S.M. Pace's Blog, page 7

Back, Tanned and Ready to go

I’m actually not tanned at all.  I burn if I don’t slather myself in sunscreen.  But if tanned symbolizes a relaxing, well taken beach vacation, I am that.  And now back to real life.

First a confession.  I said I wasn’t putting pressure on myself at all last week, because it was my vacation and I wanted to enjoy it.  I left all my notebooks, revision drafts, blog posts planning notes at home.  However, I did take my ultrabook, because the last time I had no internet access for more than 2 days, I developed terrible, unexplainable headaches.  Screw you, summer storm power outage.

Anyway, I do all my writing on my computer, so that aspect of my work was still at my fingertips.  And there was the small matter of the Hot and Sticky Summer Novel Writing Challenge I signed up for.  Click the link if you have no idea what that is.  The goal is 488 words per day, and I signed up late, so I was already behind.

Rather than ban myself from doing any writing, I decided that if the spirit moved me, I was going to put words down.  And it did, actually every day, with the exception of the day before we left.  So beyond achieving my symbolic tan, it was an awesome week.

On to my achievements from the last two weeks and my goals for this week.

Writing

Cry of the Hawk –

Achieved:  4.5k, woo hoo!  That puts me at a total of 24.5k, with 9.5k of that counting toward my hotandsticky wordcount.
Goal:  Shooting for 3k this week.

1 Flash story

Achieved – Wrote another flash fic, the week before vacation
Goal:  Planning another for this week, based on some random wierdness that happened at the beach.

Revising

Cats at Midnight –

Achieved:  I managed to get to 51% on this one.  Technically behind on my deadline, but I changed my deadline  A nice perk of being my own boss.
Goal: Shooting for 59% this week

Seer –

Achieved: Got to almost 37%.
Goal:  Hoping to make it to 41%.  I’ve slated this one as a novel to be submitted, so I’m taking it slower.

Flash story –

Achieved: Managed to revise the story I wrote a couple weeks ago.
Goal:  Hoping to revise a flash piece I wrote a while back, about a girl making a difficult journey.

Website

I sketched out my short story plans.  Hoping to finish one in the next couple of weeks.  Probably won’t start the other for a long while.  Mailing list is up and running  Follow the link and sign up to get blog posts as well as some extra goodies in your mailbox.

Goal:

Personal Goals

Dedicate a half hour, three nights this week to practice drawing –

Achieved: Actually did a lot of drawing in the last two weeks, including some landscapes.  I’ll post pics eventually.
Goal: Going for three nights this week.

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

Achieved: Does walking on the beach count?  I did get through my 10 minutes a day the week before vacation, and mowed the lawn, which I think it good for a workout.
Goal:  Planning to keep my streak running, and maybe bump to 15 minutes.

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

Indiana Bell, a time travel historical novel by John Heldt  –

Achieved: Finished!  Review will be forthcoming.

 

Wish me luck, and good luck to all of you.  Sound off in the comments, and share your goals for the week. 

Mist Mad – Part 2

Follow the link for part 1.

“Mist Mad”

An hour’s worth of candle burned down before Marten came home.  He hung his knife on the wall, and sat down at the table.  He stared into his bowl of fish stew, then reached into his pocket.

He placed my ball next to my plate, and patted my shoulder.

“What of the creature?”  Mama tore a loaf of bread into three chunks and passed one to each of us.

Marten shook his head.  “Jed Smithson’s hammer rusted away to nothing when he brought it within a foot of the thing.”  He bit off a hunk of bread, chewed and swallowed.  “It has a strong will. Seemed physically weak, but that might have been an act.”

“What can be done?”  Mama glanced at me.  “Burn it?  Push it back out to sea?”

Marten sighed.  “Too wet and windy for a fire.  Getting close is risky.”  He dipped his spoon in his stew, but didn’t eat.  “It was trying to breathe on us.  We hammered stakes around it, to keep it contained.  Sy’s riding out to Lyrecrest, to fetch a mage-priest.”  He made a face.  “I doubt they’ll come before winter’s end.”

I watched them both, but they said nothing more.

“When will it die?”

Mama shuddered, and wiped her eyes.

Marten wrapped his fingers around her wrist, and looked at me.  “It won’t die unless the Mist lets it go.”

A sour taste hit the back of my throat.  “I saw his eyes.  The man was still in there.  Will it keep him alive forever?” Fresh new terror seized me.  “Is that what happened to Dad?”  Frantic, I jerked away from the table.  My hand struck the ball.  It fell with a thump, and rolled across the floor.

Mama seized my arm.  “Enough, Lyas.”

“Mama-”

“No!”

“Listen to your mother.”  Marten gripped the edge of the table, as if he wanted to flip it over.  “Calm yourself, and don’t go panicking about things that can’t be helped.  Sit down, and eat.”

We finished dinner in silence.  Afterward, I escaped to the loft.  Stripping down to my long woolens, I crawled to the upper window.  My view faced the village.  The scattered lights mirrored the stars overhead.  I watched them, and thought about the Mist Mad.  Then I thought about my Dad.

Three years gone, his body buried at sea.  Riddin by the Mist.

What if it never let him go?

A Beautiful View

Yep, this is where I am!

Hope you’re enjoying your summer, wherever you are.  I’ll see you all on Friday, for the next installment of “Mist Mad.”

Mist Mad – Part 1

A rather chilling little story, set in the world of Everwood.  A young boy discovers something on the beach and learns a frightening truth.

“Mist Mad”

I discovered the Mist Mad body the day I lost my favorite ball.

The ball sailed over the cliff and I watched it plummet to the beach below.  I stood at the edge, my bare toes clinging to the rough rocks, icy air chilling my lungs.  My red ball lay against a dark bundle of cloth.  From that distance, I didn’t know what it was.

At the shoreline, the ocean boiled and frothed against the pebbles.  The White Mist rose in stark contrast to the iron gray water, a distant wall of fog that reached right up to the clouds.  Ships dragged too close to the Mist vanished beyond, never seen again.

Dad told me those stories.

The closer I walked toward the bundle, the heavier my steps grew.  I’d never seen one before, but I recognized the size and shape.  A man-sized bundle, wrapped in strips of dark linen.  Dad described to me how they buried fallen sailors at sea.  My eyes darted to either end of the bundle, seeking the ropes that would have tied it to weights.

They must have slipped off.  A part of me urged my legs to run home, abandon my ball, and tell Mama.  But another part held sway, and pulled me closer, eyes fixed on my ball.  My Dad’s last gift to me.

Closer, a chill tightened my spine.  Thunder rumbled overhead.  I reached for my ball.

The body flopped over.  I stifled a scream, and leapt backward.  My foot slipped, and sent me sprawling, smacking my backside on the wet rocks.  I started into flat gray eyes.  And they stared at me.

Mist Madness, the fate of a sailor that breathed in the White Mist.  I imagined the panic of the other sailors.  A Mist Mad would do all they could to turn the other sailors, sabotage the ship and sail it straight into the fog.

The body, I could not tell if it was a man or woman, writhed, tied arms straining for freedom.  The mouth opened, and let out a wet, strangled sound.

My heart pounded.  My fingers clenched around a rock.  The body flexed, freed one arm.  Fingers reached for me.

I flung the rock with strength born of terror.

It struck the Mist Mad square in the forehead.  The glassy eyes sparked with emotion, fear, pain, sorrow, before the light died again.

I turned and scrabbled back up to the top of the cliff and ran all the way home, leaving my ball behind.

****

Tears poured down my cheeks when I reached our cottage.

Marten, my step-father, stood outside chopping firewood.  He frowned and dropped his ax when he saw my face.  “What happened?”

Sorrow clogged my throat.

Marten grasped my shoulders and shook me.  “Out with it, boy.”

“A Mist Mad washed up on shore.”  I swallowed back another bout of tears.  “I lost my ball.  The one Dad gave me.”

Marten’s eyes darkened.  “Greta!”  He went into the house.  Seconds later he emerged, tucking his knife into his belt.

Mama followed him out, and wrapped her arms around me.  We watched Marten walk the road toward the village.

“What will he do?”  Panic seized me at the thought of Marten facing the Mist Mad.

Mama squeezed my shoulder.  Her normally ruddy skin gone pale.  “Don’t you worry about Marten.  He took care of himself long before we came along.”  She gave me a brief smile, though her eyes flicked toward the cliff.  “Help me get dinner ready.”

*****

Join me next Friday for part 2.

*top image credited to Tasja Brewis

Top Ten Tuesday – Ten Facts About Me!

Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and the goal is make a top ten list, or less, based on that week’s prompt.  The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here.

Ten Facts About Me!

Cause there just isn’t enough of me in this blog already

I still buy hard copy books, but I mostly read ebooks: 

Okay, this might be the least interesting thing about me.  I do a lot of research using books, because the internet is pretty hit or miss.  For my nonfiction needs I always go with hard copy, because it’s easier to find the information I want.  But for my fiction needs, I usually go for the ebook.  We live in a small house, and have only so much storage space.

I’ve been writing stories since I was six:  My first story was about a tree, that grew up, gave birth to baby apples, and was then eaten by a bear.  With pictures.  I was a weird kid.

I’ve never won Nanowrimo:  1666 words a day is really hard, and every year I’ve attempted Nano I’ve either been in school, working, or desperately trying to find a job.  I don’t handle stress well, and covet my down time like a dragon hoarding gold.  Nano quickly becomes more an obligation than a fun thing to do, and my brain shuts off.  But who knows; we’ll see what happens this year.

I hate writing by hand, but I force myself to during revision:  Writing by hand tires my hands out really quickly, and my writing rapidly turns to chicken scratch.  So I type all drafts on my computer.  It helps me control my internal editor as well, allowing me to run through scenes, and keep my creativity flowing.  But when I revise, I print my whole manuscript out.  Mistakes and issues are much easier to spot in hard copy, and I’m more careful with my re-writes when I do them by hand.

My office used to be a storage closet:  Our house is fairly small, just two bedrooms.  Off our bedroom is a storage closet, with a low sloped ceiling.  I claimed it as my office, reasoning I had no need for extra room.  Unfortunately it wasn’t connected to the houses central air, nor, as you can see, did it have windows.  It was brutal in the summer.   So I had to give it up.  As you can see, it’s been turned back into a storage closet.  But you can see my old dry erase calendar still hanging up.

 

 

 

I once almost got sucked into a backend vanity press:  I started shopping my first novel, Shadow of the Wolf, around shortly after I completed the second revision.  I sent it out to five publishers and heard back from one, who claimed to be very eager to accept my book.  I’m ashamed to say, I was thrilled.  Until they asked me how many print copies I intended to purchase up front, with a kind warning that there was no obligation to buy any, but it would let them know how serious I was about succeeding.  I honestly can’t remember the name, but I remember I cried all day.  When I sent an email declining their offer, they sent back a warning to be careful not to get tricked into signing on with a vanity press.  Charming

I finished the first draft of Wings of the Butterfly in two weeks:  I was taking a writing course that actually required you to complete a novel in two weeks.  So, somehow I did.  Fortunately, Wings was one of those stories that literally flowed from my fingertips.  Granted, the final version looked very different from the draft, but that’s my MO.

I was heartbroken over the illustration changes to the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books:  These stories gave me endless nightmares as a kid, and I guess if I’m honest, it wasn’t really the stories.  It was the artwork.  Just look at these pictures.

What even is this?

Spoilers, this one had literally nothing to do with the story it was attached to.

Dear Father Christmas! I will never sleep again.

They’re terrifying, and surreal, and amazing.  Then they came out with this.

He doesn’t look terrified. He looks inconvenienced, like he wants to tell her she’s invading his space.

Fortunately, I still have my Scary Stories collection, with all the original artwork.  My kids will have the same nightmares I had, thank you very much.

I rode a mule to the bottom of the Grand Canyon:  Six hours of thigh chafing, back aching, and heart churning terror.  The guides promised us that mules are very sure footed, and have never thrown a rider.  That doesn’t sink in well when you feel like you’re hovering in the air directly over a shear drop straight into sharp rocks.

Once at the bottom, it was pure heaven.  The view from the bottom of the Grand Canyon is breathtaking.  We waded in the Colorado River, listened to an educational lecture on rocks, and ate a delicious dinner and breakfast.  The ride back up was much easier.

I love cooking and playing around with recipes: I don’t know who started it, but my new favorite thing is those quick style videos that give you a bird’s eye view of someone preparing a recipe.  Somehow, seeing it all done in fast time from hovering camera view makes the recipe look so much more delicious and easy to make.  Spoilers, a lot of those recipes are not as easy as they look.

I’m planning to make Cookies and Cream Puffs from Tasty for my family vacation next week.  I’ll let you know how they come out

So that’s a little bit about me.  Share something about yourself in the comments.  I love to learn more about other people.

It’s Getting Hot and Sticky!

I’m starting to remember what I don’t like about summer.  It’s hot and sticky.  Speaking of which …

(sarcasm font) Nice segue, me.  Anywoo, I’m taking the Hot and Sticky Summer Novel Writing Challenge.  Thanks to Marna Reed for this awesome banner

This challenge was started by Adrian Fort and Dalton Gentry at Stripped Cover Lit so check them out on Twitter and Youtube, and give a try.  I’m starting late, but I have actually been working on a novel since mid June.  As it is, my word count based on what I’ve written since June 1st stands at around 4, 594.  Wish me luck.

Onto achievements from last week and goals for this week.

Writing

Cry of the Hawk –

Achieved:  No words for Hawk last week, I’m sorry to say.  It was a busy week, as you’ll see why when you read farther down. But looking forward to getting back in the writing saddle this week
Goal: Shooting for 3k and hopefully I’ll get to know that new character you might have met if you saw my Wewriwa post on July 3rd

1 Flash story

Achieved – I did actually manage this one, though it ended up based on a random prompt rather than a contest theme
Goal:  Shooting for another one this week

Revising

 

Cats at Midnight –

Achieved:  I threw most of my writing energy into this one and actually got to 48%.
Goal: Shooting for 54% this week

Seer –

Achieved: Nope, nothing.  Like I said, super busy, but also exciting
Goal:  Current goal same as the last, aiming for 35% revised this week.

Flash story –

Achieved: No short story revisions this week.
Goal:  Hoping to revise my flash fic Dragon Thief.  I have a thing for dragons lately

Website

Didn’t do much for the website this week.  I did set up a draft page for my Patreon but that obviously won’t go live for a bit.  And I signed up with a mailing list provider, so the ball is rolling on that.  The short story sketches did not happen.

Goal:

Sketch a plan for a couple short stories
Work on mailing list set up

Personal Goals

Dedicate a half hour, three nights this week to practice drawing –

Achieved: I did get a couple nights in, mostly doing guided sketches
Goal: Let’s see if three nights will happen today

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

Achieved: Exercised quite a bit, chasing my son around.  I kept him home with me for three days last week.
Goal:  Trying again for 10 minutes every day, and at least one walk

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

Indiana Bell, a time travel historical novel by John Heldt  –

Achieved: Yay! 23% and I’m really enjoying it
Goal: Aiming for 35% this week

To sum up the week, the reason I didn’t get a whole lot done is because I spent most of it with Bunny.

My parents, who usually care for him while I’m working, had to stay with another family member.  So, it was just Bunny and me for several days.  I had wanted to take him to zoo, but I’m glad I didn’t bother.  It was nice spending some relaxing time with my little guy.  He’s growing up so fast, and I’m loving every minute.  We’ll be at the beach a week from now, but surrounded by family, so one on one time will be scarce.

Good luck to all of you in achieving your goals this week.  Sound off in the comments, and share what you’re up to.  

World Blog Tours – Krystal-Anne Melbourne

Today is a special day, because today begins World of Words, a year long series of blog tours with several awesome authors I’ve met in my writing travels.  First up is Krystal-Anne Melbourne.   

Bio:

Krystal-Ann Melbourne is an author and artist living in Montreal with her two fat cats. Since neither writing nor painting pays the rent, she also works full time as a Video Game Playtester (best day job ever) for a game which she’s not allowed to tell anyone about.

Her other interests include teaching herself piano, violin, knitting, cooking, baking, making candles, and gardening. She’d really like to get into creating art from sandblasting old windows, and is always working to improve her French.

 

 

 

Q. Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?

A. The first story I ever wrote is actually the story I’m still writing. I’ve been working on A Balance of Souls for over half my life. It’s gone through about 27 rewrites, changed titles four times, the plot and characters overhauled so often that I no longer remember the originals. When I started, I was twelve, and the book was terrible. Instead of looking at it as half my life spent failing to write a book, I see it as spending half my life teaching myself how to write. The draft I have now is well worth all the work, and when I start the next novel, it’ll be a breeze.

Q. That’s awesome. I’m terrified to look at anything I wrote at twelve. What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

A. Join groups with other writers, make friends, exchange work. But don’t accept their critique blindly. Take into consideration both the purpose of your novel, and the quality of the critic’s own work before deciding whether or not to accept the change. There are a lot of amateur writers on the internet, and they’re all like you. They all have flaws in their writing, and those who aren’t aware of them will try and suggest the same flaws to others, so be selective. I took some awful advice from fellow writers when I was younger, and it set me back years.

 Q. Great  advice. What are your thoughts on good/bad reviews?

A. I find reviews of all forms need to be looked at on a large scale, and at a distance. Everyone has a different opinion, it’s when the majority of people agree with each other that critique or compliments should really be considered.

Q. What is your favourite movie and why?

A. Sweeny Todd. I’m morbid, but also cheesy. The horror musical serves me well.

 Q.  I love that movie as well, though mostly for Johnny Dep  Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing as far as content?

A. The happy bits. A Balance of Souls is quite dark, and several beta readers have suggested that I add some lighter scenes to counterbalance. I completely agree with them, it just seems that when I try to write happy chapters, they lose a lot of my voice. The most difficult part of writing (right now) is trying to insert my own voice into scenes where it doesn’t come naturally.

I enjoy a dark story, but I can see where too much would be overwhelming.  I can also imagine how hard it would be to write more cheerful scenes into an otherwise somber story.  Good luck, Krystal, and thanks so much for stopping by. 

Learn more about Krystal and her novel-in-progress A Balance of Souls by visiting her at the links below.

Krystal-Anne Melbourne Blog

A Balance of Souls

Monday Warm Up and Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July to all my American peeps!  Happy summer-is-finally here to all my Northern hemisphere peeps  And happy winter to those on the southern half of the world

It’s time again for Monday Warm-up, my weekly update on my goals.

Writing

Cry of the Hawk –

Achieved: I got 4k written last week, and the first draft now sits at 19,572. Yay!
Goal: 3K this week

1 Flash story

Achieved – nope, didn’t happen
Goal:  I’ll try again to write one for this week, based on the theme of a contest from my critique website

Revising

Hero –

Achieved: revision finally finished! I’ve submitted the story to my crit group.

Cats at Midnight –

Achieved:  Got through about 31% of my revision process.  I’ll have to explain one day how I measure that.
Goal: Get to 39%, i.e. section 10 of my crit process.

Seer –

Achieved: 31% revision on this, and got a lot of great ideas.
Goal:  Get to 35% revised, or section 8 of my crit process.

Flash story –

Achieved: Managed to revise my short story (not flash) Mist Mad.  I’ll be splitting that one in three and sharing on my blog.
Goal:  Revise another flash story this week, likely one about a thief and a dragon.

Website

Achieved:  I set up my free reads page.  It’s very empty at the moment, but as I get flash stories revised and post them on my blog, I’ll be putting them on this page.

Goal:

Set up a website page for my Patreon
Set up my mailing list
Sketch out plans for two new short stories

Personal Goals

Dedicate a half hour, three nights this week to practice drawing –

Achieved: I got in a couple nights of practice.
Goal: trying for three nights again

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

Achieved: Managed every other day, and took a walk with my son on Thursday
Goal:  Trying again for 10 minutes every day, and at least one walk

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

Shifting Shadows, a short story collection by Patricia Briggs –

Achieved: actually finished this one.  Patricia Briggs will do that to my every time

Indiana Bell, a time travel historical novel by John Heldt  –

Achieved: made it to about 5% on this one
Goal: Aiming for 15% this week, and still planning to review.  Keep an eye out for it.

To sum up the week, I also managed to deep clean my house from top to bottom.  I could not be more thrilled.   We finally have uncluttered, clean surfaces again.  Yay!  As well, I discovered that I had accidently thrown a wet diaper into my son’s hamper.  I did not discover this until after it had gone through the wash with the clothes.  Yep, gross.

Wish me luck, and good luck to all of you.  Sound off in the comment, and share your goals for the week. 

WeWriWa – Cry of the Hawk

Welcome back for another round of Weekend Writing Warriors.  If you’re not familiar, Wewriwa is a collection of authors across the blogosphere who gather on weekends to share snippets of their work.  Click the link to read the rules, check out the amazing submissions and consider signing up.  Hope to see you on the next round.

Today I’m sharing a snippet from my current, painfully slow going WIP Cry of the Hawk.  A new character just showed up, and I like her.  Maybe she’s the kick this story needs to get rolling.  We’ll see.  This snippet has been edited to fit the rules of engagment

****

Toby seized her by the wrist, while Cor came to his knees with a fluid motion that put him directly behind the woman, one arm around her chest to pin her arms, and the other holding his knife to her throat.

She froze, though her dark eyes flashed. “You two are making a mistake,” she said with the barest trace of an accent Toby could not place.  

“I think the mistake was yours in trying to sneak up on us.” Toby sat up and studied the woman. Tan skin ran common in Yois, but not even among the Yurha had he’d seen someone with such dark brown skin.

She stared back at Toby with equal scrutiny and, he noticed, made no attempt to fight Cor’s hold. “Why are you following us?” he asked.  

“They’re looking for you, the Lady and her magicker dogs.”  She spat on the ground as if the words tasted bad.  

****

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Worldbuilding and a Sketch

I’m not sure, but I think I mentioned somewhere in one of my blog posts that I’m going to work on my drawing skills.  My goal is to create drawings I can include with my blog posts, of still lifes, landscapes from my stories and eventually, characters, if my skill improves enough.

I figured I’d start with something easy.  I have a general idea of how Yois, one of the countries from the Threads of Magic series, looks.  The village of Chieb, where my characters Toby and Ora were raised, sits near the perimeter between Yois and werewolf territory.

Beyond the quiet village, lay the northern communal fields, some left fallow for the year.  Looming at the edge of the prairie stands an unnaturally straight line of trees.  Evergreens, many which tower easily twenty feet, mark the perimeter between our civilized kingdom of Yois, and the wild beasts of the forest. 

An excerpt from a Yois book on geography

I wanted to draw this, to try and imagine what my characters like Toby and Ora would have seen on days when they traveled to the outskirts of Chieb. 

First I drew a flat map, to help me figure out where things were.

 

 

 

 

From there, I did a pen sketch, still very stylized, just with an eye to where things ought to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s my official sketch, in light pencil.  I realize that will make it hard to see.  My eventual goal is to transfer this to white sketch paper, and start filling in details from there.  I will say, I like how the fence turned out.  The grass and trees I feel I have to work on.  And the chickens.