Life and Links

Well, as Siani pointed out to me earlier this morning, it's been around ten days -- that's over a week -- since my last post. I feel bad about that, especially considering I used to post almost every single day. You may have also noticed that I'm absolutely horrible with schedules. My music and legend posts have gone from regimented, to haphazard, to nil. Which I also feel bad about.

So, partial explanation. Aside from having a hard time sticking to schedules, there are also several big things going on over here. First is Walk Thru Bethlehem, which our church puts on every year in December. If you live in Florida around the location of Kings Avenue Church, definitely look into coming to this event. It's free, well done, and boatloads of fun. My family and I will be helping out every day there, which is going to keep me pretty busy.

The next part of the excuse is that shortly after WTB, the lot of us will be moving out of Florida. In light of all these things, I'm thinking blog activity will be somewhat limited. I'm going to make an effort to post some more music, the last few transcripted parts of FtGG, and a legend post or two, but I'd like to make it known that life's going to be a bit full so things won't be as regular.

For other news, I started reading False Prince. I haven't gotten very far yet. Still in the first chapter. However, I'm enjoying it so far. The author appears to be character oriented (like me!) which I enjoy. I've decided I need to read more, so I've charged Seph with the duty of nagging me into reading for at least half an hour a day.

I got a new costume! I ordered this dress from yourdressmaker.com. I've been trying to get pictures of it, but technology hates me at the moment. The camera has gone missing and just when we got the camcorder set up, it ran out of batter completely. Which is typical. I will have pictures to post up here (hopefully) soon, though. It's an awesome outfit that merits a blog post all its own.

Last thing: Archives of Xystia. Xystia is the setting for the trilogy I'm currently writing (which is also on hold due to the end-of-the-year's activities) and it's become so vast and complicated that in order for people to get a good grasp of it, a website is needed. Originally I had a website using webs.com, but it was dark and cumbersome. I very much like the blogger format, and I would love to write blog posts on whatever random Xystia thing comes into my mind, so I made Archives of Xystia. Now, it's still under construction, but there is enough content there for it to be worth checking out. There is also an Archives of Xystia Pinterest board, now, too. If you like my personal pinterest account, then be sure to check out the Xystia one.

So! That's been my life for the past more-than-a-week. How was yours?

Dia duit,
~Penny

SqueeCough

Oh, my poor neglected blog! I haven't posted a song or a legend post in simply ages! I feel slightly consoled by the fact that I posted a how-to-ish thing on costuming, but still.

To explain the title. First, Squee! My best friend, Siani Delaney, has a blog. This has me smiling rather ridiculously inside. The addy is http://www.writingwanderlust.blogspot.com/ . So go look at it. Go on, shoo. You can finish this post when you get back.

Back now?

Okay.

You checked out the blog first, right? Hm.

Alright, I believe you. You can move on.

Second, Cough. As I have explained to Dana a few times, my bed and I have been rather chummy for the past two days as I've been down with some sickness or other. I think it's just a cold, or.....something. Whatever it is, it's left me achy and exhausted, so I haven't been able to get out of bed for more than a few minutes. As such, I have subsisted off continuous episodes of Star Trek, a lengthy adventure game, lots and lots of sleeping, and a nice chat with Ani, then Dana, then my siblings.

Also, I bought a new costume a little bit ago and intend to take and post pictures of it. That is, as soon as I can stand. Which isn't yet.

I hope y'all are doing a little bit better, health wise, than I am.

Dia duit,
~Penny

Resourceful Costuming for the Non-Seamstress

Though I've done a little bit of costume sewing in my time (wow, that makes me sound old...), I am certainly no seamstress. Nor do I have the patience or time -- hello, I'm writing a novel -- to become one.

But I'm picky. I like things to be nice, and while I'll put up with a slightly lower quality when it comes to costumes I make, I like them to at least be worth the ammount of work put into them, and very much dislike tackiness. Cheapo costumes sold at Wal-Mart or Target during Halloween are pretty much out of the question. Those things just scream cliche. There's little to no creativity when it comes to those.

Those two reasons -- my lack of sewing skills and my dislike of cheap storebought costumes -- are mainly why I will spend a little extra on tailored costumes like the ones from armstreet.com and yourdressmaker.com.

However! There is another option I haven't yet mentioned when it comes to costuming. And that is normal clothing. You would be simply amazed at how well a properly matched outfit bought in the regular clothing section in a store can play the role of a quality costume for a given occasion. You just have to know what to look for.

Before I give a few tips, you'll have to understand that these are regular clothes. They're not top notch specialized costumes, so there's only so close you'll be able to get to the 'real thing'. But you can get pretty doggone close if you're creative and, yes, a little lucky.

Medieval/Fantasy

Girls
~Peasant tops. These are great as a base piece, though be sure to get them in solid colors and not modern patterned fabric.
~Ankle length tiered skirts. These are full and swingy and are also great as a base piece. Once again, solid colors; no modern patterns.
~Woven belts
~Gold or silver bangles
~Hoop or feather earrings
~Medallion necklaces
~Another cool one is taking a plain solid color mini-dress and wearing it with brown or black pants underneath, a belt, and boots.

Guys
~Oversized solid color t-shirts (best colors are brown, dark green, and black). Worn with a belt, these resemble medieval tunics, especially if they're a little long.
~Courderoys in black or brown. So far courderoy is the most medieval looking pant fabric, even over khakis.
~Since men's boots are very modern looking these days, with the laces and combat boot feel to them, we've found that wellies -- or golashes, as Americans call them -- work pretty well. Yes, they are made out of rubber, and may be pushing things a bit, but hey, that's what imagination is for. Besides wellies, boots or all black sneakers work well. Sorry, guys; you don't get as much fun with footwear.
~Belt. Almost any kind of guy's belt will work.

Accessories

~I've seen leather bracelets of various types in stores nowadays, and though I haven't bought any yet, they've always struck me as awesome unisex costume accessories.
~Shoes. Like I said before, boots are great, but another option for girls is to wear plain brown ballet flats.
~Bling bling! Silver and gold make for great jewelry, especially for a gypsy.
~Consider sashes as a substitute for belts.
~Leather string. I can't think of the proper name for it... Anyway, I found these things at Jo-Ann's craft store in the very small leather working section. If you use these to 'lace' up the bottoms of your pants, it looks really cool. Same can be done for sleeves.
~Use your belt to go diagonally across your chest like a bandolier.

Weapons

Most of these do actually have to be made, but you can find some fairly cheap daggers online.

~Swords.
~Daggers.
~Bows and arrows.
~Axes.
~Spears.
~Poisons. Vials can easily be bought at a craft store, then all you do is fill them with water and food coloring of various types.
~Slingshot.

Sci-Fi

Okay, I actually have pictures for this one. My siblings and I have come up with our own knock off of Star Trek. So we needed uniforms.

Since we were taking off of a uniform design that was already made up, our job was much easier. Especially since this design happened to be fairly simple. We followed the basic uniform concepts from The Original Series (which happens to be my personal favorite series of Star Trek), which consists of a solid color top and black bottoms. That's pretty easy, but it's ridiculously easy when you consider buying those clothes from a regular clothes store instead of trying to make them or buy the 'official' Star Trek merchandise from online. That's also where a little bit of luck comes in. We found a shirt at Target that was so amazingly close to the gold/yellow shirt Captain Kirk wears in TOS that we were practically squealing with excitement. It's perfect.

Anyway, we actually began with assigning colors to the various divisions on the Penterprise (it's a PenKnights ship, we decided), then assigned each person to a division, and that's how we knew which shirt color to buy for who.

Command Uniform

Security and Operations

Cadet

As you can see, they're not perfectly Sci-fi, but they are pretty doggone close. And a great thing about these outfits is that they can also be worn as proper clothes. Because of that, they will last quite a while and look good.

Here are also a few other ideas of what to wear while playing Sci-Fi Imagination Games.

Girls
~Surprisingly, many of the base medieval costume pieces will work for sci-fi, as well. Look at some sci-fi; a lot of the clothing -- when not completely outrageous -- has a slight medieval tone to them. Especially clothes for royalty. The trick is changing the color theme from forest colors like brown, green, orange, and so on, to colors like black, grey, and other deep colors, and adding the right accessories.
~Black, grey, or deep colored mini-dresses make for good tunics over black or grey pants. Go for trim, clean lines.
~Black belts with silver or gunmetal accents.
~Boots or sneakers work better than ballet flats when it comes to look.
~Metal jewelry rather than beads.

Guys
~Black or grey pants.
~Trim shirts that don't look like tunics.
~Black belts, or utility belts for those with a more mechanic type job. Like the ones handy men wear.
~Boots or sneakers, though not wellies.

Accessories

~Wristbands. Leather is best, if you can find them.
~Fingerless black gloves.
~Drop holster. I am honestly not quite sure where to find these, and I don't know how expensive they are. We use one of my Dad's old ones.

When it comes to sci-fi, there is less of a specific style to follow. With fantasy, we go off of medieval stuff. With sci fi, what is there? It's the future; you have a lot of freedom. It's up to you to design your sci-fi culture and thus the rules of clothing. The one guideline I know that helps keep things looking more sci-fi than modern or fantasy is to keep things sleek, trim, and clean. With fantasy there are a lot of layers and 'frills', if you will. With sci-fi, things are very straightforward with fewer layers, and only a few accents.

Weapons

~Nerf guns! While not exactly colored correctly, these are the weapons we use for every one of our sci-fi IGs, both with and without darts.
~Daggers.
~Slingshots. Yup.
~You can also use storebought lightsabers, if you like.
~PVC guns. Yes, it can be done.
~If you have some creative energies left after all this, try your hand at creating something like the Covenant Energy Sword from the Halo series. If you do this, give me pictures. Because that would be seriously one of the coolest things ever.

That's all I've got for you, folks! Putting together costumes from normal clothes is great fun for those who have a mind for it. It involves a lot of creativity and resourcefulness. I've given you some ideas to start with, but you're going to have to come up with many more of your own.. Unlike with sewing, we're restricted to what the stores have to offer, so consider every angle, keep your mind open to possibilities as they present themselves, and don't be afraid to try something that you hadn't originally thought would work. You never quite know what the end result will be.

Have fun!

Dia duit,
~Penny

For The Greatest Good -- Part XII (Dana)

Part XII -- Dana

    The guards marched us up the passageway, keeping their swords raised and following us in a close formation, to assure we did not attempt any escape. I looked forward, searching for some chance I could retrieve my weapon, any weapon. But no such luck; Ross’s captain marched some distance ahead of us, bearing my sword as well as his own. Cast ahead as it was, my gaze passed over Set. His head turned, just enough that I could catch the slight smile on his face. I ground my teeth, forcing my expression to remain stolid.

   This close. I had been this. Close. To finally ending it all, ending him! And Kearney just had to be so sacrificing and understanding, didn’t she? Of all the crazy stunts…

   Enough. She doesn’t understand, and she doesn’t know. And for her sake, she never will.

    I took a deep breath and tried to quell the bitterness that roiled within me, fighting with resentment.

   Come on, focus. This isn’t getting either of you free.

    I stared ahead, attempting to discover the elusive scent of a path I had felt. But whatever path it was, it did not require any actions soon.

    Our travel in silence through the castle lasted longer than it had felt. Not five minutes had transpired before we were marched into Campbell’s throne room, which at the moment was occupied by Campbell himself seated on his throne, Ross, who stood several yards away from him, and a small force of guards. Campbell rose from his seat at the sight of us, and a smug smile of malice spread across Ross’s face. Our company came to a halt, the guards forming a tighter circle around us as Ross’s captain stepped forward, offering my sword to his overlord.

   “Well, well, well…” Ross said as he took the blade in hand, admiring the light dancing across the polished blade.

   “My lord, the final guardian knight to oppose us was caught attempting to free the lady Kearney and kill lord Set. His sword, pathseeker, the last of the blades, I believe.”

    At this comment, I raised an eyebrow. You wish.

    Campbell smiled, folding his arms and stepping down from his throne with a confident gait. Ross spoke with exultation.

   “Brilliant, Set, brilliant!”

    The captain stepped back with a slightly annoyed expression, but said nothing. Ross finished admiring his prize and walked toward where I and Kearney stood with our hands bound. I watched him, keeping any emotion from my face.

   No spike; we should be fine. He means to gloat, not execute.

    The smug look on Ross’s face spread to his tone of voice as he spoke.

   “So you’ve failed again, MacDonald. Not the nicest feeling, hm?”

    I allowed a small smile to touch my face.

   “As they say, lord Ross, the day is always darkest before the dawn. I would ask, however, what you plan to do with us?”

    Set stepped forward, but did not interrupt. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Kearney give him a particularly nasty glance, and I restrained a smile.

    Ross raised my blade, letting it rest on my shoulder, lightly, but I knew all too well how dangerous the weapon could be, so close to my throat.

   “You, I plan to deport. Your power, while not directly dangerous, irks me greatly.”

    I raised an eyebrow, keeping my voice as respectful as I could manage in my reply.

   “I do hope you won’t allow me to escape so easily next time. I had to restrain several laughs at the blunders your guards made, in their… “deployment”, to assure I remained a captive.”

   Ross did not respond as I’d hoped, merely answering my question.

   “Oh, no. No such mistake will be made again, I assure you. Your ever present shadow will be right beside you the entire way there and back,” he said as he motioned toward Set. I glanced in his direction, and Set gave me a devious smile. Biting back a response, I asked my next question with a guarded tone.

   “What of the lady Kearney, then”

   Ross turned to look at Kearney, appearing to think on this question. Kearney narrowed her eyes into a dangerous glare. However, Ross did not speak, but Campbell did for him.

   “Her, we will need to… extract…. military information from. While you, with your forces fled or destroyed, pose no threat to us, she still has half an army out there. What’s left of it, that is. Knowing where it is will make removing the threat so much easier.”

   Campbell had stepped forward to give this answer, and I fixed a steady stare on him. For a few moments, he stared back, but glanced away, unable to hold it. Ross nodded in affirmation of Campbell’s words.

   “For the lives of her brothers, I’m sure she would pay any price.

    Kearney stiffened, even as I glanced at her in an attempt to warn away any visible reaction.

    Ross gave a slow smile that spoke of cruelty in mind.

   “Ah, I see… there I can see fear.”

    Kearney shifted her gaze from the warlord to the wall behind the throne, assuming an impassive stance.

   “Small wonder; you are no stranger to it,” I retorted.

   Ross gave me an annoyed glance before walking past me to stand in front of Kearney, to speak to her directly.

   “Perhaps I should kill one of them just so your debt is paid. Then you can bargain for the life of the other.

   My ears perked up at this comment. Debt?

   Kearney turned her gaze to look at Ross and responded with a tense tone of voice.

   “His death wasn’t my fault.”

    Ross’s stare hardened, as did his own tone.

   “He would not have been where he was that night if it were not for you. I will have justice!”

   “You had justice with the first life you took from our ranks!” Kearney responded with equal heat.

   “This isn’t about justice, this war itself is NOT about justice. This? This is greed.”

    In a snap of anger, Ross slapped her across the face. Kearney dropped to a knee at the blow, swaying, and I jumped forward to keep her from falling any further. Ross’s fists clenched, fury showing plain on his face. I stared at him coldly.

   “The path of vengeance holds no resolution, Ross; only destruction. And with it, loss of honor.”

   A blow to my back sent me reeling to one side. I coughed, struggling to rise, and heard Set’s voice above me.

   “Another word, captive, and your companions will suffer for it. Lord Ross did not give you leave to speak.”

   I glanced up to look at Ross, but found no change on his face.

   “Ask your pathetic rulers about ‘honor’”, he growled.

Kearney remained as she was, recovering fully before moving. Ross seemed to regain, at least in part, his lost composure, and turned to Set.

   “I want that one deported as soon as possible. Put the ‘queen’ in one of our special cells. She won’t take long to break. Oh, and send out a messenger to tell Sir Damien to kill one of the brothers, I don’t care which one.”

   “No!”

   Kearney jumped up and leapt toward Ross, but two of the guards reached her first, restraining her attempts to reach him. Ignoring her outburst, Set bowed to Ross.

   “We can leave as soon as my forces fully return from routing the rebels that fled to the valleys. Where do want him kept until then, my lord?”

I rose to a crouch, but made no interruption. Any outburst now would only result in further forceful silencing.

   “Put him somewhere nearby. Maybe he can convince her to give up the location of the army before we have to waste too much energy. But keep a guard by both of them.”

Set nodded. “I will see to it. Guards, take them both.”

I felt two pairs of hands grasp my arms, and I allowed them to pull me to my feet. This was still the way, I could feel it, and I did not fight their grasp. Kearney, however, struggled against the guards dragging her until another joined them in an attempt to restrain her. I smiled slightly, but it was dampened by what had just transpired. Even if I could feel it, I could not see how we would escape now.

NaNoWriMo -- The End

No, I'm not residing in a time warp that allowed me to reach November 29th sooner than the rest of humanity. It is day 15, and I am calling it quits.

Wait, what? I'm just quitting?

Believe me when I say the decision wasn't exactly easy. But the thing is, some big things have come up in 'real' life that demand my attention, and I just don't have the time for NaNo anymore. My family is moving much sooner than we originally thought, and there are many things that need to be done, on top of the responsibilities I already have around the house. I just cannot focus on both NaNo and life right now, and I do not feel justified choosing NaNo over my family.

So here I end, with 17,540 words of Dagger Quest completed. That's more than I've written in such a condensed ammount of time in my life, so it counts for something, even though I didn't make it to the finish line itself.

I want to say a specific thank you to R.G. Nairam, Wynter Croix, Siani Delaney, and Mrs. Havig for encouraging me on NaNoWriMo. Even though I didn't finish, I really, really appreciate all the support you gave me. I would have given up much sooner if it hadn't been for you, and I think it is good that I at least came this far before winding down. Thanks, guys. You're awesome.

Don't worry, I didn't forget you, Mom. I started a whole new paragraph to say thank you to you. You ready? You sure? Okay. THANK YOU! ^.^ I couldn't have done this without your support throughout.

I'll be rooting for all you NaNo-ers who are still in the game. Keep writing, folks! Remember to enjoy the ride, and keep an eye out for my return next year.

Dia duit,
~Penny

NaNoWriMo -- Day 9

In regards to wrimoing, today is a fail of epic proportions. Although in my defense, I did sit down to write once. But then Dad got home.

Then there was this other event...

I'm officially twenty now. Today is my birthday. I got at least a hundred 'happy birthday's from friends and aquaintances, an adorable e-card from Siani, and a lovely afternoon out at Menchies (if you live in Florida, definitely look up Menchies) with the family.

As a result of the day's activities, and my desire to spend more time with my family rather than hermited up in my room wrimoing, I have gotten exactly 0 words written. It's also movie night tonight, so if the movie runs real late, I'm not sure I'll get to wrimoing at all today.

And you know what? I'm completely unrepentant. So ha. ^.^ I've been in a spritely good mood all day, and haven't let anything spoil it. Tomorrow I will go back to being a hermit and attempt to churn out three thousand words in order to catch up.

Dia duit,
~Penny

NaNowriMo -- 10,000 Words?

Goal completed.

Last night I decided to aim for achieving 10,000 words before bed and I did it. Not only that, but I did it without running into ridiculous overtime. I think I got to bed around 11:30 or 11:40.

So yes, I'm quite proud of myself. Even if it was only 2,000 words that I needed to finish in order to reach 10,000, it's more than I'd been able to write in a row before that, so it counts.

Not it's back to normal until next week, when I'll have to make up for Sunday again.

Dia duit,
~Penny

NaNoWriMo -- Day 6

At the moment my stats on nanowrimo.org are saying that at my current rate, I should reach 50,000 words by December 4th. That's actually an improvement on the previous projected completion date, which was December 12th.

As you can see by my nifty little WriMo gidget there on the sidebar, I'm at around 8,000 words. Today I've written 1,608 words, which is only a few dozen words short of the target average. Easily achieved before 'bedtime'.

However.

I have decided to shoot for 10,000 tonight before hitting the sack. I think I can do it if I put my mind to it and don't run into any major story snags (lol), so I'm going to do my best.

I'll report on progress tomorrow. Here's hoping I don't run too late into the night because I have to be up in the morning to chat with Siani on skype.

Dia duit,
~Penny

For The Greatest Good -- Part XI (Penny)

Part XI – Account by Penny Kearney

“Dana, leave me; it’s too late.” My words poured out in a rush. “Get Percy and Seph out, crown Percy, and keep the Order from dissolving. Ross is counting on the Order becoming weak if I am dead, but you must not let that happen.”

  “Over my dead body.” Dana’s voice sounded in my mind as well as my ears, followed by the echoing ring of PathSeeker being withdrawn from its scabbard somewhere down the hall.

  With a snarl, Set drew back his sword to strike me. I restrained the urge to shrink back.

  “Set!” Dana came into view just outside my cell, sword ready, stance coiled, and gaze intent. “If you kill her…. I will kill you. And you know I can.”

  “No!” I cried.

  Set stayed his blade. He stared at me for a long moment, then, at the sound of Dana’s footsteps, he stepped forward, grabbed my shoulder, and shoved me to the ground.  I landed on my hands and knees as he whirled to face Dana, holding his sword above me.

  Dana slowed, stopping a few paces in front of us. His gleaming silver blade contrasted the ebony one hovering over me. Goosebumps prickled my skin.

  Run, Dana.

  “Well, Dana,” Set said. “This is a bold move, even for you. Do you really want to do this? For if you’re wrong on your level of skill….” I felt his blade come near my neck. “…I beat you, and she dies anyway.”

  I reached up to push the blade back a few inches, but Set pressed it against the back of my neck, forcing me lower further lest the edge sever my skin.

  I clenched my fists. “Blast it! Dana, back off!”

  “Yes, Dana, save yourself.” Set mocked. “Leave your petty little leader to her decided fate. Go on, I’ll catch up later, don’t worry.”

  I closed my eyes. No matter what I hoped, Set’s words as much sealed Dana’s reaction. Whether he would reach Set before—

  Set’s blade lifted from my neck, but instead of it sinking into me from above, a rush of footsteps then the resounding clash of steel rang through the chamber instead. Jerking out of the way, towards the side of the cell, I leapt to my feet.

  Black and silver met time and again in a blinding flurry of strikes and slashes as the twin enemies maneuvered the duel into the hall, expressions intense, eyes burning with a depth of mutual hatred.

  No!

  This was a duel to the death. And I had no weapon to stop it. I watched, frozen, thoughts racing futilely, and moved to the entrance.

  Dana’s attacks became more aggressive, and, if that were even possible, more powerful. Set gave ground, then in a flash finished a deflection and dodged around Dana to reverse their positions and stand near the cell entrance. I pulled back. Dana recovered in an instant, his momentum intact, and bore down on his foe with still yet renewed energy. This time Set held. Had I had a knife, he’d have been an easy target, caught unawares, and so close in range to me. But had I had a knife, I would not have used it, for doing so would have meant Dana’s death, as well. Assuredly, Set knew this.

  A blurring combination from Dana, and Set gave one step. He blocked each attack, but the last one knocked his sword to the side further than Set could help. Dana landed a savage kick to his twin’s chest, knocking him completely onto his back on the stone floor. The black weapon flew from his grasp and skid out of his reach down the hall behind him.

  Dana put his foot on Set’s chest to keep him from rising, and jabbed the tip of his weapon against Set’s neck, glaring down at him and breathing hard.

  “It…is over, Set.”

   He was going to kill him.

   Not today, Dana.

   I darted from the cell. This caught Dana’s attention enough to postpone his action, and allow me time to snatch up Set’s sword, and use it to whirl and slap Dana’s blade from its threatening position on Set’s throat.

  A stutter ran through Dana’s muscles as he, I could tell, restrained a reflexive counter attack. He switched his gaze to me, nearly glaring. “What are you doing?” He hissed, returning his blade to Set’s neck.

  The second he did, I deflected it again, and this time followed through with an offensive combination. Dana gave ground under my short onslaught, more out of surprise than any real need for safety against my action. He was the better swordsman, but I knew he would do many things before ever harming me of his own volition.

  As he stepped back out of reach at the end of my combination, he retained his guard stance, roiling confusion and near fury in his gaze.

  I met it, dead serious about my intent. “You are not allowed to die.”

  “I cannot allow him to do anything else to you all.” Some of the edge in his tone evened. “It is better this way, and it is appointed a time for everyone to die. Let me pass. Please.”

  “I will not!” I kept Set’s sword ready, listening for movement behind me, also, in case Set decided to get involved in the argument. “We are not cowards; we will find another way, but not one that costs your life. Appoint some other time because unless you go through me, I will not let you kill yourself this day.”

   He stared, eyes hard and cold. But I meant every word, and remained as I was to prove it. If he made a move to kill Set again, I would fight him until he either gave up, or took my life.

   Footsteps sounded from down both ends of the hall. Guards. Soldiers. Hemming us in. No doubt summoned by the jailer, who wisely decided not to involve himself directly in the altercation. Dana glanced in each direction, at me, then at Set, who I’d heard get up and move to stand a distance behind me. The chance to kill him was disappearing rapidly. I braced myself in case Dana decided to take it.

  Suddenly narrowing his eyes, Dana’s gaze flicked back to me. I hesitated, suspicious.

  The soldiers came into view around the corner behind Dana, drawing their weapons at sight of the scene before them. They wore both Ross and Campbell uniforms, and the captain – wearing the livery of Ross -- at the head of the group took in the situation with some measure of perplexity creasing his brows as he and his men came to a halt.

  “Uh… you two! Drop your weapons!” He motioned threateningly with his own sword.

  Biting his lip, Dana caught my gaze, and nodded. I knew that look in his eye. While still frustrated, I could see, he’d sensed another way. I hoped it was a way to get us out of the dungeon, not one to kill Set.

  He turned, and I stepped forward. The guards approached and relieved of us our blades. I bumped into Dana as Set brushed roughly past me to address the captain.

  “Captain, thank you.” He said, standing beside the man. “Now, if you please, kill the girl. I’ll take the other to Lord Ross.”

  The captain shook his head. “Your pardon, Lord Set; Lord Ross wants all the Guardian Knights alive.” He motioned to his guards. “Bind them and bring them both. Lord Ross will be most pleased.”

  I could have smirked at Set, giving him a taste of his own smug expression, but I didn’t. The adrenaline coursing through me had finally caused my muscles to quake intermittently, and my heart still thumped at the fact that I’d just crossed swords with one of my closest friends. I had no desire to ever repeat such a scenario, but as I glanced sidelong at him while several guards saw to binding us, I didn’t know if I would be able to avoid it. The image of the pure hatred on both Dana and Set’s faces seared itself in my mind.

  The only thing I could think was that I had a lot of thinking to do. Right now, my thoughts were in such an uproar as to prevent me from coming to any logical conclusions. So I stopped trying, and followed our armed escorts down the hall, avoiding any more glances in Dana’s direction and fighting feelings of betrayal.

  He’d only been doing what he thought was right. I knew him well enough to know that. But rationality had left me along with my energy, leaving emotions to roil inside, and at the moment, all I could do was try to hold everything back.

NaNoWriMo -- Day 5

FREAKING OUT!

Okay, technically I'm meant to be wrimoing right this second, but I needed to vent a moment.

Mom and I decided I'm not going to write on Sundays, so I'm officially behind schedule. It's only day five and I'm starting to see myself looking like a writer-hermit by the end of the month in order to complete this thing. Bllleeeeeaaaahhhhh......

I wish I was one of those super organized, super focused people who could do NaNo like it was no big deal, but I'm finding that when I have a wordcount to fulfill, my mind suddenly decides to find a million other things to tease my attention. I can't rearrange the beginning, spend five minutes trying to decide whose POV to start the next section with, go back and edit in something that came to light as I was writing along, or fix any glaring plot holes I suddenly discover.

So far I positively despise the opening for this novel. Blech blech blech. I have no time to make the prose work well, and it bothers me.

My Inner Drill Seargant keeps yelling "wordcount!" in my ear, while I'm pretty sure my Inner Editor has curled up and died somewhere on my mental writing desk.

And it's only day five.

I feel like such a wimp.

Dia duit,
~Penny

NaNoWriMo -- Day 3

Went a couple hundred over the word target today, so that feels nice. Once again I'm finding I slightly overestimated how quickly I can write a set ammount of words. I think it's mostly because I don't measure writing progress in numbers, I measure it in scenes. So whether I write a long scene or a short scene or several scenes consequetively, as long as I've finished the scene, I'm good.

'Course that doesn't quite work with NaNo, does it? It's all about the numbers.

I told my friend online, "NaNo's going pretty well so far. The lack of time I have to improve the quality of my prose is nagging a little, but I'll survive."
"You just basically described NaNo." She replied.

So there you have it. It's fun, but it has a decided undercurrent of work to it that isn't always present when it comes to writing on my own time schedule.

I would say that I think this is good for me, but then my Mother would say "I told you so" in the comments.

 Hee hee.

Dia duit,
~Penny

NaNoWriMo -- Day 1

November first has arrived! In spite of a few 'normal' life mishaps today, I did manage to meet and exceed my quota of words for NaNo. I'd give you the exact number, but I forgot it. Besides, I have a widget on my sidebar with my wordcount on it. Assuming it's working, that is.

I had kind of a rough beginning, but that's no surprise, as orginizing good beginnings is a little harder for me than fleshing out the rest of the book. Once I got going -- and wrote in Xystia rather than writing on Earth (working two dimensions in the book. Eesh.) -- reaching 1,675+ words was no problem. I'm curious to see how the rest of the month goes, now.

As I may have mentioned before, NaNo is going to be eating up most of my extranious writing time. That means I may not be writing as many sociable blog posts. But don't worry! I'm still going to attempt to get a couple more installments of FtGG out. Right now I'm waiting on Dana's edit of the latest segment I've transcribed, and then it's up to him to transcribe the second to last section of already-skyped material we have before I finish up the very last one. After that, we'll have to do a skype, transcribe, edit, post type process, which may take a little longer than when we didn't have to do the skype part. Our schedules are getting busier, but I think we'll be able to pull this story off before he heads off to college next Fall. Keep your fingers crossed!

And to all you fellow WriMoers out there---

Wait! I forgot to mention the new word I came up with!

Okay, so I was sitting in my room working on NaNo, and one of my siblings skyped me from one of the other computers in the house. Not good for concentration, especially for someone so easily distracted as myself. So I typed back, saying, "Not now, I'm wrimoing."

Isn't that a wonderfully awesome word? Wrimoing. Moing is just a fun sound to say in and of itself. Like boing, except better.

Now, as I was saying...

To all you fellow WriMoers out there, I wish you the very best of luck and encouragement. I'm alternating between thinking "this is insane" and "this is kinda cool", at the moment. At the very least, it's going to be interesting, and this is just the first day. Who know what'll come next?

Dia duit,
~Penny