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Writer Quotes: Bradbury.

Posted on May 29, 2012 by L.S. Engler

“Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old-fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he’ll eventually make some kind of career for himself as writer.” -Ray Bradbury.

The realization that I haven’t done a Writer Quote post in a long time struck me the other day, and, as I’m coming out of two days where I haven’t had a chance to post something, I thought now was a good time. Sunday, alas, was a day that had me working (and hard!) for nearly 12 hours. Monday was much more pleasant. My older brother and his family came to Chicago for the weekend, and they drove out to visit the Brookfield Zoo with me. I’m a huge fan of the zoo, so even after they left to drive back to Michigan, I stuck around for another four more hours, which mean about seven hours at the zoo in the hot sun, so I was beat when I got home. It was still really great to see my family, though, including their new little baby, and I got a lot of inspiration from the park itself. Also, I’m pretty sure I saw a guy pushing around a Real Doll in a wheelchair, which was absurd and inspiring. Almost as amusing was the teenager with the ‘Furries Ruin Everything’ t-shirt (and I can only hope she chose to wear it specifically for the zoo…)

But enough about that. Onto this quote from Ray Bradbury, which I find incredibly inspiring. And I also find it very interesting. I was going to add to it that this theory of hard work applied to writing leading to a career in that respect is just even better when the writer is pretty great, but I realized that the magic comes from the fact that all that hard work and determination makes a person a better writer. Just like any other practised skill, the more something is done, the finer it gets. Even if you really are a talentless hack, you can build from something abysmal to something at least palatable. When it comes to writing, of course I find delight in a turn of phrase, in clever allusions and prose that just sings off the page. But I’m also quite fond of books that, while the writing might not be the best, are telling a great and interesting story, and you can tell that the person who wrote it cared and had a passion about their words.

And, really? Even outside the context of writing, I adore this quote. ‘Any man who keeps working is not a failure.’ I was raised to really appreciate the value of hard work, and I agree wholeheartedly with the idea that, even though the results might not be what was anticipated, the point is that you tried, you gave it your all, and you are a better person because of it. Never give up, always keep working, in some form of another. Very rarely will you be worse off because of it.

Also, one thing I haven’t been able to do yet is thank my latest subscribers! So, to Poison Strings and JLT, welcome aboard! Good to have you along for the journey!

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Writer’s Workspace(s).

Posted on May 26, 2012 by L.S. Engler

Almost any writer will tell you that they have a particular place to go to do their work that inspires them and drives their creativity. For some people, it’s a nice quiet office-slash-library, surrounded by books, at a nice desk. Others fit the mold of the laptop-dragging coffee shop regular. Some prefer the library, and others are inspired by nature, be it in the middle of a forested park or enjoying the breeze from their back patio. I’ll admit, I’ve always wanted to be the type that can work in other places. Sometimes I manage to pull off a good half an hour at my nearest Barnes & Noble before I get distracted, but I can never write for long when I’m outside because I’d rather just revel in the nature. As far as my writerly spaces go, I am decidedly a homebody.

It changes, a little, which each residential incarnation. I’ve moved a lot, because life has always kept me going, but now that I’ve finally settled in a place with no real appearance of another change ahead of me (of course, now that I’ve said that, I’m sure life will throw something at me soon), I’ve managed to establish two Writerly Workspaces, the places that really drive my creativity and get me working. I’m a little particular, a little OCD, so when everything is aligned, I can find myself really writing.


First, the bedroom, complete with sleeping cats. This is where the majority of my work is done, and, you can see by the scattering of things, where all my projects are juggled. I do both reading and writing in this workspace, with a very particular system that reads vaguely of a sort of insanity. But it works. If I think about it too much, I find it a little odd that I’m the type of person who works and sleeps in the same place, but that’s a writer for you. Even when I’m sleeping, I’m sometimes dreaming of great plots, so the work here is almost non-stop. There is, however, the slight problem of how I’m desperately in need of a new bedding set from all the coffee spill stains… I’ll also note that the day this picture was taken, the work load was set up on light. If I weren’t lazy and took a picture this morning, you’ll see it in “full heavy” mode, where there are at least five books lined up on those pillows. Intense.


And then there’s the more traditional workspace, which is my laptop on the kitchen table (because who ever uses their kitchen table for actually eating?). Here is where the nitty-gritty of actually typing things up occurs, as well as a great deal of distractions because this is also the place where the Intraweb and whatever other distraction (Tumblr, CastleVille, Fandom High) may be. Sometimes, there are cats invading this workspace as well, but, at the time of this picture, they were still passed out on the bed. You’ll notice a notebook on the original keyboard, and a separate keyboard below it. That’s not done for the convenience of transcribing from the notebook; that’s just a happy benefit because my keyboard on the laptop doesn’t work anymore thanks to…yup…coffee spills.

Apparently, they need to invent a coffee sippy cup for klutzy writers.

Thus ends my random little foray into my personal creative process. These are my own workspaces; what are yours like? Do you have a particular spot that really fuels your creativity? Any little methods or necessities that lead to happy, healthy writing? Any suggestions where I can get a cheap, cute new bedspread? What are your thoughts on Writing Workplaces?

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Flash Fiction Friday: May 25th.

Posted on May 25, 2012 by L.S. Engler

Today, I find myself vaguely astounded. One of the things that gets me is that it’s already nearly the end of May, and so soon! This year has been flying by in a whirlwind. I’m not sure if that’s just me, and I’m not sure if it’s necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, but summer is already here, practically. I slightly blame the strange weather we’ve been having. It never really felt like we had much of a spring, and part of me wonders if that’s just Illinois. It felt like this last year, as well, and I’ve been suffering through a little bit of an ‘I miss Michigan!’ phase lately. Traverse City is especially lovely this time of year…

The second thing that astonishes me is that I’m actually posting my Flash Fiction Friday on Friday. What strange event is this? I guess even I can manage to be on top of things every once in a while. Go me! I think it had a lot to do with the fact that this one is pretty short and sweet. Check it out:

******


(Photo courtesy of PhotoBotos, by Steve Shuey)

All it took was one look at the crowd for Stanley to realize that he had overdressed for the event. Damn, he thought to himself. What a waste of a perfectly good tux.

******

And that’s it! Now that’s what I call a flash fiction, but this is what popped into my head when I saw the picture, and that’s what I’m sticking with. Short and sweet. How will the picture inspire you? Please feel free to swipe it for your own flash fiction to share! Until next time, happy writing, space cowboys.

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RoW80 Update: May 23rd.

Posted on May 23, 2012 by L.S. Engler

“         Taluin gave him a wan, indulgent smile. ‘That is how they are best known, yes. Such an act truly leads on to infamy. But they are also the First Six of Humankind, and they are also the Six Who Shall Return. It’s the latter part that concerns us so; it is a prophesy. And the Codex is the only key we have to crack through the Ancient language and lead us on the right path to finding the reincarnated Asyentai to bring Aryneth to the glory of the Gods once again.’
         ‘Is that something we want to even mess with?’ Jaxson asked, though there seemed to be genuine curiosity underneath the sarcasm. ‘Maybe the Asyentai sealed the Gods for a reason.’”

So, I’ve been taking it a little easy lately, and I think that’s been a fairly good idea. The last few days have been great for reconnecting with my work and my writing and setting me on the right track. I’m not exactly sure what set things off-kilter; it might not have been anything at all, but merely the fact that sometimes, even the straightest courses will curve a little bit. I skipped Sunday’s Round of Words in 80 Days check-in, and so I’m making sure I get today’s up. As usual, it’s probably not the most exciting check-in, as things are just continuing along at a steady, somewhat leisurely pace, but things are still moving along.

Let’s have a look:

Bowlful of Bunnies: I’m sort of sitting on this one for a little bit, and I think that was what set things off for me. Ideally, I wanted to release this sucker on May 31st, but I haven’t heard back from two beta readers yet, though I know they’re working on them. I considered just asking for what they’ve finished so far, but then I thought, no. Let’s not rush this. If I can make improvements and make it just a little bit better by waiting an extra week or so, I want to do that. As much as I want to get this ball rolling, I definitely want it to be the best it can be before I give it that nudge into the actual world, so I’m going to be patient and wait. Then one more revision, chatting with my cover artist, and then the fun world of formatting. A week or so into June, it should definitely be ready. I don’t mind waiting a little longer, especially if some valuable information might come out of it, but, if you are one of my betas, if you can get that to me soon, that would be awesome. I’m going to wait a little bit longer before I start pestering you all by email. Thankfully, I have other projects that are keeping me delightfully distracted.

Serpent in a Cage: Continues to go along nicely into the CHAPTER OF EXPOSITION. I think I’m doing well with it and not making it so much of a big fat INFODUMP. I’ve missed a few days of writing the page before bed like I’m supposed to, but I keep kicking myself back into gear with it, too. I’m not writing as much on it as I used to, as I’m giving other projects precedence for a little bit, but anyone who reads this will know I always love working on SiaC. Page count: 80/141.

Soulless: Most of my writing attention has been channeled into Soulless, which is shaping up really nicely. The plot seems to blossom more and more by day, and I think it’s a really strong contender for the second book to publish this year, so I’m trying to just fly through a rough draft. It’s been really great so far, and I’ve even started thinking a little bit about the second and third books, since I definitely want this to be a trilogy. It just has a trilogy feel, and I could do something like Heartless or Mindless or Whateverless in the titles, though part of me wonders if that’s too contrite. But, like Elliot pointed out last week, I do like my titles….I don’t think I can work on a book for too long without needing to have a title for it. Usually, the titles even come first.

The 100 Books Project: I’m nearing the end of at least two books and making progress on others, though at the moment I don’t have anything finished. I definitely feel like I’m dragging my butt on reading this year, but hopefully, that just means I’ve been doing much more writing instead. Books read: 16/100. (5/38 for this round)

Other Books: When I say my writing has really picked up, I definitely mean it. I’ve been also picking at To Cross a River of Blood and I’ve dug up my circus book, too, so things are continuing with those pieces. I’m working on typing up my modern Orpheus myth, too, so that’ll be ready to be posted by SUnday and then after that, I’m brushing it up for submission, and onto another short story. I want to try to do a new short story a week. I’ve tried in the past and failed, so let’s see how this more recent attempt goes.

There you have it! Like I said, a lot of writing being done, I’m out of my funk and back into the groove and it’s lovely. I think it was just the distress I had over Bowlful of Bunnies, and that’s been alleviated once I let myself be okay if it takes just a week or two longer. Flexibility is the key to these sorts of things, I think. Most people might tout the importance of a hard and fast deadline, but it if means something will be better in the long run, is it really so bad giving it a little bit of an extension? I think not.

And, on a completely unrelated note, Ben and Jerry’s Volun-tiramisu ice cream? Amazing. I got it because it was on sale at Target and I am in looooooove.

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Still a Better Love Story than Twilight.

Posted on May 21, 2012 by L.S. Engler


My apologies to the Twilight fans out there…

Lately, I’ve been having a lot of trouble thinking of things to post about in this blog. Most of my brainpower is being sent over to the tedium of editing and prepping a manuscript, a tedium that does not make for harrowing, gripping blogging material. I even decided to skip my Round of Words in 80 Days check-in yesterday because there really wasn’t any exciting new news: working on editing Bowlful of Bunnies, plodding along on Serpent in a Cage and other various tales, reading….The only different thing would be an update to the Featured Story, but I’m still typing that up, so even this week won’t have a new one, because I’m going to hold it off for next Sunday.

So I tried to think about what to write about today, and a thought popped into my head: Meme Monday. I’ll admit, I love memes. They’re addicting, they make me laugh, and I even find them a little inspirational. And the “Still a Better Love Story than Twilight” meme is not even one of the best ones…some of them are clever, but a lot of them are pretty obvious. Of course Bert and Ernie have a better love story than Twilight; Bert and Ernie are ultimate. But this one touches on something that I wanted to do a post on for a while now and just haven’t found the right springboard for it: ROMANCE.

There have been a few posts about romance on my blog-list, though I can’t remember from who, which was part of the reason I haven’t posted this yet. I wanted to remember who they were so I could link them, but, alas. Still, my brain has been thinking about the romantic relationships we put our characters through, and why. A popular topic has always been the love triangle, of course (I’m guilty of some of those, though I tend to prefer love quadrangles and the like), and whether or not romantic relationships are written out of a little bit of vicariously living through our characters. I’m definitely guilty of that second part, too. But I work with so many characters and story lines that I like to think I run a pretty wide range of types of relationships and romances.

How do you tend to write romance in your works? Is it inspired by actual relationships or do you indulge a little bit in wishful thinking? What are some of your favorite love stories in literature and film?

I gave this a little bit of thought, too; romance is definitely not what I look for in a book. I look for story, and if romance happens to spawn out of that story, cool, but I’m not heartbroken if I don’t have a sweeping love story. So my favorite, I think, would have to be the love story between Sergeant Angua and Captain Carrot from Terry Pratchett’s excellent Discworld books. The ending of Thud! still makes me wibble, and it’s not a typical love story. It’s a story that tells an awful lot about the two individuals, and Angua’s struggle with accepting Carrot’s love has more to do with her own issues and getting over them than they do about him, and he knows it and he gives her time and is so sweet, but he’s a little secretly devious about it, too, because he knows her so well.

I honestly don’t think I could choose a favorite out of my one repertoire of relationships. There are so many that I love for a variety of different reasons that it would be really difficult to narrow it down to a favorite. Locke and Aelis Maria have been high on my list lately, just because I’m realizing that Locke is never really interested in romance until he meets her, but there’s always the fact that she’s kind of like his mother, which is a little creepy…but interesting. Phantalia and Trevor have always been up there, too, because he loves her despite the fact that she’s absolutely insane and some genetically modified monster. Those are the first two that pop into my mind, but, as I type, I realize I could probably go on like this forever.

So I’ll stop myself before that happens, and open the gates to let you share your own favorite love stories. Because, let’s face it, anything is a better love story than Twilight.

*cough*

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Tunnel Vision.

Posted on May 19, 2012 by L.S. Engler

As the past few days without a post and the utter lack of a flash fiction for this week, I think it’s safe to say that I’m having another “off” moment lately. Part of me wants to say it’s just tunnel vision for the Bowlful of Bunnies project; another part of me wants to claim that I’m just being lazy or out of it. In truth, I’m not really sure what it is, but, every so often, you hit a little bump and it throws you off your game for a few days. It’s been happening a bit more than I’d like for me lately, but there’s nothing to do about it except either grin and bear it, or try to write something anyway. I’m going for the latter today, in hopes that it will break the cycle if I just make the attempt.

It might just simply be a time management issue. I’m standing on the precipice of just about ready to self-publish my first book, which is a pretty towering cliff. It’s not uncommon for things like this to immobilize a person a little bit as they prepare to jump right off, and I think that might be a little bit what’s going on with me. I’ve gotten excellent feedback from my beta readers, I just need to poke my cover artist, and then do some last minute polishing before formatting. But I seem to be taking my time with these processes, either out of anticipation, or just because maybe I’m not quite ready to finally say I’m done. It’s the whole fear factor. I’m not afraid of what’s ahead so much as I’ve really enjoyed the process and the motivation, and I’m worried about my inability to keep the momentum up once all is said and done.

My brain has still been a flurry of ideas even though I’ve been plodding along slowly on the main project. I just haven’t had the oomph to put any of these ideas into concrete and interesting words yet. But today, I’m getting something out there, and that’s a start, and tomorrow is another day. So here are a few, simple thoughts for your Saturday, and tomorrow starts another week.

I have not yet had the chance to thank Ross Gale for recently following the blog, either. Thanks, Ross! Welcome aboard!

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RoW80 Update: May 16th.

Posted on May 16, 2012 by L.S. Engler

“     ‘Anything you were going to say to him, you can say to me. Sorry if you were hoping to make an appeal to his cock, but brains have to factor into this, too.’
     Something flashed in her eyes as she narrowed them. ‘I was actually hoping to appeal to someone with heart,’ she said. ‘I wish to come with you.’
     ‘Come with us?’ Locke balked at the woman. ‘Why? Why barely know you.’
     ‘It is true that I don’t know what you are all about,’ Awngel admitted, ‘but I do know one thing. Everything I had here in Kassir was tied to that naked man you saw leaving my room, and now that he is gone, I have nothing left.’
     ‘Oh, and we have so much more?’
     ‘You have each other,’ Awngel said simply, ‘and that is infinitely more than what I have.’”

I swear, Wednesday check-ins for A Round of Words in 80 Days always seem to come up so quickly; it’s probably the fact that I don’t have a long weekend of a lot of working to suffer through before I get to it like I do on Sundays! Things have been going really well for my goals; I’m getting a decent amount of writing done, I’ve got some good milestones marked ahead, and I’m just putzing along and getting stuff done. It feels awesome to be on top of things like this! Now if only I can think of better blog topics and stop skipping days where I don’t have a review or a check-in to post. I forgive myself these trespasses, though, because I know I’m using that time to finish editing and keep plugging away at my other projects.

Let’s see what I’ve got for this Wednesday:

Bowlful of Bunnies: Good lord, editing without a printer and with a faulty mouse is freakin’ tedious. But it’s getting done. I know I haven’t heard back from all my betas yet, and a huge, big fat thank you! to the betas who have gotten back to me. I’m going through the edits now, and they’re really insightful and helpful and super exciting. This is really shaping up to be a good, solid collection, and I have you to thank for it. I’m going to pester my cover artist here in a few days, and hopefully, next week can be dedicated to formatting and getting everything ready to finally be put up!

One question that has come up as I’m editing that I thought to open up to a little discussion: when you have people proof your work, how much of their input do you tend to use? I used to run a workshopping group in college, so I feel I have a pretty good grasp on how to delineate between constructive criticism, really good advice, and just little stylistic variations, so I don’t use all the advice given to me (especially since not everyone’s going to agree…one reader might love the way you structured that sentence, another reader will completely hate it). Do you tend to follow most of what your betas suggest, or do you go mostly by your own judgment with a consideration of the suggestions? A little bit of both? How do you feel if you make a suggestion to someone, but they decide to stick with what they have (or, in my case, go with something completely different)? I always feel a little bad when I have a note, and I consider it, and I’m left with, “You know, I see their point, but I still like my way better,” but….I like my way better! I still have this feeling, though, that, by denying a reader’s suggestion, I’m basically telling them that their suggestion sucks. Which isn’t the case, but I still feel bad. Ah, well. Editing>

I guess this just proves that I’ll have to elbow my way through it and get it done so I don’t have to deal with it anymore, right?

Serpent in a Cage: I’m going to be a slight dork about this because I actually wrote two pages yesterday instead of one, which is very exciting for me, even though I cut the last chapter off a little short because it wasn’t working in the moment and I decided I’d hop to the next one and expand on the last later. So it’s going well and we’re going into a BIG EXPOSITIONARY CHAPTER, which I both love and hate. It feels lazy, but I know it’s necessary and I’ll be honest, I love the interactions with the characters as they’re catching up on what’s happening and the reader gets a good scope for the plot. It’s a necessary and sometimes delightful evil. Page count: 78/134.

By the way, since I’ve breached page 77 since posting the meme, here are 7 lines from page 77 of Serpent in a Cage:

worn by the bear were hung to dry, partitioning the
room off to create privacy with the washbasin and
the chamber pot. Shoes were lined neatly by the door,
books littered the beds.
     “If anyone could predict such company,” she had
complained apologetically, “I’d have cleaned up the place.”
     Gilferen sat down awkwardly on the edge of one

Book No. 0002: I was thisclose to changing the title of this heading to Soulless, since I’m pretty sure that’s going to be the next book I try to publish and I’m pretty sure that’s what I’m going to call it, but I’m not entirely sure, so we keep the vague title for now. I’ve gotten all the stuff that’s been written already on it (about 8000 words) typed up, and so now it’s a matter of writing more of it. Since I’ve decided I do write better long-hand, I’m going to try to do that, and then get whatever is new typed up every day to keep up with it. I’m poking at an outline before I get too far, too, so that’ll provide a nice guideline. Once BoB is published, I’ll hopefully construct some more specific goals for this particular project.

The 100 Books Project: Nothing to stellar or exciting here; fairly close to finishing one of the many books I’ve been juggling, but it’ll probably be a week or so before another finished book review pops up. It all seems to come in waves, so it feels like I’m a good deal away from finishing many books, but I’ll probably finish them all relatively close to each other, as these things tend to go. books read: 16/100 (5/38 for this round).

So, you see, it’s been a good week, my brain is buzzing with creativity, and I really look forward to the days when I can just work and get things done…and still fit in time for other things, too. Yesterday, I even took the dog for a walk, which was fantastic, and I’m hoping it gets a little warmer so I can do the same today. If not, oh, well, guess I’ll just have to keep reading and writing and getting things done. What a tough life, right?

Happy writing!

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7 Lines from the 7th Page Meme.

Posted on May 14, 2012 by L.S. Engler

So, I was going through some old posts and things like that and ventured onto the awesome Lauralynn Elliott‘s blog to discover that she tagged me for the 7 Lines from the 7th Page Meme ages ago (interestingly enough on my birthday). I’ve been meaning to do this meme for a while now, anyway, so I’m taking it as a sign that I should do it today.

And one cool thing about it is that I usually have several manuscripts at once. So I get to bore you with multiple lines. Mwa ha ha. The rules?

1. Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next seven lines as they are – no cheating
4. Tag 7 other authors

From Bowlful of Bunnies:

(page 7):would be anything my father would like to be hearing.”
        Ian’s hearty laugh echoed against the low mountains and the thickening fog. “There’s a fair point,” he allowed, “but I’m afraid I can’t go in yet, Birgitte. I’ve yet to see my selkie.”
        “Your selkie?” Birgitte asked, her eyebrows lifting with skepticism and indignation, though her voice remained warm and bright as the sun that was sinking quickly over on the other side of the mountains. “I was not aware that selkies could be claimed as someone’s own. Quite the opposite, as a matter of fact. I can’t imagine a seal who turns itself into a beautiful woman is

(page 77): should get you safe.”
        George considered doing as he always did, not even bothering to grace her with a response, but he thought of the castle, the tall dark shape looming over the rushing waters, the bridge of black stones almost complete, and the flash of a waving white handkerchief in the darkened windows, and he shook his head. “I can’t,” he said. “I’m so close, Catherine. I can’t give up. Go with Roderick! I must do this.”
        “George.” Even with the howling wind, the heartbreak in her words could be heard, her

From Serpent in a Cage:

(pagge 7) pushed them away. She knew it broke one of the first
rules of escaping, but she had to look back, glancing over
her shoulder. She managed to get so far that she couldn’t
see the tavern but for the thick spire of smoke. She
could still hear the fires raging, as well as the armor of
the soldiers charging after them. She turned her focus
back ahead of her, moving as swiftly as the jungle would

From Soulless:

(page 7) impossible, impractically pristine glint among all the destruction surrounding it. It was nearly as large as she was, but she tightened her grip on the hilt and turned to finally face what was coming after her.
        “Then I will act the hero,” she growled, staring ahead and seeing blurs of the world beyond the length of the long sword; she adjusted her grip, tightening her fingers on the large, warm hilt. Her muscles strained to keep the blade aloft. “And it will be so!”
        It took an effort and strain, but she raised the blade high up over her shoulder, the

From To Cross a River of Blood:

(page 7) flip the body over and stared at the confirmation of her
suspicion. She did not gasp, but she heard someone nearby
let out the shocked sound of surprise.
    Rrynn was staring down at the face of Teryn Alta
Michen, the Lord Preserver of the Woods. His eyes stared
out blankly before him, into the night sky, filled with the
fluttering of bats.

….I might just love these sorts of memes far too much. I was tempted to pull out a few more manuscripts, but those are the only ones I’m really working on right now, so there you have it. I was tempted even to wait a few days do do this, since I’m on page 75 of Serpent in a Cage right now and would have had a page 77 entry for it in a few days. But then I’d be out of a topic for today’s post. So there you go.

The rules say to tag people, but I’m going to leave it open to anyone who might want to share this on their own blogs. It’s a lot of fun, and I bet it gives a pretty interesting perspective on my style to have pieces plucked from various different manuscripts, too.

And silly me, I almost forgot to thank the Red Angel for following my blog! Welcome aboard! Good to have you here!

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RoW80 Update: Sunday, May 13th.

Posted on May 13, 2012 by L.S. Engler

“Locke jumped in his skin a little with surprise when Taluin stepped forward, close to him with her hands raised to take his face between her surprisingly rough hands. These were definitely not the hands of the noblewoman he expected her to be, and he was too surprised to pull away. ‘I though I’d seen those eyes somewhere before,’ she gushed quietly, staring up into his face. ‘And you look so much like your father.’”

Happy Mother’s Day out there to all the mothers, including my own, theoneonlyjeanne. I’m not a mother myself, and I’m never quite sure if I ever will be, but a mother always has a place of inspiration and love in her children’s hearts, and I’m always astounded by the weight of a title like that. I hope the day is a special one and that the mothers of the world feel the love that they deserve.

It’s kind of an emotional time for me, and I’ve never been one to want to dwell on my more powerful emotions in this particular platform, so I’ll just leave it at that. I’ve spent the morning with a lot of tears and writing a lot of letters. It’s Sunday, after all, and there’s a Round of Words in 80 Days check-in to be had, so I will shift gears on over to that for now. Let’s have a look at what I’ve been up to:

Bowlful of Bunnies: Bowlful of Bunnies has now been moved up to the top priority spot, as I’m starting to get some of my edits back from my beta readers, so I want to spend this week brushing it up, and next week getting it formatted so that by the end of next week or so and finishing up with my cover artist, and it should be ready to publish. Whoo ! I want to shoot for May 31st as a release date.

Serpent in a Cage: Things are picking up now that the fight is over and I’ve dedicated myself to making sure a page-a-day (at least) is written before I crash for the night. Part of me is wondering if this new approach is too well put-together, if the coincidences are too convenient, and therefor unlikely or realistic, but I figure I can worry about that later. I personally like how all the pieces fit together and build up to this giant wallop of destiny and fate. So we forge ahead and I think it keeps getting better. Page count: 74/131.

Book No. 0002: In typing up the current prospect for my second book, I’ve realized that I write so much better in long-hand than I do by simply typing something up, and, for this reason, I will probably never be a very fast writer. I’ll have to write it first, then type it, but that’s kind of good because it allows for me to edit and improve as I type up the first draft. I like where this is going, though, so I’m really eager to continue on in pen once I reach the end of what’s already written and go from there.

The 100 Books Project: I cleared out a few books, moving onto some others, though I think there will be a decent hiccup before I get another batch cleared. That’s okay, though, because I’m thoroughly enjoying most of the books I’ve got on my roster right now. That always helps. I’m still behind, but I’m trying to publish a book here. I’m so not stressing out it. Books read: 16/100 (5/38 for this Round).

Featured Story: This week’s Featured Story is another that will appear in Bowlful of Bunnies, written up thanks to a contest run by Morgan Dragonwillow a little while back. In a few weeks here, I’m going to start putting up new material…hopefully! Running out of BoB stories is hopefully going to give me the push to finish more new stories, start sending those out, and/or stockpiling them for the next collection.

Nothing too extravagant; I’m been a little off, but I’m picking up some momentum and keeping it going strong. This week will be all about the fine-tuning. And I also want to take a second to thank Abra Alani for following the blog! She always posts lovely photographs, so I like following her, too!

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone! And, as always, happy writing!

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Posted in 100 Books, Books, Challenges, Goals, Novels, Projects, Publishing, Reading, Revisions, RoW80, Short Stories, Writing and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Flash Fiction Friday…on Saturday! May 12th.

Posted on May 12, 2012 by L.S. Engler

First off, I want to start out with a few unrelated topics. Number one: Naps are awesome. I woke up yesterday morning feeling like butt and, even though I wanted to get some work done, I decided I’d sleep in a little bit, something I very rarely did. I napped for about half an hour and woke up feeling awesome. This could also be a great testament for just listening to your body, because that half hour made a huge difference, yet I still had time to do stuff. All is well! And, two, the plan to cut out coffee is a failure, too, as I’m sipping on a nice big cup of it right now. It’s the damn withdrawal headache. I have to work today, and I don’t want to go through work in the blur that I did yesterday from caffeine deprivation, with a caffeine headache on top of it. ‘m thinking of calling the experiment failed. The fact of the matter is that I love coffee, and life is too short not to enjoy the things you love, even if they’re expensive habits and you put way too much sugar in it.

I fully intended to get this post done yesterday, but time caught up with me, so we’re having another Flash Fiction Friday on Saturday. Below is a photograph from the marvelous PhotoBotos, meant to inspire a brief little flash of fiction, as well as my own contribution. Feel free to take the picture and run with it and share your work! I always love seeing what other people come up with if I get the time (which I don’t, not always, which makes me sad). But it’s always good to work our writerly muscles, and here’s my work-out for this particular prompt.

******

(Image from by Scott Wood)

“There it is!” Her voice lifted as best it could over the thumping sound of the helicopter’s blade, pointing out to her companions as though they might miss the spectacle opening up below them. Though the sun was about to set on the horizon of the cloud-scattered sky, it was enough light to catch on the rushing waters, spilling over the great cliffs that towered over the sprawling jungles. She didn’t bother to register her companion’s reactions; she smiled to herself and leaned toward the window eagerly, wanting to soak it all in. “We finally made it.”

Across from her, David smiled, shaking his head faintly. “Like a kid on Christmas morning,” he said, admiration dancing in his tone, but he knew that this was big for her. This was the moment she had been dreaming of ever since they heard about the caves beyond the waterfalls, and the vast amount of knowledge held within. She had been buzzing about this project ever since it broke, and she had been deliriously happy ever since she got the news that she would be a part of it. He could only hope to push back the niggling little feeling of disappointment that he had never been able to make her feel like this himself.

No one was surprised when she was the first one out of the helicopter, bounding to the ground and hurrying forward with her pack slung over her shoulders. “Okay,” she announced, as the other followed her at a more cautious pace, “let’s set up base and be quick about it. We only have a little bit of light left, and then we’ll head into the caves. Once the sun goes down, doing anything out here would be pointless, so it’ll be forward and onward. Let’s go. Pascal, you’ve got the equipment, right?”

Ushered by her eager urging, the camp was set up at what David was sure had to have been a record speed, and she spent no time hesitating to rest afterwards. She was strapping on her gear before the last task was even completely finished. “Good job, guys,” she burbled. “Who’s going with me on the initial entry? Margot? Sean?” Her eyes danced to him, and a smile lit up her face. “David?”

She knew she didn’t have to ask; David dutifully stood up with the rest of those who hadn’t groaned at the prospect of anything other than relaxing after the long flight. He strapped on his gear, and they followed her into the caves beyond the curtain of waterfall, the pouring torrent echoing loudly in the long tunnels that disappeared into the darkness of the mountainside. Their gear lit up the black passageway as it became more narrow, steeper, more treacherous the more they descended. David put his hand to a wall to steady himself, and he could swear he felt the rocks vibrating. It unsettled him immediately.

“Maybe we should come back later,” he suggested.

“I’m going on ahead,” she said.

“Wait–” David said, but he was too late. Swift as always, she had slid through a very thin gap between two rocks, scouting ahead. This time, David was certain he felt the vibrating beneath his feet, and several heads turned toward the sound of rumbling deep and distant in the caves. He called out to her. “Come back! I don’t think it’s safe!”

David stepped forward, but a hand held him back. The whole cavern seemed to shutter before the rocks came tumbling down, filling in the gap through which she had slipped. He shouted her name, but more hands held him back. “We have to get out of here!” someone shouted, and the shaking grew, it threatened to throw them all off their feet, but David still struggled against those dragging him back toward the entrance. She was lost, they said, it was too late. They would go back when the earthquake had settled, but he had to go in there now and get her. The others overwhelmed him and the next thing he knew, there was the roar of the waterfall and more rocks were tumbling down, closing off the entrance, sealing her into the place she’d always dreamed about, and he half wondered if she had slipped away from them intentionally, with full knowledge that she might never leave again.

*****
There you have it! Much longer than my usual flash fictions and definitely something that could develop easily into more. How will this picture inspire you? I hope it does. Happy writing!

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Posted in Flash Fiction, Fun, Prompts, Writing and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
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