“Good morning world, just wanted to let you know that I’m not dead. Yes all you haters, I’m still alive.”

Yeah, so, by now everyone who reads this blog should know that it is rarely ever updated and that I rarely ever speak about things that matter to anyone else. Only things that matter to me!

And that’s the way it’s staying!

In other news:

I participated in NaNoWriMo 2013 last month and although I didn't reach 50,000 words I came a little over half way and am proud of that.

I also then decided after the clock of November ticked over into December, to lay my story to bed for a while to try and conjure up some new ideas before I work too hard on it and end up either writing it into a corner or printing it all off just for the satisfaction of throwing it in the fire out of pure frustration.

Yes, dear world, you heard me correctly. I have laid “The Maiden Squire” in a folder in a dark corner of my laptop’s memory and left it to fester and bubble over with new ideas.

Hopefully this break will give some fresh inspiration for it come April next year when I attempt the first Camp NaNo of 2014.

Until then though I would like to point out that I will not be idle in the months between now and that next Camp NaNo.

No Sirree, my dear world. I am not going to be idle at all. In fact I have recently started writing a novelette/short story of a similar genre but about something I have loved ever since I was a little girl.
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When I was about six, I would walk down the road to the local library and fetch handfuls of books to bring home with me. On of these days I found a children’s book with strange picturesin it. 

Almost like an original Grimm’s fairy book.

It told the story of how elves, pixies, trolls and goblins would sneak into the human world and change their own young for the child of a human. 

The human child that was taken would reside in peace with the fairy folk who stole it but the child left behind for the humans would often be unruly and disobedient to the point where the parents would know that they had been tricked and that their child was not really their child.

Those children left behind were known as Changeling Children.

Later on in life when I fell into the embrace of poetry, I remember reading a poem by William Butler Yeats, *. In it he spoke of, what I now know to be, a changeling child:

Come away, O human child!
To the water’s and the wild
With a faery hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand
I recently rediscovered that poem and fell in love with the mystic ways of Elven and Faerie folk. I guess it’s the pure Celtic blood in me.

And so I give you my own rendition of the classic tale of a changeling child. No research, no months of planning, just a spontaneous story that has started sprouting in my mind after years of dormancy.

I wouldn’t suggest holding your breath for a spectacular spectacle of young creative talent, but I would definitely love to send it out to any of you readers for constructive criticism. If you so wished to read it.

Let me know via email, PM or in a comment below what your opinions of faeries and folk lore are and what you think about the changeling child myth.

Without further ado, and with a lightened heart, I bid you all adieu. Until next we meet.

 
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I have almost completed my monthly goal of 65,000 words and am ready to start editing and revising my first draft.

The other night I grabbed four books off the shelf in my room and counted words per line (wpl), lines per page (lpp), pages per novel (ppn) and average words per book (awpb).

Here were my findings -

Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz - 10 wpl/ 30 lpp/ 392 ppn/ 1 17, 606 awpb
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz - 9 wpl/ 27 lpp/ 243 ppn/ 55,647 awpb
Treasures by Nora Roberts - 10 wpl/ 32 lpp/ 450 ppn/ 144,000 awpb
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - 10 wpl/ 26 lpp/ 452 ppn/ 1 17, 520 awpb

Therefore I deduced that one burst of NaNoWriMo (namely, writing 50,000 words) would be equal to writing a book the size of Anthony Horowitz's Stormbreaker.

April is almost over and so with only five days left until my month long noveling adventure comes to an end, I have finally come to the realization that my novel will not be finished by April 30th.

I have almost reached my word count quota but now seeing just how many words that is I have decided that my April novel must now be split in two and that the end of my heroine's story will have to come in the form of a sequel.

By the time July comes around and the next camp NaNo starts I should have enough words to be able to complete my first book. Book II of The Ashford Legacy will hopefully be started when November comes around.

I plan to write a few thousand words each month in-between the NaNo's so that by the end of 2013 I shall have one 122,000 word novel and one shorter, final 60, 000 word novel.

 The figures are daunting but I know I can achieve them. And by the end of the year, I hope to be able to say that I wrote a series. Not something many people do in a year.

Of course it will take a while to revise the first draft of both novels and then some considerable time after that to revise the second draft and the final draft, I am prepared to do it and by thus posting in here, for the whole world to see I can keep myself accountable.

After all Accountability is a wonderful thing.

    Current Favourite Book....

                   UGLIES
             by Scott Westerfeld

    Out of Inspiration

    'Out of Inspiration' is a special section of my website set aside to discuss any ideas or inspiration that I've had.

    About the Author

    Young though I am, I can proudly say that I am an Author. I have written two
    novels so far and at the moment am writing my first sequel. The Ashford Legacy.

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    Utopia              ~  4 STARS
    The Hunger Games ~ 5 STAR
    Catching Fire  ~ 4 STARS
    Mockingjay      ~ 3 STARS
    Delerium          ~ 4 STARS
    Pandemonium ~ 3 STARS
    Requiem          ~ 1 STAR
    Across the Universe ~ 5 STAR
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    PRETTIES       ~ 4 STARS
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