Writing retreat!

On 14/04/2014 By MikaelaIn Writing

Tomorrow I’m off for a weeklong writing retreat without no internet ( Ok, I’m off to our summer cottage w crappy reception, so I left my internet hotspot at home). I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve wanted to solely focus on the writing ever since I began working. I’m having realistic goals,though. So my goal is to revise at least 1500 words per day, which should mean that I on Monday has revised at least 2 chapters ( I would prefer 3 chapters but sincee said chapters are long, that is unlikely.) It should mean, though, that I’ll be halfway through the draft. Which would be really nice. 🙂 Then I can go back to my plodding through the draft. Until April 30th, when I’m doing another brief writing retreat.

Anyway, I hope you have a nice easter, with a lot of chocolate, books and writing :).

Writing update

On 13/04/2014 By MikaelaIn Writing

This week… has been bad healthwise. Here’s hoping that the next week is better. Actually, it should be since I have the whole week off. Aah. The plan is to spend the whole week revising The Wild Hunt. The revisions is going fine, just very slow. One reason they are going slow, is the fact that I wrote a whole new first chapter. Mostly, though, it is because I’m doing it in Scrivener, and I’m revising it scene per scene. I’m a bit surprised at how much I like it, since it means I’m taking my time with each scene.
I’m at Chapter 3 today, and I should finish it too. Which means I’m on track for the goal for last weekend. Oops.Between work and freaking out about the health issues, I’ve been too busy to get any writing done.Anyway, the goal for the next week is to revise 3 chapters, read books and eat a lot of candy.

Oh. I hired an editor for Daughter of the Dark too. Second time is the charm, right? 🙂

Here is a snippet from when Brid returns to her childhood home:

Her mother was dressed in a deep red woolen tunic trimmed with black embroideries, the traditional colors when in mourning. Her brown hair was streaked with grey hairs, and she had new wrinkles in her face. She looks old, Brid realised. Mother smiled at her.

“ Hello Brighid.”

Brid flinched when her mother used her full name. No one had called her that since Brid had been old enough to understand the dangers with calling the name of a goddess. She must have forgotten, that I’m called Brid.

“ Hello, Mother.”

“ I will show you to your room.”

Brid almost told her mother that it wasn’t necessary. She swallowed the words when she saw the fragile look in her mother‘s eyes. Brid nodded meekly and followed her inside.

Schedules and stuff

On 05/04/2014 By MikaelaIn Life, Writing

Ever since I got a call from Dad, asking if I was interested in a job, my life has been in a slight chaos. To be fair, it isn’t the day job. It is just that the rest of my family don’t seem to realise that I’m working part time and in my spare time, I’m taking the first steps on a career that will be more hectic than the day job. The last two weeks? I’ve been home 4 nights ( or was it 5?). The main reason is that I’m too nice to say no. Yeah. Need to get better at that.

The result is that while I have made some progress, I’m not making much progress on the revision, and the B4YHS assignments I tend to catch up with during the weekends.

I have made some decisions though.

I wrote a prequel short story to Daughter of the Dark in January, Exile. Originally, it was planned to be a freebie but I’ve decided that I need a test run since I’m uncertain if Publit/Overdrive distributes to Amazon ( I don’t think they do, but it would be so much easier if they did), so it will be able for sale sometime this summer.

This means, Daughter of the Dark will be out after Exile. Not the way I had originally planned it, but things like that happens sometime. Doing it this way means that I’ll be able to release both books in the duology close together.

Meanwhile, I’m busy revising The Wild Hunt so that you will have more to read later. I have so many plans! One of the plans is to start posting snippets regularly. These snippets would either be from whatever I’m working on. Yes, this means I’ll be posting snippets from things that might be years away from being published.

So here is a snippet from the Wild Hunt ( This scene was rewritten from scratch so it is a bit rough):

Brid stepped out from the forest, grateful for the fact that the paths hadn’t made her utterly lost. All thoughts of the enchanted paths of the forest vanished when she saw the gleaming carriage in the middle of her grassy yard. It was sleek, with large wheels better suited to the paved streets of Myrddin than the rutted dirt road leading to her small hut on the outskirts of Tanglewood. Hide, her subconsious whispered. Brid took shaky breath. It was tempting, but she was the drysa of Tanglewood. She couldn’t hide every time a patient showed up.