June already!

Wednesday. It almost got away from me there!

So, we're into June and coming perilously close to half a year gone already. It's gone far too quickly. But I have done better than I expected. I am already a bit over 500k in word count, and I have managed to send something out almost every month. I've written about nine short stories, and I have several rewritten novels. Draw the Line is almost up to 80k, too. It's still not going quite right, but I at least have something to work with.

So, in many ways, the year is going well for writing. Better than last year, and likely better than the year before. But I am trying to focus a bit better this year. I think it is helping in some ways and not in others. Part of me wouldn't mind just floating along and not worrying over anything at all, but that's probably not wise.

All in all, not too bad for the first few months. Better than I hoped. We'll see how the rest of the year goes.

So here is the opening to one of the short stories I did:



It's never good to find the fae at the gate first thing in the morning. When Captain Kirlin arrived and looked down, he shook his head in worry. It could have been worse, though. They could have just blown the gate down and come into town. That hadn't happened for at least a decade, though.

So maybe this wasn't so bad.

Living on the edge of Fae Lands was always a challenge. He liked it here. He even liked the fae... but it was never good when there was trouble between the two groups.

And this looked like trouble.

"I'll go down," he said. He tried not to sound worried. "Carla, you go up to the keep and tell Lord Martin that we may have trouble. I'll send word when I find out what it is."

Carla gave several quick nods and hurried away, plainly relieved not to have to deal with whatever trouble stood at the gates. He almost smiled at the haste with which she carried out the order. She hadn't moved that quickly in days.

But he looked back down and saw, unexpectedly, someone he had not expected. Ashilina looked up at him. She gave a quick wave of her hand -- magic sparkled through the air in a sign they had made between them, and meant this was serious trouble.

He hurried down the old wood stairs -- time to replace them. They'd grown slick from use and he nearly fell. He cursed softly, but reached the bottom in good time and without any broken bones. He brushed down his tunic, wishing he'd known about the guests and had worn his dress uniform. He unbuckled his sword and handed it to the guard who opened the portal door. In a moment, he slipped out into the clear morning light. Dew clung to the grass and the wood of the gate door. The fae stood a few steps away, quiet and calm, but he could almost feel the worry in the air. This was not going to be good.

"We have a missing child," Ashilina said. She lifted her pale, thin hand and laid fingers on Kirlin's arm. He could feel the chill of her touch, which was normally so warm and comforting. "It is Halley."

Kirlin felt his heart start beating far too quickly. Lord Martin's son, child of a lovely fae woman named Sisa. She had disappeared when the child was barely two, and the boy had come to live with his father for a while. He'd been a frail, quiet boy who had never seemed quite connected with the world around him, and who walked with a slight limp.

Life with his father hadn't worked out -- the Lord's wife was not real happy to have a half-breed bastard son in the house, especially since she had no children at all.

Lady Bell had been vocal and cruel, and the child had gone back to live with the fae at the age of ten. They hadn't seen anything of him in the last four years. He hadn't even thought about Halley for quite a while.