Raventower & Merriweather 2: War and Wattpad

Yes!  Finally!  The second Raventower & Merriweather book is out! 

Here is a link to both of them in Smashwords

And here is a link to the new book at Amazon

War has come to the city of Kamere. The Atrian ships are blockading the coast and occasionally landing troops in attempts to either take the city or to capture some of Sedina's coastline.

The villages inland are in chaos, food supplies are already growing scarce, and several areas of the city are in ruins. However, the Sedina forces -- Army, Navy, and Air Patrol -- are keeping the mass of Atrians out.

Atrian assassins are still trying to kill Lord Raventower. More worrisome than that, however, is the Atrian's dangerous interest in the object lying on the ocean floor near Raventower itself.

Clockwork giant spiders, glowing women -- family dinner gatherings with the Merriweathers -- Micalus Raventower is not certain even the redoubtable Captain Merriweather and his clockwork creations can keep him safe from all the trouble he's attracting.

These are run Steampunk/Clockwork/Fantasy books. I hope you enjoy them!

And in other news, I have started posting a novel on Wattpad:

Circe's sacred forest is a place where wounded and hunted animals can find sanctuary.  She and her long-time companions -- a one-eyed wolf, a cat with a limp, and a tailless mouse -- have lived quietly until a wounded young man wanders into her woods, followed by those who are hunting him.  When the All-Mother lets Circe know that she must help Tiernan, the best she can do is to send her friends to protect him, though they cannot go in their animal forms.

You can find the story here.  Four chapters are up now and more will be added soon.  

Flash Fiction # 250: Spider Drabble

Dear spider on my keyboard,

I had thought you might have literary pretensions as you danced across the keys, alas too light to make an impression on the world of writing.  I tried to follow your choices, thinking I could type them out for you -- a little thing to offer between one writer and another; I have always been fond of archie and mehitabel.  Then you stopped and glared as you took up residence on the delete key.

I realized then that you were a critic, not an author.  The world is filled with too many critics.

Goodbye, damned spider.

100 words exactly

Schedule

My schedule for now looks pretty solid:

Picture of the Day post.  Every picture was taken that day and posted at http://zettepicaday.blogspot.com/.  I started on 1/1/2007 and haven't missed a day yet.  Fun stuff to do!)

Monday:
Blog Post, Joyously Prolific: http://zette.blogspot.com/ (That's here)

Tuesday AND Thursday:
A chapter on my Wattpad project.  The first one is Circe's Gifts:  https://www.wattpad.com/user/zetteG/about

Friday:
Post current 2YN class on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Lazette-Gifford-Author-352371884942342/ .  Post a Flash Fiction on Joyously Prolific: http://zette.blogspot.com/

Also, of course, is the big one: write every day.  I have done this for decades already, and I don't see any reason to stop now.  It's what I do both as a job and for the pure joy of it.  Writing for me includes editing, rewriting, formatting and even, on occasion, publishing.

I have other things that will drop in there as well.  I have a couple things I truly need to get done that don't have a lot to do with writing (mostly copying Vision articles into the right location), and I want to start doing them on a regular basis, but I don't want to make them part of the schedule.  Not yet. 

Oh, and of course there is the hieroglyph stuff.  I am still doing a little on that every day and still really enjoying it.  As I've mentioned here and a few other places, this is absolutely the most useless thing I've ever set out to learn, and I love it. 

On Saturday we picked up more note cards and some nice note card dividers that I can write the proper hieroglyphs on.  I am going to be redoing a bunch of cards now that I have a better grasp of how to write the letters.  I am amazed, really, that I am still this enthusiastic so far into the study.

I am also preparing to organize notes for my NaNo 2017 books.

I have one big problem, though.  One I may have mentioned before, but it is staring me in the face right now.  I can write, re-write, edit, format, make book covers, go over everything a dozen more times ... but when it comes to the point where I should publish, I freeze.  I am not even certain why, to be honest.  I know some people won't like the book.  You cannot write something that will please everyone.  I know that it will not be perfect.  I can accept that someone will find problems.

But I am sitting here with Raventower 2.  It's done.  I need to put the TOC in and get the ISBN and that's it.  Done. Ready to go.  And I have let it sit there for about a month as though something fantastic is going to happen if I leave it alone.

Ugh.  Hate to get to this state and lately it happens any time a novel edges over towards 'publish me now' areas.    You'd think after so many that I'd get over it.  But I don't.

But ... I just published it anyway.  Just now.  Did it, got it out of my hands and I can move on with my life.  I'll do a post for it in a couple days when I'm sure it will be up on Amazon and (already) on Smashwords.

So I guess I can stop complaining, right?

Flash Fiction # 249 -- Saving Everywhere. Part 33: The End

(Previous)

When I looked into Lord Cayman's face, I knew something was still wrong.    Davis made a sound of worry and looked around.  Others were still moving everywhere, but I could not see any sign of an enemy.

"Mark," Lord Cayman said.

"Sir?"  That seemed the best way to address him.  Formal and not too personal.  I still could not look at the man and think father.  I suspect he had the same trouble considering me his son -- but this wasn't the time for either of us to worry about such mundane things.

"I have to go," he explained with a worried frown.  "I must make certain that Darman and Portilia didn't end up somewhere else where they might do harm.  That was a brilliant answer, Mark.  Risky -- it could have dragged us all in -- but I fear we could not have defeated them otherwise.  Good work."

"Thank you.  How will we follow them?"

"Not we.  Not this time."  Lord Cayman looked away, and I wasn't sure what I felt just then.  Betrayal?  Hurt?  Good job boy, but --  "I need you to stay here.  Really need someone here I can trust.  There is going to be some stray magic, and probably a few of Darman's creatures around and the locals will be upset.  I want to stay and help but --"

He meant those words.  Cayman trusted me to handle a situation that might still prove difficult.  And this was my reality, after all.  I understood these people.

"This is my home."

"Half your home," he replied.  "When you're ready, you will find the gate."

I smiled agreement.  "I'd like to go to Elsewhere without fearing something strange happening every five minutes."

"I don't know if that will ever happen, Mark.  You seem to have a gift for drawing trouble.  I hope to see you soon.  I'm taking others with me -- they won't be safe here, and I can leave them in Elsewhere faster than having them go find the gate. The sooner things get back to normal in this reality, the better. Good luck."

He turned and signaled the others in around him.  I gave a wave to friends.  "Thank you!  Thank you, Bog Bob!  Great work!"

He bounced up once, and I braced myself, but everyone disappeared before he hit the ground.  A quick breeze -- and the magic had gone.  I felt --

"I guess we have a lot of work to do," Edmond said as he brushed against my leg. 

Not alone.  Edmond, Maggie, and Davis still stood with me.  We could handle this.

It wasn't easy.  I had to do a lot of talking to important people, some of whom were outraged and mistrustful.  We kept calm and quiet, though Edmond had suggested he might bite a few more ankles for me.  I held him in reserve.

I also met Mary Hale.  Remember her?  I shot Tommy Creston and killed him when I thought he had killed her.  She had somehow survived.  They were still working on some of the scars, but she had lived because I had stopped him.  We hugged.  She had come back to town just to see me and thank me.

And yeah, it made a difference.

My friends and I didn't do anything flashy, and the fact that all the other magical beings had left helped.  Things got quiet and boring.  Davis went back to Elsewhere.  Maggie stayed with me, and she kept her wings folded, though they sometimes fluttered when she got agitated. She even visited a few people she used to know.  I went and saw my mom and her family.  It was nice, and we had a good time -- Edmond was a big hit -- but I had moved on.  We didn't talk about my father.  He wasn't a part of her world.

More meetings.  I wondered how much longer I should stay.

Boredom will do strange things.  Maggie and I both got our GEDs.  I'm not sure why -- maybe just to prove that we were both still human enough.   Edmond wandered off sometimes.  He was even gone for a few days on occasion, but he must have realized how much that worried me because he stopped going.

We still met with officials at least once a week, but there were fewer and fewer questions, and it felt as though all the world had simply buried the momentary lapse into magic and people would do their best to forget it.

Good.

But I could not forget what I was, and I found it harder and harder to hold the magic back inside.  I spent a lot of time away from others.  I saved bunnies and squirrels because sometimes the Sanctioned Protector ability kicked in and I had to do something.  I helped find two kidnapped children, but I talked the police into keeping my name out of it.  They were willing to do anything I asked since they were still trying to get past the fact they had worked with Darman -- as Sheriff Creston -- for so long.

It was a long few months.

Edmond and I were sitting on a bench in the park, enjoying the weather and the quiet when Maggie arrived.

"We have a problem," Maggie said. She had a basket in her hands and opened the top as she held it out to me.  "These were left with me this morning."

I looked in, worried....

Six little black kittens.

With wings.

And voices.  "Hello, hi, hello, hi, want out, fly, fly, fly--"

I snapped the lid shut, took a few breaths, and then took the basket.  Edmond was looking elsewhere.  I grabbed him and placed him on top of the basket.  He was uncommonly quiet.

"What are you going to do?" Maggie asked.

"We're going to take a trip to Elsewhere."

"And do what?" Maggie asked, looking worried.

"I'm not sure yet," I said, but then I smiled.  "But I'm pretty sure it will be an adventure."

Maggie smiled and brought out the compass.  "Let's go."

"About time," Edmond said.

THE END

1000 Words

Goals for the New Month

First, in the news this week -- I finally got my Twitter account back! @LazetteG there, but it is going to take me awhile to get used to checking it and posting things again.  Still, after nearly a year, it's nice to have it back!

That will be one of my May goals: Start remembering to post on Twitter, Forward Motion, and maybe do a bit more on FB that is targeted toward my work, and not just random posts now and then.  Also, there is still the WattPad stuff.  I believe I have the novel I'm going to place there.  It is a YA fantasy called Circe's Gifts.  I have a good start on the final edits and I can start posting as soon as I figure out all the extra little things that need done before it goes up.

I had hoped to have Raventower & Merriweather 2: War published before the end of the month, but I had a week of miserable illness where I spent most of my time curled up in bed under the heated blanket and wondering if the apocalypse might not be better.  I am still not well, but my brain has started to put words together and get them into something like a proper order again.   It's not quite up to things like formatting and publishing books, but I'm getting there.  The book will be out soon.  The last of the Surviving Elsewhere flash fictions will go up this Friday.  I hope to post the first of Circe's Gifts at Wattpad this week.  Busy stuff.  Lots of busy stuff.

I've had more than one person ask me this week if I always have multiple projects going.

Yes.  The only time I do not is in those hours after I finish the last writing on the last day of the year (yes, I plan it that way) and before I start the first project of the new year.  Which, by the way, I generally start a couple minutes after midnight.  It's fun.  It's my way of saying 'this is me, and welcome to the New Year!'.  Later in the day I often start my first rewrite and/or edit of the year as well.  After that, work just grows and lessens and grows for the entire year.

And I love it.  I really do.  I have written every day for decades.  Why not?  It's what I love most to do.  Apparently according to some people this is a sin when it comes to writing.  Oh, don't write so much!  Slow Down!  It's evil to write more!

It's a joy.  It's fun.  It is not for everyone.  I think I've mentioned this a few times already, right?  Writing a lot and writing fast does not mean you can't edit afterwards, and honestly, I edit slowly.  I edit multiple times.  I edit until I drive myself, my husband, my cats -- and probably the stuffed plot bunnies around my desk -- insane.  There is the 'it is never quite right' problem. 

Unfortunately, it never will be.

At some point you have to let go.  Maybe someone else will find something for you to fix.  Maybe others will hate it.  Maybe you could have written the novel an entirely different way -- change the POV, go with a different main character, change the setting....

And maybe you would be writing an entirely different book if you did any of those things.  At some point you need to stop changing things just to change them.  I know.  I've been there.  I've written over 100 novels and hundreds of shorter works.  They may not be the best stuff ever written, but I do understand how the process goes and what problems you can make for yourself.

One of the worst is not letting go and moving on.  So that's part of why I have multiple projects.  (See, this comes back to the point!)  If all I have is one story and I can't step away from it when I need to and work on something else, I am just going to nudge and jab at it forever.  So when I'm done, I close it down and work on something else that's already in progress, whether that is something new or an edit.  Just move away.

And sometimes I even get something to the point that I'll publish.  I hope to do so this week.  Wish me luck with the second Raventower & Merriweather book!