Maureen Ulrich's Blog, page 3
June 20, 2011
Excerpt: Stranger at the Gate (Prologue)
The infant wouldn’t stop crying.
Lothara tightened the sling she wore across her chest, bringing the infant closer to her body warmth, but the squalling continued, unabated. The tiny female was hungry.
“Hush, Little One.” Lothara thought her voice sounded harsh and raspy in the frigid December air. “It’ll be over soon enough.”
Over indeed. There was no possibility this tiny infant – born too soon – would survive a plunge into the icy waters below the Lower Falls of the River Danu.
The trees surrounding them were thick with hoar frost, and the sky was milky white. The snow beneath her snowshoes crunched in protest. It was not so deep as it had been in winter’s past, but it was deep enough to make the snowshoes necessary for this hateful journey.
Lothara tightened the sling she wore across her chest, bringing the infant closer to her body warmth, but the squalling continued, unabated. The tiny female was hungry.
“Hush, Little One.” Lothara thought her voice sounded harsh and raspy in the frigid December air. “It’ll be over soon enough.”
Over indeed. There was no possibility this tiny infant – born too soon – would survive a plunge into the icy waters below the Lower Falls of the River Danu.
The trees surrounding them were thick with hoar frost, and the sky was milky white. The snow beneath her snowshoes crunched in protest. It was not so deep as it had been in winter’s past, but it was deep enough to make the snowshoes necessary for this hateful journey.
June 18, 2011
On Stranger at the Gate
I haven’t been in this place for a while.
To my recollection – not since the early days on my first draft of “Not Just a Boy’s Game”/Power Plays – and that’s going back 10 years.
10 years.
So here I am again – wondering. . .
Can I actually pull this off?
Can I write a novel – which is fundamentally alternative history – snippets of customs borrowed from everywhere – and make it believable?
Can I avoid cliché characters/dialogue/situations?
Can I do all the research required?
Can I maintain the reader’s interest when I change viewpoint characters nearly every chapter?
Can I finish it?
I am nearly 25 000 words into it and just beginning to find the story.
My goal is to finish a first draft by the end of this year.
I have a long way to go.
To my recollection – not since the early days on my first draft of “Not Just a Boy’s Game”/Power Plays – and that’s going back 10 years.
10 years.
So here I am again – wondering. . .
Can I actually pull this off?
Can I write a novel – which is fundamentally alternative history – snippets of customs borrowed from everywhere – and make it believable?
Can I avoid cliché characters/dialogue/situations?
Can I do all the research required?
Can I maintain the reader’s interest when I change viewpoint characters nearly every chapter?
Can I finish it?
I am nearly 25 000 words into it and just beginning to find the story.
My goal is to finish a first draft by the end of this year.
I have a long way to go.
September 16, 2010
Face Off
This is actually not the cover of the book. Coteau and I haggled over several before we found one. I wasn't struck on it at first, but I am really growing to like it - particularly because the girl on the cover is (as with the first book) a hockey player from Saskatchewan. What could be more appropriate than that?
