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So, I haven't been feeling all that great the last two days.  I was out and about yesterday, so I didn't get a chance to write and when I finally did get a chance to write I got distracted listening to the second book of The Hunger Games.  I'm really liking it and it's one of those can't put down books.  Even now I wanna just listen to it rather than taking care of everything else I should be doing.

I did get a little bit of time to write this morning after I woke up feeling like crap, but couldn't sleep anymore.  I'm not sure what sparked it, but I finally got an idea for the plot of the novel I've been working on for the last three years.  I've been able to get bits and pieces of the novel together.  I've rewritten it countless times, but I have always been lacking a good, real, solid plot.  I think I've finally found it though.

I have some scenes already written that I am for sure going to work into the novel.  I'm rather liking just writing a scene here and there and not working from beginning to end.  There's time to put it all together and revise for the First Draft and then revise again and again until its as close to perfect as I can make it.

I've worked up a small summary to share, so here it is!  Do you like it?

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There is a legend of two violins—one black as night, the other white as day.  The black violin possesses the power to control death, to call lost souls and grant them either peace or life in serve to the player.  The white violin possesses the power to send the player to the land of the dead, to seek out souls of their past and grant them a full life.

Captain Grimhawk has heard the tale of the twin violins and searched for centuries for them.  He was able to retrieve the black violin, but not the white.  He has called lost souls countless times, but never found the souls he sought—the soul of his captain and the soul of his lover.  He’s now found a lead on the white violin and seeks a woman who is said to possess a map to its location.

Knowing that the map leads to something very valuable, but not knowing what, the woman decides to seek the treasure for herself, after all if the famous pirate Captain grimhawk wants the treasure it must be something very very valuable.  Captain Grimhawk finds himself running into the woman around every corner as they both seek out the treasure.

But they aren’t the only ones after the violins.

Becoming Exalted

Okay, so instead of writing yesterday, I went to the gym and walked over 4 miles and did some weight training.  And I'm still exhausted!  But I put my foot to the pedal and sat down and wrote today.  In fact, I wrote 6 pages today!  6!

Four of the pages were two different scenes of two different characters and the last two pages were for my character for an upcoming tabletop game, Exalted!  I've been needing to sit down and write up the character's history.  It helps to know where the character is from and what he's gone through to make the character sheet and to be able to play him right for the game.

So yeah...6 pages!  I've decided to post up the brief history of my Exalted character.  It's so not the best writing, but its not entirely bad either.  it's not like I would really write as I was going for short and sweet.  And my short and sweet went into two pages.  Writing short pieces isn't my best skill, which is why I tend to write in novel format rather than short story format.

Anyway, enjoy!

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Once upon a time there was a pirate lord who had dark red hair and magnificent, brilliant sapphire blue eyes.  He sailed the seas in search of all the forgotten treasures and adventures that were held captive below the sea’s glassy surface.  His ship was the color of night, her hull and her sails blackened just as blackened as the man’s greed for treasure and adventure.

But his greed faded when he gazed blindly into the eyes of a mermaid.  She had black hair and beautiful green eyes.  The pirate lord begged her to join him on his ship and rule the sea alongside him, but she refused and swam away.  For years he searched for her and every time he found her, he asked her to join him.

Finally, she said yes.  They sought out together, he on his ship and she in the sea, to find a witch who claimed to be able to perform miracles.  They begged her to give the mermaid legs and she obliged, but her magic came with a price.  The lord and his mermaid would rule the seas for only twelve years and then their souls would belong to her.

They agreed and during those twelve years they had only two children, two twin boys with curly red and black hair and brilliant blue eyes.  They never told the boys what they had done.  When the time came, the pirate and his mermaid returned to the sea, leaving the ship and her crew in the hands of their twelve year old sons who did not know where their parents had gone.

Together the brothers sailed the sea for years, following in their father’s footsteps to find the world’s treasure.  One day, they were hunting for a very valuable treasure when they were attacked.  The crew and the brothers fought valiantly.

Seth, the oldest brother by only a minute, fought the most valiantly.  He pushed his crew out of harm’s way, jumped in front of them to take the hits himself.  But his fight was in vain.  They were overwhelmed and forced to flee.  Only a few crew members made it to the sandy beach, but they were soon shot down.  Seth and his brother were all that was left.

They were almost to the ship when they saw that the ship was gone.  Only its prow stuck out from the water far away as she sank into the sea.  From not far away, they could see the ship of one of their rivals.  Whatever crew had remained on the ship were now gone, claimed by the sea.

And then Seth’s twin cried out in pain.  Seth turned to find his twin tumbling to the ground, an arrow sticking out of his back.  He ran to his twin, forgetting about the savages who murdered his crew.  He pulled the arrow out and tried futilely to stop the blood from flowing freely out of his brother’s back and chest.

“Fight for us.”  Seth’s twin murmured before he took his last breath.

Covered in his twin’s blood, Seth stood to face the ones who had killed his crew and his brother.  He lifted his hand, blinded by his anger as a phoenix made of fire flew from his hand, engulfing the nearest band of enemies, but he couldn’t hit them all.  Arrows imbedded into his body one after another, but he did not stop.  He ran at them with his daggers in hand, striking, only to have more wounds inflicted on him, but still he would not back down.  Even as he dropped to his knee, on the edge of death, he pushed to his feet and he fought.

He wasn’t sure why it happened, but just as he felt the cold, icy hand of death, he saw his attackers turn and flee.  Everything went dark after that and Seth smiled, dreaming of death, but death did not come.

In the darkness, a woman stood in front of Seth.  Her hair was a brilliant shade of blue, her skin the color of ivory and her eyes the silver of the moon.  She said nothing, but gestured to a room full of doors.  There were too many to count and Seth got the feeling that he was supposed to choose only one door.  He did not know what lay behind them.

He spun around slowly, taking in each door.  They were all the same and not even labeled with numbers like most doors might have been in similar situation.  He growled in frustration.  What could lie behind these doors?  His brother?  A treasure?  A new ship?

His frustration got the better of him and all of the doors caught fire, burning completely away.  The woman looked rather amused and yet she seemed to approve.  She gestured once more to the door and Seth looked inside each to find what treasures were hidden behind them.  He found a jar of obsidian butterflies, a phoenix, a pair of twin daggers, a wolf that changed into a phoenix and then several other animals and a ghostly glowing model ship in a bottle.  The rest of the doors were empty.

He took each treasure and turned to the woman.  She studied him and then tipped her head.  She motioned to the ship in a bottle and the cork popped off.  The ghostly jade ship sailed out of the bottle.  And then it grew and grew until it became full size.

Suddenly, he and the woman stood on its deck and he was surrounded by his crew.  He smiled and looked around, peering at each face, but he was one crew member short.  He turned to the woman.

“Where is my brother?  Where is my twin?”  He asked.

She gave him a soft, sad smile and touched his chest over his heart.  Her voice sounded through his mind.

Fight for him.  She said.  Fight for all those who were lost.  Your valor may be rewarded.  Sail with your crew as you once did.  Seek your treasures and maybe you find him again.

And then she was gone.

Seth would have argued, but the vision faded and he found himself on the ghostly ship, surrounded by the spirits of his crew.  He didn’t understand what she had meant, but he knew what he had to do.   

He had to find a treasure that would bring his brother back to life and restore his crew’s life.  He couldn’t give up and any fight he came across, he could not run from.  And he also knew what he was now.  He was Exalted.

Grimhawk and the Falcon's Dagger

To update, I missed writing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  But I got some writing in today!  I may do some extra writing later this evening, but I'm a bit tired now and since I've ended today's scene, I think I deserve at least a little bit of a break.  I may write the other pieces I have planned sometime the rest of the week.

So, Friday night I finally watched The Hunger Games with the spouse.  I have to say it was damn good.  I haven't read the book, so I don't know how it compares there.  Some of the movie didn't fully make sense, but for the most part it was damn good.  We also went out Saturday night and saw Star Trek.  I come from a long line of Trekkies, so it was one of those that I wanted to see in the theater.  We don't normally do a whole lot of movie theatering going due to money and time.

Star Trek was awesome.  I will give nothing away, but it was awesome.

Anyway, today I decided to write a scene that I have been dying to write and never could quite find the right way to do it.  I took a shot today and I think it's pretty good, though I know there's a few things that might not make sense, so I may change the scene altogether.  I also decided that I've given you guys a little too much time without some reading material, so I'm posting today's page!  Enjoy!

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The rain never stopped that day.  It pelted down on the ship as it fought the churning waves of the sea.  The Falcon’s Dagger had weathered many storms on the sea, but this storm was the worst she had ever sailed.  Wave after wave crashed against her hull, threatening to pull her under the glassy surface of the sea.  Her sails were ripped from her masts as the wind raged through the night.

From below deck, Grimhawk and the rest of the crew huddled.

“I have to go out there.  He cannot do this alone.”  Grimhawk said as he started for the door.

“No!  You can’t.”  Shara said.

She grabbed his arm and he turned to her, “I cannot let the Captain die for us.  I have to go out there.”

“Grim, he’ll carry us through.  We just have to trust him.”

“I am his First Mate.  I should be out there alongside him.”  Grim said.

Shara slide her hand down into his, “You can’t see, Grim.  You can’t help him.  Stay with me, please?”

“How can you just sit here knowing your husband, our Captain, is out there in the storm?”

Shara’s face paled and her eyes suddenly burned with fury, “Are you saying that I don’t give a damn about my husband?”

Grim glared back at her, “You did cheat on him with me.”

She shoved him away from her, “And you’re his dearest friend.  You betrayed him.”

The ship lurked to the side.  Grimhawk, Shara and the other crew members were suddenly tossed against the opposite side of the ship.  The hull splintered.  The crew screamed as the sea pierced through the new gash in the ship.  They heard the sound of cannon fire just before another crash sent them sprawling across the floor.

Crew men struggled to find some hold, to find some way out of the ship.  In all the commotion, Grimhawk had lost sight of Shara.  He searched through the crowd, calling her name.  Crew men jostled against him as they tried to find some escape.  Grimhawk’s voice was drowned out by more screams from the crew when another jolt sent them flying back into the wall.  And then he heard her voice, silently thanking his sharpened senses.

“Grim!  Over here!”  Shara called.

Another crash sent them sprawling on the water logged deck.  The ship tipped to the side with the wound, causing more water to fill the deck.  Shara screamed again and Grim felt his way to her until finally her fingers brush his fingers.  But she was sliding away from him.  He grabbed her hand.  But he couldn’t hold on and her fingers started to slip away again.

 “I’ve got you!”  Grim cried.

“Don’t let me go, Grim!  Please don’t let go!”  Shara pleaded.

“I’ll never let you go, Shara, I promise.”

He held onto a beam of the ship as she sank further into the sea.  The water was up to his neck now.  He reaffirmed his grip on Shara’s hand, but the sea tugged at her.  He tried to pull her up to him.  She coughed as the sea rose higher and higher.

“Grim!”  She cried.

“I’ve got you, Shara!  Just hold on!”  He said.

Her hand began to slip away again.  He couldn’t hold on.  Her scream filled the air as her hand slipped completely away from him.

“Shara!”

He let go of the ship.  The sea surrounded him.  The sea filled his lungs.  He couldn’t breathe, but he scrambled in the water, fighting the waves and searching blindly for Shara.  He tried to find the surface of the water, but found only more sea.  And then darkness claim him and he sank with the ship, with his lover and the crew he had begun to think of as family.

Another Day, Another Page

So my day started off with waking up at 6am.  There was breakfast and then I hit the gym.  I walked about two and a half miles and then did weight-lifting for an hour.  After that I biked for about fifteen minutes and then hit the treadmill again for another two miles.  And OMG I was tired afterward, but I feel good too.  The gym was insanely hot today and it wasn't much better outside.  Thank goodness I'm now in an air-conditioned room!

But enough about my day!  You're here because you wanna read some good stories!  At least that's why I hope you're reading this.  I wasn't sure I was going to be able to concentrate enough to write, but I did!  I wrote a rather, in my opinion, beautiful piece.  I really like how it turned out and for me, it strikes at the heart.  It is for this reason that I've decided not to post the story today.  Maybe tomorrow I'll finally give you something to read, but today's writing stays in my hands.

So I wrote exactly two pages.  I was going to write more, but I was at that point where my concentration was waning.  It was about an hour and a half of writing, so that's a good thing!  In my writing workshop that I took, my professors always encouraged trying to write at least for fifteen minutes a day.  That may only result in a paragraph, but the point is that you wrote that day.  I wrote today and no matter how long it took or how much I got written, I wrote and I feel great about what I wrote.

I may let one or two people read today's writing, if you're nice. ;)  Rum might convince to let you read it.  Bacon might be acceptable, but rum might really get you in good with me.  I like rum.  Rum is good.  And it's also gone.  Sorry, I drank it all while you weren't looking!

Time to going pirating again!  Check in tomorrow for more updates on my Page a Day project!

Flop Week and Distractions

So this past week has been a bit of a flop.  I've been too tired and haven't been able to sit down and focus on writing.  I know I haven't been getting my page a day!  But it's alright.  Some of that time was spent at the gym and spending time with the spouse, so I think it's alright.  I'm trying not to pressure myself into writing, but I am also trying to stick with it.

It can be pretty rough at times to be able to put your focus on anything at all whether its writing, going to the gym, working.  And if you're like me, there's always a distraction.  And of course there's always games!  But I think what matters most is actually trying to take the time and set out to do what you wanted to.  Hopefully, I'll be able to stick to this and have something to show for it in a year.  I'd like to have something to show for it, even if it's just half of my novel written.  It'll be something and something to help encourage me to write more.

I'm going to have to stop rewriting the first chapter though or I'm never going to get anywhere! XD

I thought I wasn't gonna be able to write today.  I woke up late and really didn't have the head for it.  After lunch I went to the gym for around three hours.  Walked two and a half miles and then did some weight lifting.  And then i came home exhausted, but somehow I managed to write some!

Recap of Yesterday and Today

Alright, so I did actually get some writing done yesterday!  Things were pretty busy so I didn't get to it until after midnight, but I did get a page done!  I also got a page written today.  So far I'm doing pretty good writing a page a day.  I think I will take weekends off (Hey I need a break too!) just because they can be far too hectic.

I've decided not to post yesterday and today's page (Sorry!).  I can't post everything you know!

Today I focused on a follow-up part of The Necromancer, which needs a ton of work, but it's not terrible.  Yesterday I played with a scene involving a pair of pyromaniac twins.  Yup, they're trouble and they got into some.  Yes, it involved something blowing up.  Those boys can either be pretty dangerous to their enemies or dangerous to themselves and anyone within a ten mile radius of them!

Maybe I'll post some reading material tomorrow!  Stay tuned for more!

The Necromancer

Today was a pretty busy day.  I went and got an eye exam, because I'm way too clumsy with my glasses and they needed replacing, so I've got a new pair coming in two weeks!  Woot!  I have a bit of a headache from the exam, but I managed to write a page today!  I'll be honest, part of this one creeps me out.  But I think I managed to take some of that creepiness away.

Anyway!  Enjoy!

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He had long since forgotten his name.  And so had everyone else.  No one came to visit him.  He had no family left.  They had died hundreds of years ago.  His only company was the few apprentices, young mages, who sought him out for training.  There had been too few of those lately.

He stood gazing into the tall mirror framed in charred, blackened wood.  It had withstood many battles and many angry apprentices who sought to take their master’s power.  His pale lips twitched into a smile.  Long black hair hung like string around his face.  His eyes were a brilliant shade of sapphire blue.  He was tall for a human, taller than the shortest northman, but shorter than the tallest.  He bore the appearance of a human at the age of forty-eight.

He spread a hand over his cheek, making the skin tighten for a moment.  He scowled at the mirror, at the age lines that had started to form.  He looked down at his hands that too showed his age.  He scowled again and looked into the mirror.  The mirror trembled as the earth under the tower rumbled.   

He took a deep breath and unclenched his fist.  The earth under the tower settled and the mirror stopped shaking.

“It seems it is time to renew my search for my apprentice.”  His voice was smooth and yet it crackled at the same time, “If he has survived.”

Above him there came a soft clicking and then the large spider unfurled itself and settled on the man’s shoulder.  He reached up to pet one of its hairy legs.  It clicked in pleasure again.

“Yes, I know you shall be quite excited to see him again.  You had so much fun with him, my pet.  Come, we must prepare ourselves.”

He swayed down the stairs of his tall tower, his pet skittering behind him.  A faint purple hue greeted the pair from the room below.  Bookcases lined the walls, covered in dusty tomes.  Jars with specimens floating inside them, lined one shelf.  A series of vials and other glass tubes were scattered along a table.  Several bubbled with different colored liquids.  At the other side of the room was another desk.  This one was covered in notebooks, dusty tomes and sheets of paper.

It was this desk that the pair moved toward.  The man leaned over the desk, moving papers as if searching.  His pet hop into the chair and peeked over the desktop, only its eight eyes showing.  Every so often, it would reach up a leg or two and knock something off the desk.  After a long search, He pulled out a small black velvet lined box.  He opened it carefully and smiled.

“Yes, this will do nicely.”  He said as he lifted a shimmering silver locket from the box.