Monday, March 30, 2015

Monday Musings: Digging In

I am not going to post my usual playlist selection this week as I am buried in my rewrites. I will also, most likely, skip next week as well, although I plan to post at least a small update on my progress. It is with much nail biting I dive into my rewrites this week. The climax looms before me with all of its promise and, ahem, all of its former flaws. I hope to vanquish the flaws and polish up the promise so that I will have an enjoyable read to offer you all.

I also had a wonderful surprise today, waiting for me in the mail:




It is a beautiful little journal with the Enchanted Roses cover. Isn't it darling? A lovely gift from the staff at Rooglewood Press to encourage me along in my rewrites.

Now, I am off to battle the Underworld and save my poor floundering Wither. Pray for me, dear friends!

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

The 777 Writing Challenge

I have been tagged by Hannah Williams in the 777 Writing Challenge. This is the first time I've ever done something like this, and it is so fun! The Rules are: The 777 challenge requires you go to Page 7 of your work-in-progress, scroll down to Line 7 and share the next 7 lines in a blog post. Once you have done this, you can tag 7 other bloggers to do the same with their work-in-progress.


I am going to share from Wither, as this is the current work-in-progress consuming all of my time, and the required lines are too perfect not to share:

"But there was no one left to speak against me. For years, I had labored in silence—agonized in silence—nurtured only by the memory of counsel. But, like my roses, memories only last for so long before they shrivel and fade. And my roses were withering away. Soon, I feared that I too would be nothing more than a long-forgotten memory. I shifted, stricken with guilt, as I remembered the horror on Merchant Haverly’s face when I told him the tribute I demanded. He had been ready to pay for his blundering mistake, but he had not thought even me, a monster, capable of such monstrosity."

I nominate the other Five Enchanted Roses authors: Jenelle Schmidt, Dorian Tsukioka, Hayden Wand and Kaycee Browning. I also nominate Olivia K. Fisher, Joy C., and Sarah Bailey. 

Monday, March 23, 2015

Monday Musings: A Quick and Quiet Reflection


This week I am quite swamped with obligations, so I am going to share something short and sweet (as I gobble down my breakfast with the bowl held over my head to avoid Toady's evil advances). I am in the middle of training this week, and that combined with rewrites and company coming this weekend, I simply won't have time to do much of anything this week. So here are a few of my favorites Wither songs. These are all instrumental which allows them to be inspirational for almost any occasion. A quick caution: I love the Pan's Labyrinth soundtrack but I do not recommend the movie. I found it terribly depressing. The soundtrack, however, is hauntingly beautiful and I find it most inspirational when writing difficult scenes.




Monday, March 16, 2015

Monday Musings: The Inward Climb

One of my favorite aspects of writing is getting to climb into the heads of other people. I love characters. I love reading about them. I love creating them. I love throwing them into a tangle of drama and danger and watching how they surmount the obstacles. They never cease to amaze me.

There are some characters that take root in your brain and run away with you. You never have to think twice about them. They grab you by the collar and drag you into their thoughts and desires and at the end of the book, you rather feel as if your best friend has moved away.

There are other characters, however, who are not quite so easy to write. Or read about. They are not so lovable, not so engaging, not so inspiring. My Beauty is one of those characters, as I have been reminded over and over again in the notes from my editing staff. She is a courageous character with many good qualities...but sometimes she is just downright unlikeable.

I have been laboring over her character for almost two weeks now, trying to soften the rough edges and pull out her more endearing qualities...and I must confess, I have had to dig deep. Lilybet was not one of those characters who popped up on the page and exploded to life. She is a tough nut I have had to chisel away at to get her to open up for me. Even then, she has been amazing me with her layers. Her tough, courageous exterior is only the shell of a character that has so much more to offer.

This week, I was listening to one of my CD's on the way to work, and this particular song snagged my interest, and so, yes, I have added it to my playlist. "Christ of Hope" by Michelle Tumes is a song written to loved ones when you must be apart. To me, it is a promise of the beauty in Bet's character I have just begun to uncover. It's a song that reflects her love for the family she must leave behind.

This is really a beautiful little song. I hope you enjoy it.


Monday, March 9, 2015

Monday Musings: Chaos Into Beauty


I apologize for the lateness of this week's post. With the unpleasantness of time change weekend, I must confess to being rather groggy this morning. I was half way to work before I remembered I had not posted the song.

I had not decided which song to share this week until the rewrites for Wither came back from the editing team...then, one song in particular leaped out at me. Not because of how much it relates to the story, although it does, but because it relates to what aspect of the story process I am working on right now...the REWRITES.

Rewrites, to different people, mean different things. Some people see them as a challenge. Some people actually find them enjoyable. I find them a necessary evil. Like the Stepmother in Cinderella, or Sauron in Lord of the Rings, or the Witch of the Waste in Howl's Moving Castle. I don't hate rewrites because I think my story is good enough without them. Quite the contrary, I am well aware of the flaws and overwhelmed by the chore of trying to mend them. Sometimes, it is easy to lose sight of the goal when bogged down with the unpleasantness of the moment.

Although I must take responsibility for the rewrites on my story, I am so thankful that it is not up to me to mend the mess of my real life. This week's song from the Playlist is "Already There" by Casting Crowns:



From where I'm standing
Lord it's so hard for me to see
Where this is going
And where You're leading me
I wish I knew how
All my fears and all my questions
Are gonna play out
In a world I can't control

When I'm lost in the mystery
To You my future is a memory
Cause You're already there
You're already there
Standing at the end of my life
Waiting on the other side
And You're already there
You're already there

From where You're standing
Lord, You see a grand design
That You imagined
When You breathed me into life
And all the chaos
Comes together in Your hands
Like a masterpiece
Of Your picture perfect plan

When I'm lost in the mystery
To You my future is a memory
Cause You're already there
You're already there
Standing at the end of my life
Waiting on the other side
And You're already there
You're already there

This is such a great reminder that all the pieces will fall into place. I don't mean just in regards to my rewrites, but to life in general. All the pieces of our lives, the ones that don't seem to fit, the ones that plague us with their uncertainties, the ones that break our hearts and drive us to distraction--they are all part of a grand design. This morning in church, Pastor said something about the life of Joseph that struck me. He said something about how we forget that the people in the Bible were real people. Real, live people. Just like us. We get so caught up in the story, in the plot, in the commentary in the margins we often forget it was REAL. He said, "In real life, we do not have a commentary. We have faith." If you were to put yourself in the place of Joseph...sold into slavery by your own family...falsely accused and then imprisoned and forgotten...what would you have felt? Would I have kept my faith? Joseph didn't have a commentary on his situation to take comfort in. He had to live in the moment. And in the terrible moments of his life, he kept his faith. He set such an amazing example for the rest of us.

My favorite line in this song is "To You my future is memory." It is so strange for us to picture the future as the past. Our view of time is limited: we see backward and we see now, but we can't see the future. To think about the future being a memory for someone who already knows how it is all going to turn out...that really boggles the mind, doesn't it? I find it encouraging. I can't imagine a world without a great Designer to take the chaos and tragedy and unpleasantness and somehow form them into a masterpiece. Into something beautiful. Into a life that honors Him.

I hope you find this song as inspirational as I do!

Monday, March 2, 2015

Monday Musings: Josh Groban and the Widget Dragon


Good news first: I wanted to invite everyone to check out my Author page on Facebook. I believe this link here should take you to the page. On my page, I am planning to share any news that may relate the Five Enchanted Roses, including tidbits that may come along about the other authors in this collection. For example, I just shared a post that Dorian recently re-posted about one of her other works, Cursed Beauty, and it intrigued me all the more about her tale Rosara and the Jungle King. I just found Cursed Beauty on Amazon Kindle for $.99. Check it out!

Now to sad tiding: The War of the Widget Dragon has ended in a grudging cease fire. After three weeks of fiddling and fussing, I have conceded temporary defeat. My original hope had been to share my iTunes playlist on my blog for Wither, but I simply cannot continue to waste time on what is, at present, a losing battle. The Widget Dragon has proved entirely too resourceful for me.

So, I will have to settle for a less streamlined and convenient method of sharing some of the music that helped me in the writing of this particular story. Each week, I am planning on sharing the lyrics to one song from my playlist with a couple of thoughts on why I like it. I won't be able to share a link to the actual song, at least not at present, but you might be able to listen it on Spotify, YouTube, or in your own music library. I hope to come up with a better method to allow you all to listen to this playlist, but this is the best I can offer at present. If anyone has had any experience with the Widget Dragon, I should be delighted to hear how you conquered said beastie. Or commiserate, if necessary. Take courage, dear one, you are not alone. 

Moving on!

I am going to begin with one of the songs that has been with me from the very start, when The Neverway Chronicles still swam around in my brain barely even conceptualized. This song inspired the series as a whole, rather than Wither in particular, but it is the first song on my playlist, partly because of its significance, but mostly because I just like it so MUCH. 

"Now or Never" by Josh Groban 

I watched the morning dawn upon your skin
A splinter in the light

It caught and frayed the very heart of us
It's been hiding there inside for all this time

How a sure thing winds up just like this
Clockwork silence only knows

And it's no one's fault
There's no black and white
Only you and me
On this endless night

And as the hours run away
With another life
Oh, darling, can't you see
It's now or never?
It's now or never

Sweeping actions still at 3 AM
We're trying far too hard
The tattered thought balloons above our heads
Sinking in the weight of all we need to say

Why's and what if's have since long played out
Left us short on happy endings

And it's no one's fault
There's no black and white
Only you and me
On this endless night

And as the hours run away
With another life
Oh, darling, can't you see
It's now or never?
It's now or never

It's now or never
It's now or never
You know that there's so much more

And it's no one's fault
There's no black and white
Only you and me
On our final night


And as the hours run away

With another life

Oh, darling, can't you see
It's now or never?
It's now or never...

One of the reasons I enjoy this song so much is the sound of it, something I cannot capture in words. The melody is haunting yet hopeful. And, let's face it, Josh Groban has one of the nicest voices in all the world.

Another reason I like it is because some of the words in the song make me think of specific elements in the Neverway story world. "Happy ending" reminds me of the fairy tale themes. "Clockwork silence" hints at the subtle steam punk elements in this series. In Wither, the clockwork is extremely subtle, practically nonexistent, but it will be more pronounced in After and the succeeding stories. 

The concept of time is another theme in this song that also plays a major role in my series. I am approaching each story with a different aspect of time in mind. In Wither, both Bet and the Beast of Briarstone Abbey face a looming deadline. They're dealing with time in the present, the anxiety of the here and now, and the toll this anxiety can take on one's life. It is why I chose the title Wither in the first place. After deals with the terror of the future, of the life that comes after death. Even the setting, the Neverway, hints at this relationship with time. 

Even the lines "it's no one's fault, there's no black and white" make me think of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. What is this tale, if not a study in prejudice? At least in some small part?

This stanza here simply makes me think of the Beast of Briarstone Abbey:

It caught and frayed the very heart of us
It's been hiding there inside for all this time
How a sure thing winds up just like this
Clockwork silence only knows

Doesn't that just make you want to sniffle? I'm off to get a box of Kleenexes...and ice cream.