Saturday, just as he’s feeling better, I get sick. Ugh. Still not feeling well, though at least I’m on the upswing. Not looking forward to the walking to school part, but I am looking forward to an uninterrupted nap later this morning.

Tuesday Tally, September begins

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:20:00 +0000

EotF Status

# of queries out: 7

# of fulls out: 0

additional querying on hold

T.C. Status

word count: 9,034

FwM Status

word count: 5,751

Color Poems

complete: 14

min needed for chapbook: 20

Previous goals:

~~brainstorm and outline to take advantage of kid free writing time next week~~
put up display shelf so I can unpack dragons (one of very few remaining boxes) – didn’t happen. hard to make a goal you need a second person to help complete

Goals for this week:

edit four chapters
one new chapter for Trinity Coven

My plan for this month is to refocus on my writing. My progress has been very sporadic over the summer.

Our Sweet Ride

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:00:00 +0000

The Nissan Cube

Smooth riding, quiet, cool (literally, after coming from a car with A/C problems), and a unique, asymmetrical look. Definitely a fun car. We love it. We may have missed the Cash for Clunkers (by one day) but came out with a good deal. We couldn’t be happier.

Tuesday Tally and family update

feywriter@hotmail.com (Feywriter) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:37:00 +0000

EotF Status

# of queries out: 7

# of fulls out: 0

additional querying on hold

T.C. Status

word count: 9,034

FwM Status

word count: 5,751

Color Poems

complete: 14

min needed for chapbook: 20

Previous goals:

~~submit poems to Strange Horizons~~ – sent one, working on revisions for a second

Goals for this week:

brainstorm and outline to take advantage of kid free writing time next week
put up display shelf so I can unpack dragons (one of very few remaining boxes)

I wrote down the list of books we need to buy to fill out all our series: 104. That number may go down after we take another hard look at our collections. We have some where it’s only book 2, or we have a couple but the series is really long, and may decide to donate the books rather than buy the rest.

B will be in a full day kindergarten class. No more excuses not to write. It might be time to buy a watch again, since I’ll be walking B to and from school. At least my husband can pick up him some days, since work gets off before school. We met B’s teacher yesterday. She seems nice. B came away very excited about school. (Not that he hasn’t been excited prior to the visit…) Over the weekend we made a paper chain to represent how many days until school starts. Each morning after breakfast he cuts off a loop and we count how many are left. I’ve also been showing him on the calendar, so he can practice the days of the week.

B has been peeing his pants lately. Waiting until the very last second to run to the bathroom (and not always making it). Hopefully he’ll be back into good potty habits by Monday.

Nikki had twins on August 18. Both boys are doing well, but Nikki is not. She needs all the prayers and blessings you can send her way.