Fandoria: Welcome To My World

Sharing Saturday

Sat, 17 May 2008 18:06:58 GMT

So yesterday afternoon, while my son was watching TV, I handwrote the rest of my scene. It took some worked, but eventually it started flowing. Then, as I watched TV with my husband last night, ideas came to me on stuff to make it even better when I typed it up. This morning, my husband took my son to a church activity and I stayed home to clean the downstairs (cause we're having company tomorrow) and then I had time left over so I typed up my scene. I rarely say this about my work because I rarely think this, but after I read back through the scene, all I could think was, "Man, I'm awesome!" And since I'm so excited about it, I just can't wait for Teaser Tuesday so instead, I'm gonna do a Sharing Saturday and post a small piece from the scene.

“Riana, wait!” Westley called but she didn’t slow.

She heard him crashing after her. A moment later he grabbed her arm and spun her around. “What is wrong?”

She kept her expression as neutral as possible, grateful for all the years she’d spent on stage. “Nothing.”

“I don’t believe you,” he said.

She gaped at him. “Are you calling me a liar?”

“If nothing is wrong, then why did you storm off?”

“I have things to do.”

He crossed his arms and raised a brow as if to say, “Uh-huh.”

“Are you unhappy that I won?”

She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me.”

“And yet, you gave me your favor.” He fingered the scarf tied around his arm. He seemed almost hurt by her attitude. She clenched her teeth and turned away. Feeling bad about offending him was not a good way to keep her distance.

“What is it?” He waited a moment and when she didn’t answer said, “Riana?”

She whirled around. He wasn’t going to leave her alone so she might as well give him a piece of her mind. “You want to know what my problem is?”

“Aye.”

“Your arrogance! I know it wasn’t a battle, but you didn’t take it seriously at all. You could have been hurt.”

He grinned, his midnight eyes softening as he studied her face. She nearly forgot why she was upset.

“You cared for my welfare?” he asked.

She caught herself in time. “No! I just didn’t want to see anyone killed. I don’t think I have the stomach for it.”

His grin never wavered. “You needn’t have worried. Ruben and I are like brothers. He would not have hurt me. This was naught but sport. Had it been real, I’d have taken it seriously.”

Much as she wanted to argue that, no comeback formed on her tongue. “Whatever,” she said and turned to go.

“Wait.”

She sighed. “What?”

“Dadro wishes to speak with you.”

“Who?”

“My father, Tarvik.”

“Oh.” Tarvik was his father? Perhaps there was a resemblance between them. She’d have to look for it later. Wait, what was she thinking? She shouldn’t care about that.

Tagged

Fri, 16 May 2008 16:01:36 GMT

I should be finishing my scene right now. But instead, meredith_wood tagged me for this meme. So here goes:

What were you doing 10 years ago?

I was finishing up my sophomore year in high school. Yes, I know this makes me really young.

What are 5 things you need to do today?

1. finish this scene
2. remember to make myself lunch. I've been forgetting to this week.
3. pick up my son from school
4. laundry
5. figure out what on earth we're gonna have for dinner

What are some snacks you enjoy?

Nothing good for me, that's for sure. Chocolate, cheesecake, peanut butter

What would you do if you were a billionaire?

Pay off my house and cars, get a newer house, get a maid so I can write AND have a clean house, travel, buy way too many books.

What are 3 bad habits?

I get down on myself too much. I don't stand up for myself. I'm really bad about remembering to call people or respond to emails...especially if it's going to require a lengthy response.

Name 5 places you have lived.

American Fork, UT
Roosevelt, UT
Ephrata, WA
Rexburg, ID
Liverpool, NY
Oneida, NY
Utica, NY
(I know that's 7, but that's everywhere I've lived)

What are 5 jobs you've had?

maid...cook...chauffeur...accountant...secretary...nurse...oh wait, sorry, that's called being a stay-at-home mom.
Let's see... the jobs I've had were all in high school/before I got married.
I worked in a daycare, worked at a theater (this included box office, concessions, cleaning, and pizza delivery--we had a pizza restaurant in our theater), and I worked at TCBY/Pretzel Time

That's not quite five, but that's all the jobs I had. The daycare I worked at for 6 months before I quit because it was awful. I will never put my kid in daycare because of what I saw there. I worked at the theater for about 3 years (with a break while I went to college). And I worked at TCBY/Pretzel Time for 4 months (while also working at the theater) to help out my husband when he got laid off a few months before we got married.

And now to tag 5 people (but only if you want to play)

kazdreamer
robinellen
sarah_create
sometimegoddess
rosemaryinwheat

The scene is forming

Fri, 16 May 2008 00:18:26 GMT

Had a lot of errands to run today, leaving me only an hour of free time before I had to pick up my son from school. I spent it going over what I wrote yesterday and fixing a few spots that were bugging me. I guess this scene spent the afternoon forming in my head because when I sat down after I put my son to bed, I got about 450 words. Not a ton, but hey, that was in 40 minutes. So not bad. I got myself midway through the scene, I like where it's going so far and the rest of it is coming together in my head. Hopefully this means I can finish it tomorrow. Even though it's early, I'm stopping now to let it continue to form and to spend some time with my husband.

Inch by inch

Wed, 14 May 2008 16:59:48 GMT

I'm making progress with my writing this week. Incredibly slowly, but it's coming. Monday I typed up what I wrote on Saturday. That turned out to be 1K. I would have posted some of it for Teaser Tuesday but it was a bit too spoilerish. Yesterday I got about 350 words and today I've gone a bit further than that with 550 so far. I'd like to be going faster, I'm frustrated by this snail's pace, yet at the same time, going this slow is doing wonders for the scenes that I've written so far. I guess I should just be glad I'm able to get any writing done at all.

All righty, now that I've checked in, I should return to work with the 40 minutes I have left before I must pick up my son.

My day off

Sun, 11 May 2008 03:25:18 GMT

I really enjoyed my day off today. It started when I got to sleep through the entire night. I only had to get up at 8 to check my son and give him breakfast. Then he watched TV in our room so we could sleep in. I got to sleep in until 9:30. Then my husband took him to Lowes for the Build and Grow workshop. This allowed me a leisurely morning.

I left before they got back. I went to see Nim's Island which I really enjoyed. Then I spent two hours at B&N and wrote. I got about 15 memo book pages handwritten. I finished a scene and got a decent start on the next one. I don't know how many words since I haven't typed them up, but I think it's at least 1K.

Then I came home and returned to reality. I had to give my son a bath and fix dinner and do laundry. But that's okay because I got my much needed me time and that really refreshed me. Plus, my son was in a cheerful mood.

When I asked him what he made at the workshop, he said, "A memory box for you." Pause. "Can I keep it?" Hopeful big blue eyes.

I told him he could keep it safe for me.

Oh, also, when I came home, I found half a dozen tulips sitting on my counter from my husband. So sweet.

Another bonus, my husband's usual meetings before church were canceled for tomorrow which means I don't have to get my son ready for church all by myself. YAY!

Okay, I'm going to bed now. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms reading this.

Friday Five

Fri, 09 May 2008 19:11:04 GMT

1. I have the best husband in the world. He's incredibly supportive of me, he makes me feel appreciated, and lets me know how important I am to our family. I can talk to him about anything. He works hard to provide for us. We can have intellectual discussions. We both have creative minds so he can relate when I talk about my writing. And when times are hard, we don't drift apart, we become even closer. (We had a long talk yesterday about how we're both dealing with things and how we both appreciate each other and it just made me even more grateful to be married to him).

2. Today was Muffins for Mom day at school. (Yeah, my son is feeling better today, except for allergies, so he went to school). His teacher asked if I wanted to read the story to the class today. The book I read was What Moms Can't Do. It's such a cute book! Then all the kids got to pick out a muffin (that they baked yesterday) for their moms. My son gave me a chocolate chip muffin. Then they had paper bags they decorated filled with the presents. Since my son missed most of the week, mine didn't have as much in it, but it was still really cute.

3. Since I finally had a few hours to myself, I used it to write. I probably should have taken the opportunity to grab a nap since I'm still really tired and have a sinus/lack of sleep headache, but darn it, I wanted to write. I didn't get much, only 680 words, but at least I got something.

4. I told my husband not to get me anything for Mother's Day because what I really want is a day to myself. So tomorrow he gets to stay home with our son while I go out by myself. I think I'll go see Nim's Island and maybe spend an hour or two at B&N to try and write.

5. I just want to say thanks to all of you who commented on my middle of the night post (which was surprisingly coherent when I read back over it yesterday morning). I really appreciate all your thoughts, prayers, well wishes, and the incredibly kind things you each had to say.

A writing post

Tue, 06 May 2008 13:21:01 GMT

I figured it was about time I post something about writing. This weekend I finally finished a chapter that has taken me about a month to write. Most of this was because of a dearth of time, but some of it was also because this was a hard chapter. I had a lot of characters to introduce, relationships and personalities to establish, and I had to do it in as short a space as possible. (I couldn't spend chapters upon chapters doing this like I had in the previous version) This meant a lot of writing something, deleting it an instant later, and starting over again until I had something that looked right. The hardest one, believe it or not, was the one I was most looking forward to. But I think I pulled it off.

Yesterday I integrated a small scene from the previous version. I made some minor changes to it that I think make it read smoother now. This brought me up to the 30K mark for this draft. And I came up with some new ideas for what's happening next. I had originally planned to use what I already had from the first draft for these upcoming scenes, but I think my new ideas will be stronger. I plan to get started on those today.
Even though I'm moving at a snail's pace, mostly because I've been not wanting to move on until I'm happy with what I just wrote, I once again have the story in my head. It's been away for a while, thanks to stress. But it's back, new scenes are forming, every day things are sparking ideas again, and The Mood has returned. Now I just have to take advantage of it.

Anyway, seeing how it's Tuesday, I guess I'll share a bit from what I wrote this weekend. This is the scene I'd wanted to post last week but couldn't because I hadn't gotten there yet. But by sneaking in a few minutes here and there on Saturday, I got it done. This was a hard scene for me to write because I only had the mood of it, not the dialogue. When you add all the stolen minutes I spent working on it, this took me about 3 hours to write.

The Gypsies treated them to a roaring cheer and thunderous applause. She swept her hair from her eyes and met Westley’s penetrating stare. Her breath caught and she ripped her gaze away. She searched the crowd desperately for a familiar face and nearly jumped to the moon when his bone-melting baritone sounded in her ears.

“Dance with me.” It was more a command than a request.

She didn’t turn, fearing the spell of those midnight eyes. “I don’t dance.”

He didn’t respond to that obvious lie, just waited for a more acceptable answer.

Her mouth felt like she’d stuffed it full of cotton balls. Still, she forced sound out. “I’m tired.”

He leaned so close she felt the heat radiating from his body though they didn’t touch. His breath tickled across the back of her neck. “Please,” he whispered.

That did her in. She didn’t have the strength to deny him when he asked like that. She closed her eyes, counted to three, and nodded. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. She kept her eyes on his chest until his fingers lifted her chin.

“Look at me,” he said, and again she couldn’t say no.

As it had the first time she saw him, her heart couldn’t decide on a rhythm, threatening at times to stop altogether. She had to remind herself to breathe. And once she met his eyes, his gaze refused to release her. He wrapped a calloused hand around hers, his other on her waist, the touch so light she wasn’t sure if she imagined it. Somehow her feet knew how to follow his lead and at first they just danced. Sounds drowned out, music becoming something she felt rather than heard.

She was barely aware when one song ended and another began. His steps never faltered nor did his intensity. She wished she knew his thoughts, but he was impossible to read. As for her, the ability to think had fled the moment she looked at him.

“I’m sorry,” he said finally. “I acted rashly and I apologize for the way I treated you.”

It took her a long moment to understand him. No words immediately came to mind so she merely nodded.

“I assure you I do not make a habit of this.”

“Well, that’s good to know. That you don’t kidnap every lone woman you come across and accuse them of being spies.” All the resentment she’d meant to throw into those words never made it there.

“Nay, only the pretty ones.” His mouth tilted upward in the hint of a smile, bringing a spark of light to his eyes.

Her knees weakened at the change in his countenance but she caught herself in time. Shaking her head she said, “Are you trying to flatter me into forgiving you?”

“Will it work?”

Maybe. “No.”

“Then mayhap my sincerity will.”

“I don’t know you. So how can I know if you’re sincere?”

The intensity was back, smoldering beneath the surface, threatening to burn her if she got too close. “That is easily remedied. Break your fast with me in the morn and we shall both get to know each other.”

Was he asking her out? Part of her wanted to say yes, but a larger part wanted to run screaming. Her parents and Stephen had taught her she couldn’t trust her judgment. She was still trying to recover from that. The last thing she needed was to fall for someone new. “I don’t know,” she said.

“Please?” he asked. Did he know how much power he instantly had over her with that one word?

She stood in the circle of his arms, trapped between her head and his plea. “I … I don’t know,” she stammered again. She stepped back and he dropped his hands. Then before he could override her judgment, poor as it was, she pushed through the crowd.

I suppose I'll share...

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:44:07 GMT

So it's been a busy week so far and it's only going to get busier. I spent yesterday morning at the dealership getting our car inspected and an oil change. While there, I managed to get a little bit of writing done. Today after I dropped my son off at school, I did the shopping, came home, put everything away, left to visit someone from church, came home to grab my son's diabetes backpack, picked him up and, well, anyway, you get the idea.

I was hoping to reach a certain scene last night and had planned to share from that but I never made it that far. So instead I'll share from what I wrote at the dealership. I introduced a totally new character--one who wasn't in the last version of Wayworn--and based his personality off of the waiter we had when we went to Friendly's for ice cream Saturday night. He's also named after a friend from church who wanted to be in my book. *g* Oh and to avoid any confusion, Daya is the Gypsy word for mother. So all the times that's used in this snip, it's in reference to Gitana.

All around, Gypsy women emerged from their tents, lighting fires and cooking. The men swarmed in as soon as the food was ready, even though no one called them or rang a dinner bell. Either it was some instinct they had or the heavenly smell filling the air that summoned them.

She helped Nadja and Gitana put the food on the table. No sooner did they set the last bowl down did Nicolae and another taller, leaner man burst into the tent. This new man’s shoulder length hair – black like all the other Gypsies she’d seen – was tied in a tail. Sweat glistened on his face and he carried a bow, a quiver of arrows slung across his back. If she remembered Gitana’s info dump of her family correctly, then this had to be Jareth.

He set the bow and quiver aside then noticed her. A grin broke out on his face, making him the first Gypsy man she’d met who wasn’t somber or bordering on angry.

“I heard rumor the gadje was staying with our family,” he said.

“Where are your manners, Jareth?” Gitana chided. “She has a name.”

“Oh, aye?” He bowed before her. “Would you do me the honor of sharing that with me?”

“I’m Riana.” She held out her hand but quickly retracted it when he blinked at her in confusion.

“A pleasure, Riana.” He bowed again. “I am Jareth. No doubt by now Daya has revealed my most embarrassing tales.” He winked at Gitana who swatted his shoulder, an indulgent smile on her face.

“All she’s told me is that you’re skilled with a bow and she despairs of you ever marrying,” Riana said, her mouth twitching at the corners and threatening to turn into a full-fledged smile. This Jareth was charming, she’d give him that.

“Daya has despaired of me for one thing or another ever since I started toddling around, destroying everything in sight.”

“Aye, this one has been naught but trouble from the start,” Gitana said with motherly pride instead of the disgust that would have shaped a similar statement from Mom.

Auction for diabetes research

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 01:35:40 GMT

I grabbed this link from Joanna Bourne's blog (incredible author, btw. You should go out and by her book, The Spymaster's Lady).

Anyway, author Brenda Novak is hosting an online auction to raise money for diabetes research. The first $150,000 will go to JDRF. It looks like there's lots of cool stuff up for auction.

Teaser Tuesday

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:03:05 GMT

With one last fruitless glance over her shoulder, she set on the road to Fellendor. She’d only walked a few feet before hearing a sound she hadn’t heard in years. Not since Glen had paid for her riding lessons. She held a hand over her eyes to block the glare of the setting sun and sure enough, two horses, complete with riders, approached. They reined up when they spotted her.

One horse was the blackest she’d ever seen, the other blindingly white. And were those blue eyes? Was it even possible for a horse to have blue eyes? The men wore loose white shirts, suede vests and pants, wide belts, and knee-high boots. The man on the white horse had sandy hair and the lean muscles of a runner while the one on the black horse looked like he’d be at home in a weight room. His bronzed skin, wavy, shoulder-length black hair, and short beard were enough to set her heart to an erratic beat, but it was his eyes that kept her rooted to the spot. At first, she thought them black, but when she looked closer, they were midnight blue. And they locked on her with a frightening intensity.

His mouth turned down as he studied her from head to toe. Her t-shirt and jeans suddenly seemed inadequate. She might as well be naked, the way his stare made her feel. It took great effort to pull her gaze from him, focusing instead on the curious hazel eyes of the blond man. He seemed much less intimidating.

“Is this the way to Fellendor?” she asked him at the same time he said, “Whatever are you alone here for?” and the dark man asked, “Who are you?”

“Um…” How did she explain her situation without sounding like a raving lunatic? Probably best to keep it simple. “My name’s Riana and I’m lost.”

Neither man offered their names. She resisted the urge to shift her weight from foot to foot. They already had the advantage over her and it wouldn’t do to let on how uncomfortable they made her.

“Why do you dress as a man and where are your boots?” the blond man asked. “Did your horse desert you? Or did someone leave you here, perchance?”

“I don’t have a horse and I came alone. I don’t know how to get home so I thought I’d look for help in Fellendor. Is this the right way?”

“There is no help to be had in Fellendor these days,” the dark man said. He had such a beautiful, rich baritone that she had to bite her tongue before she begged him to sing. This was hardly the time to think such things, but she’d never heard such a voice before, either.

A smile moment

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:28:47 GMT

I've been running around most of the day. Did the grocery shopping and bought some new clothes for myself (because I figured it was okay to spend some money on clothes when my other ones are getting holes in them) this morning after taking my son to school. I had an hour and a half at home and then I picked him up from school. From there, we went clothes shopping for him. He needed spring/summer clothes and besides, he's gotten too tall for his old stuff.

We get home and I decided to leave the TV off. So I'm doing laundry and putting stuff away and taking care of a few other things. I notice it's really quiet. Too quiet. My first thought is panic. "Oh no, he's passed out because it's nearing dinner time and his blood sugar has gotten too low." I run downstairs and lo and behold, he's sitting in the recliner, a pile of books surrounding him and he's "reading" Five Silly Monkeys to himself. He may have his father's personality, but this is a sure sign that he's mine. *g* (Aside from the fact that he looks like me and I distinctly remember giving birth to him).

Tagged

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 12:05:00 GMT

I've been tagged by meredith_wood with the closest book meme. So here's the rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people and post a comment to meredith_wood's blog (your tagees will post to mine, etc.) once you've posted your three sentences.

All right, well the book I'm currently reading is actually on my nightstand so the book closest to me at the moment is a book I picked up from the library yesterday for research. Okay, never mind. Those books only make it to pages 105 and 96. The other books that are closest to me are my reference books which tend to be more like dictionaries... Hmm... Well, my bookshelves are directly behind me. I shall just grab a random one and use that. That sounds good. Here I go. Okay the book I grabbed, which happened to be on the top of the closest stack of books on my shelves (yes, I have to stack my books in order to get them all to fit. I'm in bad need of new bookshelves) is All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris.

Sophie-Anne's pride was hurting in a major way. She had to struggle to paste that smile back on her face. "I believe you know Andre," she continued.

And now who shall I tag who doesn't appear to have already been tagged? Lessee....

1. faerie_writer
2. kathys_shadow
3. stitchnstamp Yes, this means you actually have to post to your LJ for the first time. hehe
4. lizjonesbooks
5. rosefiend

All right you five... go forth and play. *g*

Nothing to report

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:17:47 GMT

Nothing much to report. No writing has been done this week. My son is home with a yet another cold and will probably be home tomorrow so still no writing, most likely. But at least I got my house cleaned.

Teaser Tuesday

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:38:44 GMT

Had a super busy day yesterday and am still really tired from it, but I'm gonna try and write anyway. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, here's the place where I left off when last I wrote.

Riana couldn’t take her mind off the photograph. It was the old man from her dreams, she was sure of it. But who was he and why did she dream about him time and again?

These thoughts consuming her, she returned to the library after breakfast in hopes of finding more about him. She pulled out the photograph again and stared until her vision blurred. Something about him made her uneasy. But no flood of insight came. With a sigh, she replaced the photo. Staring at it endlessly wasn’t going to get her anywhere.

Maybe there was something about him in one of Glen’s journals. She’d read most of them from cover to cover several times, but there was one she hadn’t ever looked through. The one Glen got all funny over a few weeks ago. She opened it and nearly dropped it. A squeak of surprise slipped past her lips. Instead of pages, she found a hollow with a small box inside.

Blood pounded in her ears as she pried the box out and lifted the lid. It was empty save for an old-fashioned key. Slowly, as though it’d jump up and bite her, she reached for the key. There was no wondering what it went to. There was only one place in the house where the doors were kept locked.

She dropped the box and ran up the stairs to the fourth floor. The door to Fandoria seemed… different … somehow. Last time she’d come up here, it’d seemed cold and distant. Now though, when she touched the wood, it felt warm and almost pulsed with life. If she used the key, would the door actually work? There was only one way to find out.

Several deep breaths did nothing to calm her racing heart. Her hand shook as she slid the key in the lock. The soft click when the lock disengaged seemed to resonate through her and before she could talk herself out of it, she grabbed the knob and turned.

Even though she had a lifetime of listening to Glen’s stories to prepare her for the existence of another world, it wasn’t enough. All the air whooshed from her lungs and only her grip on the doorknob kept her upright. She blinked, her eyes and mind frantically trying to process what they found.

On the other side of the door lay a grassy meadow filled with white and purple wildflowers. The sun shone and the blue sky was empty of clouds. But if she were to go down the stairs and look out the window, she’d find a world still ravaged by the thunderstorm.

A breeze ruffled the flowers and swept their perfumes past her nose. She took a tentative step through the door. The ground felt real enough, soft and springy.

She should get Glen. He needed to know the door still worked. They could walk through together; she could see all the places and people from his stories and he’d be with Celeste again. But… What if all this disappeared as soon as she left the fourth floor? Okay, that was just silly. Everything would still be here five minutes from now. And yet, she couldn’t resist spending just a few minutes in Fandoria by herself. She’d leave the door open and stick to the meadow. Then, she’d get Glen. And with that decided, she stepped through the door.

And now, if you want to see what Riana saw, here's a couple of pictures. I posted some of them several months ago, but what they hey, I'll share them again. It's appropriate. Some people we know from church have oodles of land out in the middle of nowhere and invited us over last August. When I saw their land it was like walking into my book. It was so close to what I had always pictured.

Two days in a row

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 03:23:39 GMT

This is the first time in 9 weeks I've written 2 days in a row. My husband spent tonight with some friends from work having a Guitar Hero party. To make up for leaving me to put our son to bed by myself, he let me have the afternoon to get out of the house and do something for myself. Since there were no movies I was interested in seeing at the theater, I decided to try going to B&N and writing. I've never done that before. But I took my little notebook and my ipod. I bought a water and a Reese's peanut butter cup cookie and sat in the little cafe area and started writing. It was great. In an hour and a half, I hand wrote a 1200 word scene. I only stopped because my bladder was full and when I came back, my table had been appropriated and there were no more empty tables. So I came home and typed up my scene.

Then, after I got my son to bed, I integrated the next two chapters and wrote a couple of small scenes from scratch. I'm ending the night with having written 1800 words and having gotten to a significant spot in the book. In fact, it's the place I wanted to get to by the end of the month, but didn't think I'd get to since the universe had been conspiring against me for the past 9 weeks. I'm really excited to be at this point. I've been looking forward to the next several scenes ever since the planning stages of this rewrite.

I almost forgot I'm a writer

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:49:49 GMT

After what felt like an eternity, I finally returned to writing today. I tried to get back into it yesterday, but only managed 150 words in three hours. And that was a very painful 150 words. But this morning I realized that once I finished the scene I was on, the next 4 chapters were ones I could copy/paste from my other document because they only required a little tweaking and polish to fit with the rewrite. So that was plenty of incentive to put my nose to the grindstone today. I finished my scene, getting in 1500 new words. Yay me! Then I incorporated the next two chapters complete with tweaks and polish. I feel very accomplished now. Maybe tomorrow I can work on the next two that I get to reuse.

Oh, and some more good news. Zokutou word meter is working again, finally.

Lil' bit of progress

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:04:31 GMT

Well, after a bit more time spent sitting at my computer and not writing, I finally grabbed my iPod and my notebook and sat on the steps while waiting for the bus to come and wrote by hand. It was hard getting going at first, but I finally finished my scene. I'm not sure how long it is yet as I've not yet typed it up, but at least the scene is written. And, I get to polish it as I type it.

Friday Five

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:38:07 GMT

1. Still waiting for spring. I mean, come on, Easter is a week away. Isn't it like against the law or something for it to be Easter and not be spring? If not, it should be.

2. Everyone in my house has been healthy this week. Considering the past month, this is a rare thing. (Although I'm still working on getting my voice back, but at least I'm not coughing near as much).

3. I have to speak in church on Sunday and I'm really dreading it. I have a paralyzing fear of public speaking and this is the first time in years that I've had to get up in front of people. But my bishop and my husband, and well, just about everyone, thinks it's time I finally conquer--or at the very least face--this fear. I've already got my talk written, wrote it last week so I don't have to worry about not being prepared. But I've already had 3 nightmares about this. Part of me never wants Sunday to come and the other part of me just wants it to be over.

4. I finished critting two ms's for friends this week. Both were excellent and left me feeling incredibly jealous over the quality of work.

5. Aside from two paragraphs on Monday, I haven't written all week. I just haven't been able to get myself to do it. So I spent the week critting instead. But now that I've nothing left to crit, I need to write again. I woke up today determined to finish the scene I started Monday. How's that going so far? Well, lessee...in my quest to actually force myself to sit down and write, darn it!, I have surfed the internet, wandered downstairs to pay bills, wandered downstairs again (this was about 20 minutes later) to fix lunch and watch 3 episodes from the first season of How I Met Your Mother. Now I'm back at my desk and as soon as I post this I'm gonna force myself to write. This scene isn't going anywhere unless I actually put my fingers to the keyboard.

Teaser Tuesday

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:59:53 GMT

I'm getting an early start because I've got a lot to do today. This is from Chapter 3. The she in this scene is Riana.

She yawned after a few minutes. She tried to stifle it, but Glen still noticed. He sat up, gaze shooting to the clock on the far wall.

“It’s later than I thought,” he said, failing to suppress his own yawn. He reached for the stack beside her knee.

“Here, I’ll help,” she said. She picked up the top three and left the rest for him.

They returned the journals to their proper place. But there was still an empty spot. She spied the last one partially hidden beneath the couch.

“Forgot one.” She crossed the room to grab it. It was thicker than the rest. Funny, she couldn’t recall ever reading this one before. She turned to give it to Glen and paused at the look on his face. His cheeks had paled; his eyes wary. No, not wary… guarded. Like he expected something to happen and hadn’t yet decided if it was going to be good or bad.

“What?” she asked.

He blinked as though clearing his vision. “Huh?”

“You’re looking at me funny. Is there something wrong with this book?”

“What? No, of course not. Come on, let’s put that away and call it a night.”

She handed him the book. He touched the cover reverently and took great care in placing it on the shelf.

“You okay, Glen?” She asked as he turned off the lights. Only the moon and the glow coming from her room one floor below lit their way now.

“Yeah, why?”

“I don’t know. You’ve been acting kinda weird lately.”

It took him more seconds to answer than it should have. He shrugged and said, “Of course I’m weird. I’m a writer. According to your mother, that’s the epitome of weird.”

That was such a copout answer if she ever heard one. But given the lateness of the hour, she’d let him think she bought it. “I always thought she said you were mentally unstable and writing fantasy was the proof.”

“Whose side are you on anyway?”

“Yours. Always yours.”

Back to normal?

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 01:00:20 GMT

This is the first week in what seems like forever that one of us hasn't been sick. Although, I still have a cough/sore throat which keeps stealing my voice. But I feel fine, so it's more of an annoyance really.

My son went to school today, my husband went to work, and I was able to return to the gym for the first time in a month. I'm easing back into my normal day-to-day routine. It feels a bit foreign, I'll admit, but before long things should finally feel like they're back to normal. I even got some writing done today.

The only real drawback to today is that I'm still not completely adjusted to the change to DST and so around 3 this afternoon I crashed. I ended up dozing on the couch while my son watched Noggin and I'm now feeling rather lethargic. I think I'll go to bed early tonight.

Tomorrow I'll do my shopping and hopefully have a chance to write before I have to pick my son up from school. He's got a dentist appt. that takes place half an hour before the bus usually drops him off. Would you believe he's actually excited about it? He's so not like me (I'm still working on changing my whole dentists are evil mindset). But then, I've worked really hard to make sure he doesn't get my fear of dentists. If all else fails on the writing front, I'll put my notebook in my purse and maybe sneak in a few minutes while we wait. It's weird but I've actually been more productive writing in my little notebook than I have been on the computer. Usually I hate writing by hand, but hey, if it's working...

Any Journeyman fans out there?

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 23:09:53 GMT

Check this out. My husband made it.

This is the teaser trailer to a parody my husband is making to protest the cancellation of Journeyman. Here's the synopsis: An extreme fan of the show Journeyman discovers he has a gift that allows him to travel back to old tv shows canceled in their first season. His only hope is to find Kevin Falls in the present who can hopefully tell him what's going on and how he can use his gift to save Journeyman before it costs him his marriage.

Could it be?

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:12:26 GMT

I just got back from the store. It was my first trip out of the house (other than getting my son on and off the bus) in what feels like forever. As I was pulling into my driveway, I could have sworn I saw little red bumps all over branches on the tree in our front yard. So I got out of the car walked over, and sure enough, it looks like my tree is starting to bud! That tree is the first one on our street to bud in the spring and the first one to change colors/lose leaves in the fall. There's still some dirty snow on the ground, though yesterday's rain melted a good deal of it. But today it's sunny and the sky is blue and it's warm out! Well, comparatively speaking, anyway. Could this mean spring is nearly here? Dare I hope this is so? Oh please let it be so!

Teaser Tuesday

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:12:25 GMT

We're up to 8 inches and counting with the snow. They're saying we should get another 2-5 by tomorrow. Lovely.

In other news, I wrote 2.5 K today. Yay me! So today's teaser will be from today's writing. (Oh and for those who are interested, I edited last week's teaser to reflect the changes I made to the scene. Those changes will probably make tonight's internals make better sense).

When she pulled in front of Layne Enterprises’ Headquarters an hour later, a tuxedoed valet was waiting to take her keys.

“Good evening, Miss Layne.” He helped her from the driver’s seat then slid behind the wheel himself, steering the car toward the parking garage.

Another attendant swooped down and escorted her through the front doors. Her heels clicked along the marble floor, her reflection passing through the mirrors lining both walls. The lobby lights were dimmed, but the indoor waterfall was backlit with a blue glow. At the bank of elevators, the attendant pushed the button for the second floor where the grand ballroom was housed. With a bow, he returned for more guests.

Music filtered down the hall when the doors slid open again. It sounded like Mom had taken her up on the suggestion to hire a string quartet instead of a DJ. She’d said it’d add more class to the gala and Mom was all about class. Sure enough, when she stood in the doorway, she found the quartet playing from the far corner.

There was a reason Mom insisted on planning parties herself: she was darn good at it. No matter how Riana felt about such parties, which she privately thought of as nothing more than a chance to ratchet up the brownnosing while playing dress-up, she had to admit, Mom certainly knew what she was doing. And tonight was no exception. The grand ballroom was gorgeous.

The massive white gold and crystal chandelier cast a soft glow over all the elegantly dressed people who milled about with drinks in hand while caterers wound through offering hors d’oeuvres. A handful of tables had been set up in the back with silver tablecloths, lilac covers over the chairs, and centerpieces of tea candles circling crystal vases filled with flawless sterling roses. And there, in the center of it all stood Mom and Dad.

Tall and distinguished in a black and silver tuxedo, not a single hair out of place, Dad was as imposing as ever. Mom, on the other hand, looked stunning in a shimmering blue gown, auburn hair pulled into a loose chignon—if you could look past the artificial quality to her face. The woman was addicted to Botox. They hadn’t noticed her yet, both focused on those taking turns to suck up to the all-powerful Robert and Miranda Layne. That was the part she hated most about these things, the never-ending game of one-upmanship. The way no one seemed to care that every compliment thrown out as was insincere as possible. But Mom and Dad loved their parties and she was here to support them after all.

She drew a deep breath and headed toward them. Despite what she told Collette and Glen earlier, she still wasn’t used to the changes in her parents’ attitude toward her and thus found herself fighting off a severe attack of nerves. They’d invited her tonight, though. That meant they wanted her there. And that was reason enough to smile and keep her feet moving.

Bits and pieces of conversation reached her ears as she drew nearer.

“Congratulations on this latest takeover, Robert.”

“Who’ve you got your eye on now, you old shark?”

“What a gorgeous gown, Miranda. Is that one of your designs?”

Mom turned to bestow a glowing smile on the woman who complimented the dress and spotted her. Mom’s smiled widened a bit to reveal straight, bleached teeth. She took Riana’s hands in her French manicured ones and purred, “Riana, darling. How wonderful to see you.” After kissing the air near her cheeks, Mom’s green eyes searched the crowd behind her. “But where is that wonderful young man you’re dating?”

“Stephen had to work late but he’ll be here soon.”

The women surrounding them twittered behind glove-clad hands. So, her social life hadn’t yet made the gossip rounds. Rather surprising. What with the way Mom used to obsess over setting her up with every rich man without a gold band on his ring finger, she’d have thought the news that she’d started dating Stephen Eastman would have been shouted from the rooftops by now. Especially given Stephen’s newfound prestige. After all, he’d inherited the presidency of Eastman Technologies when his dad died a few weeks ago.

“Lovely,” Mom said. “Be sure to bring him by to say hello when he gets here. “In the meantime, why don’t you sample some of the hors d’oeuvres? They’re positively mouthwatering.”

And she’d been dismissed. Politely, yes, but dismissed all the same. Just because things were changing didn’t mean everything would be perfect. She had to remember that. Any improvement was better than nothing.

She threaded her way out of the throng and tried to flag down a caterer only to have him walk in the opposite direction. There was another one across the room who still had a full tray. She headed toward him but stopped at the sound of a familiar voice.

“Did you hear about Mary’s nose job? They completely botched it and now her face is worse than before—if you can believe that. She’s suing them of course, but I don’t know if there’s a plastic surgeon talented enough to fix that mess.”

Snarky laughter followed that statement and she turned to see Carla Owens surrounded by her fan club.

“And just wait until you hear what I saw at the office today.” Carla’s brown eyes gleamed as everyone leaned closer to hear the juicy tidbit. “I was walking past Mr. Rosenbaum’s office today and I swear I heard him getting it on. Wouldn’t you know, a few minutes later, out walks Diane looking all—Oh, Diane! What a lovely gown. You simply must tell me where you got it.”

It always amazed Riana how blind people could be. Carla was like a cancer, spreading her poison everywhere she went, and yet no matter how many friends she lost, there were always more waiting in the wings. Riana had been friends with Carla for a few months in high school until Carla had shown her true colors. When she couldn’t stomach the cruelty, she’d walked away. That was when Carla made her the biggest target of all.

Speaking of which…

“Well, well. If it isn’t the ice princess.”

She winced at the name she’d earned back in middle school all because she had a tendency to keep to herself. But then, it wasn’t like she’d had anything in common with the others. Fashions, parties, and gossip held no interest for her and everyone thought her a freak for spending so much time with her music anyway.

“Rumor has it you’re dating Stephen Eastman. How much did you have to pay him to make that happen?”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before turning. “Is there something you want, Carla?” No matter how much she told herself to ignore the jealous rants, the catty remarks still hurt. For some reason, she was the lucky one who not only had Carla laughing at her behind her back, but to her face as well.

Carla’s mouth opened again but a tall black man walked between them with a drink in hand. He tripped on something unseen and the glass overturned onto her gown. A dark, wet stain spread across the ivory chiffon. Carla gasped in outrage and Riana bit down hard on her lip to hold in the laughter.

“Did I do that? I’m so sorry,” a silky tenor voice said. The man’s head turned in Riana’s direction and he winked.

“Of all the…” Carla sputtered, pulling the soaked material away from her skin. She stormed off, the gaggle of girls following in her wake.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Riana gave into the laughter at last. “You have no idea how badly I wanted to do that myself.”

The man straightened and faced her head on. He was quite handsome, black hair trimmed close to his head, chocolate eyes magnified by wire-rimmed glasses, tuxedo fitted against a well cared for body. There was an island look to him, like he was from the Caribbean or maybe he was Polynesian. She couldn’t tell.

“I’m sorry. Next time I’ll hand you the glass.” He had a slight accent, but sounded like he tried hard to hide it. He held out a hand. “I’m Tyler Devlin. I work for your father.”

Never would she have imagined one of Dad’s employees doing such a thing. “Are you sure?”

“About what?”

“That you work for my dad? The tall, dark haired man over there, the CEO of Layne Enterprises?”

Mr. Devlin raised his eyebrows. “Now that’s an odd question. Of course I’m sure.”

Heat flamed up her neck and spread to her face. “Forgive me. That was rude. It’s just that you’re…” How to put it tactfully?

“Nothing like those stuffy old suits?” he suggested.

“Well, that’s certainly one way to put it, yes.”

“Ah, but you see, I’m not always this friendly. My contract states that I’m to mostly act like I’m so far above everyone else I should be getting lightheaded from the altitude.” His holier-than-thou look was ruined by his grin.

“Seriously, how did someone like you manage to work your way into the upper ranks of my father’s company?” He had to be high up otherwise he wouldn’t be here.

Mr. Devlin leaned closer and whispered, “Because I’m the best at what I do.”

“And what might that be?”

His expression turned grave though his eyes still sparkled. “Oh, I’m afraid I can’t tell you.”

“Is that so?”

“Yep.” He winked and curious as she was, she rather liked the aura of mystery surrounding him.

“All right. Keep your secrets if you must.”

sigh

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:46:20 GMT

It's still snowing. Even harder now. And we've already got several inches. STOP IT ALREADY! I WANT SPRING!

Fandoria: Welcome To My World

Sharing Saturday

Tagged

The scene is forming

Inch by inch

My day off

Friday Five

A writing post

I suppose I'll share...

Auction for diabetes research

Teaser Tuesday

A smile moment

Tagged

Nothing to report

Teaser Tuesday

Two days in a row

I almost forgot I'm a writer

Lil' bit of progress

Friday Five

Teaser Tuesday

Back to normal?

Any Journeyman fans out there?

Could it be?

Teaser Tuesday

*sigh*

sigh