S.M. Pace's Blog, page 4

Top Ten Tuesday – Top Ten Podcasts I’m Listening

Top Ten Tuesdays is a bloghop hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  Participants make lists of our top ten books, or whatever the theme happens to be, based on that week’s prompt. The topics can be found here about a month in advance.

Holy cow, I’m so excited about this one, ya’ll.  I love my podcast list!  Links will take you to the most prominent website of the podcast in question.

Okay, starting off …

Sawbones:  A marital tour of misguided medicine.  Sawbones centers around crazy medical foolishness humans have engaged in throughout history.  The couple that hosts the podcast, Sydnee and Justin McElroy, play off each other really well and are a lot of fun to listen to.  Warning, this one can have a high gross out factor, so approach with caution.

 

 

Stuff You Missed in History Class:  Mildly obscure, but always fascinating historical stories and biographies.  Some episodes explain how something came to be, like the tradition of the white wedding, or margarine.

 

 

Magic Lessons with Elizabeth Gilbert: I recommend this to anyone with a creative slant.  It’s very inspirational.  Elizabeth Gilbert chats with people struggling with creative roadblocks and coaches them in how to overcome those blocks.  I’ve taken to listen right before I start writing.

 

 

Flash Forward:  This one is so right up my alley, and if you love speculative fiction, check this out. Each episode, Rose Eveleth posits one possible future scenario, such as robots being used as teachers, and discusses how such a thing would come to be.  Episodes start with a little audio drama depicting the future in question, which is really cool.  I must say, my favorite so far is the Witch Who Came From Mars, which came about in a fascinating way.  I definitely suggest you check it out.

 

A Taste of the Past:  I love to cook, as I’ve said probably too many times, and I love to learn more about food, including food customs and diets from the past.

 

 

 

You Must Remember This:  I’m a sucker for anything about Classic Hollywood.  Karina Longworth tells stories about Hollywood through the ages, including sound clips and backed by the sort of music I listened to as a weird, hipster teen.  Nothing’s better than a podcast with a smooth jazz background.

 

 

How Did This Get Made:  If you have a guilty pleasure over terrible movies, and love hearing them torn apart, this one is for you.  I love listening to bad movies getting a beating, and this podcast gives me endless laughs.

 

 

99% Invisible:  I so love histories, if you couldn’t tell from this list.  Obscure stories that not many people know are some of my favorite.  They range from bizarre, to horrific, to hilarious, but never fail to be entertaining, and Roman Mars tells these stories in a wonderfully compelling way.

 

*warning* not suitable for kids

My Dad Wrote a Porno:  It’s exactly what it says on the tin and it is flat out hilarious.  The awkwardness of listening to Jamie Morton reading a porno written by his father is nicely balanced with the commentary and ribbing of his two friends, Alice Levine and James Cooper.  Definitely not for a younger audience, but if you enjoy raunchy humor, give this a listen.

 

 

Any of these on your list?  Sound off in the comments and let me know what podcasts are your favorite.  

Monday Update and Optimism

This past weekend was super busy.  We had family come visit, and it’s been a whirlwind.  Good food, excellent company, and a wonderful way to kick off autumn.  And now, back to work.

Writing

Caste of Iron –

Achieved:  Pretty much nothing.  I did get through some planning and worked out ideas for the next few scenes.  Hopefully I can get more down next week.
Goal: 2000 words, or about 2 scenes, whichever I can accomplish first.

Witchhunt –

Achieved:  Wrote about 1200 words, and getting pretty close to the end.  I also had a sort of surprise, in the form of a twist that I really didn’t want to happen, but it forced itself to happen any way.  Darn plot bunnies.
Goal: 1500 words or to the end. Whichever comes first.

Flash story –

Achieved:  Completed last week’s story and managed to finish a flash piece.
Goal: Taking a break from flash stories this week, to get up on other stuff

Revising

Chalice –

Achieved:  Made it to 25% revision.  Sometimes it takes longer than I think it will to get through an MS.
Goal: Get 40% revised.  I’m coming into a fiddly portion of my revision system, so best not get to crazy.  Ultimate goal would be to reach 50% by the end of September

Seer –

Achieved – I managed an hour on Friday with Seer.
Goal: I’ll try for another two hours this week and see where that gets me.

Amber Soul –

Achieved- Score on this one, and submitted it to my critique sight.

Disaster Story – the story I mentioned last week.  I want to get it fixed up and ready for a contest on my critique sight.  So goal this week would be to complete the revision and submit.  Wish me luck.

Website

Not much to say here, but soon I’ll be adding more pages, with languages details, worldbuilding and some more stories.

Personal Goals

Dedicate a half hour, three nights a week to sewing Bunny’s quiet book –

Achieved: Finish one page.  I think it looks pretty good, but I need to move this along faster.
Goal: Get two pages done, (fingers crossed)

Exercise for at least 20 minutes every day.

Achieved: Bear and I went on a walk every day but Monday, because he had a meeting, and I was feeling lazy On Wednesday, we took Bunny with us.
Goal: Trying for it again this week.

Read 10% each (I’m all about the ebooks) from:

Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads by

Achieved:
Goal:

Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett

Achieved: I gave up on this guy.  It was due back at the library and I was making no progress. I’m chalking it up to not being used to reading fiction in hard copy anymore.
Goal: To save up money and buy this one on kindle.

Happy Fall everyone!  Sound off in the comments, and share your goals for the week. 

Wewriwa – A Witchhunt in Everwold

Welcome again for Weekend Writing Warriors, hosted on Wewriwa.  Bloggers today can share their 8-10 sentence WIP snippets.  Click the link to check out the rules, visit some blogs on the linky and sign up to share your writing.

Everwold is one of my stranger worlds, in that it’s not a planet, but very much a fantasy world.  A continent, surrounded by ocean and deadly mist, and occupied in the center by a dark forest and a  mountain so tall you can’t see the top.

 

Witch-hunt doesn’t play much on this weirdness.  The main character, Mara, is a Queen’s Mage, a division charged with hunting down and arresting witches, men and women in Everwold who engage in illegal magical practices.

In this snippet, Mara, and her fellow Queen’s Mages Baldur and Hedmar have arrived in a small village that’s just reported five children missing, apparently under very suspicious circumstances.

The air stank of illness, vomit and excrement.  Mara gagged into her hand, and Hedmar turned a rather muddy shade of green.  Men and women graced a few of the tavern tables, faces marred with red and black sores. 

Baldur glanced at them with a frown, before snagging Garath by the tunic lapel.  “Should we have masks, man?”

Garath glanced at them, eyes wide, and sputtered behind the cloth mask he must have donned as they entered the tavern.  “Terribly sorry, of course, Lord … I apologize Queen’s Mage Sevingtere.”  He dug into the pouch at his side and produced three strips of cloth, spelled to screen out illness.  As Mara tied hers on, she surveyed the room. 

Let me know what you think in the comments, and thanks for stopping by.

 

Writer’s World Interview with H. S. Cook

Hello and welcome to another Writer’s World feature.  Please give a warm welcome to H. S. Cook.

Bio: 

Working in a world of logic and reason, while dreaming of one filled with magic, H.S. Cook lives between her scientific research and her fantasy writings. A molecular biologist by day, she finds ways to inject the magic of her worlds into daily life, making time to write. She is currently working on an epic fantasy series: The Blood King Chronicles.

So glad to have you, H. S.  What’s your views on social media with regard to writing?

It’s an interesting tool. Many writers use it to market and build a following. I mainly find sites, such a Twitter, a really good way of connecting with other writers as well as potential readers. I can then find support or advice along with encouragement to keep writing.

Having so much support from fellow writers online is such a great thing.  Do you write alone, or in public?

I write here, there and everywhere, though even in a public setting, I feel I am writing alone. I block out the world around me so that I can focus on my writing without having conversations. I prefer my own space, where I can move into whatever position I like. Some places, such as trains, are hard to use bottled ink on and so are poor places when working on my first draft.

I can imagine, but it’s fascinating that you write you first drafts in ink.  Is being a writer a gift or a curse?

It is a bit of both. I love writing and could never wish to be anything else – where else are you able to play god, creating wonderful worlds. However, it has a price. I struggle to maintain a consistent sleep schedule, and if I don’t write for an extended period of time, it affects the rest of my life.

It really is a double-edged sword, and a lot more stressful than many people realize.  What would the main character in your book think about you?

In a way, my characters have a life of their own. Raic hates me with a passion and blames me for disrupting his life and taking away his choices. He was comparatively happy the way things were. Tarsin, however, thanks me for helping him to be himself when surrounded by pressure to meet his father’s and brother’s expectations. If only he knew…

It’s wonderful when characters come to life that way, especially to the point where they hate you.  So do you listen to music? Or do you prefer to write in silence?

If I could do anything with silence, my life would be far simpler. I generally listen to music while I write, though I sometimes have TV shows on a binge-watch as background noise. Currently, The Mentalist is playing. It allows me to watch when I pause for thought, but is not overly distracting.

 

The need for background noise the bane of my writing existence J   What is your favourite motivational phrase?

From a fortune cookie: ‘Trust in your own imagination; it will serve you well.’

Thank you for taking the time to talk with me.

By the Blood, may the Fates show mercy.

H.S. Cook

Thank you so much for joining us on Word by Word.  Check out the links below to connect with H. S. Cook on her website, Twitter and Facebook, and read about the Blood King Chronicles.  That series title gives me chills!

http://www.bloodkingchronicles.com/

@BloodKingChrons (http://www.twitter.com/BloodKingChrons)

http://www.facebook.com/hscook/

Monday Update and Welcome to Fall

Fall is finally here.  Schools are starting up, the weather is changing and life is good.  Summer flew by fast and now it’s time to really get to work, and accomplish my goals.  Nanowrimo is right around the corner, and this year I’m planning to blow that word count right out of the water.

Writing

Caste of Iron –  Sort of new, sort of old.  I had backburnered this one a long time ago, but I’m ready to bring it back to the fore.  I wrote about 1K on it last week.

Goal: 2000 words.

Witchhunt –  This is the title I’ve settled on for now for the story set in Everwold I mentioned a couple weeks ago.  So far sitting at 6K and looking good to finish by next week.

Goal: 1500 words.

Flash story – Managed to write a story last week, about a gem miner who strikes it rich only to have his friend betray him.  The prompt came from my writing critique site, Scribophile, simply to write about a disaster.

Goal: Another flash story, I’ll probably pick a random prompt.

Revising

’cause it’s a chalice :-)

Chalice – I’m throwing most of my revising energy behind this one.  I tried to revise Chalice a while

back, but I just wasn’t happy with how it was going.  So I shelved it and moved on.  I’m ready to dive back in and I have some much better ideas.

Goal: Get 35% revised this week

Seer –  Poor Seer is just not getting the attention it deserves.  C’est la vie.  I’m thinking in terms of time spent with this one, so …

Goal: Two hours of revision time and we’ll see where that gets me.

Amber Soul – This a flash piece I’ve played around with revising, and I need to get off my duff and get it done.

Goal: Complete revision

Website

My website banners are published.  Check them out on the front page.  Christa Holland and Paper

and Sage did a beautiful job.

And the really big news …

My Patreon is Live!  Which means I will begin releasing my serialized fiction next month.  Story chapters will appear here and on Wattpad (once I get that running) every third week.  So pretty soon my website will boast tons of free stories.  Yay!

Personal Goals

Dedicate a half hour, three nights a week to sewing Bunny’s quiet book –

Achieved: Nothing, *sigh* I really need to knuckle down and make this happen, because Christmas is creeping up fast.
Goal: To get one page of the

 

Exercise for at least 10 minutes every day (I know that doesn’t sound like much, but baby steps, and all that)

Achieved: Going to bump this one up because we’re actually doing really well.  Bear and I walk every morning when he’s not out of town.  Of course, we’re heading into winter, but our area is fairly warm, so afternoon walks can still happen at least through November.
Goal: a 20 minute walk every day.

 

Read 10% each (I’m all about the ebooks) from:

Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads by

Achieved: Page 211, and approaching the fifties. I did learn the hardest food to come by in the U.S. during World War II was prime cuts of meat.  Boo hoo, America.
Goal:  Shooting for page 300 this week, and hopefully I reach the sixties.

Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett

Achieved: A sad lack of progress on this one, mostly because it ended up in my car, and I kept forgetting to bring it inside.
Goal: I’ll shoot for page 100 and just keep my fingers crossed.

 

Happy Fall everyone!  Sound off in the comments, and share your goals for the week. 

Wewriwa, New Story – Caste of Iron

Welcome again for Weekend Writing Warriors, hosted on Wewriwa.  Bloggers today can share their 8-10 sentence WIP snippets.  Click the link to check out the rules, visit some blogs on the linky and sign up to share your writing.

Now that Hawk is finished, it’s time to move on to a new story.  I decide to dig one out of the archives of my hard-drive.  A semi-steampunk/steammagic inspired story currently called Caste of Iron.

As a lead up, the main character Lewk, a young sorcerer, has just arrived to visit his family after a year away. Kotya is his newly acquired student.  Silla is Lewk’s younger sister, and Mosa is her father.  It would take a while to explain the complex relationships within Coventry families, so I’ll just leave it there.  I’ve adjusted the snippet to fit the word count.

Mosa laughed as he released Lewk and put an affectionate arm around Silla, then he noticed Kotya hovering behind Lewk.  “And who is this?” 

“Long story, Papa,” Silla said. 

“Oh,” a familiar voice cried from the adjoining room.  “No, I simply do not have the constitution for a dramatic story today.”

Mosa winked at them and he pitched his voice to carry.  “I’m sure seeing your precious youngest children will improve your health considerably, my dove.  I will take charge of this little one.”  He took Kotya’s hand, whispering something to her about sweet cakes as they left the room. 

“Lewkam,” his mother called.  “Come here.  I need to see you.” 

 

Let me know in the comments what you think.

Lost in Worldbuilding – Coventry and Tea Time

Now that Chalice is finished, I need to work on something new.  Caste of Iron is a novel I started a long time ago, then set aside because I wasn’t thrilled about where it was going.  Time to dive back in, so I decided to do some worldbuilding.

For now, the setting is called Coventry.  That may not be a permanent name, but it will do for now.

Here are some tidbits I discovered while lost in worldbuilding.

I usually draw my maps by had first, but this time I went to my mapmaker.  I like more flexibility in the beginning, but this does offer some interesting choices.  I like how the Colly Forest turned out, though I wish I could have made the trees darker.

The symbol options offer walled cities, and that seemed like the perfect fit for the capital city and, though you really can’t see it, the little fishing town of Kipnil.  Flipping through the other available symbols, I found those ocean rocks and remembered that I imagined at least part of coastline being rocky.  I also stumbled across a tower symbol, and decided that belonged inside the forest.  I have a feeling my main character Lewk will stumble across that one.

It’s still pretty bare bones, but I have enough for some good story ideas.

Beyond mapmaking, I love cooking, but oddly enough, my worlds tends to lack details about food.  So, I decided to have a bit of fun last weekend, and do some real world development on one aspect of Coventry; their popular custom of tea hour.

This picture shows a royal tea, or at least, the closest I could get to one with the ingredients I had.

A royal tea, or any proper tea depending who you ask in Coventry, is meant to be light, with the focus being on the tea.  Hence the large tea mug, rather than a small cup.

A royal tea should also have a mix of sweet and savory food, that can be picked up by hand and eaten in one or two bites.

Fruit tarts are popular for teas, though cherries would be a more likely choice than blueberries.  Sadly, I couldn’t find any.  Conventry cherries are quite sour, so they’re considered a perfect complement to spiced or smokey black tea.

 

 

 

 

Rice is a staple on Coventry, so cakes made of leftover rice are a common addition to teas.  This one is mixed with egg and flour and fried in peanut oil.

 

 

 

 

Meat in Coventry is usually served sliced and fried in

oil, with a mix of vegetables and seasonings.  In the case of a tea hour, the meat will usually be served on a slice of vegetable, here, radish and lettuce leaf.

 

 

In northern Coventry, there’s a growing trend toward rolling the meat and veg in rice.  Black tea services call for richer, stronger flavored foods, so seasoned steak and chicken as opposed to fish.

 

 

 

Fried bread puffs are almost ubiquitous at a Coventry tea.  These breads are very plain, and intended for soaking up any traces of sauce or syrup left on the plate.  If the plate is clean, the bread can always be dipped in the tea.

Speaking of tea, the people of Coventry take theirs very seriously.  Markets sell of a variety of different flavors, tea leaves processed many different way, including having various oils and spices added to the dry leaves.

Once the tea is boiled, popular additions are honey, fruit syrups, and if you can afford it, sugar.  Many purists will insist on drinking their tea straight.  As well, adults would never be caught adding milk to their tea.  That’s something done for children, to weaken the tea until they can handle the full strength.

Thanks for coming along on this ride with me.  Does a Coventry royal tea sound like fun to you?

IWSG September – Am I Blogging Right?

It’s that time again, when writers across the world come together to share their trials and tribulations.  Welcome to Insecure Writer’s Support Group, the brain child of Alex J. Cavanaugh.  A place to share your writing woes, find encouragement, and even offer support to fellow writers and bloggers.

September’s IWSG hop is co-hosted by C. Lee McKenzie, Rachel Pattison, Elizabeth Seckman, Stephanie Faris, Lori L MacLaughlin, and Elsie Amata!

This month’s official question is, how do you find time to write in your busy day?  But I am as always, a rebel.

 

My insecurity this month, and to some extend, every month is one I hear bloggers ask all the time.

Am I reaching anyone?

I do very often feel like I’m shouting into the wind.  I’m realistic about it.  My launch last week went about as I expected.  I really intended it as a practice for me, to see if I could meet the demands of getting posts written and published on time.

Answer: Just barely.

I’ve accomplished in the past few months with the simple amount of blog posts I’m publishing.  I used to be much more sporadic, and now I post at least twice a week, if not more.  I’m proud of myself for that, but still I wonder, is anyone reading it.

Part of me thinks that shouldn’t matter.  I didn’t get into this to attract a big audience.  I just wanted to write and share my writing.

And then I get stuck on that last bit, because if no one is reading, then I’m not really share, am I?

Well, time for some soul searching.  Is what I’m putting out worth sharing?  Is it the best, most interesting stuff I have to offer?

To me it is, but it is about my writing, and things that I like.  However, I can go further.  I’m going to be doing some new things over the next few weeks and months.  I’ll be releasing serialized short stories once or twice a month, as time allows.  And I’m toying with the idea of doing a vlog once a month.  I have some ideas for my first video, but we’ll see.  More worldbuilding stuff, because that’s the sort of thing I like to read on an author’s website.  From there, we’ll see.  There’s no time like the present to start something new.

Sound off in the comments.  Do you feel like you reach readers?  Does it even matter to you, or are you just happy to write?  

 

 

 

 

Patreon Launch Day!

It’s official!  My Patreon is now live!  To check it out, click on the image above, or right here.  Fully realizing what a long shot this is, I’m super excited I took this step.  Because beyond anything else, this will push me to start writing and releasing new fiction every week.

And in that light, here’s the final piece of my short story, Mortal Wounds.  If you’re just arriving, catch up the with the previous chapters below, then enjoy the ending.  And thanks for reading.

“Mortal Wounds” Part 1

“Mortal Wounds” Part 2

“Mortal Wounds” Part 3

“Mortal Wounds” Part 4

“Mortal Wounds” Part 5

 

Accepting of my own death.  The words frightened Jali.  If she died, Hanni would have no family.  She would have to live on sufferance among the other villagers.

The orne took another step back.

A sigh of relief almost escaped Jali’s throat.

“I am not mortal, but nor am I weak.”  The creature spoke softly, with none of his usual cackling and chattering.  “We had a deal, even if you did not agree to the terms out loud.  So I take it back.”

Her skin prickled.  Slow heat built in her ankle, rising to a burn as bubbles of pearly liquid burst from her skin and flew to him.  Then her ankle shattered.

The orne’s scream drowned out hers.

Jali sobbed as her leg gave out, and she dropped to her knees.  The orne writhed on the ground, his foot a mangled mess.  Because he had taken his magic back.

He had broken their connection, leaving Jali with no power.  And any second, he might heal.  Stomach roiling, she dragged herself toward him.  She understood pain.  She understood mortality.  It frightened him.  It was too much for him, despite his words.

He let her get close.

Jali lunged and thrust her knife into his back.

The creature roared, a sound far deeper than she would have imagined him making.  She threw all her weight on to the knife, dragged it down, even as her vision blackened.  Colored lights danced over her eyes as the world swam in and out of focus.  Still, she gripped her knife.  She embraced the pain to keep her awake.

The orne writhed, tried to buck her off.  Nails gouged Jali’s arms, ripped her skin.  She held on, fingers so tight, she thought she would have to break them to let go.  She twisted the blade, and shoved it deeper.  The orne keened, the sound weaker, softer.  His hands dropped away from Jali’s arms.

He collapsed, face forward into the ground.  Jali landed on his back with a grunt.  After a few seconds, he no longer moved.

The world spun around Jali as she forced herself up.  She jerked out the knife and hacked at the creature’s neck until his head came free.  Trembling, covered in blood and gore, she sat back and examined herself.

Her left foot had turned back into a crushed and mangled stump.  Deep gouges in her arms bled sluggishly.  Jali pressed her lips together to hold in her gorge and tended to her injuries.  Afterward, she wrapped the orne’s head in burlap and hung it from her pack.

She ate her meal and rested as best she could.  Her entire leg throbbed.  In the morning, she fashioned herself a walking stick from a branch.

The journey home took seven days, and Jali exhausted all her food and water by the fourth.

At the edge of her village, she waved to the men and women working the fields.  One woman ran off toward the village proper.

The elders met Jali on the single village road, expressions skeptical.  Several dozen villagers crowded behind them, many gaping at Jali’s leg.

Jali tugged the burlap free and sent the head tumbling across the ground toward their feet.  In the shocked silence that followed, Hanni burst from the crowd.

The little girl threw herself into Jali’s arms.  Jali bit back her cry and held her sister close, breathing in her sweet smell of wild flowers and lemon grass.  Wounded though she was, she had succeeded.  Hanni would be safe and not alone.

And wounds healed.

 

Patreon Launch Countdown – 2 days

As the plot continues to thicken.  Let’s see what happens to Jali in this penultimate part.

“Mortal Wounds” Part 1

“Mortal Wounds” Part 2

“Mortal Wounds” Part 3

“Mortal Wounds” Part 4

Knife still poised, Jali stared in disbelief.

The orne huddled on its haunches, grasping its wrist.  Dark blood oozed from the creature’s hand, the same wound Jali now bore.

“Heal,” the creature wailed, clawing its fingers over the cut.  “Why will it not heal?”  He turned to glare at Jali with reddened eyes and shrieked.  “What have you done?”

“You healed me.”  Her lips trembled.  “Magic does strange things when mixed.”

The orne bared its teeth, and snarled.  “Then I take it back.”

Jali winced at the burn in her left foot, but seconds later the orne howled in panic, and the pain faded.  The creature clutched its own foot, naked terror in its eyes.  It hobbled backward, away from Jali.

I scare him now.

The thought gave Jali little comfort, but something must have shown in her eyes.  Perhaps the smallest flicker of amusement.

The orne bared his teeth at her.  “Laugh, will you?  Foolish, human child, do you think you’ve won.  I will go to your precious village, and devour them all.  You will return home to empty shells where your friends and family once stood.”  He smiled, though his eyes held only rage, none of his manic glee.  Rage and fear.

Jali’s throat tightened, and tears stung her eyes.  She held the knife to her wrist.  “I will stop you once and for all.”

“No!” the creature leapt forward, hand reaching out to grab the knife.  Jali danced out of the way, and sliced two of her fingers in the process.

The orne gazed helplessly at his bleeding hands, then at Jali.  He took another step toward her.

She pressed the tip of the knife into her stomach.

He stopped, and dropped to his knees.  “What do you want?”

“For you to leave my village alone.”  She swallowed to steady her voice, wavering at the sting of the knife tip digging into her belly.  “Come near us again, and I will end you.”

The creature gave her a sidelong glance, still engrossed in his wounds.  “You would kill yourself.”

“I am mortal, and accepting of my own death.”

****

One more part left and we’ll see how Jali gets out of this mess.  Join me on Monday for the final installment.