Mandatory break

So, I'm pretty sure that anyone who reads this can already tell that I've been on a writing break for a while. It's kind of a huge "duh" at this point. But nonetheless, here I am making the announcement.

I didn't want to go on a break right now, but I didn't have a choice. Between various things in my personal life and the fun stress that comes with them, I was burning out pretty badly. I can tell you from experience that trying to force yourself to keep working on something while burned out is one of the worst mistakes you can make. So rather than ruin a book, I chose to back off for a while. And as it turns out, my brain is slowly beginning to rejuvenate (yay). 

I've had a number of ideas for story concepts, plot fragments, character profiles, and other things like that trickling through my head while on break. Imagine, if you will, the late night scene: We're finally getting to bed after a long day, the lights have been turned off, and then I pop up like a wild woman and grab my phone to make a note before it's gone from my head. I'm sure you can hear my puzzled husband's sleepy questions as to what in the world I'm doing, because we're finally going to bed.

It's not all been for Taloner:Wekthusia; much of it has been for other projects. With that being said, I plan to make time and sit down to go over a few things in the T:W plot and re-work a few details that have been bothering me. I'd like to resume working on this book before the year's out, and while right now it seems like I still have a whole six months to worry about that, that time does tend to disappear quickly. As the manuscript currently sits, I'm roughly 80% of the way through drafting it.

This story has been more challenging than I anticipated it would be, as a couple of the characters have really started feeling like empty cardboard cutouts. And that is something that I do not want. These characters are their own people, with unique personalities and strengths and flaws, and I want to convey that to anyone reading about them in the best way I can. My aim as a writer is very much to help transport you, the reader, into another world that you can experience and enjoy with me. Nobody enjoys staring at a cardboard box. Or reading about one.

As an aside, I'll also try to update this blog a little more, even if there's not much going on with my writing. I'd rather that it not just become a vacant outpost. 

Fall Update

Happy Fall, everyone! I hope you’re all staying comfortable and enjoying the season. We’ve been busy working over some of our fields in an attempt to clear out lots of nasty old greasewood and creosote brush so that we can plant wheat. Long story short – hard soil bad. Tractors good.

I’ve continued to work on what was supposed to be the final revision of Nethbane, but the more I dig into this, the more disgusted and disappointed I am with how sloppy some of it feels. I put a lot of time and effort into this book when originally drafting and revising it (a LOT) and to read through it now and think that I only wrote this about six years ago, I’ve begun reworking it in the same fashion that Wings of Fate was subjected to – IE, a complete re-write.

The core of everything will stay the same (with a few extra things) but I have no choice but to overhaul Nethbane before getting it back into print. I am a perfectionist by nature, and I will accept nothing but the best quality that I am capable of at any given time. This means that the revision may take longer than I’d first anticipated, but whatever. At least it will feel better to me, and hopefully flow better for readers.

Still no sign of my large writing binder or its companion notebook, unfortunately. And now my main sketchbook has gone missing, as well. I’ve not seen any of them in months and the only thing I can think is that I put all three of them somewhere very safe while moving – so safe, of course that I can’t locate them. I’ll continue to search, but if I can’t find them within the next little while here, I may just break down and rework some things in the outline for Taloner: Wekthusia so that I can at least finish the first draft. I really was hoping to have this book ready for print some time next year, and I’m not giving up on that goal. Of course, that leaves the matter of getting myself back into digital art, which I’ve not really done for about three years, but it has to happen at some point.

In other news, I’m still exhausted day and night, but by this point I’ve realized that this will never go away and I’ve begun to adjust mentally. It does create more frustration with trying to write and hold onto all sorts of different little details, but I guess that’s why I have a bunch of blank notebooks hoarded (and a plethora of digital notes) Time to fill everything up with work!

Being in a constant state of utter exhaustion also means art will be sparser (not like you didn’t notice that already, right?) But I am hoping to do a little art here and there, instead of lots of nothing.

PS - Is there a character or creature from Legends of Destiny that you would like to see drawn? Feel free to mention it in the comments!

What Once Was Lost...

Hello again, dear readers. Happy news: For the first time in more than five years, I have internet at home.

And, some not-so-happy news: I cannot locate the large binder (or its companion notebook) in which I have recorded a very significant amount of notes for my writing. Both have to be somewhere amongst the things that have been packed up for moving, but after scouring multiple places that these notebooks could and should be, I still cannot locate either of them. I am at a point in the manuscript of Taloner: Wekthusia where I cannot continue forward without being able to consult my notes for vital bits of information I have there, and I am unwilling to plow blindly ahead and create a large mess to come back and clean up later on. So, after much consideration and no small amount of regret, I am forced to take a temporary break from working on the manuscript. With luck, I will be able to find at least the binder or the notebook within the next little while. Once I do, work will resume. This is really the only problem with condensing so much of your thoughts, notes, and work into one central point.

This is really frustrating for me because the past several months have been full of progress, and this is the most productive I've felt with my writing since revising and re-releasing Wings of Fate. Waiting is not something I enjoy doing.

However, I've also come to the decision that while I am attempting to locate my lost notes, I will begin working on another project that has been weighing on my mind quite heavily for the last while; the final revision for Nethbane is overdue, and I will be applying myself to this project in the meantime. There are a couple of new chapters that need to be written and inserted, as well as something being modified near the end of the book.

While my large binder and notebook are missing, I did manage to unearth a single page of very important notes that I had lost while working on the original draft of Nethbane's manuscript. The last sixth or so of the book never did feel quite right to me, and I knew I was missing something, but I couldn't remember what. It was a relief to find this lonely little scrap of paper, which is now being kept in a safe place.

I think that's enough of an update here, for now. If you'll excuse me, I have a little over 215,000 words I need to read through and polish.

Resurfacing

Posting an update here to assure everyone that yes, I'm still alive. It wasn't intentional to have time lapse so long between updates, but I have been dealing with heavy Post Partum Depression since having my son. I went back and forth for a while on whether or not to really say anything here, but this blog has always been intended as a place where I can speak candidly about everything affecting the creative parts of my life, and that includes the obstacles that occasionally come out of nowhere and overwhelm me like a tidal wave.

I'm someone who's no stranger to depression, as I've had it all my life, but the past couple of years have been especially hard. It's only very recently that I've finally begun to resurface from what feels like a bottomless, dark lake that smothers everything else in life. And it's taken its toll - I have gotten absolutely no writing done for the past three months. This, on top of the extremely sparse work I was able to do during my pregnancy and for several months after the arrival of my son, has left me feeling somewhat of a sense of urgency to continue my work as a writer. I'm not sure yet whether that urgency is stemming from the load of work I've set up for myself to complete, or if it's the herald of some new challenge that is coming my direction. Either way, I have resolved to attack my hefty project list and do as much as I can before I either burn out again or some large and new hurdle appears on my path - whichever happens first, I guess.

So, obviously I'm not going to be able to pursue the Spring release for Taloner: Wekthusia that I was hoping for, but crap happens. I am back at work on the manuscript and have selected which projects I will be working on once T:W is written, revised, and in print. I'm really looking forward to knocking projects down one at a time and getting more books written and revised and back into the hands of readers.

And as an aside, I am in the laboriously slow process of helping my husband to fix up two houses and move from one to the other. I am also still a resident of No Internet Land, and now a resident of Poor Signal Land, as well. So updates here may continue to be far and few between for a little while.

Wishing you all well. Here goes nothin'.

Excerpt - Taloner: Wekthusia

Hello, readers! I've been keeping pretty busy here, between looking after a very rambunctious and inquisitive son and all the produce that's been unexpectedly dropped into my lap for food storage. It's been a big challenge to get any art done in the midst of all of this, but I'm hoping to be able to get some concepts secured soon here. Work on Taloner: Wekthusia has been slow, as usual (I sure miss the days when ten pages a week felt like a breeze)

Here's a little tidbit from the manuscript for you to enjoy this lovely Autumn morning (or afternoon, or evening - whenever it is for you):

         The smell hit his nose before any sounds touched his ears. It was the odor of sweat, stale coffee, and the deep, earthy musk perfumes preferred by the elves.
         Wekthusia ground to a halt, wings tensing. He cast out rapidly with his magical sense and encountered the buzzing aura of not one, but three spellcasters. Hastily, he retracted his magic and glanced behind him. He didn’t want to go back into that nest of elves, truth be told.
         Sucking in a breath, Wekthusia grabbed at a small charm worn on a chain around his neck. He watched as the air rippled around him, signaling that the charm’s power had been activated.
         A split second later, five elves walked into sight. One wore a red-striped feather that signified some sort of commander, if Wekthusia remembered correctly. He watched as the elves approached his position and chattered in low, soft voices. None of them even glanced at him.
         Within seconds, they reached the spot where the priest was standing and continued past, one of them passing through Wekthusia as if he were a ghost. Wekthusia dared not exhale until they were several steps away, for the effects of the inter-dimensional charm only blocked him from physical sight and touch, not sound. And now that he’d used it, he’d have to wait a full twenty-four hours for it to recharge.
         The elves continued along their way, conversing about recent reports from the coast. Wekthusia thought he heard a snatch of something about Neth, but that wasn’t so unusual, anymore. Ever since the war, Neth activity had been up in almost all sectors of Siege, along with a few areas outside the continent.
         He was just about to release the charm when something one of the elves said caught his ear.
         “Did you find the Lauina yet?”
         Wekthusia’s eyes snapped onto the speaker. It was the elf wearing the red-tipped feather.
         Another elf made a gesture.
         “Not yet,” he said, “but it’s around here somewhere. Our spell net will …”
         That was about as much as Wekthusia understood clearly, but he got the feeling that whatever else the elf was saying was unpleasant. The commander snorted and made a remark about “practice” when the Lauina was found.
         Wekthusia’s stomach churned. The Illismonah knew he was here—and they were looking for him.


Pretty short, sorry. The working manuscript is still just shy of 29,000 words. I'm still working toward my Spring 2019 goal for completion of the first draft, even if I have to start writing in the middle of the night to get there.

Current Project

Okay now, I promised a post to reveal what my main writing project is for the year. You might have already guessed it (did your eyes just dart down to see if you were correct?)

AND THE WINNER IS:

Taloner: Wekthusia

Yep, it's one of the Taloner books, as I suspected I'd choose at the first of the year. Since these books are much smaller than other projects in the series, it has provided a lighter workload for me to carry while I continue to adjust to being a mother and being so drained of energy each day, I commonly stutter or slur my speech (Guys, my one-year-old is still waking up an average of five times a night. Seriously)

I've mentioned before that Taloner: Wekthusia started out as a project some years ago. It was just a random story idea that I started writing after finishing the first drafts of The Rebirth Trilogy, and I really didn't have a clue as to where it was going. It was something that I'd add to as little sparks of inspiration occurred, as I was still riding the afterglow of completing my own trilogy. The manuscript has now been dusted off, plotted out, and I've overhauled what was written so that it's much less shudder-worthy in the structure department. I'm glad I held on to this piece for so long, even when I didn't think it would ever become anything more than an unfinished manuscript that would never see the light of day. It's provided a platform for me to get back into the groove with writing, which is what I needed.

Yeah okay, moving on. So if you've read Taloner: Reima or it's sequel, you kind of already know what a Taloner is. It's a scout who roams a specific area of the world in order to observe and record information related to their assignment, such as keeping an eye on enemies of the lore drake empire.

Going more into depth, Taloner scouts typically fall into one of five categories: warriors, priests/priestesses, scholars, monks (fighting priests), and those of nobility. Wekthusia is a priest, which has been a little different to work with, as I'm used to the warrior mindset of Reima. I've had to keep correcting myself and really try to focus on developing Wekthusia as his own person, instead of making him a Reima clone (trust me, it's easy to accidentally copy your own characters sometimes when you write)

So looking at what I've been able to accomplish so far with this book, it isn't very likely that it will be completed this year, even with it being a smaller project. It's currently at a little over 27,000 words. That might seem paltry to some, but from where I've been mentally during the last two years, it's a success. I'm excited to keep working with it, and I'm hoping to release it in the spring of 2019.

I'm already deciding which writing project will come next after that, as I'm now focusing on my group of announced titles instead of starting anything new. I'm not certain yet if my side project, Origins, will become the next main project, or if it will continue to exist as my side project. It just depends on what kind of energy and inspiration occurs for me between now and that point.

Now then, I'm off to do some work. Have an excellent day, and thanks for reading!

WIP - Himni Rek-Aro

Holy smokes, two posts in one week. What is the world coming to?

I sketched this a couple of weeks ago as part of a small art challenge for myself. This is Himni Rek-Aro, a character who appears in The Rebirth Trilogy. She is the last of the four original original characters I drew when I started writing the trilogy as a teenager, once upon a time (the others being Kuma, Cenme, and Nighteye). I've wanted to draw her for a while in order to more fully flesh out her appearance. This sketch needs a lot of work before I ink it, but it's a start. In particular, I need to redo the details of her mask. The wing theme was okay, but it's not what I wanted. I do plan to ink and color this at some point.

So ... a little trivia for you about Himni, since I've been trying to do this more when I post images of individual characters and such:

The gemstones in Himni's mask are a purple-red sapphire and a red spinel, the latter of which represents "intensity" among the Laiuna people. (Side notes - Different colored sapphires, aside from the familiar blue, may also carry special meaning. And, red spinel is one of my personal favorites when it comes to gemstones)

Himni's home is a city called Juk Sul, which is located in a southern range of Genkian mountains called The Gods' Abode. The city is built at a high elevation, which means that cooler temperatures are a norm, and as such, some of Himni's normal attire includes fur lining. Juk Sul has an interesting history that involves rebelling against the Laiuna empire at one point, and one of the carry-overs of that rebellion is represented by the structure of it's citizens' names; Instead of the traditional name format in the rest of Genkai (Surname, followed by Given Name) the natives of Juk Sul use their Given Name first, followed by their Surname. I won't bore you with further details on all that, but yeah.

Okay, now - Setting aside trivia and sketches, I've also come to a decision: While I still have a number of planned works in store for the Legends of Destiny series, along with a couple other series and projects, no more new projects will be started for the next while .... like, years. I've decided that the amount of back-logged projects I have built up is utterly ridiculous and I'm going to start working through the book titles that have already been announced before I begin anything else. This means that titles such as Sovereign Soul, The Gem Duology, at least some Taloner books will be completed in their first draft form before I move on to anything else. My goal is to drastically cut down on the number of books sitting around in limbo, since some of them were announced a long time ago (cough, Sovereign Soul....)

Oh yeah. I guess that means I'd better make an announcement on which title won out as my current main project, huh? Well, look for that post soon!

The Origins Project

Ha, so as if I don't have enough of a pile falling out of my project cart, I need to come clean about one more: The Origins project. This book will not be a novel, however. It is a collection of anthologies similar to Wayside Tales, but all of the short stories in it will revolve around the theme of an origin - origins of creatures, characters, relics, and maybe a few other things that haven't yet been explained in-depth in the series.

I do already have partial drafts written for several of the stories, as well as a list of ideas that I might like to create a story for to add to the collection. I highly doubt that the entire list will make it into the book.

Origins is currently functioning as my side project. When I need a little break from my main project, or when a spurt of energy strikes me at the right time, I'll add to the short stories in it. Realistically, I'd like to get all of the first drafts done within the next year or so, but as always, we'll see what life deals me between now and then. As I said, Origins is not my main project ... yet.

Have a lovely day :)

Beasts, Gems, and books

Greetings, readers. Are you ready for summer? And are you ready for another update?

I'm happy to report that I've been able to stick with my weekly writing quota in an effort to get as much done as I can on my main project for the year. I've even been able to make up for some lost time in the past couple of weeks, which makes me happy. I'm still not saying which title I'm working on, but since I ruled out a couple of titles in the last post, I will also say that my main project is not one of the following:

Foreign Lands
Nethbane
Path of a Hero (revision)

Yep, sorry. PoaH is still stuck in traffic waiting its turn to be worked on, but fear not. I'll almost certainly be back to working on it within the next year and a half, or so. I've been avoiding it, shame on me, and the reason is because there are several parts and story threads in it that I know will be messy to clean up and hammer out. When I first wrote the trilogy, I was pretty much just gamboling along and having fun, spitting out whatever plotline ideas occurred to me that passed the 5 minute rule. Unfortunately, that's left some weak plot elements to come back to. But I refuse to just abandon the revision project. I want readers to really see this book how it was supposed to be written, just as is now possible with Wings of Fate. I don't want to wait too long before having the complete trilogy available to the public once again.

So, that leaves the following possibilities in my lineup:

Book 9
Taloner: Reima (revision)
Taloner: Moa
Taloner: Wekthusia
Predecessor

Can you guess which one is the winner?

Speaking of Book 9, I really thought you should know ... seeing as how it's the first half of a duology, its project name is the Gem Duology. This title might change in time, but for now, this is it's name. And since this is a duology, that of course means that there's going to be a second book involved here. Let's call if Book 15 for now, shall we? (Even though it will take place directly after Book 9 in the series, and not later on in the timeline)

I do have the gist of the plot framed out for the duology, and it's one I'm very eager to share with readers. Among other things, some new insights will be revealed about the Gems of Virtue, something that has only vaguely been mentioned in the series up until now. The Gems affected quite a bit of Gaia's history during their existence, and they are legendary among its inhabitants.

The duology will also feature at least one new Chaos Beast. Readers familiar with The Rebirth Trilogy will remember these fun critters, as a couple of them surfaced there.

There is so much about these beasts that I enjoy writing about. Each of them is totally unique from the others, and each is connected with different elements in the world, giving them powers related to those elements. Denlupis was associated with electricity and speed, of course. And here's another fun fact about the beasts: They have the peculiar nature of becoming attached to the existence of one mortal at a time, until either they die, or the mortal does ... guess which one usually happens? So, someone in the duology is getting a new beast attached to them. Oh dear.

And while we're talking Chaos Beasts, I'm in the process of finishing some concept art for one Chaos Beast in particular. You'll likely see it posted here in the near future.

That's all for now. Until next time!

Progress is Progress

Well, work has been very slow for the past four months. My son has always struggled with sleeping well, and if you've never gone for a long time without much REM, let me tell you - it wipes you out. You stumble through the day like a zombie, and then you wonder how it got to be nighttime again so that the cycle repeats. Housework is drudgery. Exercise is torture, if you even achieve that much. And the ability to function like a sane person is almost non-existent.

But enough of that.

I have selected which book will be my main writing project for the year. I'd rather not say which book it is just yet, as that seems to knock the wind out of my sails. But, I can say that it is not either of the following titles: Taloner: Blue, nor Taloner: Dio. Both of these titles need a significant amount of work to their plotlines and development before I can really start working on them.

So, that being said, I'm trying very hard to devote all of the spare time I have to working on my book for the year ..... which isn't much. I'm still holding out hope that that changes soon, but at this point, I've just decided that tired or not, I'll be sacrificing some much-needed sleep time to work on writing. Worth a shot, right?

I was hoping to have a character sketch up with this post, but alas, I need to find the installation software again for my scanner. Le sigh.

Until next time, readers. Stay sharp (and rested!)

Not dead, just kinda

So yeah, I went pretty dead for the last while. I guess being pregnant will do that to you. Between work and horrid morning sickness, I have had almost no energy for writing and very little for art. Things have been improving much more over the last month, however, for which I am exceedingly grateful. I now only have nausea bad enough to make me really sick every few days or so, and it's nowhere near as bad as it was when I last updated this site. I'm sitting at about six and a half months, so I still have three months to go before I have a cute new little baby to take care of. Lemme tell ya, it was quite a surprise to find out about.

Alright, anyway - So I do have a few doodles that I need to post here at some point. It would help if my laptop wasn't slowly dying.....ahem...... I'm hoping to be able to start doing some digital art again, especially since one of my projects that's been sitting in limbo really needs a new cover image. The current cover art I have on hand for Taloner: Reima was fine and great almost ten years ago (gads, has it been that long?) but I'd really like to create something that looks a little more professional for the revised book.

And speaking of TR, I'd very much like to get some more revision work done on it while I'm trying to retrieve the most recently updated file for the revision of Path of a Hero from my other dying laptop. It's always something fun, right? I'm reeeeally glad my external drive is still kicking, even after a decade (knock on wood) But yeah, I figure that with my energies still recovering from the demands of creating a baby, a smaller project like TR is a good place for me to start and get back in the saddle.

That's all for now. With luck, I'll be able to get some kind of art update on here within the next month. Have a lovely day.

The journey continues...

If barely. Bleh, sorry. I've been sick for over a month straight, and it's taking its toll. Yes, I know what's going on. No, I'd rather not talk about it right now. I'm just hoping it gets better soon.

Anyway, revision on Path of a Hero has officially started. It's going to be slow for a while, I'm afraid, but I'm doing what I can when I can. My creative energy for writing and drawing has been all but nuked, thanks to the aforementioned sickness. I'm really struggling to pull much of anything out of my hat. This means that I haven't been able to work on any projects, not even Taloner: Moa (and right when I was getting warmed up with it, dang it) I'm really tired of being dead in the water with everything.

Still working on getting the kindle version of Wings of Fate so that it's available on Amazon. The tools that I've been given to do this keep directing me in a maddeningly endless loop of the inability to do anything with the files, and I'm honestly getting very irritated with it all. I may have to contact support and see just why the page is being so stupid.

So that's about it from my corner right now. I wish I had more stuff going and more updates to post here. I have several half-finished pieces of art that I was hoping to post weeks ago, but again ..... nuked. :/ Hoping for better days soon here.

Wings of Fate is here!

It's finally the day! It's been a long road, but Wings of Fate is officially available!

To find it on Createspace's direct site, check here: https://www.createspace.com/6767195

To find the paperback version in Amazon's online store, check here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540798887/ref=sr_1_35?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482425766&sr=1-35&keywords=Wings+of+Fate

A Kindle edition of the book is in the works, and an update will be posted to this blog when it is available.

For those who cashed in on the free eCopy giveaway, you should have your copies by midnight tonight, MST :)

This book is being published through Amazon Createspace this time around, which was a new venture for me. And it's a huuuuuge relief to have it done. I just wish I could have fit more text on each page, but what can you do? So now, I'm going to attempt to relax for two minutes and recuperate before getting back to writing. I still have Taloner: Moa floating around in my head, along with several other projects that need attention.

Happy reading! And thank you for all of the support!

Cover Artwork Reveal - Wings of Fate

This.

This image right here represents the culmination of a very long and very arduous battle for me. I can't even begin to tell you how long it took me to paint this, and that was after months of struggling to come up with an acceptable sketch concept. I can already see several things I need to fix on this image, as well. I welcome constructive critique, if you would like, as this has been a huge learning project for me.

So yeah, you already know, but this is the cover artwork that will be used for the new edition of Wings of Fate. Yay! I literally had to dig my old and seriously cantankerous laptop out of cold storage in order to get an internet connection through my phone (which is slower than dirt) so that I could post this. I can already smell that the laptop is overheating, which means that I need to wrap up this post shortly and get it posted, then shut 'er down. But don't get me wrong, I'm just happy to have a machine that can connect to the net at home :)

So my goal was to have this image totally finished and uploaded and everything by last Friday, which was when I had surgery. Yeah, obviously that didn't happen. I've been working on it since while hopped up on painkillers and recovering, and am now to the point where I am adding all of the pretty text to prepare it for printing. Like a boss.

As soon as I post this, I'm off to scan the updated Legends of Destiny logo so that I can color it and slap it on the cover, then finish tweaking one of the interior maps that somehow escaped my attention until a week ago. Hopefully I don't have to fight with my other laptop too much to get that part done, because seriously, there were some heated words being exchanged during progress on the cover image.....

Burnout

Ugh......... That's about all I can say right now, haha. I've been working furiously on the cover art for Wings of Fate, and I have a backup image to use if this one isn't done in time.......I really hope it doesn't come to that. The good news is that I guestimated the parameters needed for a full cover image quite accurately when I started sketching. This means that the digital painting I'm working on will fit just about where I want it for the front cover, spine, and rear cover images. Needless to say, I'm burning out.

My time and energy have been further drained by the exciting (and nerve-wracking) news from my work that I am being promoted to a lead position. I start next week, so I'll have a slew of new things to learn before January. This will probably mean less time to work on book things, but I'm digging in my heels and pushing to get Wings of Fate completed before I worry about much else.

No art to show here today, but here, have a little snippet from my side project to read through*:

Her nerves all but tingled with excitement when she saw the word “library” written in the Nuemonah dialect of Erhuon. The lock on the door was pitifully easy to break, and Moa stepped inside with baited breath.

It was better than she could have imagined. More than ten rows of shelves spanned the room, though from here she couldn’t see how far back they went. There were at least two other doors leading out of the room, but Moa didn’t care about those at the moment. She fumbled in her excitement to grab her journal and started toward the nearest shelf, eying the script on its stone face with a smile.

It wouldn’t have been difficult to lose hours or even days of her life down here; unfortunately, that possibility was taken from Moa after only fifteen minutes of scribbling. The vaults had a very still, quiet atmosphere to them, as if a spell of silence had been cast over the entire place. So, when a sound touched Moa’s ears, she paused in confusion.

It sounded like … footsteps. Footsteps in the tunnel. And they were coming toward the room she was in.

Alarm spiked through Moa as effectively as the head of a lance, followed by fear and disbelief. Was someone living down here? Had the Illismonah somehow managed to follow her, after all? Or was this place haunted?

The third possibility was no laughing matter. Moa had tracked across ruins before where angry spirits—and some things even worse—still lurked around their earthly domain. She had narrowly dodged being locked into a prison with no key or jailor on one occasion, and the experience had left a bad taste in her mouth.

Stuffing her journal and writing instrument into their pouch, Moa’s eyes flashed around the room. She spotted one of the doorways about thirty feet away, doused her light, and sprinted for the door. She had no idea what was in the room beyond, but neither did she care.

Moa blinked furiously and willed her eyes to adjust to the gloom as she entered the room and began feeling her way around to find a hiding place. After several seconds the dark shapes of what might have been crates or barrels became apparent, and she wound her way through them to the other side of the room. Moa took painstaking measures to make as little noise as possible as she tucked herself behind a barrel, her body trembling from adrenaline.

She didn’t like spookies. Her experience three years before in the abandoned jail had left her with nightmares, and she hadn’t been able to return to the place since. Moa never had figured out exactly what it was that had tried to trap her there, but she suspected that it had been some sort of demon. Her shaking increased when she thought she heard a growl somewhere in the darkness.

Out in the tunnel, the footsteps stopped. A thought tugged on the corner of Moa’s panic-stricken mind: couldn’t ghosts go through walls?

Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t stop the tiny squeak that escaped her throat. Moa scrunched her eyes shut and prayed that whatever was outside the vault hadn’t heard it. She then forced her eyes open and peered around the barrel toward the room she’d just left, her curiosity besting her fears.

After a moment, the footsteps started again, and a figure appeared in the doorway connecting to the tunnel. Long dark hair, pointed ears … Like a fast-acting tonic, Moa felt her fears begin to melt away, only to be replaced with concern. Her unknown visitor was no spookie, but an elf.

Or two elves, she realized when a second figure appeared. Their heads turned as they surveyed the silent vault, then edged into the room as softly as a padding cat. With all the dust on the floor, their steps were so well muffled that Moa could no longer actually hear them walking.

How had these Illismonah found her? Either they had come in the way she had, or they knew of another entrance to the tunnels that wasn’t blocked. Whatever the case, Moa wasn’t about to ask them. In fact, when a third elf entered behind the other two, she decided that it might be time to find a better hiding place. The elves were all armed and held their long knives at the ready, which wasn’t a good sign.

For a split second, Moa considered climbing into the barrel next to her. Then she noticed the doorway off to her left. Unfortunately, it was across an open space, and worse than that, it might be locked.

Biting her tongue, Moa left her spot and darted for the door. To her astonishment, it was unlocked. She slipped inside and put an ear to it to see if the elves had seen her. She could hear them talking now, but they didn’t seem to be coming toward her.

Breathing a little sigh of relief, Moa turned to see where she was. To her surprise, it was another tunnel. Just like the first she’d entered, she could see what looked like doors and even stairways set every so often along its length, many of them buried by sand. Her fleeting hope that she could escape through one of them was dashed by the sight.

A small, continual breeze was moving under the door and into the tunnel, most likely fed by some other point that opened to the surface. For Moa, it also meant that there was a way in this tunnel for the air to get out, but she didn’t know if she had the time to find it. She strained her eyes to find a point of light that she could exploit as an exit, then noticed that the scent of the Illismonah was getting stronger. The elves were coming toward her door.

Glancing down, Moa saw the dust on her feet. The elves were probably following her tracks right to her position. She began to groan, then stifled the noise and looked for a defensible position.

She saw what she thought was a doorway with the door hanging ajar. Sprinting, Moa all but dove into the room and tripped over something in the near pitch black. Stumbling, she blinked and opened her eyes wide, willing them to see something so that she could navigate in here. Memories of what the Illismonah did to their prisoners floated into her head like a fog, and in a spurt of pure panic, Moa sent a mental prayer to the goddess Hanedoe.

She finally found her way to a wall opposite of the door and turned. Moa pressed her hands and rump to the bricks as she felt along for a place to hide, praying against all odds that the elves wouldn’t be able to see her in here.

Hanedoe, please, she thought. What do I do?!

Her hand touched something on the wall. Recoiling in start, Moa wondered what else was in here. Whatever it had been wasn’t moving, and she finally made out some kind of long shape resting against the bricks. There were several of them.

At once, Moa felt the fog in her brain lift. She felt a peculiar sense of calm seep through her and allow her to think. Moa put her hand back on the object she’d touched and felt along its length, working out its shape in her mind. There were two points, a pair of long, thin pieces of metal attached to a handle, a cluster of jagged metal and what felt like a sharp edge …

Was this a sword?

Confused, Moa grasped the handle and took the object from the wall. Yes, it felt like a sword, and it looked like one when she held it against the faint light of the doorway. It was a very strange-looking sword, at that, but it was a sword. Had this been an answer from her goddess? Moa’s bow would be at a serious advantage in the close confines of this room and the tunnel, but with a sword, she might be able to drive off the elves.

Gulping, Moa gripped her new find with both hands and waited. The smell of the elves was still coming nearer, and she was a far cry from a warrior. She didn’t want to fight. She just wanted to go about her work and be left alone.

A few seconds later, she saw them. The elves had entered the hall and were standing outside her room, their faces aimed toward her hiding place. Two of them had bows strung and arrows nocked, but they held them with the heads pointed toward the floor. Moa wondered if they could see her.

“We know you’re there,” one of the Illismonah called. He was speaking in Latis, a trade tongue that most understood. There was no threat or ire in his voice, which surprised Moa.

Still, she hesitated. Why did they have their bows strung? Then again, wouldn’t she take precautions if she were facing an unknown party down here?

“Come out, please,” the Illismonah continued. He had sheathed his knife, but was keeping his fingers on the handle. It was entirely possible that they were from a tribe who didn’t mind lore drakes and just wanted to keep tabs on whoever was moving through the area. Moa had run across people like these before.

Feeling cautious optimism starting to grow, Moa carefully stowed the sword under her quiver. She moved away from the wall and picked her way over to the door, watching for any signs of aggression from the elves. When she stepped into their sight with her hands raised in a display of peace, they still hadn’t moved.

“Hail,” she offered, also speaking Latis. The elf who’d spoken tilted his head as he looked her over. He gestured for her to step away from the room and out into the hall.

“Hail,” he returned, then grunted. “Laiuna.”

“My name is Moa,” she said, keeping her hands up. “I am a Taloner scout and mean you no harm—”

The elves’ bows came up so fast that Moa didn’t even have time to protest. Her reflexes were all that saved her from getting skewered as two arrows hissed through the air and into the room behind her, one of them grazing her shoulder on its way. Her adrenaline level surging, Moa rolled and ran for cover, the elves hot on her tail.

Moa reached for her magic and grabbed at a pile of sand even as she leapt over it, flinging it back into the faces of the elves. Shouts and curses erupted from several throats as they were temporarily blinded, leaving Moa to beat a hasty retreat down the tunnel.

Something bright blue hit the ceiling overhead, and she’d just glimpsed the magic when the beams and stonework imploded. Sand and chunks of stone cascaded into the tunnel with a loud rumble.

Heart hammering, Moa dove ahead and barely escaped being drown in the torrent. She coughed as she rolled, her eyes stinging from the sudden dust storm. A large chunk of debris crashed to the floor beside her. Moa tried to regain her feet and run, but something else hit her in the head. Stars exploded in her eyes and a tear-jerking pain cut through her thoughts. A split second later, everything went black.

Yes, if you were paying close attention, you probably caught a couple of details in there about this book. The title is, indeed, Taloner: Moa. Good night, my dears.

*All content (c) 2016 W. A. Johnson

This, that, and the other

Good evening,

The second read-through of Wings of Fate is officially finished, and I am now in the process of formatting the manuscript for print. I had about a quarter of it freak out on me last night and convert everything to italics, which meant spending another hour and a half going through and un-italicizing the chapters affected, then hunting through it for all parts that *should* have had italics. Ugh. And last week I lost one of my notebooks that had several maps and pages of notes for future writing projects in it, then found it again several days later. It really was a miracle. The woes of a writer, lol.....

There's one week left until the deadline to get your free eCopy of Wings of Fate! Don't forget to send in a picture of your original copy of the book to cash in on this offer.

Now that I have the manuscript set up, I'll be focusing primarily on finishing the cover art and making sure that any maps being used are ready and inserted into the book. It's crunch time, and it's oh-so-exciting! Here's a sample of what I'm working on:

I have most of the details sketched for the cover, so my next step will be to start laying down the base colors and then proceeding to work on highlights and shadows. I'll also be designing font to use for the title and checking the image parameters against a template for the print size of the cover.

At this point, I'm still tweaking some things in the sketch and finishing with some detail. This has easily been the most challenging cover I've done to date. Hopefully I can wrangle it to look and feel how I want within the next week so that I can upload it and order a proof copy of the book. Wish me luck :/

Loyal Fan Special - Wings of Fate

Good evening!

I'm very excited to be posting here tonight, because I have a little surprise for the fans. In accordance with the impending re-release of Wings of Fate, fans can get their hands on the eBook version - free! Details below:

Starting tonight, you may be eligible to receive a free eBook of Wings of Fate on December 22, 2016. How? If you already have a hard copy of the first version of Wings of Fate, simply take a picture of it and email it to: legendsofdestinyseries@gmail.com

Once the image of your original copy has been verified, your email address will be saved to a pool and on December 22, you will receive an email reply containing your free eCopy of the latest version of Wings of Fate. Please be honest and use a picture you have taken of your copy, and not a stock image. If it looks like the image you submit does not belong to you, you will be disqualified.

But, there is a catch. This giveaway ends on Friday, December 9, 2016. Any entries received after 11:59 PM on that day will not be eligible to receive their free eCopy.

I'm doing this giveaway because while I would like to hand out free hard copies of the book, that's not possible, due to my pocketbook. But I would still like to say thank you to all of my fans in some way, so I encourage you to enter if you have a hard copy of Wings of Fate. Go ahead, take a picture and send it in! And from the bottom of my heart, thank you for your continued support. You guys rock!


*All information gathered shall be used solely for the purpose of this giveaway. One entry per person. Some restrictions may apply.

Wings of Fate - Update

Good evening! Another quick update.

Due to some personal medical events I have happening next month, I've decided to move the release date for Wings of Fate from December 3rd to Thursday, December 22nd. I'm sorry for any grief this causes, but it will help take some stress off my back and give me something good to look forward to around that time. Y'know, besides Christmas ....

I've been railroaded this past week with my schedule. The revision for Wings of Fate is still rolling right along, but I haven't even been able to dip into my side project in that time. I'm hoping to change that soon. The cover art for Wings of Fate is also proving to be very challenging. I keep chipping away at it, but some days it feels like trying to dig down a mountain with a hand trowel.

And by the way, that side project? It's a Taloner book :)

NaNoWriMo approaches

It's coming. NaNoWriMo is almost here! I have always wanted to participate in it, but never had the drive and a specific story idea (and time) line up for me to do so. I'm hoping to change that this year.

For those of you unfamiliar with what NaNoWriMo is, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. Now, I'm not sure that I'll be able to get an entire novel pumped out, as I'm still working on prepping Wings of Fate for release and I'd really like to avoid burnout. However, I do have that little side project that's been trickling along, and I'd love to hammer on it and get a good chunk of it written down. I can always finish it at leisure after Wings of Fate has been taken care of.

This project is one that I've had planned for at least six or seven years, and I do already have a synopsis written up for it, which is kind of strange to work with. I'm more comfortable with a rough, general synopsis being written for a book, comprised mostly of bits and pieces of story matter. It's much easier for me to feel inspired and write a book with plenty of wiggle room left to create story details and possibly change the direction of the storyline.

So yeah, I think my November project would be ..... the eleventh book in the series. Which leaves a few others still in the planning stages or partly finished at this point. Sorry. I've learned that some stories need a long time to gestate in my mind so that I don't miss out on any important details. If I try to force the story, I either ruin it or end up frustrated. That's part of why it's taking so long to get back to Sovereign Soul. I haven't had the right energy to work on it for the past several years, and now that I've waited, I've been able to develop some important plot points for it that would have been left out, had I hurried to finish it after writing Nethbane. It's hard to wait, but it will be worth it in the end.

Alright, cutting my ramblings short, there are couple of pictures in this post for you. These are both major characters in the side project, and while the drawings are 6-8 years old and will need some revising of their own, the characters are largely the same as they were before. I thought it would be fun to showcase them here.

Have a pleasant day.

Release date!

Greetings, readers! Another quick progress update for you. The second phase of revision for Wings of Fate is currently 25% complete. It's blowing past! I am very hopeful that this book will be ready to be published (again) by the end of the year. So, I am tentatively setting a release date of Saturday, December 3, 2016 for Wings of Fate.

I've also been distracted by a little side project, of late. Anyone remember this picture? It seems unreal that this was conceived five years ago, but these two characters play a major role in the project. If it continues to grow over the next couple of weeks, I'll release some more details. Until then, though ........... I may just have to draw an updated version of the characters :)