Hey y'all! How's that for a Southern greeting? So I'm still around. I've just been uber busy with work, and life in general. The internet was down at work, and I screwed myself by streaming too much video on my own internet stick (anime, Claymore and Last Exile) and so now I'm almost over my internet stick limit, and because I'm not rich, getting charged a bunch of overage charges would pretty much destroy my world. So my internet has been spotty to say the least.
A few things that have gone on:
My little cousin graduated! Ugh, he's the 'last' cousin... the baby... *rends hair and cackles like the Crypt Keeper*
I've written a few more short stories. I CAN NOT tell you how awesome Underneath The Juniper Tree is. I implore you, go check them out. Participate in the weekly challenges. Download their first issue and sit up under the covers with a flashlight (or in this day and age, a flashlight app) and read into the small hours. Then scare yourself silly running to the bathroom before bed.
I sent out one query... I KNOW... probably early... but I've gone over Thornbriar three times now, and that's on top of the initial transcribing edit... so we'll see...
I've worked on The Bonds of Aether, my steampunk-monk-in-an-arranged-marriage-zombie-armies WIP...
I'm frighteningly close to finishing Red Chief... but I'm wondering if it's going to be 'different' enough to stand against the other Faery UF out there... time will tell I guess...
I scuba dived in a flooded horse stall....
Gotcha on that last one didn't I? Well, it's a sort of true story. But that's for another time. For now, I'm off to muck unflooded stalls...
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Made of Awesome Blogfest Contest!
Okay, so I'm participating in the Made of Awesome Blogfest Contest which is being put on by Shelley Watters.
Here's my entry:
Title: Thornbriar
Genre: YA Fantasy Retelling
Word Count: 71,500
The first arrow nearly killed Beauty. If she had not had the good luck to trip over her injured coachman at just that moment, it would have pierced her breast. As it was, the black shaft of the arrow passed through her ruby curls while she was staggering sideways. The coachman cried out when she trampled his broken leg in an attempt to regain her balance, but Beauty ignored him, turning to look in the direction from whence the black arrow had come.
She could see the archer then, facing her directly, a second arrow aimed at her heart. Although he stood in the underbrush a great distance away, he seemed much closer, his features clear and strange. His long hair danced in a breeze that touched nothing else, it’s pale silver blond strands sparkling in a stray beam of sunlight. His ivory skin glowed luminously, eyes solid black. He seemed a spirit, rather than a mortal man.
“Lady Beauty!” The injured coachman pulled on the skirts of her gown, breaking her trance.
Beauty heard the hiss of air and swirled, throwing herself to the ground behind her coachman. Three arrows whistled, following her motion with astonishing speed. All missed their mark by only fractions.
When her coachman pushed himself onto one elbow to shield her, she caught sight of the archer, again with an arrow directed her way. He held this one though, his unearthly face contorted in rage.
Can't wait to read the other entries!
Here's my entry:
Title: Thornbriar
Genre: YA Fantasy Retelling
Word Count: 71,500
The first arrow nearly killed Beauty. If she had not had the good luck to trip over her injured coachman at just that moment, it would have pierced her breast. As it was, the black shaft of the arrow passed through her ruby curls while she was staggering sideways. The coachman cried out when she trampled his broken leg in an attempt to regain her balance, but Beauty ignored him, turning to look in the direction from whence the black arrow had come.
She could see the archer then, facing her directly, a second arrow aimed at her heart. Although he stood in the underbrush a great distance away, he seemed much closer, his features clear and strange. His long hair danced in a breeze that touched nothing else, it’s pale silver blond strands sparkling in a stray beam of sunlight. His ivory skin glowed luminously, eyes solid black. He seemed a spirit, rather than a mortal man.
“Lady Beauty!” The injured coachman pulled on the skirts of her gown, breaking her trance.
Beauty heard the hiss of air and swirled, throwing herself to the ground behind her coachman. Three arrows whistled, following her motion with astonishing speed. All missed their mark by only fractions.
When her coachman pushed himself onto one elbow to shield her, she caught sight of the archer, again with an arrow directed her way. He held this one though, his unearthly face contorted in rage.
Can't wait to read the other entries!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Never Growing Up...
So I'm a very laid back person in many ways. I'm very slow to get angry (beyond seeing violence committed against others, or animals, then watch out) and I'm fine with sudden changes in plan. I'm too lazy to panic over much (besides fire...) even when things look bad. I obsessively love my writing, but I'm pretty flexible about it and I have hobbies I love, but I can drop them to meet with friends or family if need be.
About the only thing I will REALLY lock down on and freeze up over is a great book... or... a great anime series... It's like I'm possessed and cannot function until I've turned the last page/seen the last episode. With a great book, I'll even carry it on the tractor at the farm. And with anime, I'll leave my computer out and if we go in for a water break, I'll hit play, even if I only get a few minutes of watching. Why do I get so obsessed? What is it that locks me in? When I say 'great anime' I don't mean that I'm a connoisseur. I know many folks love Akira, and I hated it. I can't tell you all that much about the history of anime or anything. My cousin, code name Bike Warrior, could tell you more in his sleep than I can. What really nabs me when I flip a new anime on is the characters. Within a few minutes of the first episode, I'll know if I'm going to switch it off, or obsessively watch every single one. I just finished GunxSword. It's one of the only animes I've found where I loved all the main characters, as well as all of the bad guys. Van is SO the sort of guy I adore, and strive to create in my writing. The genuinely-not-perfect-sometimes-down-right-asshole-but-you-love-him-for-himself guy. It's such a hard thing to capture in someone. And Van isn't the only character with flaws. Everyone has a great depth, and I found myself loving and hating them in turn.
Which is also what's so vital in books. And maybe that's why I just can't put a great book down or turn a great anime off. Because they take me somewhere, let me reconnect with that part of myself which think of the characters as real, in their own way. That kid part of me that still takes the escapist routes, if even just once in a while. That part of me that will never grow up, never give in, never abandon those larger than life ideals of honor and bravery and the good guy doing the right thing. When we're a kid it's okay to believe in these things, to read books and watch cartoons that exemplify them in all their melodrama. But when we get older, they're put on the 'how cheesy is that' rack and viewed as a silly, guilty pleasure. Somehow, we're expected to look back and see that the 'real world' doesn't work that way. Which is why I will never grow up.
What about you? Do you have any 'guilty' pleasures? Do you still watch cartoons/read books and find yourself thinking of the characters as people you just met?
About the only thing I will REALLY lock down on and freeze up over is a great book... or... a great anime series... It's like I'm possessed and cannot function until I've turned the last page/seen the last episode. With a great book, I'll even carry it on the tractor at the farm. And with anime, I'll leave my computer out and if we go in for a water break, I'll hit play, even if I only get a few minutes of watching. Why do I get so obsessed? What is it that locks me in? When I say 'great anime' I don't mean that I'm a connoisseur. I know many folks love Akira, and I hated it. I can't tell you all that much about the history of anime or anything. My cousin, code name Bike Warrior, could tell you more in his sleep than I can. What really nabs me when I flip a new anime on is the characters. Within a few minutes of the first episode, I'll know if I'm going to switch it off, or obsessively watch every single one. I just finished GunxSword. It's one of the only animes I've found where I loved all the main characters, as well as all of the bad guys. Van is SO the sort of guy I adore, and strive to create in my writing. The genuinely-not-perfect-sometimes-down-right-asshole-but-you-love-him-for-himself guy. It's such a hard thing to capture in someone. And Van isn't the only character with flaws. Everyone has a great depth, and I found myself loving and hating them in turn.
Which is also what's so vital in books. And maybe that's why I just can't put a great book down or turn a great anime off. Because they take me somewhere, let me reconnect with that part of myself which think of the characters as real, in their own way. That kid part of me that still takes the escapist routes, if even just once in a while. That part of me that will never grow up, never give in, never abandon those larger than life ideals of honor and bravery and the good guy doing the right thing. When we're a kid it's okay to believe in these things, to read books and watch cartoons that exemplify them in all their melodrama. But when we get older, they're put on the 'how cheesy is that' rack and viewed as a silly, guilty pleasure. Somehow, we're expected to look back and see that the 'real world' doesn't work that way. Which is why I will never grow up.
What about you? Do you have any 'guilty' pleasures? Do you still watch cartoons/read books and find yourself thinking of the characters as people you just met?
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