FIVE MAGIC SPINDLES - the winners!

Today is the day, dear writers! The day we announce the winners and celebrate with them this momentous achievement! I cannot even tell you how excited I am to share about these five fantastic stories . . . which are, none of them, anything like I could possibly have imagined would end up in this collection, believe me. I am still surprised by the variety and creativity demonstrated by these talented novelists!

But don't take my word for it--go have a look at the contest page on our website. See for yourselves!

Don't forget to come back and leave a comment or two. Congratulate the winners! Tell us about your own experience writing for this contest! Let us know which of these five stories intrigues you the most (though we're only revealing the short summaries today . . . longer summaries coming with the March issue of the Rooglewood Quarterly!)

Take a moment to congratulate our Top Ten authors as well. While they may not have won this year, they accomplished something really exciting making it as far as they did, and they deserve the applause!

Everyone who leaves a comment down below will have her or his name entered in a drawing to receive an Advanced Reader Copy (print, of course!) of Five Magic Spindles . . . just as soon as it's available (which won't be for a few months yet).

Well done, all of you, on this year's contest. It's been a crazy journey for all of us, but a tremendously exciting one! I can hardly wait to work with all of you again on the 2016 contest, which is coming very soon now. (Actually, I just received the final cover design for it yesterday . . . and oh, my! Is it gorgeous!) I look forward to June 1 and getting that whole new creative venture underway for all of us.

Celebrate your own efforts, every one of you who finished a story and submitted it . . . that took courage and fortitude! Celebrate the authors who won . . . they agonized right along with everyone else, and today they are enjoying a well-earned victory! Celebrate as readers . . . you've got one thoroughly engaging collection of novellas just around the bend!

It's a good day for fairy tales and creative writers alike.

A message to all of the competitors

Dear creative minds and writer-types . . . today is the last day before we announce the winners of the Five Magic Spindles creative writing contest! I know, you thought it would never come, but here it is!

Today I want to take a bit of time to let you know first how the announcement will go down tomorrow. Then I have a word (or several!) of encouragement to those of you who will not be named as winners in the morning. Because you're important to me too, I promise!

So first, here's the scoop:

Unlike previous years, the announcement will NOT be going up at crack of dawn. So please don't bother to set your alarm for 4 in the morning or whatever craziness! The winners will be posted before 9am Eastern, but other than that, I cannot tell you an absolute specific time. I would recommend waiting until 9am Eastern to check, just so you don't drive yourself crazy!

You can check here on my blog page, but I will not be posting the winners here--only a link to the website. This is different from previous years when most of the fun has centered on this blog. But the contest is growing in reach and prestige with every passing year, so we are more and more turning things over to the website for a more "official" appearance.

That being said . . . I don't want to miss the sense of encouragement and community we have enjoyed for the last two contests! So while the winners won't be announced here, I WILL invite all of you to return to my blog to leave comments and congratulations! Everyone who comes back to this page and leaves a comment celebrating this exciting day will be entered in a drawing to win an Advanced Reader Copy of Five Magic Spindles later in the summer. So don't just vanish to the website page and never return . . . come back and participate. Celebrate with the winners. Offer encouragement to those who did not win this year, because hey! They successfully submitted stories, and that's an achievement in and of itself. Let's maintain all of that fun and camaraderie, even as the years grow us toward bigger and grander things.


So there you have it--come around 9. Check the website, not my blog for your answers. But come back to my blog to participate in the celebration and community!


A couple of other things:

1. This year we are also revealing the Top Ten Finalists. We haven't done this before, but this year was such particularly stiff competition, I feel these Top Ten authors deserve a little extra recognition. You'll see a button on the winning announcement page to take you to that list if you want to see it. There will only be FIVE names listed, of course, which might look odd--but remember, the other five are the winners!

2. THREE of our judges wrote out judging feedback forms for all of the stories they read. So many of you are going to get feedback on your work. However, not all of the judges did this (it was not a requirement, but a generous extra that some of them volunteered to offer), so you may not be one of the authors to get feedback. This is not a slight on you or your work . . . the stories are given out at random. Also, some of the judges wrote out VERY detailed feedback, while some offered just a line or two. I cannot guarantee which kind you will get. But I will be sending those feedback forms to the appropriate authors both tomorrow and the day after (there are a LOT of them, so if you don't get one right away, it might be just taking me a while to get there!). If you do not get one by Thursday, assume that your story was not with one of the judges who offered this perk.

3. There were twenty-five finalists from whom the Top Ten were chosen. If you do not see your name in the Top Ten list, this does not mean you weren't a finalist! And with ALL of the stories we had submitted this year, just being a finalist was a huge accomplishment. Seriously, the competition was fierce!

Okay, I think that's all the business-related stuff I needed to cover . . .

________________________________________________________

Now, I want to talk to those of you who did not win (even though you don't know who you are yet). Because the truth is, there are only five winners's slots. Most of you will not see your names on that list tomorrow. Which will be sad. Disappointing. I know there may be tears. I've been there myself, so believe me when I say I know!

But I want you to remember something:

If you did not win, this does not mean that YOU are a bad writer or that YOUR story is a bad story. That is always a false assumption to make. Contests like this are subjective. Creativity is subjective. And, in a collection, it's all about finding the right blend of five stories to go together.

That being said . . . you need to keep something else in mind as well (and I don't usually say this half of the equation, but it's equally true and equally important for aspiring novelists to understand):

Your story is not perfect.

Yes, I just said it. And it's not something we like to hear, but it's true. If your story did not win, it wasn't just because it wasn't the right fit for the contest. It's also because your story is flawed.

Now, keep in mind--all of the winners wrote flawed stories as well. Just ask the winners of the previous years! They'll tell you what kind of edits and revisions they had to do to get their stories into publishable shape! It's not easy being a winner. It's not easy signing a contract with a traditional publishing house and then having to deal with all the editorial comments and demands. It's not easy being turned down by yet another agent or yet another editor.

We ALL write flawed stories. I do. You do. The winners of this contest do.

So don't walk away from your loss saying, "Well, I wrote EXACTLY what I was supposed to, and I wouldn't change a thing even if it meant the difference between winning and losing." That's the wrong attitude entirely.

Don't walk away from your loss saying, "Well, I'll just go out and self-publish it and not bother to get a professional edit or have a stranger's eyes go over it." That's the wrong attitude entirely.

Don't walk away from your loss saying, "I'll just submit it as-is to other houses and one of them will appreciate me." That's the wrong attitude entirely.

Instead, say, "Okay, I didn't win. My work isn't perfect. What can I do to make it better?"

Because even the winners are going to face that same question: "What can I do to make it better?"

The big difference is, of course, the winners are going to have a crack editing team to work with over the next few months, while you don't have that luxury. Which is a shame, because honestly, for all it's fun to see your work in print, for all it's a thrill to get it out there to readers, to get those reviews and the acclaim . . . in my opinion, that opportunity for fantastic editing is THE BIG PRIZE of this contest.

So, because not all of you are going to have that advantage, I have decided to give you something--I am going to offer you a detailed critique of your work, here in this blog post. This is a critique based on an accumulation of problems I observed in the twenty-five finalist stories I read. And these are tough, I'll warn you of that right now. And if you don't want to read them, I totally understand.

THIS IS YOUR OFFICIAL WARNING: IF YOU DON'T FEEL YOU CAN HANDLE A CONSTRUCTIVE CRITIQUE AT THIS TIME, STOP READING NOW.

But if you do want to take advantage of this offer, read on . . .

________________

Here is the second half of my message for you. Please try not to take this as a personal attack. This is not aimed at any ONE writer or any ONE story. Every point that I am bringing up is something I saw reiterated across several stories. I am not here to deal with specifics, only with generalizations.

And let me be honest—some of the winners this year also feature several of these problems in their winning stories, which they will be asked to edit and refine. Because at least 70% of good writing is rewriting. That’s just reality, for all of us.

Now here’s the list:

1.      Passive Heroines. I saw this over and over again. Much of this, I’m sure, is due to a misreading of the original fairy tale. People read that story and think, “Oh, the heroine just sleeps, so she’s passive,” and as a result, they construct passive heroines for their own tales. But this is an inaccurate interpretation of the original . . . and even if it was accurate, it’s a REALLY bad idea for your retelling.

By passive heroines, I mean heroines who have no agency in their own stories. They are pushed around by other people’s actions and decisions. They don’t actively decide to do or try anything for themselves. They might randomly act, but those actions are not firmly founded in decision-making. This makes for weak and unappealing reading.

2.      Characters without Motivation. This goes hand-in-hand with those passive heroines, but it’s actually a different problem. MOST of you understand and effectively give your characters large-scale, story-wide motivations—an ultimate goal toward which to strive. That’s a pretty basic aspect of storytelling, and while some struggle with the concept, the competitors in this contest are usually more advanced and understand the importance of motivation. So what am I talking about here?

I’m talking about small-scale motivation. Individual actions and responses to circumstances. Characters who simply do and say things because the author needs them to do or say these things, not because the characters themselves have any actual motivation for doing or saying anything of the kind. A few instances of this are not a problem, but I saw whole stories made up of small-scale lack of motivation. The big-scale motives were in place, but the small-scale motives lacked authenticity.

To fix this problem, a simple trick is to simply ask yourself, “Is my character acting like a PERSON or like a CHARACTER?” Characters are too easy to turn into puppets, doing and saying things for our writerly convenience. People aren’t that easy and are much more difficult to write as a result, but MUCH more satisfying to read as well!

This is a problem I see a great deal of every single year of these contests. It’s a difficult one for writers to peg in their own work, and I’ve even selected winners who struggle with this (and who have had to revise significantly). It’s very common, so be on the look-out for it.

3.      One-dimensional reactions. In this instance I am referring to characters whose emotional reactions to circumstances and events are entirely limited to physical reactions. I have written about this before, but it’s an ongoing problem, stemming from a mishandling of the good advice: “Show, Don’t Tell.” If you ONLY show me emotional reactions—using physical responses to indicate surprise, fear, happiness, sadness, anxiety, etc.—you are limiting yourself. Crippling yourself, even. Your character becomes someone who is exactly like everyone else, because physical reactions are universal.

And I have seen more lip-biting heroines in these contests than I have EVER seen in real life.

4.      Too much summary. In tandem with #3, however, is the reason why the rule “Show, Don’t Tell” exists. Stories that depend on huge chunks of summary are not going to be winners. A little summary is fine—every novel has that, and it’s not a problem. But if I have to wade through long passages summarizing events and scenes and don’t get to READ those events and scenes for myself, I feel as though I’m being cheated out of the whole story.

Usually this problem stems from the writer simply having too much plot for the word limit. Which is entirely understandable! But it also means the story will not be a winner, because I do need stories that fit within the contest guidelines.

5.      Sexism.  I see this every year, and it frustrates and saddens me each time. Sometimes it’s subtle, sometimes it’s overt. Most of the time, I don’t think the writer sees it at all. But it’s a massive problem for me. I won’t go into details now, but might write a blog post on this topic later. EDIT: Due to some of the comments I'm seeing, I'll add a little more to this point--When I refer to sexism, I am talking about sexism toward women. I have yet to see a story submitted that portrays a sexist attitude toward men. And allow me to also mention that NONE of the men who have submitted for these contests have been sexist in their characterizations of women. I don't know if I'll write a post on the topic or not . . . it depends on time, and I don't have a lot of spare hours to my day to pursue this weighty topic. But I do encourage all of my writers to take second glances at their work and decide what sorts of female characters and attitudes toward female characters they are representing. The infantalizing of women is the most prominent sign of sexism that I have repeatedly observed. Sometimes its overt. Most of the time its subtle. It always leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

6.      Racism. EDIT--I'll add to this point as well. Most specifically I have observed stereotypical representations of other races. Stereotypes are never strong writing anyway--taking a stereotypical and disrespectful characterization of a specific race or culture and plunking it down in the middle of a fantasy setting is ugly. I HAVE seen excellent stories dealing with characters of other races and cultures . . . stories depicting CHARACTERS, not STEREOTYPES. But for every good one, I get a bad one thrown in as well. (Note: This issue does not crop up as often as sexism. Neither sexism nor racism crops up as often as all of the other points on this list. But they are both important issues and deserve a place on this list.)

7.       Forced religious message. I am ALL ABOUT a writer expressing what she or he believes . . . just so long as it naturally flows and fits into the story being told. Anything that’s shoe-horned in simply because the writer feels like she ought to say something is not going to be a fit. Anything faith-based needs to be a natural facet of the story being told.

8.      Convenience, coincidence, or contrivance. This is SUCH a difficult one for writers to pinpoint and deal with it, but it’s a tremendous problem. If your story depends on convenience, coincidence, or contrivance to move forward, you are going to lose me. All fiction has a little bit of all three of these  . . . that’s pretty much the nature of fiction. But if I see the whole stories depending on any of these three elements, they’re not going to be winners.

9.      Appropriate language. I’m not talking about cursing. I’m talking about writing in a language appropriate to your time period. If you’re writing a historical or even a fantasy with a historical-ish setting, you need to be certain that the language you use feels right to that time period. It doesn’t have to be perfect by any means! That’s impossible. But you need to create a sense of your chosen time. If you write a historical or historical-esque fantasy using modern lingo, you’re going to jar me so far out of the story, I won’t be able to enjoy plot or characters. It’s totally fine to rough-draft in a language that is comfortable for you. But second draft, you NEED to refine to something a bit more sophisticated and old world. And don’t have historical characters using slang or idioms inappropriate to their time!

10.   Lack of consequence or sacrifice. Too often I see climaxes and resolutions that just “happen” to turn out all right, without consequence or sacrifice for the characters. This is disappointing reading. Good fiction is all about the losses as well as the gains. Don’t go for easy answers. You don’t have to write tragedies to write climaxes and resolutions that actually mean something.

11.  Too Perfect. Heroes and heroines without human flaws are not relatable. And physical perfections do NOT endear a character to me, ever.

12.  Static secondary characters. I saw this most often with parental figures, but also with best friends, villains, and other secondaries. Writers would put some effort into developing strong heroes and heroines, but leave the other characters as stereotypes. This was always disappointing.

All of our winners this year wrote ENTIRE CASTS of dynamic characters, not just the heroes and heroines. If I can name any one consistent theme across the winning board this year, that would be it. Static characters will kill a story every time, whether they are primary, secondary, or tertiary.

Let me reiterate—if one or several of these is YOUR problem or writing struggle, don’t feel bad, and don’t feel as though “this was the reason I lost!” All of the winners have problems with their stories, some of them the same problems you see listed above. But all of them are going to work with my editing team and have the opportunity to turn their good work into professional work.

But those of you who didn’t win . . . well, I feel sad not to get to work with you, because so many of you are so talented! And so many of you will go on to self-publish or start submitting to publishing houses before you are ready. You might vaguely sense that something is missing from your work but not know what it is. Your friends and family will tell you you’re a genius, and that’s flattering . . . but not actually helpful.

We have to learn to be our own worst critics. Not in a self-battering way that leads to depression and giving up. But we must NEVER be satisfied with where we are when it comes to creative writing. This is why I tell people that my favorite quote is:

“Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?” (Robert Browning)

Browning is not talking about materialistic grasping here. What he’s saying has to do with striving toward that unattainable goal of perfection. In creative writing, this means always seeking to be better, always struggling to be worthy of standing among the Greats, whether or not you actually make it.

The truth is—if you think you’ve made it, you’ve already lost. Because your reach is no longer exceeding your grasp.

So are these critiques discouraging to you? I am sorry for that—I only like to encourage. But what a shame it is for talented writers to continue struggling on in ignorance!

My hope is that all of you will see this list as an extra perk of the contest. I may not be able to give you specific guidance, but I hope that this generalized guidance may be of assistance, not only for your contest stories, but also for any stories you write from here on out.

Because that is my ultimate goal for these contests—to build up new talent, to encourage new voices, to push for better and better work from all of you, for all of your endeavors. Let this be a community of creativity always striving for excellence!

Will you be on the list of winners tomorrow? Maybe. Maybe not. If you are, congratulations! You worked so hard and deserve your win. If you are not, take heart! It’s not that you are somehow on a lesser level than those who won. Maybe your story needs more refinement than theirs before it’s ready to take that next step. But the winners’s stories need refinement too! We’re ALL growing and polishing, refining and developing. That is the writing life—that is its beauty and its agony.

And without agony, how can there be true beauty?

 

Upcoming Spring Release

I am not giving away TOO much information about my upcoming book just yet. You have to wait until the March newsletter. However, I thought I might go ahead and let you know a handful of things in advance.

1. It's the Super Secret Project I wrote back in Summer 2014, finally coming to light!

2. It's a loose (very loose) retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." Basically, I started with "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" and then did what I wanted, so it's not really a retelling. But you'll definitely see the influence all over the place.

3. It's part of a planned four-book series, but the first book is completely stand-alone.

4. It's a full-length novel. A good bit longer than Starflower, a tiny bit shorter than Dragonwitch. About the same size as Shadow Hand. So no, not anything Golden Daughter in scope, but a nice-sized read nonetheless.

5. And yes . . . as you may have guessed from the banner up above, it is set in the world of Goldstone Wood. It's a spin-off series with it's own main characters, but you will see some familiar faces and meet with some old friends. And make some interesting connections too, because everything is connected . . . .


So there you have it, dear Imps! I hope you're excited for May 16, 2016 and the launch of my new series.

But wait! Hold on there. I think I can get you just a BIT more excited . . .

You know how I'm going to reveal the cover in the upcoming March edition of the Rooglewood Quarterly, Rooglewood Press's mini-magazine? Well, my team and I have decided to do more than that.

Everyone who is subscribed to the Rooglewood Quarterly will have a brief opportunity--between March 18-20--to download the ebook edition of this new story for just $0.99.

That's two months before the publication date!

That's the real ebook version. Not an influencer PDF.

This is a special we are running exclusively for our newsletter subscribers. This version of the Super Secret Project will not be the ABSOLUTE final version. As in, it won't have received it's final proof read. It WILL have received three proof reads beforehand though, so I can safely promise a mostly perfected version of the story.

 After March 20, no one will be able to get this book until the release date two months later. So be sure to jump on this opportunity while you can!

What are you waiting for? Sign up for the Rooglewood Quarterly today and don't miss being part of this deal!

Are you excited to learn more about the Super Secret Project? Do leave comments and feel free to chat with other Imps. And don't forget to share this post!

Quick Update to My Patient Readers

As you may have guessed by the total lack of posts on this blog . . . I have no time. None.

The Doings were busy enough before. But now I can't see taking the time even to chronicle them.

And I really am sorry, dear readers!

But I wanted to jump in and give a quick update to all of you who might still be checking this forlorn little site now and then.


Firstly . . . I've been asked if I'll be hosting Fan Art, Fan Fiction, or other contests for Goldstone Wood Imps this year. I am so sorry to say that the answer to that question is, "No." Again, I have no time! And it takes a lot more effort to plan and put together events like that than you might expect. I do apologize, dear readers! Maybe next year, if life has settled a little bit more and some of these deadlines are met.

That being said, you are all PERFECTLY WELCOME to put together your own contests if you like! I'm sure a few of you could work together to organize something if it meant that much to you, and I PROMISE that I would show up and look at every picture, read every story, listen to every piece of music, etc. Seriously.

I simply cannot keep up with it myself this year.


Secondly . . . I've been asked if I'll be having any book releases this year. The answer to this question is much more happily, "Yes!" I have a release coming out in May, and I am totally excited to share it with all of you.

If you want to learn more about that release, SIGN UP FOR THE ROOGLEWOOD PRESS NEWSLETTER. The March edition will be revealing the title, cover, story premise, release date, and pre-orders. So all of that good stuff is happening all at once and quite soon now! No more details will be forthcoming until that time, but the newsletter will reveal all.

I think you will like it a lot. At least, I really hope you will.


Thirdly . . .  My team and I have officially picked the five winners of the Five Magic Spindles contest. HUZZAH! And I don't think I could be happier with our selection if I tried. We have never had quite such a variety of stories in one collection before! I mean, really, people! And the last story selected definitely gave me pain. There were at least two others that I seriously wanted to cram into that space. But sadly seven stories will never fit into five slots. Still, thank you, dear writers, for making my task so difficult! It's a good sort of difficulty to have.

The winners will be announced on March 1 over on the Rooglewood Press page. I'll also post them here so that people can comment and congratulate and enthuse as they like. In the Rooglewood Press newsletter, we'll be giving more detailed introductions to our winners, with mini interviews, author bios, and expanded summaries of the winning stories. (So you won't be getting those expanded summaries on the announcement days as we have done previous years. We're shaking things up a bit. Even more reason to sign up for the newsletter!)



So there is an update for everyone concerned! I'll post more updates as soon as I have them. And in the meanwhile, start the countdown for the contest winners. March 1 is just around the corner . . .

Contest Update for Those of You Eager for News

Thought you all might enjoy a little update on the Five Magic Spindles contest . . .

Well, the submissions are all turned in, and the judges are working hard at reading through everything before January 16. Why January 16? Because that is the date by which the top 25 stories will be chosen and sent to me! And the first round of judging will be complete.

After the 16th, I will spend the several weeks reading those 25 stories and figuring out which are my favorite. At that time I will experiment with various combinations of 5 to see what I think the best collection will look like.

When I have narrowed it down to my top 7-10, I'll bring in the other Rooglewood Press editors. They will read my top picks, and the three of us will put our heads together and finalize our 5 winners, to be announced on March 1.

Fun times! Am I right?

As to the submissions themselves, well . . . I can tell you this much: We had as many this year as we had last year, but the majority of the contestants were new. I was sad to see a lot of names from the last two years not submit, but excited to see all of the fresh blood coming in! And, don't worry--there were plenty of repeat contestants as well, folks who have submitted amazing stories for either one or both of our previous contests. It's just as wonderful to see their names in the mix, wondering if this year will prove THEIR year!

As for the judges, I have heard several say that real gems are shining out to them already as they read. Two different judges sent me feedback on two different stories, claiming that the entries were practically "perfect." They loved them so much, they couldn't see any flaws or necessary revisions. Now THAT'S a surprise and a delight! It's a rare day that a "nearly perfect" story shows up on any publishing house's desk.

And don't feel bad if you suspect those comments weren't directed at your particular story. Perfection is absolutely not what we are looking for here. What we seek, above all else, is a story that compels us to turn pages. A story that makes us eager to answer the question, "What happens next?" A story doesn't have to be "perfect" or "nearly perfect" to be completely engrossing to our judges. Or to me!

And what a year of stories this has been. Several of the judges have commented on the ingenuity and creativity displayed in this contest, more so even than the last two, incredibly creative years. You competitors really took this "Sleeping Beauty" theme and ran with it, making it your own. One judge--one who has read for all three contests--says that she might even be enjoying this year's contest the most simply because of the incredible variety in the stories she's received!

So well done, you. Well done, indeed.

I'll keep you posted on updates as we have them. For the moment, however, just relax . . . and start working on a new story. Because that's what authors do. When one project is complete and sent off into the world, it's time to start the next one. Time to fall in love with a whole new cast of characters and become lost in a whole new world . . . .

FIVE MAGIC SPINDLES -- Quick Contest Notice

  

Participants in the Five Magic Spindles contest should take a moment to check out this quick notice on the Information Page of the Rooglewood Press website. Nothing has changed as far as what YOU need to do on YOUR end, but we wanted to alert you as to a slight change on our end.

QUICK CONTEST NOTICE

So do have a glance and be sure to share the info with any friends you know who are participating in this year's contest!

Best of luck, creative minds. We are rooting for you!

Doings at Drakenheath

Hello there, dear Imps! I know I've been quiet for a while, but we've been very busy out here at Drakenheath. Which means I hope that this Doings post will be full of interesting little tidbits for all of you!

Can you believe it's already been a year since Rohan and I moved to Drakenheath? We have sure loved living here in our pretty country estate . . . and the kitties have all loved it too, particularly the big staircase and the "chasm bridge," as we like to call the open walkway above our living room. I love my pretty little study (which is actually about twice as big as my old study, so not so little!) with its view of the gazebo down the street. Milly and I just took a walk all the way up and down the neighborhood, enjoying the green and the pretty gardens, which are still quite lush, here at the edge of autumn.

Now my poor dog is panting under my chair (her shaggy black coat is a bit much even for this early autumn weather), and I am settling in to update you on the Doings.


First of all, let me introduce you to this exciting new marketing endeavor from Rooglewood Press!

That's right! We decided to offer one of our fairy tale novellas as a standalone ebook. What's more, it will be PERMANENTLY FREE. That's right . . . you will ALWAYS be able to grab this novella on your e-reader for absolutely nothing.

This is, of course, a marketing strategy on our part. We are hoping that those who are hesitant to purchase Five Enchanted Roses or Five Glass Slippers will sample this story to see if it's for them. And if so, we do hope those readers will go on and buy all of the other stories available.

So if YOU are one of those readers, uncertain whether or not you will like our fairy tale retellings, go ahead and give The Wulver's Rose a try. You can grab it on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, or Smashwords. I have no doubt you will enjoy this very sweet, very classic retelling of Beauty and the Beast, set in the Highlands of Scotland.

Oh, and do you mind if a brag for just a moment? *whispers* That cover design is mine. *end whispers* And I really had a BLAST doing it! I'm most proud of the background, which I built out of an assortment of images my brother and sister-in-law took while on vacation in Scotland. So yes, that background IS actually made up of the Scottish Highlands. That particular view does not exist . . . it was created out of several photos to bring the most dynamic impact. But the MOOD should be very Scottish nonetheless.

Okay, on to writing news now . . .

_____________________________

Let's see, last time I was still working on Book 2 in The Ridiculously Huge Project. That rough draft is now done . . . though it is VERY rough. So rough, it doesn't even REALLY have an ending, just kind of an assortment of scene ideas. However, I learned a ton about the world and the overall series while drafting it, and I already have a good idea what I'll need to do to transform this rough draft into something polished. But that won't be for a few months, because my fifteen drafting days are over, and it's time to move onto Book 3.

I have just completed the first week of Book 3, and I'm right on track with 20,000 words of manuscript. If you remember from my post on that topic, the goal is to write 60,000 word rough drafts in 15 days. A bit intense, but very doable.

I am trying an experiment with this particular manuscript, something I've not tried before. I was feeling distant from the characters, who are only VERY slowly unfolding to me as interesting people. They're coming, but it takes time to learn a whole new character. So, out of pure curiosity, I decided to have a go at writing Book 3 entirely in first-person. And it's been surprisingly fun!

Now I have written a certain amount of first-person narrative before. Fans of my series will recall that a chunk of Starflower was told in first-person as my heroine relates her story to the Dragonwitch. And then again in Dragonwitch we have the titular villainess telling her backstory in first-person chunks at the beginning of each chapter. But I have never written an entire novel in first-person, preferring omniscient third-person.

But this series is not the same as Goldstone Wood. While Goldstone Wood is all about trying to create a strong sense of classicism, this new series is much grittier. Much more real-world in its style and magical system. And I'm really liking the first-person tense and how it's adding to that overall sense.

The whole of Book 3 is told from the point-of-view of one of the series heroes. Which is interesting, since the series itself is actually very heroine-centric. And she is at the center of this story, but she is not the right character to use as a view-point, so I'm going to learn about her through this fellow's eyes. So far it's been great. This as been far and away the easiest draft to start, and I am so pleased with the material I'm writing, I even have hopes that a lot of this might actually make it into the final draft! (Not something I felt about either Book 1 or Book 2).

Anyway, I promised more of a tidbit about the series each month. So other than the first-person narrative, what else can I tell you without giving away spoilers? Hmmmm . . .

Well, I've spent quite a lot of time researching trolls and troll lore. I have never used trolls (that I remember) in Goldstone Wood, and it's been interesting getting a sense of how they fit into classic mythology. And how I can use that mythology for my own ends. For instance, trolls traditionally cannot stand the sound of church bells and may be driven away by their ringing. A fascinating little tidbit . . . and my question is, how can I work that into my world effectively?

So I've been developing my own variations on classic troll lore, creating some interesting new mythology appropriate for my world. And then these troll characters started scratching on the edge of my imagination . . . and we will see where they take me!

Now you know: there are trolls in The Ridiculously Huge Project.

Moving on . . .

_________________________

I am excited to share the Big Doing that has been swallowing a lot of our focus these last few weeks. Rohan and I are about to set off on epic, unforgettable (and somewhat unexpected) five-week sojourn into India and Sri Lanka!

 
I say "somewhat unexpected" because, while we've known it was coming for about a month now, if you had asked me two months ago if we would be traveling outside of the country any time soon, I would have told you an emphatic, "No!" After all, even if the opportunity came up, what in the world would we do with all of our beasts?

But the opportunity DID come up. Rohan's work is sending him to help train a team in Pune, India. We'll be there for three weeks, working during the week and traveling on the weekends. (Yes, we are planning to see the Taj Mahal!) Then, because it's just a short jaunt away, we'll be flying down to Sri Lanka for another two weeks for a fantastically magical vacation in Rohan's home country.

I promise to take bazillions of pictures to share.

Now I'll be trying to write one of the books in The Ridiculously Huge Project while we're in India, but I don't think I'll be doing any writing while we're touring about Sri Lanka. Which means I might get a little bit behind . . . But oh well! I kind of think it will be worth it.

My youngest brother Peter is traveling down to stay at Drakenheath while we're away and babysit all our fur-babies. He's been thinking about moving down to this area for a little while now, so he's going to take this as an opportunity to get his feet wet, do some job hunting, and find an apartment. Should work out beautifully . . .

And when Rohan and I get back from our adventure, I'll HAVE A BROTHER LIVING NEARBY! I haven't lived near any of my family since I was eighteen. So I am VERY excited about that!

_______________________

Oh, I remember, I mentioned last time that I was planning to take a week and draft a children's book idea. Well, that notion has been put on hold for the time being. I came up to that planned week and realized that I was on such a roll with The Ridiculously Huge Project, I kind of hated to stop and write something else, possibly jarring out of my world and characters. I still plan to write that story . . . I've got a great little outline and cast of appealing characters, after all. But it may not be for a while yet. I'll keep you posted . . .

_____________________

I am thinking about trying dictation as a means of rough drafting. I've been doing a lot of research and reading on the subject, and it seems like it might be worth experimenting with. From what I understand, there's a bit of a learning curve . . . after all, I'm a writer. I'm much more comfortable expression myself with WRITING, not with SPEAKING.

However, I've read articles by authors claiming to manage draft 4,000 words an hour using dictation
software.

4,000 words . . . AN HOUR.

That's an entire work day for me!

So yeah. Might be worth it.

I mean, if I could significantly cut down the time it takes to write a rough draft, I could spend all of that spare time working on POLISHING that draft. What a time saver that would be! Getting that rough draft down on the page is always the hardest part for me. It's not for every author . . . some folks love rough drafting and hate polishing. But I definitely prefer the polishing stage of a manuscript, any day of the week. I am happy to try anything to efficiently speed up the rough drafting process.

Today I purchased the book you see pictured here and plan to start looking it over, maybe trying some dictation exercises. We'll see if anything comes of it. I'll keep you posted on that as well!

____________________________

Five Magic Spindles is coming along beautifully these days. I still feel pretty separated from it all as I'm not reading stories yet, but the Show and Tell last month certainly got me excited! We have already received stories from a couple of new places this year . . . Germany and Ireland, to be exact. We've had submissions from Canada, Australia, England, and Rwanda before, but Germany and Ireland are new ones to add to that ever-growing list.

And we're getting more guys submitting this year too, which is exciting! Half of the stories that have come in have been written by guys. I don't know if that will last much longer as the deadline gets nearer (according to the Show and Tell stats, we still have LOTS more girls submitting than boys), but we'll see!

I'm still getting little hints and glimpses of stories along the way, besides those that were featured in the Show and Tell. Little comments on  blogs, Tweets, etc. Yes, I do a bit of Magic Spindles stalking to see what buzz is happening out there. And oh my! There are so many fabulous stories being developed for this contest. Really looking forward to reading the judges' top picks!

_________________

The kitties are all doing well, thanks for asking. I meant to take new pictures, but didn't get around to it. Sorry! Here's an old picture of Little Miss instead. (She's hugging my leg, if you couldn't tell.)

Little Miss Muffet is definitely feeling better these days. She actually came downstairs to hang out with me in the living room for several hours yesterday evening! Usually she sticks to my study and study closet as her safe place (she's pretty nervous of Milly and the kitty horde around here). Our social-time mostly consists of her sitting on the desk next to my computer while I work, occasionally reaching over to "cheek" the edge of the screen or kiss my fingers. But last night she came downstairs and spent time on the couch. Then she moved to the bookshelf, third shelf up. Probably to feel safer from Makoose (who was making crazy-eyes at her). Or maybe she's just very literary.

She really is the sweetest, most gentle little girl. She likes to "chat" to people, telling them all of her opinions on everything in a dainty, squeaky little voice. Super cute! After a month of indoor-kitty living, her coat (which started out pretty coarse and very dirty) is getting really soft and glossy. It's amazing what a difference a good diet makes. Her skinny little belly has rounded out nicely as well, and she's just as pretty as she can be.

But seriously, people. I have SIX cats of my own. I cannot keep her, much as I would like to!!!So if any of you know a family around this area that needs the gentlest, sweetest, calmest, chattiest little kitty cat to bring some extra love into their household . . . let me know!!!

We're enjoying her in the meanwhile, though.

___________________________

Random Doing . . . I have had THIS song absolutely stuck in my head for the last two weeks or so. And this version is particularly gorgeous, so I'm going to share it (listen for strains of Debussey and Rimsky-Korsakov in the piano arrangement! Stunning.)

It's probably got something to do with this gorgeous end-of-summer-early-autumn weather we're having (now that the hurricane is gone).

______________________________

 And that's all for this month, dear Imps! Hope you found something here to make you smile. And I REALLY hope you'll grab your free copy of The Wulver's Rose because . . . well, it's free! So why not?

How has your October been treating you? Any interesting Doings you'd like to share? How are your Magic Spindles stories coming along? Is the new semester going well? Do tell!