Elaina J. Davidson's Blog, page 401
July 30, 2015
The King's Challenge #2
TKC 2
After spending the night restless upon a hard bed and enduring dark hours punctuated with too much noise, I am up with the first of dawn’s light. It is overcast out, but a country girl knows when the new day has arrived.
Opening the shutters I closed the night before to shut out the intrusive lights from the city, I gaze into a dreary landscape. It occurs to me the lights of night make this place pretty, for by day it is ugly. Buildings many storeys high create alleys of only shadow, and the grey, filthy stone has little appeal. Roof tiles are all encrusted with decades of grime. Smoke weaves out from chimneys to choke oxygen from the air.
The spread of this place is even larger than the lights had me believe. A maze of alleys and streets lie before me, and so many buildings I have never seen together in one space. How do these people all eat? There must be many thousands.
It will be hard to find Damin in this cesspit of humanity.
I do have a clue, though. This inn was recommended to me by a traveller I met on the road four days ago. Thank the stars, for upon looking down I realise how hard it will be to make informed choices here. What do I know about cities? The traveller also told me to start my search for someone lost in the lower city. Apparently all newcomers land up there, for rent is cheap while one waits for employment. Where this lower part is, though, I cannot say.
Today I need to talk to people or I go exactly nowhere. It is my hope I do not frighten them off. Most folk are wary of a girl with a blue and a green eye.
After spending the night restless upon a hard bed and enduring dark hours punctuated with too much noise, I am up with the first of dawn’s light. It is overcast out, but a country girl knows when the new day has arrived.
Opening the shutters I closed the night before to shut out the intrusive lights from the city, I gaze into a dreary landscape. It occurs to me the lights of night make this place pretty, for by day it is ugly. Buildings many storeys high create alleys of only shadow, and the grey, filthy stone has little appeal. Roof tiles are all encrusted with decades of grime. Smoke weaves out from chimneys to choke oxygen from the air.
The spread of this place is even larger than the lights had me believe. A maze of alleys and streets lie before me, and so many buildings I have never seen together in one space. How do these people all eat? There must be many thousands.
It will be hard to find Damin in this cesspit of humanity.
I do have a clue, though. This inn was recommended to me by a traveller I met on the road four days ago. Thank the stars, for upon looking down I realise how hard it will be to make informed choices here. What do I know about cities? The traveller also told me to start my search for someone lost in the lower city. Apparently all newcomers land up there, for rent is cheap while one waits for employment. Where this lower part is, though, I cannot say.
Today I need to talk to people or I go exactly nowhere. It is my hope I do not frighten them off. Most folk are wary of a girl with a blue and a green eye.
July 29, 2015
The King's Challenge #1
TKC 1
Night’s city lights have removed the stars from clear view and I am saddened by this. I miss the countryside with its silver spangles and cosmic spirals. Out there in the silence I am able to know myself; here I feel lost.
This is my choice, though, for duty has summoned me to this press of people. Somewhere out there I will find him. He came here to lose himself deliberately, I know this, but the time for selfishness has now passed. He needs to come home, as I need to return there. Together we can convince the others of escape, for I cannot do so alone. They do not listen to me, but they will at least come to hear his words and I may then speak through him. The trouble now is trying to convince himof my words when I do find him.
By the light of stars, I hope the others will hear also. Our time is now short.
Hearing the door open behind me, I turn. My meal has arrived. Striding forward to pay, I search for my purse in my pocket. I think my forceful actions scares the boy, for he steps back swiftly, his eyes growing bigger. Mother always said I need to control my movements, because I tend to frighten people with my personality. Too much like a man, Lyra, use your femininity more! Already they think you strange; don’t give them more reason to whisper about you behind your back.
Slowing my movements, I smile at the boy as I hand over the required coin, with an extra one for him. He swallows, nods, and makes himself rapidly scarce. Sighing, I sit to eat.
Potatoes coated in spice, with slivers of venison. Damin would love it. How do I find him?
Night’s city lights have removed the stars from clear view and I am saddened by this. I miss the countryside with its silver spangles and cosmic spirals. Out there in the silence I am able to know myself; here I feel lost.
This is my choice, though, for duty has summoned me to this press of people. Somewhere out there I will find him. He came here to lose himself deliberately, I know this, but the time for selfishness has now passed. He needs to come home, as I need to return there. Together we can convince the others of escape, for I cannot do so alone. They do not listen to me, but they will at least come to hear his words and I may then speak through him. The trouble now is trying to convince himof my words when I do find him.
By the light of stars, I hope the others will hear also. Our time is now short.
Hearing the door open behind me, I turn. My meal has arrived. Striding forward to pay, I search for my purse in my pocket. I think my forceful actions scares the boy, for he steps back swiftly, his eyes growing bigger. Mother always said I need to control my movements, because I tend to frighten people with my personality. Too much like a man, Lyra, use your femininity more! Already they think you strange; don’t give them more reason to whisper about you behind your back.
Slowing my movements, I smile at the boy as I hand over the required coin, with an extra one for him. He swallows, nods, and makes himself rapidly scarce. Sighing, I sit to eat.
Potatoes coated in spice, with slivers of venison. Damin would love it. How do I find him?
Writing Challenge: 300 x 365
I saw a meme about Steven King saying if you write 300 words a day for a year, at the end of that year you have a book. 300 x 365 = 109 500 words.
Having nearly completed Justine’s Journal 52 Weeks 500 Words challenge, this felt familiar and I thought I would give it a try.
I will attempt to post daily … whatever comes to mind! No planning ahead. It will be impulse driven. I am already intrigued to see what happens. Where will this lead? What will the story be about? How will it change as the weeks go by? Who will become the characters?
Let’s call it The King’s Challenge. It will be the WIP title until all the days are done and the final product is ready for editing and naming. Comments along the way will be most helpful and anything you suggest and I use in this daily challenge will be acknowledged in the actual book.
Are you with me?
Let us begin …
Having nearly completed Justine’s Journal 52 Weeks 500 Words challenge, this felt familiar and I thought I would give it a try.
I will attempt to post daily … whatever comes to mind! No planning ahead. It will be impulse driven. I am already intrigued to see what happens. Where will this lead? What will the story be about? How will it change as the weeks go by? Who will become the characters?
Let’s call it The King’s Challenge. It will be the WIP title until all the days are done and the final product is ready for editing and naming. Comments along the way will be most helpful and anything you suggest and I use in this daily challenge will be acknowledged in the actual book.
Are you with me?
Let us begin …
July 28, 2015
July 27, 2015
78 000+!
Thank you for visiting!
xxx
xxx
July 25, 2015
Justine's Journal #49
52 Weeks 500 Words
This is how it began: Justine (not her real name) decided to write 500 words (or as near as), anything goes, per week for 52 weeks. She would then submit it for anonymous posting, via me, her friend. Perhaps a pattern will emerge from her words, but at this stage it’s more an experiment I have agreed to share in. I’ll attempt to draw conclusions at the end of this. Stay tuned if this resonates with you.
Week 49
"Do you feel alone? I know I sometimes do, despite having others in the vicinity. Feeling alone has little to do with people, after all, for it’s a state of mind, not a state of being. You can be surrounded by others and still feel alone.
I thought about this concept this week and I now realise it’s because belonging comes from real connection. This is about being able to talk to another about soul stuff. Even when we don’t make sense to ourselves, we know that other gets us. You can bounce ideas off them, you can discuss issues without judgement and you can laugh at things you took too seriously before. Suddenly you realise you belong to a connection, one that makes you feel okay about yourself. You are no longer alone.
These connections are not about proximity. In our technological age we can chat to someone across the world and find someone who thinks as we do and actually make a connection with value to who we are inside. On the flip side, the neighbour two doors down could be your go to person when you feel alone. You and this person may not share social time and events, but your connection may be such that, when you are feeling alone, there is the person who will get you, and that door is ever open to you.
Yes, this week I felt alone. I felt as if no one understood me, as if no one ‘got’ me, as if I was all alone in a big bad world of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Try and tell those usually closest to you how you feel … and watch their eyes lose focus. Too much sharing! They don’t need the burden of your feelings! They don’t get you. And therefore you feel alone.
I’ve said this before, but really we are very strange. One day we’re up, the next day we’re down. Today we feel valued, tomorrow we feel worthless. Yesterday we were on top of the world, today we wonder what’s the point to anything. Strange. How does it change so fast? What causes such waves in how we see ourselves? There’s no right answer to that, other than to suggest our souls are continuously searching for real connections.
When we find a connection, those up and down waves are still there, make no mistake, but we deal better with them. If it gets too much, we can unload our fears into that connection and then go forth unburdened.
I hope this makes sense to you. To put it simply. I felt alone and then I received an email from someone many thousands of km’s from where I am, and know what? She told me of her struggle and I totally ‘got’ her, because her struggle spoke directly to my feeling of aloneness. By the end of a flurry of emails both of us felt not only better, but empowered! We were no longer alone.
It put a massive smile on my face, I tell you."
This is how it began: Justine (not her real name) decided to write 500 words (or as near as), anything goes, per week for 52 weeks. She would then submit it for anonymous posting, via me, her friend. Perhaps a pattern will emerge from her words, but at this stage it’s more an experiment I have agreed to share in. I’ll attempt to draw conclusions at the end of this. Stay tuned if this resonates with you.
Week 49
"Do you feel alone? I know I sometimes do, despite having others in the vicinity. Feeling alone has little to do with people, after all, for it’s a state of mind, not a state of being. You can be surrounded by others and still feel alone.
I thought about this concept this week and I now realise it’s because belonging comes from real connection. This is about being able to talk to another about soul stuff. Even when we don’t make sense to ourselves, we know that other gets us. You can bounce ideas off them, you can discuss issues without judgement and you can laugh at things you took too seriously before. Suddenly you realise you belong to a connection, one that makes you feel okay about yourself. You are no longer alone.
These connections are not about proximity. In our technological age we can chat to someone across the world and find someone who thinks as we do and actually make a connection with value to who we are inside. On the flip side, the neighbour two doors down could be your go to person when you feel alone. You and this person may not share social time and events, but your connection may be such that, when you are feeling alone, there is the person who will get you, and that door is ever open to you.
Yes, this week I felt alone. I felt as if no one understood me, as if no one ‘got’ me, as if I was all alone in a big bad world of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Try and tell those usually closest to you how you feel … and watch their eyes lose focus. Too much sharing! They don’t need the burden of your feelings! They don’t get you. And therefore you feel alone.
I’ve said this before, but really we are very strange. One day we’re up, the next day we’re down. Today we feel valued, tomorrow we feel worthless. Yesterday we were on top of the world, today we wonder what’s the point to anything. Strange. How does it change so fast? What causes such waves in how we see ourselves? There’s no right answer to that, other than to suggest our souls are continuously searching for real connections.
When we find a connection, those up and down waves are still there, make no mistake, but we deal better with them. If it gets too much, we can unload our fears into that connection and then go forth unburdened.
I hope this makes sense to you. To put it simply. I felt alone and then I received an email from someone many thousands of km’s from where I am, and know what? She told me of her struggle and I totally ‘got’ her, because her struggle spoke directly to my feeling of aloneness. By the end of a flurry of emails both of us felt not only better, but empowered! We were no longer alone.
It put a massive smile on my face, I tell you."
July 23, 2015
"... a journey that takes you through all your emotions ..."
Forgive me for jumping around book wise, but I only just saw this review for The Sleeper Sword! In my defense, I was so busy preparing the next books for publication I did not think to check ;)
Amazon UK
Thank you!
Amazon UK
Thank you!
