So for the past few weeks Freahouse has been in the hands of editors and beta readers. Yesterday my partner-in-crime and fellow author had a full day discussion about Freakhouse. It required so much editing, which I'm not surprised about, but thankfully it seems to be going in the right direction so no major revisions required (as of yet). No, I'm not shamelessly promoting my up-coming novel (okay, maybe just a little). What really made the most of yesterday's discussion was simply being able to hear someone else talk about the characters and events. For the first time ever, Freakhouse became real. It's not just in my head anymore, it lives. It reminded me why I bother publishing these stories in the first place - why I bother writing them.

I am definitely ready to hear more interpretations of the new novel. Hopefully I can get it released soon. A few more responses and it should be ready to go.

Other than that, eagerly waiting for April and Camp NaNoWriMo.

You know when you wake up in the morning and have a feeling that today just won't be your best day? Not only was today not my best day, but all possible expectations I could have had for it to be a bad day were quite underwhelming compared to the ridiculousness of painful, waste-of-time, "help, I'm trapped in this lecture hall and can't get out," kind of day that I ended up having. Luckily, there were plenty of others suffering with me, including friends, and try as we might to keep each other going by the time we reached the 3 hour mark in our room where hope comes to die, desperation called our names and so the group story was born. I'm sure that it has a better funky name, but you have no idea how much non-functioning my brain has been struggling through today. Basically we each write a sentence or so of the same story and pass it around. Juvenile, you say? Much needed, says I! It took 4 of us to create this masterpiece (so don't lay all the blame on me!), and it allowed us to end the class with a smile on our face.

Therefore, without further ado, the collaborative tale of the Marshmallow Man and his Dog:

Did I enjoy my first week of 2013? Why, yes, I think I can say that I truly did. Did anything get accomplished during this week? Well, if you count a lot of sleeping in, finally watching Season One of Game of Thrones, going to Les Mis., and cracking open every new boardgame we own (and then standing by as Matt promptly orders a box-load more knowing full well that the holiday is ending and our freetime is about to go *poof*), then yes, I did accomplish a great deal. I'm 500 pages into the Clash of Thrones, 5 seasons into my Buffy marathon, and somehow did manage to do some wedding and career organization in the middle.

So what's to come in 2013? Well, my wedding, my graduation (again), hopefully a lifelong career will follow, Freakhouse, and if all goes as planned then Camp NaNoWriMo in April for the sequel so far titled Parish, an online monthly bookclub, and one more long-awaited project. If I have a New Year's Resolution, I think this might be the big one. Knightsbridge. I've been so caught up in Freakhouse that my struggle with the Illian kingdom has been quite out of my mind, until a week ago. I don't know what really triggered it, but the scene between Olanthea and Cornelius came vividly to mind and I was right back there, and feeling sorely guilty about it too.

I wrote my first complete full-length novel in 2003, Legendary, and it was soon after that that Knightsbridge came to be - though of course it was much different then. I was still new at this and had a very black and white view of narrative. Collette was essentially an evil witch and the Knights were the power of good, and wonderous magical things were going to happen... well it never amounted to anything, I think that I hand-wrote a chapter or two, and then I moved on to other things, no really, I physically moved away. But Knightsbridge never really went away, it just got bigger and more complex. In fact, it got so big and so complex that I had become too afraid to even try to write it. Then I found myself ready. With Galen out of the way and a new adventure in England to liveout, I felt ready to take it on... and on, and on, and on... then I got tired of taking it on. I also realized that I really don't like NaNo cheating. Freakhouse was a wonderful much needed break from Knightsbridge, and knowing that I have Parish still to write I think that I can pick Knighstbridge back up. But I have a dilemma... I don't actually know where I left off, and I don't know if I can trust myself to be disciplined enough to just read the one page and move forward or if I am going to convince myself that I have to reread and edit from the beginning... Knightsbridge currently exisits in three parts already... this could get messy. Luckily I know the story and know where it's going. I think that I just got burned out trying to reach each milestone that the transitions and connectors became forced. 

I was reading a blog that had a list of Resolutions for writers. I didn't read the whole thing, but the one that I knew I had to do was "Finish what you start." It's 2013 now. Sometime near the end of 2003 Knightsbridge was born. It's been almost 10 years since I began this adventure, and it seems rather fitting that the story takes place almost 10 years since the death of the last king. Both Knightsbridge and I have no choice but to race against the clock. Can we save the kingdom before that 10 year anniversary? It's almost too perfect, you'd think that I have planned it out this way. But I actually had no intention of bringing Knightsbridge up again this year. I didn't think that I had it in me, especially with everything else going on this year. But I think that I have to now. 6 days in, and I haven't even opened up a Knightsbridge document yet. The clock is ticking. But this is my last lazy day... who knows what will actually get done...