A long bank of cloud

So I guess I did sorta drop off the face of the planet. Or at least the blog-o-sphere. Or something.

I have been writing. Okay, not so much this last week, but I've definitely made progress since the last post, and I did pen two whole scenes today. I'm currently in the middle of Chapter Thirteen, and am struggling to get the middle bits of my novel to make some sort of coherent sense. The last two chapters I've found myself straying from my revision outline because the novel seemed to demand it, so that's thrown me off a bit. But I think it's for the best. Hopefully. Currently Draft #2 stands at 82,256 words, which is 12k longer than Draft #1. I'm kind of thinking it's not going to get a LOT longer than that, as I'll be deleting as well as adding material in future chapters… But as always, I really have no idea. I just want it to be over already. Did I mention how much I hate revising? 'Cause I do.

… Which is why every once in a while I sneak off to work on On Journeys Bound, which I still really, really want to finish. I'm all the way through Chapter Twelve now, and up to 55,796 words. Long ways to go yet, but I'm definitely flirting with the middle now.

On the reading front, I recently finished Rosemary Sutcliff's Dawn Wind, which is a gorgeous historical fiction set in Britain in the Sixth Century AD. I really love her storytelling and characters and her talent of letting you hear and see and feel the things in her books. Her prose is quiet and lyrical and compelling, as shown by the opening paragraph:

The moon drifted clear of a long bank of cloud, and the cool slippery light hung for a moment on the crest of the high ground, and then spilled down the gentle bush-grown slope to the river. Between the darkness under the banks the water which had been leaden gray woke into moving ripple-patterns, and a crinkled skin of silver light marked where the paved ford carried across the road from Corinium to Aquae Sulis. Somewhere among the matted islands of rushes and water crowfoot, a moorhen cucked and was still. On the high ground in the loop of the river nothing moved at all, save the little wind that ran shivering through the hawthorn bushes.

 Lovely, lovely stuff. The kind of writing I aspire to!

I'm also about halfway through Heroes of the Valley, by Jonathan Stroud (author of The Bartimaeus Trilogy), which I like a lot so far. It's kind of about Vikings, which is awesome.

Let's see, in other news, BBC's Merlin is back for Series Three, the first two episodes of which were Epic and Awesome and Lord of the Rings-esque. I can't wait to see how the storylines and characters are going to develop over the rest of the series! Going to be interesting, for sure.

And that will about do it for now. I think I'll go work on my novel… or read… or goof off on the internet… one of those. :-)

The Girl Who Was On Fire

I know, I know, haven't blogged all week! But don't worry, I'm not about to drop off the face of the planet again. :-)

Finished reading Mockingjay last night at midnight, but didn't go to bed until one-thirty, as I found I needed some processing time. I'm still processing. Not going to say anymore because I refuse to spoil it for anyone, but look for a review sometime soon-ish.

On a side note, I'm never pre-ordering anything again. My Mockingjays weren't in at Borders on Tuesday like they were supposed to be, so I ended up buying two different copies so's me and the roomie could actually read them on release day! The other copies still aren't in yet, and I'm not looking forward to the fun ordeal of returning them when they do show up. *sigh*

You'll be shocked to hear that in amongst devouring Mockingjay, I actually did some writing! About halfway through Chapter Seven, and it's going well. So far I've added nearly 9,500 words to the novel in Draft #2. This is frightening. I feel like Draft #3 is going to be all about finding things to cut cut cut cut cut. And here I was all excited that I finally wrote a short novel!!

I will leave you with a couple pictures taken in the new abode's LIBRARY. Yes. It's okay to be jealous. :-)

My bookshelf against the freshly painted walls!

Tea in the library! And yes, that's a TARDIS teapot. :-)

Hanging in my comfy green chair, about to get some noveling done!

It's Frrriiiidayyyy!!

And to celebrate you get a smorgasbord of random links:

First up, the YA Fantasy Showdown, where characters from YA fiction are being pitted against each other in fictional battles, the outcomes of which are decided via voting. Currently about to delve into round four, my beloved Eugenides (from the Attolia books) and Howl (from Howl's Moving Castle) are still in the game!! I will be awash with glee if they both make it into the final round, although I'll have no idea which one to vote for…

Next up, the plural of "octopus" is explained.

Next up, I was invited by the lovely Irene Pynn to write a guest blog, and after some deliberation penned my heartfelt—albeit entirely unscientific—thoughts on How a Book is Like a Piano.

Next up, Nathan Bransford's excellent How to Write a Query Letter.

Next up, Gail Carson Levine discusses POV shifts in her latest blog.

And last but not least, author Maggie Stiefvater noodles on a childhood that shaped her as a reader and writer.

Have a good weekend everybody!!

P. S. I FINISHED CHAPTER SIX!!!!

In Progress

Look at me, three posts in a row! :-)

Yesterday I:

• Worked a bunch on the elusive Chapter Six of my novel—it's soooooo close to being done now! SO CLOSE! Ideas are spilling out, and words too, and it feels absolutely marvelous to be back working on it again!
• Finished The Silver Branch which I quite liked, though it wasn't quite as inspiring as Eagle of the Ninth. I want to read the third book in the loosely-connected series (The Lantern Bearers), but the library doesn't have it, so I see special ordering in my future.
• Started re-reading The Hunger Games in anticipation of Mockingjay next week. I find that when you read two books in the space of four days, not-quite-a-year later some of the details tend to fade, so I intend to remedy that. I'm just about to start Chapter 6.

Today I will hopefully:

• FINISH Chapter Six of Seer.
• Read more Hunger Games.
• Drink lots of tea.

I've already gotten one cup in on that last item.

Happy Wednesday everyone, and keep up the good work!!

Just One Week Left…

…till Mockingjay (third and final installment in the wildly popular Hunger Games trilogy) is released!!

Have you pre-ordered your copy?

And Peeta? or Gale?

:-)

There's a Viking in the Building!

I've been out of college for five years, but I still feel like the year really begins in late August, not January. Fall semester! New stuff to learn! Autumn! Jeans and converse and long sleeves and socks!

…That is if you happen to live in a state where you have autumn and can wear the aforementioned jeans and converse and long sleeves and socks before the end of November. But I'm quibbling. Hopefully us poor Arizonians will get out of the 100s sometime soon and at least down into the 90s. Hopefully.

But that's really beside the point. What I'm saying is, life has been completely crazy this summer. I've moved across town, nearly tore the bumper off my poor car by backing into a pole, painted a room, learned how to cook chicken, watched all seven seasons of Buffy, spent a week in Georgia eating ridiculously amazing watermelon, continued staunchly refusing to eat raw tomatoes (because I don't like them, okay??), and got a grand total of absolutely nothing done on that novel revision I started back in March. Not to mention I haven't been blogging, either.

What I'm saying is, it's time for the fall semester, which means a new year and a new beginning and a new chance to dive back into noveling and blogging and getting stuff done. I don't have to wait for January! The time is now!! I am novelist, hear me RAWRRRRR!!!!

**puts on a horned helmet brandishes a battle-axe, and hollers like a viking**

Erm. Anyways. Guess I'd better get to it then, right?

I am, in fact, still breathing

Just a quick note to assure any readers still out there that I have not fallen of the face of the planet! I'm moving across town this weekend and as my world has thus been in a terrible state of upheaval, I haven't had the chance to do any noveling—let alone blogging—for the last several weeks. But never fear, faithful ones! I shall return soon with a vengeance, gracing the blogosphere with my much-missed witticisms.

Until then, I had better go find some lunch. And keep packing.