Check Up

Well, it's Saturday, and it's a good day to look back on progress made and to set up expectations for the week to come.  And for a snippet from my nano novel, tweaked to make more sense.


Progress Made:

• I finished NaNoWriMo Friday night. Walker#1 Novel is not finished, but I am pleased with my word count this month.
  
• I've started on my website.  Right now, I have my hosting site, domain name, and a very basic layout of site.

New Goals:

• Take a break from the actual writing of Walker#1 Novel, and start planning out the series and world in greater depth.
• Work on a page a day of my website.
• Get back to my regular schedule of linkaday, research, and write way posts.

Snippet from Walker#1 Novel:

"Aren't you going to offer a lady a ride?" Mehe said.

Find me one, and I'd be happy to.  But my former horse had a mind of Mehe's making, and without waiting for my response, it folded itself in place over its legs, nearly upending me in the process.  She demurely settled on the now expanded back, crossing her legs over the side.  By the time I found my seat, it rose up again.  Nearly dislodging me in the process again, while her pose hadn't shifted a muscle.

Enough was enough.

She could keep her mech . . . beast.  I'd go hide out in the House of Health until it had returned to normal and she preyed on one of her other sometimes-husbands.  I lifted my right leg over the neck of the beast, intending to slide off over shoulder and wing.  Instead, I found myself in a less than comfortable parody of her position.  The wing had locked my leg into position.  And my seat warmed, threatening sunburn in inopportune places. 

Mehe draped an arm over my shoulder and toyed with the back of my neck.  "A rather comfortable improvement, isn't it?  And roomy.  One could practically do anything atop him.  One doesn't have to be so flexible anymore."

Choosing the lesser of two evils, I swung my leg back into the proper side of the trap and sighed.  "You're going to sell me to the vampires again, aren't you?"

Mehe withdrew, rigid.  "You should know I possess more sense than that."  She plucked at my silk sleeve.  "Do you have any idea how much your garments would cost to purchase?  I'd never recoup their loss or my standing with the creditors if I let you go off to a harem in these."

Well, she could, if she did business with the greater harem holders, but none of them would have anything to do with her after her last deal.  "So I'm safe as long as I'm dressed in your purchases?"

"Rentals, not purchases."

"What's keeping you from just stripping me down beforehand?"

She scoffed.  "Men, you only have one thing on your mind.  But I am flattered you miss me so, my love."

Reassuring that:   in her mind, she connected my nudity only to intimate acts with her; it was also quite unreassuring for entirely the same reason.  But continuing to argue down this path would only lead to more equivocations of increasingly uncomfortable nature.  So there was nothing left for it but this:  I turned around in my seat, stared her in the eye, and entreated her for a straight answer for once.  "Mehe, what do you want?"

Progress: Lab

Holly Lisle has a challenge going of writing 250 words a day. Well, I tried it towards editing, and I got 359 of them. Wanna see one?

crevice

Lol. Well I did say one. Ok, a few more.

I returned to the front door and started the night's mischief with a little spell to Tamay's lock to greet his next few returns; see if that sparked up a memory or two.

Then, I continued by poking my hand up into the crevice above the door frame.

"What are you doing? Secure the kitten and depart."

"Oh, I'm sure the kitten's secure enough in her cage, for the moment, Your Lowliness. Don't worry your orange little brains about it."

How's that for context? ;-)

Lab update and Snippet.

Update on the editing progress. Now have three chapters edited in the second draft.

To celebrate, here is a snippet from my work in progress, Labyrinth. The main thing that needs set up for this snippet to make sense is that my MC, a sixteen year old invisible male, is holding a plant goddess captive. Or rather, he is holding captive a plant goddess in seed form inside a vial inside a pocket in his shirt. He is trying to get past a sphinx (owned by a immortal man called the Collector) guarding the labyrinth.


<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I stepped forward.

The Sphinx turned her head toward me, claws flexing in those platter-sized paws.

I stopped.

The Sphinx said, "I am the Soul, the Flesh, and the Guardian of the Labyrinth. None shall pass without permission."

"Funny," I said, looking her up and down. Casually. "You look like a Sphinx to me." What would she say to that? How good was her warning spell? "And I have an invitation. From one worldly friend to another." I plucked out the vial and waved it, noisily, to test the extent of her visual and aural capacities. "See? Your turn." I ignored the whisper of "filth" in my head and returned the Invective One to safety.

She did blink, nor follow my hand, suggesting low sensitivity to my presence, and what sensitivity existent quickly fading.

But she did manage to say, "I am the Labyrinth," through a still muzzle. "Those who do not heed the warning trespass. Trespassers forfeit their souls."

No movement. Anywhere. Not even a whisker flicker. The Sphinx as-is was incapable of any real conversation.

Just like a goddess I loved to torture.

I eyed the Sphinx's leg, a paw waiting with claws sheathed. Claws, however, do work well. Especially ones kin to scythes.

"Your Lowliness, you might be right for twice. She doesn't seem to be listening." Shame, since her attention span was beyond the momentary. Did you have a falling out?" I snapped my fingers. "You tried to leach onto her graven images, didn't you! You lichen fiend!"

"Fool." Two seeds beat about this time inside my belt pocket. "Coward fool. It is a trick. Circumvent her and break the spell binding her tongue."

Fine. Besides, I had a own trick of my own. A trick within a trick. I reached inside a breast pocket number six, upper row, and pulled out a heat spell hiding in a lightstick. Been holding onto that since the last time I was here. Now that I needed a diversion, I hope it hadn't forgotten to work. After all, if I were going to be foolhardy, best to be foolhardy and quick rather than just foolhardy and crushed beneath giant Sphinx. I gathered my weight, rocking on my heels. Swift. Easy. Moving in line with my goal, I broke the trick lightstick in half and tossed it near the opposite paw. For a moment, it sat there. Leaving me an idiotic litterer.

Then it flared to life with pale orange light, rotating in place like a drunken firework. Not quite the right color or speed, but . . . .

The Sphinx cocked her head at it.

Yes, swift and easy. I pushed off, leaping over the ledge of a paw, with a hand of my own to help. The paw was warm, furry, and firm with muscle.

I landed on the other side, the impact jarring. The anticipated displacement of air--from a swipe of a paw or snap of jaw--never came. I didn't perceive any movement; had no time to check. I rolled ahead, out of the squeeze of body and white wall before that turned into squish of my body between both.

When I came to my feet, I was ready judge my success and doff it to Collector's so-called enforcement spell from many yards away, before a cat and I resumed negotiations.

When I came to my feet, I was face to chest with the Sphinx, and the haze rested behind her this time. She had not moved.

But she had moved. Was facing me. Somehow.

"Impossible," I whispered.

"Finally," the goddess tinked. "Fool."

The Sphinx dipped her head and said, "So be it, trespasser."

This time, she swiped her paw.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>