The sabre and I….I’m working on it.\u00a0 Getting advice online and by email, looking at videos, doing daily practice and trying to correct errors made earlier before they’re baked hard into my muscles.\u00a0 Sabre practice (and research and watching videos ) takes time. I’m enjoying it.\u00a0 I am learning; I’m stronger than I was the day I unwrapped Joyeux (she has a name now) , and weekly increasing the work.\u00a0 That takes time.<\/p>\n
The writing.\u00a0 Trying to recapture and rewrite one of the stories from last summer, the sequel to “Consequences” in DEEDS OF YOUTH, last year’s short fiction collection.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s slid in and out of focus, because I’m trying to write it “whole and fresh” as if I were first-drafting.\u00a0 Vague shadows of what the story was before wander across my mind, as I work on it.\u00a0 This takes time.<\/p>\n
The Real World.\u00a0 Every year I prepare a report for the local county tax assessor’s office on our Wildlife Management project, as required to maintain our ag exemption.\u00a0 The report includes both a required form from Texas Parks & Wildlife, to be filled out, and additional information to substantiate the report.\u00a0 There are seven specific types of activities that “count” toward meeting the state standards for wildlife management, and we must be doing three of them or more every year.\u00a0 I usually include 15+ pages-often 20+, of text and photographs of what we’ve done that year.\u00a0 That takes a LOT of time.<\/p>\n
And of course there’s tax stuff, and the *other* tax stuff, and the horse care, and the State of the House…<\/p>\n
January is the month in which deadlines land like hammers on an anvil, beating on my poor befuddled brain.<\/p>\n
However, January is also the month that my Tech & Organization specialist will be back to help for a week or so.\u00a0\u00a0 YAY.\u00a0 And if nothing else gets in the way, toward the end of January or at least by mid-Feb, I’ll be up in Irving\u00a0 by train for one night (maybe two, depending on Stuff) to meet with my sabre instructor\/coach\/biomechanics person,\u00a0 and get homework.\u00a0 Double YAY.\u00a0 February 2 is Vet Day…Laci will be hauling my boys over to the vet hospital for shots,\u00a0 Coggins test, dental work.<\/p>\n
Herewith a snippet from the untitled (so far) story.\u00a0\u00a0 If you haven’t read “Consequences,”\u00a0 these two stories are set decades before DEED of PAKSENARRION,\u00a0 when Kieri Phelan gets his first independent command from the Crown Prince of Tsaia to travel with the Tsaian army to drive out Pargunese invaders in NE Tsaia.\u00a0 Kieri has at this time only one cohort and has been hiring out as an auxiliary to larger merc companies in Aarenis.\u00a0\u00a0 Aliam Halveric put the Crown Prince in touch with Kieri.\u00a0 “Consequences” is about Kieri’s interaction with the son and heir of one of the noblemen who’s brought his own levy of troops.\u00a0 Duke Marrakai’s son and heir (Selis) is considered too young to fight in the coming battles, and is at the start kind of a spoiled brat teenager who thinks he’s most skilled than he is.\u00a0 THIS story is about a Pargunese attack on the Tsaian headquarters…but much more about the relationships between Kieri and others, as they will develop into the future.\u00a0 First, though, Selis and his father.<\/p>\n
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..<\/p>\n
Selis Kirgan Marrakai checked his appearance in the mirror again, tightened his sword belt, and smoothed the fall of his short green cape with its red braid around the margin.<\/p>\n
\u201cSelis!\u201d His father the Duke\u2019s voice broke into his worry that something\u2014a hanging thread, a tiny spot\u2014was wrong with his attire.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s time.\u00a0 Come on.\u201d<\/p>\n
A final glance, a final pass of the comb through his hair.\u00a0 \u201cComing, Father.\u201d\u00a0 He left his small chamber in the tent and found his father just hanging his sword, wider and longer than Selis\u2019s, on its belt hooks.\u00a0 His father looked at him, his usual hard gaze softening into a smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look very well, Selis\u201d his father said.\u00a0 \u201cQuite soldierly, I may say. You\u2019ve grown up a lot on this trip; I\u2019m proud of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
………………………………………………………………………………………………..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The sabre and I….I’m working on it.\u00a0 Getting advice online and by email, looking at videos, doing daily practice and trying to correct errors made earlier before they’re baked hard into my muscles.\u00a0 Sabre practice (and research and watching videos ) takes time. I’m enjoying it.\u00a0 I am learning; I’m stronger than I was the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,115,5],"tags":[112,107],"class_list":["post-3082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-beyond-writing","category-snippet","category-the-writing-life","tag-life-beyond-writing","tag-the-writing-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3082"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3083,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3082\/revisions\/3083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}