Paksworld

Where you have recruits, you have problems.   Some problems seem to be endemic to just about every military organization, though I suspect that some paramilitary organizations full of fervent Believers (any kind–fervent Believers are more alike than distinguished by the content of their beliefs) may avoid some of them. Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday was mostly consumed with trying to compress all of book 2 into a paragraph.  I got it down to two paragraphs.  I’m sure Editor will do better.

Today, though, was a good writing day.  Family was gone in the morning and another plot-bomb exploded, seeding my mind with shards of ideas, all smoking hot (or so it seemed.)  2768 words before I left for the city with M-, and I ended the day with a total of 3173.   Moreover, these are not just words tossed in to raise the count–these are writing-as-fast-as-I-can-to-keep-up words.  Read the rest of this entry »

Book three just dropped a plot bomb on me.   And boy, is it going to have repercussions if it turns out to be a real one.

And no, I can’t tell you anything about it.

Going back to book one, now Oath of Fealty, because we’re approaching the 2-months-to-pub data.   Travel times, in Paksenarrion’s world, mean that news travels very slowly indeed.    The new group overlaps the end of Oath of Gold by some days, for that reason.   People act on what they know or think they know–and they don’t act on knowledge they can’t have for another five or ten or fifteen days.

So the very first small bit of Oath of Fealty is set on the night Kieri Phelan begins his journey to the east…and the snippet you’re about to see begins the story proper, a little later–the time it takes for a courier to get from Vérella to the Duke’s Stronghold. Read the rest of this entry »

Lyonya.  The rest should be obvious.    This is early in Book Three but should not contain any terrible spoilers other than the king is fighting, which you probably suspected would happen at some point

.  Obviously, first draft.

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Kieri shifted his weight; Banner shortened into collection and half-pass in counter-canter, bringing Kieri directly to one of those in mid-change.  Kieri’s sword-stroke took the creature across the middle, splitting a still-soft carapace.  On the backswing he took the second.  Even as he looked back, Banner snorted and changed leads, swinging his hindquarters around.

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Well, folks, it was 10F overnight, which is pretty chilly by any standard.  It’s been colder than that here, 25-30 years ago, but hasn’t been this cold for just about that long.  I didn’t sleep well, imagining more pipes going out…but did solve a minor writing problem while lying there wanting to sleep, so that’s all to the good.

The day has been thoroughly involved with the broken pipe and attempts at repair of same, hauling water to use in the toilets (from our son’s house), and caring for critters.   I also made it out to the near meadow this morning when it was dead still, quite cold, and beautiful.  There are some pictures–of the sawn-off pipe dribbling water,  some frost-flowers,   the horses–at the 80Acres blog.    Some of the shapes of the ice were odd and interesting on both the house ponds and the near meadow water, but between the temperature and the angle of light and not having put on boots…I didn’t get good ones.

There’s a lot of chilly weather around, including down here in the middle of Texas…before the front hit, early yesterday morning, we were having a fairly balmy 50-something-degree F. night.   By dawn, we were down some degrees, and by early afternoon, when I was trying to hang out laundry in a cold wind, the laundry was freezing to the clothesline with amazing speed.  (Smelled really good when I brought it in, though!)  Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, yes, I’m neglecting this blog.  Yes, I posted to the 80 Acres site in between posts to this one.   (I found cochineal scale all over one prickly pear–if you’ve ever wondered where the gorgeous natural red dye that once made the “redcoats” of the British Army came from, take a look.)   So Monday was basically a rest day, except for a little work on music–which “rest” involved not so much rest as catching up on non-book work.  Tuesday was voice lesson and choir rehearsal, plus a long chat with our lawyer about guardianship changes we might make for our son.    Wednesday was music work (the rehearsal Tuesday having shown up problems) for the evening’s Epiphany service, plus (in between) more non-book work.    Read the rest of this entry »

Having shipped off Book II late last night,  I’m now shifting to Book III until Editor comments on II.   The transition from the end of II to the start of III is fairly seamless, leaving aside what two certain people did for a few hours.  Imagination is your friend in the wilderness.   (It wasn’t wilderness, but oh well.)

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For the alpha readers…a comment below the cut.  For the rest of you, spoiler below the cut.

I’m still 2000 words over my own self-imposed limit–2206, to be precise–but almost-nearly-everything is done.  The giant awful chapter has been neatly split up into logical chapter-like units (it’s not just the size, it’s the structural integrity) and looking at one comment of Agent’s….no, there’s a reason someone expresses sadness at someone else’s death repeatedly.    It would be unrealistic for that character not to be reminded and have it cross his awareness.  Editor will have to weigh in for me to change it. Read the rest of this entry »