Wednesday Words - A Cloudy Snippet

 My friend, Silver, does this thing called Wednesday Words - wherein she takes a prompt and posts a snippet related to the prompt.  Today's prompt was CLOUDS.  Since I'm at a loss for blog material this morning, I thought I'd just share the words I left in her comments.  

To set it up, this is the bad guy... a dark elf intent on destruction... using his magic to control the dragon.

The sun had set by the time Uliph returned to Kingshead.  The snow was lightly falling, covering roads whose earlier layers were decorated sooty-black.  Uliph preferred the black.  It reminded him of the towns after his dragon had done her worst.  Soon, the soot here wouldn’t be from the scores of hearth fires belching their leavings from chimneys, but from fires on the roofs and the walls and the doors.  And the bodies.  Oh, how they burned brightly from the dragonfire.

Licking his lips, he reached out to the beast.  She was already circling over the city, far above the snow and clouds, waiting for his bidding.  At the touch of his mind, a flame jetted through the night.  Not as far above the clouds as I would like. The people might still see her and attempt to flee.  He sent his thoughts up to her.  Rise and hide.  

His mind encountered resistance.  The dragon was hungry and when she was hungry, she became unruly.  Uliph loosed magic in her direction and felt her cringe.  But she did as she had been told and rose above the clouds.  

The attack would come while these favorites of the Lady slept and not a second sooner.  If they saw the dragon now, they would flee.  Or they would try to fight.  The High Lord wanted his victims unsuspecting this night.  Time enough later to taste their fear.  After the shrouds were either destroyed entirely or had been pushed across this land that had once been theirs.  

It's totally first drafty, so be kind.  I'm working on it.  Really, I am.  I started making edits notes, which I will input later.  And I definitely haven't gotten to this point in the story.  

Another First Draft

Last night, I finished the first draft of Duke Noble: Consequences...  I'm still not sure about that title... I like the end.  I like the book overall.  I know it's any unholy mess and will need a lot of editing, but I'm okay with that.  The point is it's done.  The first draft word count is 51280.

Tomorrow, I'll email it to my Kindle and drag out the notebook and the red pen to start the editing process.  We'll see how that goes.  I'm not promising anything.  Frankly, with the way the world is, I can't promise anything.  But I would like to have this out to people mid-February and published by the end of March.  :fingers crossed:

I've written all but 7 days since 12/8/20, so I'm taking today off.  From writerly pursuits at least.  I'll be around here somewhere doing something.

Unequal Blurb Draft

It's Monday.  And my brain is wrapped up with getting Unequal ready for you all to read it.  On that note, here's a rough blurb I came up with over the weekend.  Not sure if this is the one I'll use, but it should give you an idea of what the book is about.

In a world where any little difference makes you a target, Rue Logan lives in fear of getting branded Unequal and disappeared like so many others.  But it doesn’t stop her from fulfilling her life’s mission.  She always dreamed of being a doctor, but the Department of Equalization had other plans.  Now, she works her assigned job as a janitor by day and skulks the hospital corridors at night, saving lives.  

Until the DOE catches her.

On the run, Rue finds others like her, working in secret to achieve their goals and live their lives.  But their leader has a mission of his own.  War may be brewing.  And even though Rue’s taken an oath to do no harm, she may end up in the middle of the battle.

Meh.  It works, but it's not good.  Meanwhile, let's look at the pretty cover again:

Back to Work

Yeah, I know the 'holiday' weekend isn't over yet.  I've always been a bit confused about taking a day off to celebrate working, but that's a post for an alternate universe.  Anyway, writers don't work like other people, so weekends and holidays are often still work days.

So, of course, I'm working.  Not as hard as I have at other times this year, and not as diligently as I should be working, but I am working.  Right now, I'm reading through the beginning I already wrote for the next book in the SCIU series - a sort of unattached sequel to Dying Embers.  It's called Fertile Ground.  And it stars Agent Teri Buchanan - a rape victim assigned to catch a serial rapist.  (See a pattern?  Pyrophobic agent goes after serial arsonist/murder.)  It's a hard book to write and it's one the mainstream would probably toss me out on my ass for, but I think it's one that needs to be written, so I'm writing it.  Look for this one to release in maybe May 2016.

To the end of getting this book right, I watched an interesting show about serial rapist/murderer Dusty Rhodes last night.  A forensic psychologist interviewed him.  It was gratifying to know I'm already on the right track with my own villain. 

Also, I sent Bloodflow off to the editor this past week.  She already sent me a note saying she dove right in when she was supposed to be doing something else and loves it so far, which is always good.  I've been working on the cover copy for that, too.  Busy busy.  This book will release in November - good lord willin' and the creek don't rise.  I'll share the copy later.  I read it to Hubs, and he said 'Ooo, good one!', so I got that going for me.

What were you up to over the weekend?  What's on the schedule for this week?

Cover Concept Reveal

I have the cover for Wish in One Hand.  Since the launch for that book is still at least 6 weeks off, I'm going to make myself hold off showing the actual cover for a little while yet.  But rather than make you all stew, here's the concept I sent to the artist when I first hired him:

And now you know for certain why I pay someone else to do my cover art. 

The cover art itself will be along once I get closer to having something y'all can buy. He did a good job keeping to my overall concept and making it not look like shit.

FYI, not all my drawings are this bad. 

Do you draw?

NaNoWriMo 2013 WIP

Okay, I never never never do this, but here's the beginning of this year's NaNoWriMo WIP:

Aryl looked into his sister’s green eyes through the iron bars separating them.  Her hair floated on the wind, dragging soft violet lines across her face.  He touched his own locks and knew without a reflection that they mirrored the color of her eyes, just as his eyes matched the dusky purple of her hair.  Twins.  But not.  Strangely mirrored—if said mirror had been stolen from the King’s funhouse. 

A whistle blew behind her off in the distance.  The wagons would be headed back to their village soon and if she waited much longer, she’d be left standing outside the gate while he was forced into the building he never asked to enter.

She should’ve been the one chosen.  Her heart belonged inside those stone walls.  His would rather be back home, tilling behind their sturdy oxen or chasing hares in the field.  She would’ve given her right hand to take his place, just as he would’ve given his left.  But she would never say so.  He said as much every time their parents would listen. 

If wouldn’t have mattered if they both put their hearts into the argument.  Aryl possessed the magic from their twinning, not Lyra. 

The whistle blew again.  Their parents had already begun the trudge back across the cobblestone streets.  Their mother gave him a kiss in front of the other boys while Da ruffled his hair and slapped him hard on the back.  The pride in their eyes made him feel like a fake as he closed the metal gate and separated them from his new life.  Only Lyra remained, clasping his fingertips while the rough flakes of rust chafed her arm.

“You have to go,” she said while she clutched at him tighter.

“As do you,” he replied, knowing he should pull away but unable to stop this last contact.  After today, he may never see her again.  After today, he would be in training and she would be in the outlying districts where any manner of things could happen.  Especially with the beasts growing bolder by the day.

If he could complete the training, he would have a chance to push the things back into the mist where they belonged.  That was the hope.  That was the stated purpose of the Academy.  At least that’s what the crier said when he stopped in front of their barn for a sip from the well.

“There’s troubling times ahead,” the old fop muttered while he quenched his thirst.  Da only nodded.  Already they’d lost a half-dozen wooly sheep to a flight of wyverns.  Before long larger things would come drifting out of the mist and the next thing ripped apart could be their oxen or their plow or gods forbid themselves.

“The King’s own wizard,” the man said when he’d drank his fill, “ordered men like me out into this dark land to seek those who could form an army.  Young, strong ones who possess the spark.”

Aryl had seen the look on his Ma’s face.  She didn’t want either of her children to be conscripted  into this deadly service.  She opened her mouth to tell the crier to leave, but Da shook his head.

“We all have to do what we must,” he said.  Then turning to the crier, he offered Aryl into service.  Aryl didn’t get a chance to object.  Not that he would’ve.  He knew what horrors could come.  He’d seen the scars on the trees from where the trolls sharpened their horns like two-legged stag approaching the rut.

“He looks puny.  You sure he’s of age?  The King will have no babies who will cry for their mothers at the first sign of battle.”

Aryl stepped forward, shocked by the implication enough to forget that he didn’t want to go.  “I killed my first boar two years ago.  If I can do that, I can do this.”

Yes, it has mistakes.  Yes, it needs work.  It's a first draft of a book in a genre I've never written before, so don't expect great things yet.  Having said that, though, I'm enjoying writing it.  And that's the important part, right?