Thursday, November 29, 2012

Nippets Of Snovember

Umm... I mean, SNIPPETS OF NOVEMBER!

Wow, am I tired. 

But it's true! It's time again for snippets, and yes, although I realize that I must be the last person to post snippets in November (the month is up in 2 days!), better late than never. Besides, I know you were all just dying to read some of what I wrote on Children of a Legend during NaNoWriMo, and I couldn't post snippets until I had actually finished writing my 50K. 

Okay, maybe not dying, but I hope you were excited to read these. And don't forget to check out Katie's blog for more snippets from great writers!


Directly behind Lord Vernd entered a man that Gimnder unfortunately knew all too well. He was dressed in black from head to toe, his black boots smeared with the dust of heavy traveling, his black cloak torn plentifully from use and battles, his black tunic laced tightly against his chest, his black gloves covering his powerful hands, and his black scabbard hanging grandly and hiding the sharp blade to a majestic double edged sword. The only other color he presented on himself, other than the pale skin of his face, came in two, bold accents of sharp contrast: a jagged scar that ran horizontally across his face beneath his eyes and over his nose, dark from age and pain, and a thick sash tied about his waist the exact color of blood.

*** 


Jimena, the older of the two, looked up shyly at the visitors through her thick hair with a small hello, but Lyndee watched the group unabashedly. Her little, freckled nose wrinkled as she studied them, and her dark, quick eyes, Davin promptly noted, didn't miss a thing.
“Why are you so dirty?” She asked, looking at Grant skeptically.
Rodnal spoke up quickly before Grant could say anything. “We've been on the road fer a long time, little one, and we haven't got the chance yet ta take a bath.”
“Then you should get washed up.” The little girl replied seriously. “Lettie never lets me go to bed with that much dirt on my face.”


***

 Recognition struck Davin instantly. “You're the man I saw last night at the inn! You sat at the table in the corner, in the shadows. You were watching us, weren't you?”
“You are most observant.” The man congratulated him with an air of mockery.
Davin wasn't certain whether or not to describe him as a man, for the stranger looked no older than Davin himself. His brown hair was slicked down neatly, and his chin held the faintest signs of scattered stubble. His clothing resembled the garb of a simple hunter, mostly greens and browns, but made to withstand the taxing use of the outdoors and the biting colds of winter. Leather gauntlets laced about his wrists, and across his chest lay a thick belt to which on his back was strapped a quiver full of arrows. His bow lay with the quiver, but the curved wood was, at the moment, unstrung. It was still too dark in the alley to clearly see his eyes, but Davin felt as if they were dark and accusing, focusing on his every move.
He kept his eyes on Davin as he spoke. “But yes, I was watching you.”
The statement wasn't said in shame nor in a threatening manner. It was simply stated, without any comprehensive feeling, and heard.
But Davin didn't like the way it was stated or heard.

***

 By the time they had gained the end of the alley, Davin noted with relief that the violent shouts and lethal clashes of the fight no longer permeated the air. Instead, angry voices were thrown against the close walls of the alley. Davin recognized them instantly as two distinct voices, those of Olette and his brother, Grant.
 ...
“That was dumb! Completely and entirely foolish! Stupid and senseless! What in all of Dron were you thinking?”
“That wasn't dumb! How can ya call it dumb? I probably saved yer life!”
“Saved my life? Ha!”
“I did!”
“By almost getting yourself killed? Oh, sure, that was really smart!”
“I'm not killed! And it was a smart move!”
“Smart by whose standards? Girls don't belong in battle anyway!”
“I have jest as much right ta a fight as you! They wanted my head jest as much as they wanted yours!”
“I haven't the least idea why they would want your head when it has nothing in it that they would find useful!”
“If it wasn't fer me, yer head might be rolling around on the ground right now!”
“So you expect me to be grateful for what you did?”
“I would expect some thanks, but since it's from the likes of ya, I don't!”
“That soldier could have killed you.”
“But he didn't!”
“You had no business stepping in here! We were handling well enough on our own!”
“I could tell! You handled that man going for yer back with a sword very well!”
“I was going to stop him.”
“When? When it was too late?”
Davin raised his voice before his brother could fire another retort back at Olette. “Grant!”
Every head in the alley whipped towards Davin.
He kept his words even. “Let's go.”

***

Brice's speech broke through the despair on Davin's face, and he looked up at the sandy haired boy, his lips twitching with the beginnings of a smile. “When did you become so smart?”
Brice pretended to take offense to his words, crossing his arms defiantly against the accusation, but he couldn't keep the chuckle out of his voice as he responded. “Why, I've been smart for years! It just took your little brain this long to recognize that fact.”

***

 When the man had fallen, Brice turned back to Davin. “I think we could stand with a new plan. It's time to play a new card from your hand. What do you say, General?”
“I'm not...” Davin protested, but Brice wasn't listening. He was rushing back to assist Grant.
“A general.” Davin finished lamely. But he knew Brice was right. They were holding for now, but for how long? Sooner or later the soldiers would overwhelm them with the sheer number of the force they had on their side. The strength of Davin's friends was waning fast, and he knew that they counted fight forever.
But he had no plan. No card that he knew of that he could play. What more could they do?
His mind flitted to the skirmish they had fought in West Delt, after Essore had taken Niana on her first flight, carrying her out of town and later decimating the soldiers following him with a fiery blast. Davin could still see the charred remains of the men in his mind, and he shuddered. It was horrible, the destruction a dragon's fire could do.
A dragon's fire...
All at once, Davin lit on a plan. It wasn't anything great, not a sound plan with clever strategy. It was more of a thought, a ray of an idea that was a simple help. It was a card he could play.
“Essore!” He shouted as loudly as he could, disregarding the threat of avalanche. If the dragon could do what he did before and distract the soldiers long enough for the four friends to get away, they might make it to the stronghold and bar themselves inside before Vernd's troops had a chance to rally.
Davin hated to pull Essore into the fight, especially since the bitter cold affected his wings so, but there was nothing left for him to do. Essore was the last and only card Davin could play for their side. And he was playing it.
He waited a full five minutes, eyes probing the sky, voice and heart calling out to the black dragon, listening to the sounds of battle further down in the pass. He waited for the roar of the approaching dragon, waited for the deadly stream of heat to come flying forth from the deep pits of the dragon's insides. He waited for the black form of the dragon flying toward them in the sky.
But Essore never came.
Davin had played his card, but the card had proved empty and useless. 

God bless!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

I Did It!


This morning I typed out my 50,000th word. 

NaNoWriMo is officially won.

Those words do not give the excitement I feel bubbling up inside of me right now justice. I never once in my wildest dreams imagined that I could write 50,000 words in exactly twenty one days. Yes! That's right! I finished the challenge 9 days early! 

Yeah, I know. I can't believe it either. Especially since I usually frantically type out my last few hundred words on the very last day of the month. I'm beyond ecstasy thinking of the new 50K words that are now a part of Children of a Legend.


I can't make this a long post due to the fact that my assistance is needed in the kitchen today (is anyone else astonished beyond reason that Thanksgiving is TOMORROW?!), but I just wanted to share the glorious news with you all. And some stats, of course. :)

My total written this month (so far): 50,000

My average per day: 2,380

Best writing day: November 20th with 5,465 words

Worst writing day: November 4th with 853 words

April NaNo: 50,036

June NaNo: 50,176

Words written July to October: 1,822 

Final word count for CoaL: 152,034

And that's not the end, people. I've finally given in and decided that CoaL is a series, not just a single book. However, I'm about 3,000 words away from the end of this first book. And don't worry... I'll share snippets of what I wrote next week!

I wish all my friends in NaNo great success in writing. And Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you have a wonderful holiday with your family!

God bless!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Don't Keep Calm... Wait, What?

So, after typing away like mad this morning, polishing off 2600 words in about 2 and a half hours, I decided to take a well-deserved break from NaNo and check blogger. And look what I found! What fun! Miss Laurie is holding a Period Drama Don't Keep Calm Contest over at Old Fashioned Charm! It's like Keep Calm... but not. :D

I just had to enter. So, I sprung off to the Keep-o-matic-whatchmacallit website to quickly make some posters. Here are my entries:





Hope you enjoy them!

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Today I Am... {3}


I suppose I should have warned you all that during this hectic month of November there will be a lack of posts here on Lianne Taimenlore. Well, on all my blogs, really. Almost all my computer time is spent working on NaNo, and in addition to that, I've been teaching school to my sister, Teddy, and my family is working on practicing Christmas music for our engagements in December. I apologize for appearing on blogger few and far between, but that's life. I hope you understand. 


{writing}
Children of a Legend. It's NaNo, and I've been feverishly typing away at my keyboard, trying to get in as many words as I can before the dreaded November 30th. Actually, I probably shouldn't call it "dreaded" as even though it's the end of NaNo, it's also my dad's birthday. Hmm... Anywho. My goal has been to write 2,000 words a day so that I may be able to safely skip (if I want) writing on Sundays and Thanksgiving. At the moment, I am 3 days ahead of par with a total of 27,552 words. Yes, I am VERY happy about that. 

{reading}
I just finished Hard Times, and I literally just cracked the cover on a new book, My Philadelphia Father by Cornelia Drexel Biddle. Those of you who recognize that name... this is the true story upon which one of my favorite movies The Happiest Millionaire is based. I only just started reading it, so I have no idea what to expect from the book. Let's see how closely the movie is to the original, shall we? 
Oh! And a small note on Hard Times: it was my fifth Dickens book this year, giving me the honor of successfully finishing my Charles Dickens Reading Challenge. I shall have to do a post commemorating the occasion and telling you all what I thought of what I read.

{listening}
To inspiring writing music. I made myself a playlist of writing music and although I don't listen to it every day as I write, I'm finding that I've been playing an awful lot of songs from the HTTYD CD. The common theme between my story and that movie of dragons sort of officially makes it the soundtrack for my book. Sort of. I like to think of it that way, but in reality, How To Train Your Dragon is rather unlike Children of a Legend.

{watching}
Christmas is nearing quickly, so my family has been enjoying watching Christmas movies lately. Last night, we watched Snowball Express with Dean Jones in it. It's actually not about Christmas, more just winter, and it was hilarious! We all laughed until our ribs hurt as the father (Dean Jones) skied down a slope known as Nightmare Alley. And yes, he was the type of person who knew nothing whatsoever about skiing. Epic.

{sewing}
Nothing now, but I have many sewing plans for the future, including making some new church dresses/jumpers for KT Bugs and sewing Christmas presents, but I cannot tell you what I shall be making lest the recipient reads this post and discovers the secret before the big day!

{looking}
Outside and wishing for snow. Quite a few of my friends on and off blogger have said things about the joys of the snow falling outside their window, and I'm feeling a little left out. We have a small spattering of snow on the ground when we woke up the other day, but it quickly melted before noon. 

{learning}
That I do not write well when I have blogger and pinterest open for inspiration. Sure, they're very inspiring, but I've discovered my writing slows when I'm getting inspired via these sites. I have to confess that I've actually turned off the internet completely on my laptop at times so I can focus solely on writing. Please tell me I'm not the only one...

{feeling}
Excited for a number of reasons, the biggest two being: #1 - Thanksgiving is next week! And #2 - My cousin Captain Oblivious has been in Montana working for the past 5 or 6 weeks, and he'll be home soon! We are very greatly missing him. 

{anticipating}
A great holiday season. Why? Read on, Lizzy!
Firstly, we're planning a sleepover with our classy blood cousins the day before Thanksgiving so we can make pies for the next day. This has become a tradition in our family, and we're rather excited to be continuing the custom. 
Secondly, my family has (I believe) four Christmas concerts scheduled for the month of December, so we've been practicing. Sure, the practice gets difficult at times, but I love singing Christmas music. 
Thirdly, our blood cousins' blood cousins are coming up for Christmas this year, so after years of hearing about them, we are finally getting to meet them! 
And lastly, our CBCs are coming for a visit at New Years! As for fun there, I need not tell you all that we shall do, for it will only make you sadly envious of us.
See? It's going to be a great holiday season. Praise be to the Lord for this wonderful time of the year!

{wishing}
I can't think of anything that I'm wishing for off the top of my head. Only that I wish I could write more than 2,000 words a day on my story to really boost my NaNo word count.

{loving}
Music. Christmas. Epic soundtracks. Classical. 'Nuff said.

God bless!

Friday, November 2, 2012

Character Encounters ~ Brice

Happy November! And happy NaNoWriMo! 

Whether that last mentioned subject is truly happy or simply the result of insanity remains to be discovered, but nevertheless...



It's time again for Character Encounters with the lovely Kendra of Knitted By God's Plan! And this time, we meet our character in...

Our bedroom.

So... it has come to this.

Enjoy!

The infernal ringing in my ear has driven me to the point of distraction. This cold has lasted longer than I would ever have wished, and I'm quite ready for it to be over. Completing NaNo hasn't been easy with ear pain and coughs, but after the two thousand words I put in this morning, I consider it a good start. 

But two thousand words is all I can take today. The pain in my ear won't let me focus any longer. 

"I'm done." I tell Beth Grace. "No more writing tonight." I shut my laptop and slide it beneath the bed. And then burrowing under the blankets, I prepare for a good night's sleep. I hope.

And then the tapping on my shoulder starts. "Are you sleeping?"

I know it's my brother, Doofus. It has become his habit to ask this question 24/7 after viewing a certain picture on Pinterest, so I kindly respond with the correct answer. "No, I'm scuba diving." 

The tapping ceases. "What?"

The voice isn't Doofus's voice. I roll over and squint in the light of Beth's lamp shining in the room. The light is only supposed to lighten her bed enough for her to read, but the rays come across the room to my bed. But black against the light, resting quite close to mine, is a head. And it's not the head of my brother.

"What's scuba diving?" 

I yelp and, in my haste to retreat, smash my head against the headboard. "Ow!" That's going to really help my ear ache. 

"Kiri, are you hurt?"

I hold up a hand. "I'll be okay." I open my eyes and try to get a better look at the person addressing me. It's a boy, probably my age, with a mop of wild, sandy hair and expectant, brown eyes. His leather tunic looks weather beaten, and dirt is smudged freely across his face as if he's been outside, spending time out in the open fields and valleys. He looks vaguely familiar, but blurred as my eyes are after staring at a computer screen and whacking my head, I can't place him.

"Who are you?"

He grins. "Don't you recognize me? I'm your favorite!"

I'd know that cocky tone anywhere. "Brice?"

He nods, the grin on his face growing ever bigger.

I flip the blankets back over my head and burrow into my pillow. "You're not my favorite."

"Aw, come on, Kiri!"

I know that I shouldn't be too astonished to see him. I found Ahmis wandering around the library last month; I should have expected to see another character appear soon. I just didn't count on Brice trying to rob me of precious sleep. "What are you even doing here?"

Brice's face falls. "You can't leave us there, Kiri! What's going to happen?"

"What do you mean?"

The freckles on his face stand out all the more as he gets into his topic. "You left us standing on the edge of a gorge! I know you've got something up your sleeve! You wouldn't put a gorge in our path without reason, so what's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" He all but bellows. "You're planning something sinister. I just know it. So, who is it?"

My eyebrows knit together. "What?"

"Who is it?" Brice demands. "You've got to tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"You're planning on cutting someone off in this scene, aren't you?" He plants his elbows on my bed and plops his head down to rest on his fists. "Who is it? Grant?"

"No, Brice..."

"Is it Davin?" He recoils in shock. "You wouldn't kill off your main character!"

"No," I try to start again, but Brice's moan cuts me short. He buries his face in his hands, and shakes his head violently as if trying to shake out a unpleasant thought.

"I knew it! It's me! This is the end! How could you be so cruel, Kiri? I'm in the prime of my life, I've got so much more to live for! I can't die yet!"

It takes me a few minutes to regain his attention. "Bricentus Holloman, listen to me. Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it?" He yelps. "How can I not worry? I'm going to die!"

"You're not going to die!" I've never seen Brice get this emotional before, and it's all I can do to hold myself back and refrain from shaking him uncontrollably. "I promise you, Brice, you will live through this scene!"

"Are you sure?"

"I've written later scenes with you in it." I glare at him. "I know you're going to live through this scene. Trust me. I know where I'm going with this."

"But..."

I can tell that his fears will not be pushed aside. "Look, Brice, I can't tell you what's going to happen. You'll learn that as we go along. But I can promise you that no one will die in the gorge scene."

"No one?"

I level my gaze steadily at him. "No one." I repeat. "Now can I go to sleep, please?"

Beth Grace looks up from her journal. "You can go to sleep. I'm almost done, and I'll turn the light off in a minute."

Brice is gone. The space where his sandy head was is now empty. There is nothing there that said he had been here. 

I sigh and tuck myself back into the blankets, with my blue comforter pulled neatly under my chin. "I'm going scuba diving. Good night!"

God bless!