Excerpt- NaNoWriMo day 26

              

 Excerpt from what I just wrote yesterday...little to no editing, you have been warned :) 

                 She felt her fingers clench in the grass underneath her, and she froze like the animals she had hunted for years. A part of her mind had known that they were real, but she was still shocked to see it alive and in front of her eyes.

                The Dijan was out of sight as was the Ryder of the great spiked dragon. She was at least thankful for that, the Dijan’s dragon was enough for her to see. It had dark leather like membranes that stretched out from its body on thin and bony wings. The scales were a dull black in color, and with her magic she could see the pale eyes that seemed to not focus on anything.

                How was she going to beat a Dijan?

                Her stomach twisted into a knot and she felt the blood in her veins freeze.

                ‘Little one.’ His voice sounded strained through their link. ‘Little one, you need to leave.’

                ‘We need to see more, the scouts need to see more of the army.’ She ground her teeth against the fear that started to claw at her heart.

                ‘Little One,’ his voice growled through their link. ‘You need to leave, or I will come and get you, to the Skies with your orders.’

                The grass under her started rustling, and she realized that it was Feoras strength of his words coming through their link. She took a few breaths and the rustling stopped. Slowly as she concentrated on the blades of grass, heat started to creep slowly back down into her fingers and toes. Gradually the icy fingers of fear released from her heart and she heard herself breath again.

                She looked up slowly to find Aiden staring at her with concern reflected in his eyes. Her now warming fingers felt his squeezing, and she started crawling backwards. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she was back far enough to enable her to stand up. She found that her legs were shaking, and was glad that the others were still back at the knoll watching the army.

                Rustling from her side abruptly entered into her thoughts and before she could think, her sword was in her hand and magic was burning at her fingertips.

                “My Lady!” Aquaos held his hands plaintively. “It’s me, I followed you at a discreet distance.” His hands dropped and he looked carefully around. “I thought that you shouldn’t go off alone.”

                She slammed her sword back at her side and placing her hands on her hips started pacing around.

                “What is it?” Aquaos seemed genuinely confused.

                “You don’t know what that was?”
                “No, my lady.” He shook his head, his standard issue haircut from recruitment had started growing and his grey hair flopped.

                “Well,” her hands fell from her hips and her shoulders sagged before she could regain her composure. “the tan spiked one is a regular dragon, which is bad enough.”

                “Aren’t they both dragons?”

                “Yes, which is bad enough having one.” She started pacing again and pushed off Feoras threatening to come after her, “The other one, the black one, is something different.”

                “What?”

                She looked up at Aquaos, his face curious. “It is the mount of a Dijan. Something that I didn’t know could manifest itself in reality. They are shadow dwellers, they have to be summoned through the darkest of magic.”

                “So they’re bad?”

                “Very bad, very deep, dark magic.”

                Aquaos rolled his shoulders, his hands came to rest on the pommel of his sword.

                “How do we kill it?”

                ‘I think I’m going to like this man.’  Rumbled Feoras.

The end is approaching!

Well WriMo's it's that time of year when the sound of keys being frantically punched, and the scribble of pens or pencils on paper is as loud as a tornado...It's the last week of NaNoWriMo!

So write like your fingers are on fire. Punch those keys! Scribble in that notebook until the pages burst into flame!

If you've made it this far, KEEP GOING. You owe it to yourself and that novel of yours. Even if you think it's crap, keep writing anyways! The only way you are ever going to get that idea out of your head is if you write it. After you write it you make it better, but you have to get the ideas down first.

SO WRITE. Write like your life, your existence, your very soul are at stake....because they kind of are.

Whether you write for a hobby or you are like me and write nearly everyday as a way to examine the world around you and explore ideas or topics you didn't even know you thought were there, writing is a wonderful exercise.

Writing is listening to yourself, listening to yourself. It is one of the great tools of introspection.

And it's just gosh darn fun!

So keep going, no matter if you are 5k, 8k or 25k behind in the NaNo counts. Just keep writing, even if you don't hit the 50k by midnight on the 30th. You have tried to reach something that most people would never even dream of. You will have written (hopefully) everyday for a month, and that is quite the accomplishment.

So give yourself a pat on the back, pull up your chair, plug that laptop in and let's get writing!

Happy Typing WriMo's!

I did it!

Success!!!
I hit the 50 K mark at a Saturday write in, so by November 16th, I had reached 50K.
I am kind of shocked that I hit it that fast, but I am relieved and pretty excited considering my goal is to write 70k or finish the story, whichever comes first.

I am about halfway in the plot of the story...so maybe this one is going to be much longer than the first unless my characters start cooperating again. They seem to have taken over and have included scenes that while they do add to the characterization of the people in the story, I had not planned for them...Damn stubborn characters!

This journey has been exhilarating, exciting, scary and nerve-wracking. I am eager to see where this journey and story takes me. And I am loving this world that I have created, these characters and places seem so alive to me, and someday I hope that they will feel that way to any one who reads the books!


On another note, I thought that I was doing a great job at over-achieving, and then I went to the NaNo forum for Over Achievers, and all of their counts are above 60/70 or even 100k ! Geeze...maybe I'm not such an OA at all!

Happy Writing!

NaNoWriMo Day 14

It is almost the halfway mark, and I am well over the halfway mark for both the 50K goal, and my own goal of 70K. Just this morning I hit 40,946 words. I am so excited!
I just wrote a forging of swords scene, which is something I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, an expert. But I believe I did it well enough. And hey, now they can fight the bad guys because they have weapons!
Huzzah! (<-don't know where that came from..)

So I am, I think, almost half way through plot wise. The book is really starting to get exciting and moving towards several confrontations that will change the characters and the layout of the Realms.

This weekend, Friday the 15th is the Evening of Authoring Adventurously and a Write in on Saturday the 16 at a local library. I am hoping to hit 50k to 60k between the two events which will make me a winner in the eyes of NaNo, and bring my novel that much further along before I start my new job on Monday!

Huzzah for new beginnings!

Happy Writing!

NaNoWriMo Day 12

So I have made it to Day 12 of NaNo! *much cheering*
Things are going remarkably well, better than I had thought. I knew going into this that it would be a challenge, and it seems that my subconscious has risen to the occasion! In just 12 days I have written: 37,176 words.
Now that is something I never thought I would be typing.

I have seen many people in my writing group losing their motivation to write, and are falling behind on their word count. But they can get back in the game! Even if you are a day, two days, even a week behind, you CAN catch up. A re-dedication needs to take place.
This novel that you are setting out to write, deserves to be written, it wants to be written.
November is that one time of year that you can set aside that inner nay-sayer and just try something new.
Even if you've already started, maybe you realized that it would be better told in a different POV, just start writing and go back later.

Or maybe a character needs to die for the story to move on. Then kill the character! And if you realize they actually have to be in the story, bring em back! That's why you're the author. This crazy experiment called NaNoWriMo is just that, an experiment.

So play with the scenarios, characters, POV, time shifts, anything you darn well please!
Just have fun, I think too many people get caught up in how they sound, or having a good first draft. Don't fall into this trap. Most great novels were not written in the first draft. The greatness shows up in later drafts and through editing, and THAT is what the rest of the year is for.

This month is for creativity.

So start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.
Your muse, your creativity, what ever you want to call it, it has to find you writing.

So let's put our butts in chairs, fingers to keys (or if you're "old school" fingers to pen and paper) and just WRITE

Happy Writing! 

The Rest Will Follow

I am really getting sick and tired of people bashing Christian beliefs.
Yes, I know my history. I know what the upper rings of various Christian religious orders have done in the name of God. They have started wars, persecuted people, all in the name of their "Loving God".
But so has nearly every other religious order too, or large group of people who believe in the same things.

Christians are just as entitled as any other person on this planet to say what their beliefs are.
And yet, any time they do, they are attacked as either closed minded, bigoted or hateful. Often a combination of them and other words that I will not repeat, nor tolerate on my blog or facebook or any other social media.

How is it that if someone makes a comment about their Christian beliefs that they are attacked? Yet someone, maybe an atheist, agnostic, a liberal, or even a stranger on a bus makes their stand on their views it is considered their right to free speech? Or that they are praised for being so brave in the face of adversity?

They are being just the same amount of brave as a Christian stating what they believe.
And yet, every time a Christian stands up for themselves they get shot down, why?

Why are people who pride themselves on "being open minded" or "more accepting than the Christian model" acting so bigoted against those that have a different opinion?

It is because someone disagrees with them, and they are usually uncomfortable with that.
Yes, I am a Christian. I grew up in the church, regularly read my Bible, and have done many different studies.
No, I am not perfect. Any Christian who says they are is a liar (which, by the way is kind of a sin).

To me a main component of Christianity is about holding yourself to a higher standard. To realize that people have faults and to rise above those faults and to help others. All of us, as human beings are flawed. Sorry ladies this includes all the supermodel men as well. We are all flawed, all of us have our vices that maybe we shouldn't do. One of mine is eating too much. I am aware of this and working on a solution for myself.

That does not mean that I have the right to go around judging others who too eat too much. Or judge those that drink alcohol to excess, or participate in drug use, or are attracted to people of their same gender.
In fact, I have no power or right to judge anyone, including myself. It just means that I can recognize what my flaws are, accept them and work towards becoming a better person.

You can love someone and hate their sin. There is a big difference between caring for others because it is "the cool thing to do" or because everyone else is doing it, and actually caring for others because that is what we were created for.
Humans were made to love. We need to help each other out, not break each other down simply because we disagree. Accept that people have different view points than you, and lead your life according to how YOU think it should be led. Do not blindly follow any herd. 

Lead by example. Lead with Love. The rest will follow.

NaNoWriMo day 10

So it is the end of day 10, and I have survived the first few days of NaNo! *cheering*
This week I hit a few milestones: I finished with one part of the novel, wrote the other part, and am onto the third part. I hit 20k then 25k and then today I hit 30k.
I have had to overcome some writer's blockage moments, but thankfully having my trusty scene/outline cards at hand have made things easier. I have had to keep my whole notebook with me where ever I go so that I can fact check while writing. I also started using watching my favorite TV shows as a reward for writing during the whole of my blocks of time.
I have also found that if I get up and just sit down to write for a half hour to an hour before anything else, I tend to write more and more easily. Weird since I don't really consider myself a morning person. Oh well, whatever works, right?

So at the end of today I wrote 3,893 bringing my NaNo total for the month to 31,447.
Happy Writing! 

NaNo Day 7

So far so good...Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but my first year of doing NaNo is going really well. The only thing that I have got to remember is to take breaks. I keep forgetting that this is a marathon effort and not a sprint. But then again, I've never been good at long distance anything, sprints are more my style.
At the end of today I reached 22,484 words, and wrote over 3,000 today. I finally finished a big milestone today, and tomorrow I am starting at a different perspective in the book. (It all makes sense I swear!)
I saw one of my good friends at work the other day, and she wondered if I was going to post anything I had written so far, so here goes!
This is the Prolouge and was the first thing I wrote this month. Yes, this is part of what I wrote at 3:30 AM November 1st. And, No, I have not edited it...that comes later!
Enjoy!

             *   Pain. Searing pain ran its way through his body. He couldn’t find the origins of that pain, but it had become a regular part of his life he no longer knew what it was like to not feel it. At times it was a dull ache, and at others it would come as licks of flame up and down his body. He was never granted time without it for very long, his captor made sure of that.

                He tried to move his hands, but the shackles around his wrists with metal spikes digging into his flesh restricted his movements. His once well fitting clothes now hung on him in tatters. His once vibrant brown hair streaked with red was now streaked with iron at the temples. The beard that he had kept trimmed and neat since his thirtieth year was now a long tangled mess that reached all the way down to his chest.

                The door to the room he was in opened, he kept his eyes closed and his head down, but by the light steps he knew that it was his captors favorite pet walking in.

                “Ahh, are we awake yet this morning?” Her voice was soft and smooth, like oil running over his skin. He tried his hardest not to shiver, which would cause the spikes to rub against his skin, and without being linked to Dhaval he couldn’t heal his wounds closed. At least not yet. But he was getting closer to being linked with Dhaval despite his captor’s best tries. His neck twinged as he brought his head up to the vague direction the voice was coming from.

                “My lord wishes to speak with you again today.” He could feel the sardonic twist of her lip as she looked down at him. “That is, if you’re up to it.”

                He finally snapped his eyes open and turned them to the woman, and he felt her unconsciously move backwards a step.

                While the rest of him may have been rotting here in the cell, his skin sallow, his hair unkempt and his clothes shredded, his eyes had remained the same. He could tell that by their reactions. He could see it reflected in their expressions. He could see the white hot lightning that coursed through him, the light blue color ringed with black that he now pierced the woman standing in front of him with.

                His eyes were that of a Ryder.

                “Tell your lord,” he let the words drip from his mouth as he would a sour taste, “that I am always at my leisure and that he may visit me anytime he is available.”  His chin rose in defiance as the lanky woman in front of him watched. She was tall, broad shouldered. By typical standards she would not have been called beautiful. Her deep brown hair was plaited away from her sharp features, and her eyes of deep green were almost muddy in the dim lighting that was allotted to him.

                Her lips curled back from her teeth like a feral dog, “You should learn your place.” She didn’t dare touch him, he knew that they all were on orders. His only physical tormentor was the man he hated most.

                “That’s enough, Tauria.” The tall woman bowed her head and turned to leave, but not before locking gazes with the man who had entered. The door slammed shut behind her, and the man, walking on quiet steps brought a chair. He seated himself in front of the man in rags, his long black hair neatly pulled back from his face, throwing his features into sharp relief.

                “Now, where were we?” his long fingers tapped his thigh for a moment, then snapped through the air. “Ah, yes. You were just about to agree to join me.” His black eyes sought out the man on the floor.

                “You are mistaken, Moriel.” The man felt his chest swell with not only pride, but a weariness that he had felt every single day of the twenty years he had spent in this prison.

                “Oh, come now.” Moriel clapped his hands and rose quickly to pace just out of reach of the man on the floor. He turned back to the man, his hands outstretched. “You must see that I am the way of the future of this land.” The man on the floor only looked past him, as if he was only looking at the wall in response. Moriel came back to sit lightly on the chair, his long-limbed frame looking gaunt in the black armor he wore.

                “You must know that if you don’t join me, I will kill those that you would protect.” The man on the floor simply turned his stare straight into Moriels.

                “You will not touch them.” He felt his voice grow stronger, and somewhere far out of his reach he felt Dhaval snap to attention and rumble out a roar.

                Moriel snapped his attention to the man on the floor. “You would do better to heed me.” Three of his long fingers pointed together at the man on the floor, and he knew what was coming.

                Instead of crying out in pain, the man on the floor simply laughed as the pain once again came in hot flashes. His thoughts hardened around keeping his daughter safe, and he felt Dhaval roar before the blackness took him once again.

Why would someone want to attempt NaNoWriMo?

I have been asked this question a lot in the past few weeks. People want to know why anyone would try to attempt to write a novel in a month, most people can't even fathom writing a novel in their life.

For me, since 2005, November has not been a good month.

When I was fifteen my first horse, Sierra died in a tragic accident. We found out that she was allergic to penicillin the hard way, and I watched my baby seize and die right in front of me as a young girl. It was in that moment, and I did realize it at the time, that my "innocence" about the world and life was lost.
Most people do not have a definitive moment where they can look back and say: "Yes, that was it. That was when the reality of life and harshness of the world was introduced to me."
I had experienced death before, but nothing like this.

She died November 6, 2005 at around 4 pm. She was only two and half years old.

Today has never been a good day for the past eight years.
But I want this November to be different, I want to write a novel and be able to use my feelings and experiences in life to move people, to have them sympathize, cringe, cry, leap for joy and laugh with my characters.

I think that the best writers all have something happen in their life that changes them. Some form of hardship or obstacle to overcome. 

C.S. Lewis said it best:
"When we lose one blessing, another is often unexpectedly given in it's place."
"Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny..."  

Break Time

I love to write, hence why I studied creative writing in college. But one thing I do know about writing is that you have to know when to back off and give your mind a break.

So I went to see my Electra this morning for a break between writing sessions. I swear there is something about that horse that settles me down to my soul.

So if you are like me and participating in NANOWRIMO this month, remember to get away from the keyboard or notebook and recharge your batteries!

First Week Done! Go NaNoWriMo!!

Just finished my first week of NaNo, and I have to say that it's not going too bad.
I might still be in the "honeymoon" phase of this journey, but so far so good! My goal of 2500 words a day seems to be holding up, though my goal to write 5000 words on the days when I don't work isn't quite there, but hey that's okay, because I am making progress, and THAT is what NaNo is all about.

I have now attended a write-in hosted by one of my college friends, and the official kick off party. The write in was awesome, and I had a blast at both. But I felt that I didn't get as much writing done at the kick off party. It was to run from 130 to 4 and we ended up having only an hour for writing...I get that we should all identify ourselves because otherwise no one else would have a clue who we are on the forums...BUUTTT it should not take over an hour.

But now I know. I did get writing done while there, though I have found that I write better when I don't do word sprints or word wars, go figure. I did have a lot of fun writing and being social with several of my fellow writing friends. I am looking forward to attending a write in held at a public library one town north of where I am in a few weeks. But until then, it will just be me and my computer :)

Good Luck and Happy Writing fellow WriMo's!

Oh and my word count at the end of today is: 11,178

NaNoWriMo Day 1

I just got back from my first write in and boy was it fun!
I liked getting together with other writers and going around and introducing a little bit about what we are writing. I had never done a word sprint or word war, and was kind of surprised at how much I could actually write in 10 or 15 min. I'm definitely not as fast as the other people I was with, but I was consistently hitting 600/700 and 900 words. Which impressed me.

I did wake up this morning at 330 and wrote for a good two hours. My total so far today is 4,234 words. I plan on writing until I hit 5,000 tonight, then go to bed and hopefully I will hit my word count before work tomorrow!

Happy Writing!