Distractions

Last week I injured my left wrist.  I have no idea what I did, but it suddenly began to hurt enough to keep me awake at night.  After a couple days it cleared up, but those were difficult days for writing.  I managed to get a little over 1k a day done each day, though.  That's my minimum writing count.

The wrist mostly cleared up by the third day and things began to look better.

Then Russ took me to a wildlife refuge which knocked that day's word count back down -- oh, but it was a lovely distraction.  Eagles, geese, owl!  I have been trying to get a picture of an owl for YEARS.  You cannot imagine how much fun that was, to spot him just as we were leaving!

And then the ice storm....

Actually, we got off easy on the storm.  Just a light bit of ice and rain most of today (Monday), but it is cooling off and turning icy out there now.  I was enthralled, though, watching the storm progress up towards us and seeing the videos of various places as it hit.  I find storms and storm news fascinating. 

So all of that cut into my writing time or just drew my full attention.  From last Monday through Sunday, I wrote 10,808 words.  Not a bad total, but not even half of what I would normally get.

And you know what?  It doesn't matter.  If you start making word count numbers more important than things like storms and wildlife refuges, you are going to have very dull writing.  Seeing the wild world helps reconnect with times and places where civilization doesn't always hold sway.  Weather brings you closer to the unpredictable nature of the world.  Even inexplicable pains can bring you closer to your suffering characters.

You have to learn and experience things.  I've pursued life-long learning long before that term came into general use.  Too many see it as a pastime for retired people with nothing to do with their time.  Get over that concept, especially if you are a writer.  Learn things.  Read nonfiction books.  Take courses.  If you can spare the $20 a month, I suggest you sign up for this:

https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/home

I love these courses.  So far I've taken four history courses, four science courses (and found I have a true love for geology), one art appreciation class, and right now I'm learning about the Analects of Confucius, which is a far more fascinating book than I ever realized back when I read it years and years and years ago.

For people who don't like to read nonfiction, these are a fantastic second choice.  The classes are generally right around 30 minutes, and many of them are 24 or 32 total classes per course, so you can easily do one a night and have the entire course done in about one month.   Some of them are just as good as an audio class as a video one -- you can generally tell which ones after the first class, and you might choose just to listen to them while you do something else. There are courses in math, science, cooking, yoga, religion -- and more added so often that it is daunting to try and figure out how to watch all the ones you really want to see and still have time for things like writing.

Take time to learn something new.  Even take time away from your writing sometimes.  Embrace learning rather than thinking it's only suitable for school and retirees.  You deserve a better, richer life -- and this is an easy way to find one.

Flash Fiction # 233 -- Saving Everywhere. Part 17: Snow World

(Previous)

I grabbed a tight hold of Edmond, pulling him to my chest and caught hold of Lord Snow's fur by his neck.  A quick breath and then the snow was upon us.  Ice, rocks, and trees flashed past us in the wall of white, but I was determined to keep my two companions safe.  I pulled them closer and once again my magical power surged out around us. We were in a bubble, bouncing along the hillside.

It seemed like a long time before we finally came to rest.  Snow piled up on top of us, but we had a little magical light here.

The sudden silence was almost as startling as being still.  Edmond moved first.  He'd buried his head in my chest, and he looked up now with his ears back and his tail twitching.

"I do not like snow."

Lord Snow sat up and shook a bit of snow from his head.  He didn't look nearly as bothered as Edmond.

I was working very hard at not panicking, though.  All I could sense around us was snow -- very thick, very heavy snow.  The bubble of magic wouldn't last forever, nor would the light.  I didn't know what to do.

Lord Snow did, though.  He reached out and put a paw to the side of the bubble.  It slid a bit that way.

"Yes, this will work," the snow leopard said.  "We push like so, and simply keep moving until we are out of the snow bank.  It may be some distance, but we shouldn't have a real problem."

He sounded assured.  I reached over and gave the bubble a little push.  We moved some more.  There wasn't enough room for me to stand, so I just had to keep crawling forward.  I was getting tired of people trying so hard to kill me.

"Did you say something, Mark?" Lord Snow asked.

"Just mumbling to myself," I admitted.  "I am tired of --"

The bubble popped through the snow.  Unfortunately, we were on the side of a cliff, so the bubble began to roll downward, and we toppled over and around each other for about a hundred yards.  When we stopped I, of course, was on the bottom.

"Ugh."

 "My apologies," Lord Snow said and twisted a bit and got off of me.  Edmond had been on my legs.  He was standing already and looking about as annoyed as I felt.  "We must be careful, my friends.  She was close when she sent that snow down on us."

The light he'd brought to the bubble disappeared.  I blinked and sat up.  The night was filled with snow so that I couldn't see back up to where we had been.  So much for following the train tracks.  I snarled a little but said nothing.

"The snow will be soft," Lord Snow warned, "and we risk the possibility of falling back in."

"I'll go first," Edmond said.  "If it's too soft for me, it will be for you two."

"I'll only use magic if I need to," Lord Snow added.  "We don't know where she might be.    Slide along the snow, Mark.  If it starts to give way, I'll use magic and hope she does not notice us."

We started moving across the snow.  It was a cold, dangerous path, and I had to wonder what my friends thought.  They'd barely joined me, and we were in trouble again.  As happy as I was to see them, I realized how dangerous it was just to be traveling with me.

We snaked our way across the white blanket that looked so calm now.  Lord Snow had to rescue Edmond twice. The little guy did not take off flying, which would have been far safer for him.  He stayed with us and helped keep us safe.

We rescued a dozen birds -- hawks, owls, and smaller ones -- that had gotten caught in the snow.  We also pulled out a fox who started to shake the snow off but took one look at Lord Snow and froze in fear.

The big cat chuckled.  "Go your own way, little fox.  I am not looking for dinner right now."

The fox backed up, turned and ran lightly over the snow.  I hoped he reached safety.

After the longest night I ever remembered, we finally reached solid ground.  The rock here had been scoured clear of all snow and debris, except for a small corner that was out of the wind.  We cleaned that space and settled in.  I ached, and I was cold.  Edmond crawled up into my lap.

"I am going to go hunt the woman," Lord Snow said.  "We need to know if she is still out there.  Stay here.  Stay warm.  You are in a protected area -- a little magic will not likely be noticed.  There seems to be much of it in the air, probably from what she did."

"Be careful," I told him.

Lord Snow gave a quick nod and then ran off into the pre-dawn darkness.  Edmond and I sat in the hollow, a little magic making enough warmth to keep us both content.

"We'll catch up with the others eventually," I said softly.  "Maybe we'll get lucky, and the battle will be over by then. I want to save thing, but -- but the idea of battle just seems wrong."

"You are a protector," Edmond reminded him.  "Of course battles sound wrong. They're the opposite of everything you are.  Sometimes, though, they're the only way to make things right."

"I was never trained for magic, Edmond."

"Neither was I," he reminded me.  "We've managed so far."

"Thank you for coming to find me.  I found out I am not good at the alone stuff."

Edmond gave a little laugh and moved in closer.  This wasn't so bad.  I even bowed my head and slept --

Woke up to light and an awareness of other things nearby -- and they were not anything natural, either.



To Be Continued....



994 Words








 

Progress Report

My first new novel for 2017 is Journey of a Thousand Truths.  I am over 17k into the story, and I'm enjoying writing this one.  The alternating chapters of first person (Mai) and third person (Zaron) are working out very well, though I do sometimes get mixed up and have to go back and rewrite a section to get it in the right POV.

Experimenting with writing is fun, at least when it seems to be working well.  So far, this is moving along nicely, though there are days like today where I can't quite make the connections I want as quickly as I would like to.  Still, I'm up to 1k for the day.

I have been using Grammarly on most everything I write these days.  I swear I have a block in the brain when it comes to commas.  Grammarly is almost always telling me that I have one I don't need and don't have one that I do need.  It's kind of funny, but I am slowly learning the 'where and when' of putting them in.  I see fewer errors overall when I run something through the program. 

The cold winter days are good for writing.  I keep my office toasty warm. The cats and dog come in here with me, being creatures who love their comforts, too.  The room has one window, but it's behind me and mostly covered in stuffed animals at the moment, so I don't see much of the outside world.  That's bad for the photographer side of me but good for the writing side.  Staying off the Internet is difficult some days, but if I can fall into a nice pattern of writing, then I can get a lot done.  I love when the story flows.

Journey of a Thousand Truths is moving forward through the mists of possible paths.  I think I needed this kind of story for the first book of the year.  It's an exciting story with demons and mercenaries.  I think I'm about to take them out of the city and into the wider world.

I am looking forward to getting out there with them and seeing what we can find.

Flash Fiction # 232 -- Saving Everywhere. Part 16: Found

(Previous)

I walked on.  Just walked, trying to convince myself that I would catch up with the others and all would be well.

Another part of me told the real truth, though.  They didn't need me.  I had the least amount of magic -- at least trained magic -- of any of them.   There were many others who would help with the defeat of Darman and Portilia.  His work so far had been either tests or chance.

Lord Cayman's son.  He still didn't know what that meant, but it was probably something the others could use against his father.  He might be more a danger than a help when it came down to it.

Maybe he should sit down and think about it for a while.  Just sit down and rest.

I almost settled on a fallen limb, ready to give up. 

My friends would be upset.

I kept going.

A whisper of magic swept through me again, the warmth welcome. My own abilities must kick in when I thought positive about survival?  If that were true, could I wish myself dead as well?

I shivered at the thought.

And then I got angry.  I wasn't freezing since the magic had kicked in.  I was alone and in the woods, but I wasn't helpless.  I could follow the tracks and come out the other side.  As far as 'adventures' went lately, this one wasn't even too bad.  Maybe I was just learning that I didn't like my own company.  I found that amusing.

If I had stuck around, I would have graduated by now.  The idea that I'd dropped out of high school bothered me more than I expected.  Then I thought about why I had left.  Maybe killing Tommy Creston hadn't saved many people, but I had done the right thing.  I would keep doing the right thing and it wasn't just because I was a Sanctioned Protector.

Maybe I needed this time to find myself.  I had been too worried locked up in that cage that had taken me to the camp.  That time alone had been horrible as I worried about the others.  I knew they were safe, though.  Except for Alsia, but I had to hope that they wouldn't have any trouble. And as far as I knew, Alisa didn't like me because I was half human.

Maybe I should go back and pretend to be human again.  Go back to school.  Do better at math.  Graduate.

I could almost hear the kids at school calling to me.  I'd never had many friends.  I suppose it was one of those things where I always knew I didn't really belong, right?   I had always prided myself on not being into the angst of teen years, but I suspected I had only let it build up --

"Mark!"

I stopped and stared.  A moment later a small black shape came bounding out of the snow.

"Edmond!"  I blinked, thinking I might be crazy -- but no.  Lord Snow came right behind him.

Edmond threw himself at me and I tumbled into the snow.  I didn't care.  We both laughed.

"I knew we would find you along here somewhere!" the cat said as he got off me -- and then leapt to my shoulder as I started to stand.  "I HATE snow!

"I'm not fond of it either.  Did she throw you two off as well?  I feared --" But I stopped when I saw the look on their faces.  "You didn't know about Alsia?"

"I had my suspicions," Lord Snow admitted.  "The feel of her magic was wrong from the start, but that didn't mean she wasn't telling us the truth.  She pushed you off the train?"

"I think so.  I could be wrong."

Lord Snow gave a bow of his large furred head, but I could tell that he really didn't trust the woman.  "We need to get back to the others.  It's not going to be easy," I said.  "I thought following the train track would be the best way to get somewhere, though."

"Easier than trying to climb over the mountains," Lord Snow agreed.  We started walking.  It wasn't so bad now.

"I realized you were gone," Edmond said.  He had draped himself over my shoulders.  I didn't mind the warmth.  "Alsia was acting oddly, too.  She kept getting between me and the front of the train and I didn't trust what she would do if I tried to get past her. So I went and roused Lord Snow.  He agreed you were gone.  We couldn't reach the others -- far too much magic interfering -- so we decided to go look for you ourselves."

"You left the train?"

"Yes," Lord Snow answered.

"Thank you."

Edmond purred.

"The others will figure out all three of us are gone fairly soon," Lord Snow said.  "I don't know if you'll try to come back to look for us. This is tricky enough, getting the pretend train through here.  I think our best bet is to find a way to catch up with them on the other side."

"I agree," I said, though I wasn't very happy about the idea of walking all that way.

Not alone, though.

"Do you think she's working with Darman?" I asked.

"That would be my first guess," Lord Snow said.  "If he had any idea we were on our way, he could have sent her there.  We had no idea how long she'd been at the train yards.  But she might just be one of those rare fae who got lost here and went a bit crazy."

"Then why would she attack Mark?" Edmond asked.

"Because I'm half-human," I said.

"Exactly," Lord Snow replied.  "If that's true --"

He stopped suddenly and turned, looking up the side of the mountain.  I thought I saw movement there.  And then faint laughter that was soon lost in the loud roar of an avalanche.

To Be Continued....
984 Words

2YN and the Insanity for 2017

    
Welcome to the insanity of 2017!

In the time between this post and the last one, I have decided to do something drastic, strange, and maybe fun and wondrous.  For years I've offered the Two Year Novel Course (2YN) at Forward Motion for Writers.  Most of the people there who are at all interested have taken it more than once already.  This year (okay and next year), I'm going to post the classes each week on my Author Page on Facebook.

The course is set up in 104 classes so that there will be one a week for two years.  I've done this for over ten years and refined and reworked most of the material, especially the parts meant to help with the changing nature of publication and the indie explosion.  The course covers things like the basics of creating an idea, outlining, world building, character creation, etc.  While some of it (especially in the world building section) is mostly relevant to science fiction and fantasy, other parts can help with all genres.

This course is not something that will help everyone.  Sometimes only bits and pieces will fit into another writer's style.  No one is required or expected to find everything in the course helpful.

In order to take part, people need to 'like' the page:
https://www.facebook.com/Lazette-Gifford-Author-352371884942342/

This version of the course will work a bit differently from the private group at FM.  First, people will not be required to post if they don't want to.  They can read along and do the work privately.  However, if they want help with something or to share a piece, they can post to the appropriate lesson.

I've already posted on the FB NaNoWriMo board, and there has been considerable interest.  I  mentioned there some necessary rules, including that any trolls will be removed.  If people can't be polite, they need not join in.  I will post all the rules on my Author Page in the next day or two and get started with the classes on Friday.  Things are bound to be hectic and crazy for the first few weeks, but I hope that it will work out well.

Oh yes, I have also started my first new novel of the year.  Journey of a Thousand Truths is about 4k at this moment and moving along well enough.  This is novel number 103, and so far I think it's going well.  Here's a little snippet:

"Can you stand?" she asked.  He couldn't see much of her face, just the jut of her nose and the slant of her eyes.  He thought she frowned.  Strands of her dark hair had come loose from the mass she had tied up on her head.  "Prince Zaron?" she said again.

"Not the name to use," he said.  "Za.  Just Za.  No use to take any -- any chances."

He got to his feet.  It was, he realized, a show of pride rather than wisdom.  The movement had pulled at his side, and he nearly went down again.

"Knife?" Mai asked as she gracefully rose to her feet again, despite the pack -- ah, and the swords, too. Good.

"Claw," he corrected.  Her eyes went wide.  "I did mention demons, you know."

"Yes, but I thought --"

"Metaphorical demons?" he asked and gave a grateful nod when she took his arm, helping him along.

"Well, at least not demons actually here.  I want to know -- but no, not yet.  We must be careful."

My other first writing work for the year is to work on the 4th Devlin novel to get it ready for publication.

I think it might be an interesting year!