How Could I Forget!

No big blog today. I completely forgot that today’s the day the Golden Heart and Rita Award nominees are notified. Keep up with the finalists at Judi Fennell’s blog and congrats to all the nominees!

Organization Skills – Lacking

Well, if I could get myself organized, I could post the next segment of The Echo Chambers, which is written up so nice and pretty, waiting to be typed. Or I could go over the first section, analyzing the process and spend time explaining why I made the decisions I did. Or I could post any of the other three stories I have going that aren’t book material, but stories nonetheless.

Bah. When disorganization hits one area of my life, it apparently hits them all. 

Tomorrow for sure. I shall tattoo it upon my arm: Serenity now and get the butt in gear!

The Echo Chambers

“Murder me, and you will be executed.”

Ji ran his thumb over the hilt of his sword, finding comfort in the smooth, familiar contours. “This is not murder.”

The man before him raised his chin and narrowed his eyes, his shoulders set and his gaze unwavering. Sheng stood calm, proud, defiant. A good choice for Ji’s blade. “Do you expect me to believe that you don’t intend to kill me with that?”

“I intend to take you from this world, yes, but there is no death in this act.” Ji raised the sword, the blade a blazing white. Sheng’s outward calm did not falter, but Ji could see the panicking throb of his pulse. Efficiency and expediency now would be most humane. His shoulder tensed, the muscles of his arms tightening in preparation for the killing stroke.

“What of my family?” The words came in a rush. Sheng swallowed hard. The whites of his eyes were growing more visible.

“I have no business with them.”

Relief skittered behind Sheng’s black eyes. His fists clenched. “I have your word?”

“Yes.” Ji allowed himself one moment of hesitation, the second he needed to quell the inner rebellion that always rose in him before this act. One day, Sheng would thank him for this. “If you close your eyes, you will feel no pain.”

His lips pressed thin, but he did not close his eyes. He never did. “Do it.”

Ji struck, quick and sure, his blade sliding between the ribs and into Sheng’s heart. The man’s eyes widened, his breath exploding from his lungs, and then, with a twist of Ji’s wrist, Sheng was gone.

Pulling his blade from the body, Ji watched the near transparent mist roll along the gleaming scarlet of Sheng’s blood, the shreds of soul gathering and twisting in on itself until it shrank and disappeared. His hand trembled. Tightening his fist around the handle, Ji willed it to stop.

An agonized, high-pitched scream rent through the room.

Ji whirled to find a young girl, no more than seven or eight, standing in the open doorway. Sheng’s daughter. His stomach dropped. Her huge, dark eyes flooded with tears and horror. Ji managed one step toward her before she screamed again and turned, stumbling once before fleeing down the hall. Her cries still echoed as Ji glanced back at Sheng’s body, slumped on the floor against the wall. His glassy, lifeless eyes stared, his mouth hung open, and blood blossomed on the white of his tunic, sticky and glossy, pooling beneath his thighs.

Guilt seized Ji hard, squeezing his chest until he struggled to breath. He’d done what was right—what was necessary—but he despised the need when it damaged a family. That little girl did not deserve to see her father like this. Ji closed his eyes and forced a deep breath. The job was done.

Time to go.

Pulling a cloth from his pocket, he cleaned and sheathed his sword before tossing the cloth aside and reaching for the ring on his left hand. Distant shouts began to echo down the halls of the palatial estate as Ji twisted the hexagonal stone of the ring. A brief, blistering agony, a flash of intense, blinding white light, and then he was gone.

The Development of a Story

Okay, I’m writing again, but barely. I’m blogging again, but also just barely. (Wow, three adverbs in a row… Nice!) So I figured I’d try something new. I’ll be posting a story, The Echo Chambers, in increments. I’m hoping this will help in any or all of the following ways:

1.) It’ll get me back onto some semblance of writing and blogging schedules since it’s essentially killing the proverbial two birds with one stone.

2.) I’ll be forced to stay in my characters’ heads. No more getting distracted by the shenanigans of secondary characters unless it’s important to the plot or somehow woven in as a subplot. Also no more getting distracted by the “Ooh, shiny!” effect of my world-building. I’m focusing.

If I had a camera, I’d show you my focus face. It’s quite fierce, I assure you.

3.) I’ll develop a better sensitivity to scenes since that’s what I have to post. This kind of ties into number two above; no diversions. Scene, scene, scene…

4.) Hopefully, it’ll also better help me understand my process and be mildly entertaining for those curious in the development of a story, as I’ll try to also post the hows and whys of my decisions.

So, yeah… Here goes nothing!

Blargh

Okay, so I’m being totally schizophrenic. I’m here! I’m not. I’m here! Aaannd now I’m not. Like herpes. And I don’t wanna be like herpes. Especially when considering the whole romance-writing factor, since nothing kills a good romance like “Hey, Baby, how about you and me go find ourselves a secluded spot and swap some venereal disease?” Ugh. *Shudders*

As you might have guessed, it’s been an interesting day. Or week, rather. Er–better make that the last few months. I still haven’t written anything fiction in I don’t know how long, though I’ve picked up a bit of journaling again and I’m still reading like mad. My characters are also starting to crawl back into my head, stretching and yawning. Many are demanding coffee. A love of all things caffeinated seems to be a common theme among my characters. I’m a little leery of giving any to them. Once they’re fully awake, no doubt they’ll make life more chaotic.

CAROLINA NORTH, of all things, is demanding attention again. I sense a full rewrite, especially after the Infamous Kate W’s (who needs to get a site so I have somewhere to link this to!) super-awesome presentation at the RWA meeting on enneagrams, which is a personality typing system that’s deliciously useful for character development. She suggested an interesting twist on Jake, the hero, that will keep him true to his original self while simultaneously giving him a much needed kick in the butt. Of course, I’m torn. Do I travel back to the land of Carolina, or do I go forward with my intended plan to work on SIX GUN QUOTA?

Decisions, decisions…

Given my current track record, however, I think the better bet might be to see what comes more naturally, at least until I manage to ease back into some semblance of a schedule.