The Diary

5/13/2018 2 Comments

Masochistic Urges

It's been a long time since I posted something here, mostly because, as I think I've said a few times before, I kind of suck at blogging. Plus, lots of crazy things have been happening that I'm not yet at liberty to talk about but that have necessitated a pulling-back of my plans to get things out to market this year.

But, though I've been quiet, I'm not gone. And today, I have this weird self-flagellating urge to do something dumb on this post.

I've been spending the weekend looking after my mother's dog while my mother is out of town, and I happened to stumble across a few of my really old stories I printed and gave to her, like, a decade ago, stashed in a bookcase in her house. Seeing them reawakened my urge to read all the terrible stuff I wrote as a kid, and then I had the double-terrible urge to share that stuff with anyone who wanted to read it.

Here's something I don't share with most people: I've been wanting to publish my stories since I was old enough to understand what that meant. And here's something else I *really* don't share with most people: I used to think my childhood writing was good enough to publish.

Geez, ego much?

Fortunately, self-publishing wasn't A (reputable) Thing in the '90s, and in the early '00s I spent most of my time doing annoying shit like going to college and getting a bachelor's (in Animal Science, which is SO TOTALLY RELEVANT to everything I want to do with my life, right?) So I waited, and boy howdy am I glad I did, because these were the sorts of things I wrote as a kid -- truly remarkable stuff like:

Painful Romantic Banter!
(This Was the Sexiest Thing Ever When I Was 14!)

He drops to one knee for me and me alone. “Princess Rebecca, will you marry me?”

I pull him back to his feet. My insides are screaming Yes! Yes! but a few things must be settled first. “You won’t turn me into one of those pious, dull housemaids who clean the castle while their husbands go off on grand quests, will you?”

Philip runs his fingers gently over my cheek, grinning broadly. “I may,” he warns.

“And you won’t lock me in a tower without steps or door, forcing me to sit and wait for you, will you?”

“Perhaps I will.”

“And…and…” His smile is very distracting. My whole body is quivering. “And you’ll always love me?”

“You never know.”

His fingers have not yet strayed from my cheek, and I’m nearly dissolving under his touch. “Philip, please! This is important. I will not marry someone who might lock me up like Rapunzel in her tower.”

“You’re shaking.”

“I’m scared,” I admit. “I’m scared. Oh, Philip, I’m so scared.”

Philip tightens his grip on my hand. “Of what?”

I try to remain calm, but I can’t. “I’m scared that I’ll give you the wrong answer, that if I say yes, something will go horribly wrong, that if I say no, I’ll regret it the rest of my life. I’m scared of making such an important decision, one that will affect…well, everything. And I’m scared that I’m about to pass up my opportunity to tell you that I love you.”

“Do you?” Philip presses, hardly above a whisper.

I nod. “Yes. Yes, I do. I love you.” I close my eyes, concentrating hard on the warmth of his fingers on my cheek in an attempt to silence my terror. I want him to tell me the same. “Do you love me?”

“I do. I always have.”

“Philip,” I say again, “I do need you to tell me that you won’t lock me away or leave me behind while you ride off on grand adventures.”

“I was joking, Becca,” he assures me hastily.

“I know,” I insist, meeting his gaze. “But I need you to say it, too.”

“I won’t lock you away like Rapunzel or leave you behind or turn you into a pious, dull house maid. I’ll never stop loving you. I swear.”

It’s good to hear it said aloud. “It’s very vulgar for a gentleman to swear,” I tease.

Philip smiles. “It’s very vulgar for a princess to know how to throw a javelin or whoop like a savage.”

“Well, apparently you love a javelin-wielding, war-whooping princess.”

“And you, a vulgar, swearing gentleman.”

Epic Info Dumps!
(And, Bonus Point: Terrible Names!)

Ricardo and Hosanna Andretti were two of only six people to escape the fire with their lives. Remarkably, they also escaped without any physical injuries, even after Hosanna had thrown herself straight into the flames.

The fire had not been an accident. It was intended to start a war between the two brothers: King Methuium II, the elder by three minutes and the lord of the country of Aridon, and his younger twin, Methuiam. Methuiam had been insanely jealous when the old king, Joshua VI, had named his elder son as his heir, so Methuiam had left the court of Aridon to conquer the tiny country of Rothel. At first, the Rothelians had adored their new leader; Methuiam was a charismatic, eloquent leader, even as a dictator, but soon, the power went to his head, and he became possessed with the idea of an empire. So he made an army and set fire to the border city of Quincey.

Appalled by this action, the Rothelians began to resist Methuiam’s advances on the much larger, much stronger Aridon, and Methuiam, enraged, began a bloodbath of executions intended to repress the uprising anti-war Rothelians. But the people of Rothel were not stupid, and they finally saw their dictator as an imminent threat to the peace they had so long enjoyed with Aridon (who could easily crush any army Rothel could create). Methuiam was murdered in his sleep before he could incite Aridon to war, and King Methuium quickly annexed Rothel until a suitable leader could be found.

Cringe-Worthy Poetry!
(It's A Spell!)

This young girl shall grow up fine,
Her touching smile shall be divine.
This smile will capture one man’s heart.
And she and he may never part.

This one man’s name? Sir Brutus the Third.
But before the meet, his name not heard.
Once they meet, their love abound,
Shall cause neglect to others ‘round.

Because I must, I give an end,
For blinkers from her eyes to send.
Magic lost, her love’s first kiss,
And for Brutus shall she never miss

The lesson for today is simple, and it is this: patience, grasshopper. You don't really want the world to see your terrible preteen writing. It will get better. You will be glad you waited.

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7/24/2017 0 Comments

Secondary Characters: The Story of Sahnsor Di'ent

If you read my post about the Thanksgiving 2015 Descent Into Madness, you know how I tend to lose control over my supporting characters. Sometimes, they push outside of their boundaries and take control of the story in ways I never intended them to--and usually, this ends up being a good thing for everyone (even if it does screw with my outline).

But there's another, more subtle, way that secondary characters can take on a life of their own, and so I want to talk for a minute about Sahnsor Di'ent.

Di'ent was a walk-on bit character in White Stone. His only reason for existing was to give his two or three lines of dialogue, and he fulfilled that purpose nicely. He said his lines, the story continued, and no one missed anything from his exclusion.

But there was something about those three lines of dialogue. There was so much *relationship destroyed* and *promises broken* and *trust betrayed* in his three sentences that I couldn't get Di'ent out of my head. He sat there, a character who was meant to do one single thing, with a full load of regret and guilt and desire to make things right, and I found him popping up in unexpected places as I attempted my first failed tries at what would become Wide Horizons (that is a story unto itself--the way rewriting White Stone for NaNoWriMo 2013 changed everything, but I digress). And every time he popped up, it all came back--the destroyed relationship, the broken promises, the betrayed trust. His guilt and regret and desire to make things right. All these scenes were scrapped when the end of White Stone took a different turn in draft 3 than it had in prior versions, but by then, Di'ent was there, an established minor character with his own feelings and agenda, and I really liked what he could do inside the white stone palace.

And so, when Wild Tides rolled around, I really felt I couldn't ignore him. He needed a role to play, something significant to do, and that's what he got: [REDACTED TO REMOVE SPOILERS]*. His character arc, born of a bit part and three lines of dialogue in Book 1, can now be complete.

*Wild Tides, White Stone Book 3, will be available in Dec. 2017.

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6/13/2017 0 Comments

Wild Tides Cover Reveal!

Super-short little post today to do as the title says and reveal the Wild Tides cover. As with the new covers for White Stone and Wide Horizons, this one was designed by Yana Yakubchik. Enjoy!

Wild Tides, White Stone Book 3, coming in December 2017

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6/12/2017 0 Comments

The Week of 6/5/17

Tue. 6/6/17

Yesterday was Monday, which is a full 14-hour day for me (Day Job #1 from 8a-4p, then Day Job #2 from 4-10p), and today was a bit of a Cat Day (more because I felt like crap than because I was being deliberately lazy), so I haven't had the best start to the week.

But I have off from Day Job #2 on Wednesdays, and I *might* even have only a half a day at Day Job #1 tomorrow, so I can get some words written in the new WIP tomorrow.

Sat. 6/10/17

Long time, no write here. I have no excuse. Moving on.

Spent a good chunk of yesterday and today prepping for and then emailing the 800ish people who signed up for the Other Worlds giveaway. So far, it looks like about a quarter of the people actually opened the email I sent them, and half of those actually clicked my links to get the free full copy of White Stone I was offering them (since the Other Worlds excerpt was only "A Sin" and "Day 1"). So, I think this might actually work out, at least a little bit. I've got plans for continuing to warm up that traffic, so hopefully I'll have an email list that breaks double digits by the end of this experiment. :)

I got a desk yesterday. It's pretty small, just one of those cheap Amazon prefabbed things that took me about 40 minutes to assemble last night, but it holds my computer and fits nicely in this weird little corner I have in my house, and I spent a goodly amount of my birthday gift card on this nice faux-leather office chair and a bit of tech to give me some standing desk options, so I finally have, like, an office space, and I'm kind of ridiculously proud about that. Makes me feel all legit.

The new office corner, currently still sans standing desk accessories, but those are on their way, too.

I want to make a living with my writing. I want the office corner to be where I work. I want it so much it actually hurts when I think about it.

Yeesh. Moving on.

I can't spend more than a minute of quiet before I start thinking about the worldbuilding workshop I'm going to in July. I'm so freakin' excited about it, I can't stand it! (I'm sure it'll take up at least a week or two of the diary as it comes, happens, and finishes, so you'll be hearing plenty about it in the future.)

And the Wild Tides cover reveal will be happening next Tuesday on my Twitter and Facebook page, and it's another of those awesome covers by Yana Yakubchik, so stay tuned!

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6/5/2017 0 Comments

The Week of 5/29/17

Mon. 5/29/17

Happy Memorial Day, one of the six days every year that are a Real Day Off (and only three of those six days are always guaranteed Real Days Off, so happy One Of The Weekday Holidays!)

I didn't think at first I was going to make my productivity goal for today and that yesterday's Cat Day would bleed into my day off, but then about 8 pm, I had this crazy burst of energy, and I FINISHED IT! I FINISHED the Wild Tides edit*!!

*That is, to be completely accurate, I finished draft 3 of Wild Tides, which is my last major revision draft. From here on out, I'll be working on line- and copy edits, which are a LOT easier for me, since they're all about wording and grammar and no longer about rewrites.

Tue. 5/30/17

It feels kinda weird, the idea that the White Stone series, the stories that have taken up most of my creative brainpower for, like, 6 years, is now in its final stages of production. I mean, there's still plenty of work to do, of course, since there's 3 full rounds of line edits and another copy edit to do, but the *story* is done.

It just feels a little weird, is all.

Fortunately, I've got my next five stories either fully or partially planned, one in the very early stages of consideration, and hopefully what will be some crazy-exciting opportunities opening up this summer (more on that later).

BUT, the big excitement for today is that I've got back the new covers for White Stone and Wide Horizons, and they're so pretty I can't stand it.

So awesome! Biggest shout out ever to the artist, Yana Yakubchik, who you can find here.

The Wild Tides cover reveal is coming soon, and it's just as gorgeous. :)

Thurs. 6/1/17

June is here! June means summer, and summer means...well, summer. Long days and warm nights.

Wild Tides needs a little bit of cooling off before I get deep into line edits, so I've started tiptoeing into the next book, which will be quite different from the White Stone series in just about every way, being a bit more adult and (hopefully) more funny and satirical. I'm looking forward to writing it, even though (and probably because of) it is going to be so crazy different in tone and setting from what I'm used to working on.

Lots and lots of awesome things are starting to take shape for the summer. More on those as they happen. :)

Fri. 6/2/17

I did it. I got a ticket for a worldbuilding workshop this July in Austin, TX. I've been waffling and hemming and dancing around the decision for weeks, since the mastermind I've joined first offered it, and tonight I finally just went ahead and bought a ticket to the workshop.

So I'll be spending 2 days in mid-July talking shop with a few of my favorite career indies, coming up with stories for the world that's going to be built and shared at the event, and generally having what sounds like is going to be a fantastic time. So stoked!!

(I feel like I should contact said favorite career indies and preemptively apologize for the inevitable fangirling I'm going to do when I meet them, because I know I'm going to fangirl when I meet them at this event. It'll be kinda like that time I met Seth Andrews, only maybe a little worse, because these said career indies are legitimately everything I want to be, while Seth is more just a cool guy whose podcast and videos I enjoy.)

Sat. 6/3/17

Over 1,000 words written in the brand new WIP this afternoon, and that's all I've got in me today. Tomorrow will be better (though, honestly, today wasn't bad. 1k new words written in a brand new story isn't bad.)

Nighty-night.

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YOUR CART

The Diary

Masochistic Urges

Painful Romantic Banter!
(This Was the Sexiest Thing Ever When I Was 14!)

Epic Info Dumps!
(And, Bonus Point: Terrible Names!)

Cringe-Worthy Poetry!
(It's A Spell!)

Secondary Characters: The Story of Sahnsor Di'ent

Wild Tides Cover Reveal!

The Week of 6/5/17

Tue. 6/6/17

Sat. 6/10/17

The Week of 5/29/17

Mon. 5/29/17

Tue. 5/30/17

Thurs. 6/1/17

Fri. 6/2/17

Sat. 6/3/17

Archives

Categories

YOUR CART

The Diary

Masochistic Urges

Painful Romantic Banter!​(This Was the Sexiest Thing Ever When I Was 14!)

Epic Info Dumps!​(And, Bonus Point: Terrible Names!)

Cringe-Worthy Poetry!​(It's A Spell!)

Secondary Characters: The Story of Sahnsor Di'ent

Wild Tides Cover Reveal!

The Week of 6/5/17

Tue. 6/6/17

Sat. 6/10/17

The Week of 5/29/17

Mon. 5/29/17

Tue. 5/30/17

Thurs. 6/1/17

Fri. 6/2/17

Sat. 6/3/17

Archives

Categories

Painful Romantic Banter!
(This Was the Sexiest Thing Ever When I Was 14!)

Epic Info Dumps!
(And, Bonus Point: Terrible Names!)

Cringe-Worthy Poetry!
(It's A Spell!)