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Derrick and Jago, age 10
The sharp scent of discharged magic filled the air, as did the sound of frustration, victory, and of disappointment. The Grandmaster leads a brace of boys to the training hall deep in the Skylar Temple. Considering what the hall was used for—a practice area for the wielding of magic as a weapon—the area was surprisingly tidy. Probably due to the efforts of the range tenders and trainers, who…
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Derrick and Jago: age eight
Derrick and Jago: age eight
In my onging bits of nattering in an effort not to fill CATCHING HER BALANCE with backstory, here’s the two at age eight. Within the Vittalar compound, two young boys are being tortured. Well, they thought they were. In reality, however, it was just time for school. The room around them is the standard decorative theme. Maps of the surrounding kingdoms cover the walls; well-worn writing desks…
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Age Five
Adding to my sort-of story about Derrick and Jago’s blended childhood, I’ve gotten to their first Skylar ceremony. This is a turning point for the two. As with most of us, expectations are structured on the personalities we manifest at an early age. (Note to readers: my family tells me I did the exact same thing Jago does below, and exactly in the same way. My brother was being picked on and I…
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Chapter 4, the rise of Connor
In CATCHING HER BALANCE: Act One – Things Fall Apart we–so far–have been introduced to Jago’s magick, Jenna’s magick, heard about Sylvett’s, and are aware of Derrick’s concerns with his. And the fact that he shouldn’t have it to be concerned about. But…surely he isn’t the only child of a T’Lar with this talent? In fact, he isn’t In Chapter 4, Connor steps out of the shadows and emerges as a…
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The Child is Born
The Child is Born
No wonder all y’all were so confused. I FB’d a story snippet–new FB feature–but forgot to post a blog about it. SORRY!! Well, here it is. …”In the beginning a child is born”….and all of that: The season’s first frost threatens the reddening leaves. The west wind slashed sharply across wind-torn shrubs, restless grass, and bobbing fall flowers. A blush of sunlight paints the cloud cover, above…
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Lifelong Friends. Literally
[FB gives us an option to write a story so I’ve taken to putting little snapshots of the early life of Derrick and Jago. But, tiny little snapshots only so I figured I’d expand on story because, well, telling stories is what I do. *embarrassed* So, let us expand…] An aged but dignified building’s walls of white marble rise against fields of lush grass. No blade dares stretch beyond the…
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FINALLY!!!!
The thing about how my brain works is that I can’t move forward–with anything, in truth–until evey element of the project beneath my hands makes sense. So, I’ve been procrastinating, fussing, stressing, and fiddling until I realized the issue… Jago’s most dangerous magic needs to be presented to the reader far earlier than the end of Act 2 Having it arrive at the end of Act 2 was sort of a Deus…
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Whoa! Who knew?
People don’t believe me when I say the hours of writing are never futile. Every moment spent fashioning a daisy chain of words into something beautiful only improves with time spent on the task. Don’t believe me? Here…. Same scene; same thrust; same secondary characters but–well, see for yourself. YESTERDAY: How it Began… The season’s first frost threatens the reddening leaves. The west wind…
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Magick and Skylar
Yes, I added the “k” to magic here to align with Crowley and the Thelemistes. (Magick of Thelema). I do this here, and not in the book(s), because a) it would be distracting for readers and b) to draw a line between what my characters do verses who my characters ARE. Which aligns nicely with the fact the Ruling Caste scorns those with magic(k). Why? The books will address that, yes, but for now…
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The Obligatory Lesbian
Yep, the WINX series now has one. Yes, that’s a part of Netflix requirements. Clearly. Also clearly is that it often is the death knell for a series on Netflix. Don’t believe me? I’ll give you some examples of some good series that hit this wall and how others navigated it. The Order: magic and werewolves. introduces lesbian dynamics Season 2. No Season 3. Mindhunter: the geneisis of Criminal…
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Maverick and Iceman/Love story
Maverick and Iceman/Love story
Wait…what? As we return to the joyous memories of Top Gun, with 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, there’s been much chatter. We see Goose’s son in the pilot’s seat, callsign “Rooster”; we see the face of the “…One Admiral’s Daughter!”, AKA Penny Benjamin; We don’t see either Charlie or Carole; but new–to me at least–is the idea the Top Gun is a love story between Maverick and Iceman. What was really…
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Welcome to The Seven Islands
Welcome to The Seven Islands
Specifically, the Fifth Island where Derrick begins the ritual Ceremony. Every five years the upcoming adults must engage in this process, where enemies are identified and unbreakable alliances formed. Watching over it all: the Skylar Temple. Since Derrick is identified as the Promised One, resulting in expectations of this Ceremony to restructure the Septum, he does not walk this path alone. At…
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And so here we go…
And so here we go…
Into the Halls of the Self-Published I go. Truthfully, that isn’t where I wanted to be. Not that it’s negative–absolutely not!–but I’m the author. I write. This marketing thing is so confusing…. Anyway, It’s up on Smashwords as well as Amazon. Smashwords pays monthly and Amazon pays quarterly. New way of looking at my life. Hey, ch-ch-changes. Like I said… Anyway, I adore the cover. Yeah. That…
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Loaded onto Smashwords now
Loaded onto Smashwords now
Act One loading onto Smashwords went smoothly and–BEST OF ALL–I was able to price CATCHING HER BALANCE: Things Fall Apart for the promised $.99 cents. Weeeeee!!! Here it is: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1164168 So, doing all of that is a weight off my shoulder until I remember…I have Act Two produce. Oy!
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Kindle Direct - soon
Kindle Direct – soon
I spent the last two days–literally, almost fell asleep on the keyboard yesterday–preparing CATCHING HER BALANCE: Things Fall Apart for Amazon’s Kindle Direct. Man, what a journey! Cover? Check Marketing blurb? Check Content editing? Check Proofreading? I think I did that properly… Remember, I failed my Grammar Class. Twice. The minimum price I could get was $2.99. Sorry. Anyway, I clicked…
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A Romance author doing Horror?
A Romance author doing Horror?
Is such a thing possible? Turns out, yeah. Very possible, and here I give a shout out to another one of my esteemed Seton Hill Professors, this one Scott A. Johnson. Imagine what it must have been like for him having a romance novelist in his Horror class. Me: OMG, Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!! He: *sigh* Still, I learned a lot from him about a genre I never really spent any time in. (I didn’t realize…
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Changing Points of View?
Changing Points of View?
At one of my Seton Hill residencies–yes, I’m a WPF SHU alumni. My condolences–I sat and listened to Prof Michael Arnzen, three-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, discuss an amazing book by Thomas Harris titled Silence of the Lambs. Sure, we all remember Sir Anthony Hopkins doing the Hannibal hiss when discussing a good dinner. (Creepy? Yeah. Unforgettable? True.) However, we students of…
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