Time to Write

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter came to me and told me that she needs to know what happened next in my Goblin's Apprentice stories. At the time, I knew I had a lot of other stuff on my plate and I wouldn't get to it anytime soon.

So I told her that I would try to have it finished by the end of the year.

I have only two months.

Eeeeeekkkk!

Actually, I've been marking items off my to-do list quite nicely and I should be ready to start the process (again) tomorrow. Tuesday is errand day. So I'll be tweaking my candy fillings (Cranberry, Pomegranate, Cherries Jubilee, and making a new batch of Limoncello) in-between my jaunts into the world.

Though it's been a year since I've written TROLL, and almost a year since I started writing DRAGON, the characters still live in my head. It's just that the plot and story are evasive.

Thank goodness I managed to write a brief synopsis!

How many times have you heard a writer say those words?

Never.

Who knows, maybe I'll be ready to tackle NaNo this year, not officially of course since I have some of the story already written, but in the daily challenge of writing.

Anyone want to join me? Writing is such a lonely business that having someone challenging you is part of the fun!

Later, Peeps!

Dragon Days of Summer excerpt

It seems like it's been forever since I've blogged, but it's only been about three weeks. Actually, by now, I thought I would have had shoulder surgery and be in an arm sling that would totally immobilize my left shoulder.

But I cancelled my surgery because the cervical spinal injections seem to be taking care of the immediate problem . . . for now.

I hope y'all took the opportunity to download my books when they were free, even if you haven't had a chance to read them. Sometimes I download books and then finally get around to reading them 6-7 months later!

To that end, I thought I'd post a very short excerpt from DRAGON DAYS OF SUMMER, Book Four of The Goblin's Apprentice series.

***

 

Chapter One

Parenting 101--Pester your Kid

 

I stared out the car window and watched the grass flash by. Spring had been wet this year, which made everything grow like weeds, including the weeds.

 “So, do you want to talk about it?” Mom asked as she drove us home.

The simple answer would be “No”, but sometimes Mom just didn’t get it. Two hours of mind-numbing detention. Two hours of sitting in the same room as Bubba. Two hours spent in a troll hole would have been better than the complete and utter boredom of the school library. What a total waste of time.

It didn’t help that school was almost over for the year and Mrs. Dillard didn’t see the need to assign us any homework. It wasn’t like I could pull my Celestian physiology book out of my backpack to start reading up on mermaids, dryads, or trolls. Or whip out my sword and practice a few moves. Or even try manipulating stuff with my earth magic.

Though . . . come to think of it, the thought of calling a dust bunny to attack Bubba did have its merits.

What was the point of being a goblin’s apprentice if the goblin never bothered to show up?  It wasn’t my problem the aforementioned goblin was being held captive on the alternate realm of Celestia, was it?  Where was his replacement?

I softly snorted. Why did I even bother to pretend I was still the goblin’s apprentice?

No one was banging on my door asking for my help with the war. In fact, I hadn’t heard a peep from anyone in months.

And my little adventure with the leprechauns, pixies and faeries didn’t count. Leprechauns only cared about themselves. Their only concern was how to use the war to their advantage.  Faeries and pixies were minor Mythicals; no one on the Celestian Council cared about them or their contributions to the war effort.

K’vn and Rory were the only Mythicals I had contact with, well, other than Zinzara—but a brownie and gnome weren’t exactly challenging opponents to train with. And Little Dude had disappeared when Darien was released from Castle Dragonskull’s dungeon.

I missed Little Dude. Things always grew exciting when he popped up.

 

Later, Peeps!



Getting My Mojo Back

After I published TROLL last summer, I lost my mojo for writing. Totally. I stopped writing. Period. Shoot, I didn't even read much.

Oh, I might have dabbled here and there with writing, written a few pages, or just jotted ideas down, but I wasn't WRITING.

Yes, there's a difference.

My writing thoughts were scattered. Heck, they're still scattered, especially if you look at my 2013 WiPs (Works in Progress) page, but I am writing.

I didn't know what story to start writing on, until one of my 15-year old fans asked me when the next book was coming out. I responded, "Guess I'd better start writing it then."

So, I started writing DRAGON, book four of the Goblin's Apprentice series. The beginning of this story will be very emotionally draining for me as a writer, but I think I'm ready to write it. When it's finished, you'll see why.

So many writers give advice to tell you to 'write through the block', 'write every day', and 'writer's write'.

But writer's also think a lot. We tend to daydream as we plot our stories. I think about scenes when I walk. One hour of solitude, just me and my thoughts. Writers will work out the logistics of a scene prior to sitting down to write it.

And the biggie for me, I NEED to be emotionally ready to write a particularly difficult scene(s).

I also have the advantage of NOT having a contractual deadline, as I think this helped me to sort my thoughts on this particular story without the added pressure.

Writing has made me happy again. I just needed a little break.

Later, Peeps!