I don’t watch much TV. I intend to, but well, I haven’t gotten around to getting Cable TV yet.  This weekend I was at mum’s and I happened to turn on Viasat History. And there was a fascinating Documentary called Your Inner Fish. It is about how Mammals and Humans have evolved during the millennias, and how the traces are still visible in our bodies.

I knew part of the information, since I have taken a course in Evoluntion Biology, but it was still fascinating.

So if you are an author and interested in developing your own species ( or tweaking an existing one), I recommend that you check out this series. It is bound to make your brain buzz with ideas. Or at least I got ideas!

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 :).

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.

 

 

 

I’m working on setting up  The Wild Hunt in Scrivener to begin revising it . Sadly, the opening scene will need to be extensively rewritten, since it isn’t the opening scene anymore.  Anyway, here is a snippet that I like.

 

The wooden floor was cold and hard against her back. Pain and sorrow whirled inside her, there were moments when she could swear that the walls themselves fed her pain. The sound of footsteps penetrated through the fog in her mind, and Brid whimpered softly. Brid curled up in a ball, in an attempt to avoid the pain her father’s sorrow caused her.

“ I’ll let you go.”

The words penetrated the fog surrounding her brain. Slowly, Brid lifted her head, and looked at her father. Did he say what I thought he said? Brid looked up into his eyes,the pain in his eyes cut through the rest of the fog. Brid swallowed a whimper.

“It pains me to see you like this. I’ll have someone escort you to Tanglewood, and help you construct the buildings you need to survive.”

I began a new job three weeks ago, and I’m struggling to find a balance. Before I begun this job, I had been unemployed for a long time. And while it was hard on the economy, it was glorious from a writing perspective. I could spend my days writing.

Except now I suddenly can’t.  On the other hand, I set my own schedule. Which I really appreciate. The downside is that I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to work 4-5 days. I know that once the backlog is finished, I’ll be down to 2-3 days/ week. Maybe I should go down to 3 days to make it last longer? On the other hand, I suspect there is more backlog that they are planning on handing over to me. We will see. But I should be working 30 hours per week in April too. I could work more, but it is a balance between money and mental health. More than 30 hours, and the work starts to make me gloomy.  And it isn’t worth that.

But I’ll adjust to it, since I’ll do this for at least one year.  Meanwhile, I’ll just keep on inching forward on the writing, until I had found a balance.

 

 

 

 

 

I  love all my stories, but there are some I’m especially fond of.  The Demonlord’s Escape, the first book in the Heaven and Hell duology, is one of them. Maybe it is because the plot was slippery, and that I had to make two tries before getting it right.  Maybe it is because of all themes I have in the first book. Maybe it is the fact that I love my version of Hell.  The draft is good, but needs another round of revisions, at least.

But the sequel,  tentiatively titled The Archangel’s Hunt,  have scared me for years. Why?  Because it begins in Heaven and I had no clue of what it was about. Or that is not entirely correct. I knew it featured Cat, Kate’s cousin. ( Yes, their names are similar. And no, I’m not changing them.).   The rest of the story slowly, very slowly matured in my head.

A couple of times I took a look at it, but it felt too unclear, too many pieces missing.   When I poked at it last year, I even began writing an outline.  But I  left it unfinished.

So now I’m  starting the synopsis from scratch. And I’m in love with the things that I get. Seriously.  I’m dropping in things that I *know* will be clues to the end. More, I know exactly what the villain wants. Which to be fair, I’ve known ever since I wrote book one, but I know other things too. Things that sets up book 3.  Hopefully book 3 will be written sooner than this book. This book is what I need after all the revising and editing.  But don’t worry, I’ll  get back to revising once I’m finished w the first draft. Which should be in early May or late April. ( Yes, roughly two months from now. A) I currently work 4 days a week, which might change in April.  B) This is longer than the Portal Universe novellas.)

Oh, and I’m also much better at writing synopsis now. Seriously. 🙂

On a whim I decided to list the things I’ve done so far this year:

Revised A Shadow of Love

Edited Daughter of the Dark ( twice)

Written Cauldron Bound

Written Exile

Begun writing The Alchemist’s Apprentice.

Outlined Warder

Outlined Cauldron Bound

Outlined Exile

Normally, this is what I get done in a year, maybe nine months. The decision to self publish ( or at least do *something* with my drafts) have definitely made me write faster. I also think the fact I’m bringing my tablet when I go to Dad’s and Mum’s help. Sure, I don’t write or revise as many pages with the laptop, but I’m still making progress.

I’m not complaining. It does  explain why I feel a bit tired…