First Revision Draft

Done. But not dusted.  The miserable tooth abscess slowed me down and tomorrow will be all dental work with two different dentists.  It’s complicated.  You do not want to hear about it.

The book however runs like a fox across country…and surprised ME with its ending, which is logical, crisp, definite, and yet…makes it clear this is not the end of the entire several book arc.  This character has reached *their* arc (for now anyway)  and isn’t where they expected/planned to be, but is in a better place than they were, with a large dose of self-knowledge having been taken in.  The two main characters (“two families, alike in honor” or something like that…the two are equal protags in the story) have grown, changed, been through some things, and are now set up for the next stages of growth and change.   People who were coasting on family or wealth while still under the protection of powerful parents are finding out that their foibles are actually widely known and it’s time fledge and fly with whatever wing feathers you’ve got.   There are some more of that kind to come later…friends of Tsaia’s king and their younger siblings.   There are births and deaths in the overall cast.  There’s political stuff in more than one realm.

And a peripheral character who showed up only once in Paladin’s Legacy to deliver a hint  while drunk on “spruce” (I have no idea if someone can really make alcohol out of any part of a spruce tree and if so how potent it is, but it’s the only thing that gets the Cold Count drunk enough to say things he otherwise wouldn’t) has leapt into this book with abandon, out of nowhere.  (But…my writer mind tried to say “What are YOU doing here?  You can’t be here now!   You’re over on that other side of the continent!”)  but there he was in the dining room of The Golden Fish, and it made possible a particularly slick battlefield maneuver.  Rough on the enemy, but then that was the much-disliked Blue Company.   We have two notable horses, each with its own personality and background, plus some other interesting ones.  I’m particularly fond of the nomad “pony” mares, now pregnant by a Marrakai stallion and proving remarkably useful in a place none of them have ever been.  They’re triple threat: ride, drive, carry a pack.

And a whole bunch of characters I have more to say about who didn’t even get a nonspeaking part this time.

Praying hard for an easy time at the dentists tomorrow and that the next book storms into my head the way this one did and agrees to be written with enthusiasm.   Second revision draft should start sometime this week unless the dental work results in a lot of OUCH.

17 thoughts on “First Revision Draft

  1. sympathy at the dentist – as long as they will let you eat until the next appointment. Good with the new book – I am still listening to the previous books in bits and pieces in the car.

    Stay safe and stay sane and enjoy the horses.

    Jonathan up here in New Hampshire

    1. Thanks, Jonathan. It was fairly…gruelling this morning; luckily the second appointment was canceled because FedEx hadn’t delivered the new crown to replace the temp (on the other side of my mouth) so after several hours I was back home…tried to do a little work and then went flatcat and slept for almost 4 hours. Needed it. I see Dentist A on Wednesday when the crown is supposed to be there, and then today’s, Dentist B, next Monday.

      Tomorrow I should be back to work on NewBook, working through the next revision draft.

    1. Whatever it is that Count Vladi drinks, it must be pretty high in alcoholic content.

      Thanks for the link to the Wikipedia article. Now I’m wondering what Vladi’s tasted like. I had been thinking it would taste like spruce smells–sharp and resinous.

  2. I hope the dental work goes smoothly and that your recovery isn’t so distracting you can not work.

    It is quite remarkable what we humans have managed to make quaffable alcoholic drinks from. I once had some birch sap wine, the sap harvested as you would maple sap, then used as the sugar and liquid for the wine. It made a pleasant light white wine, not overly sweet as I recall, good enough to drink on it’s own over an evening talking abut everything and nothing.

    Finally of course, “yay!” for the first revision draft, I hope the rest of the books tumble out at a speed tht exhilertes, but doesn’t leave your hands too sore.

    1. Yes, that’s what I was thinking of, except in this case the two were friends as boys. Now one has no memory of his past, including his friend, but the other has memories aplenty.

      Maybe…”Two young men, both of noble birth, alike in honor…one reft of memory and the other of their friendship. In Aarenis we lay our scene, fabled land of high adventure, by mountains warded on two sides, and on two side by restless sea…and in the hollow of a two horned mountain, they will meet again and forge their fate in blood.”

      Or something like that. I am not Shakespeare, to fit the words so they may featly dance, and be forever memories.

  3. I’m so glad the book is coming on! Can’t wait to read it. But so sorry you’ve had a dental abscess. I had one last year and it was horrible – but actually, about the best thing that ever happened to me, because it *made* me find a dentist. Long story short, I now have a plate, and not only a much healthier mouth but am, I think, healthier overall. Do remember to take painkillers before you go in, it really does help!

    1. Yes, I took my OTC painkillers before I went in, and that helped, and then took the next dose in time. But there was a LOT of numbing that went into my jaw. It’s never going to be all sunshine & roses when you hear the dentist tell the assistant “the [something] is necrotic.” Necrotic? Yuck.

      This is not my first tooth abscess, and I hope it’ll be my last. We shall see.

      Thanks for your good wishes.

  4. My sympathies for your tooth adventures, i know from experience how , hm, I don’t really have the right words, let’s settle for uncomfortable, they can be. I wish you a swift recovery.

    I was very glad to hear about the Cold Count, I really liked the times when he turned up, and I look forward to hear more about him! About the Spruce: in Sweden, where I come from, we make strong alcohol from other things, like grain or in later times potatoes, and then flavor it with aromatic herbs like St Johns wort. Spruce shoots have been used in cough syrups, I imagine you can use them to flavor spirits. Or the resin, or both. In my experience the resin tastes quite bitter, but it might give a nice woody note to alcohol.

  5. I was encouraged to be pretty stoic when facing medical and dental procedures. That said, the most nervous I’ve ever been was for a root canal that had to be done by a specialist because the dentist couldn’t do it with their equipment. I was shaking in the chair in the time between them giving the shot and starting the procedure. That was literally the first time I’ve ever been like that. I suddenly thought “pray for someone else”. Needless to say, you can’t pray verbally with your mouth held open with all that stuff… I began to ‘think’ prayer for the son of a friend and suddenly felt incredible calm flood over me. So, if you are so inclined, prayer for someone else seems to have some sort of power in times of great stress that is different than prayer for self. Wishing you good days

  6. Interesting post and comments. Joyful news about the book.

    I recently hit the Cold Count episode in a re-read and thought “this looks like it may be important down the line.”

    Locally we have folks experimenting with evergreen tips in jellies as well as in beverages. I was not thrilled … I’d rather have raspberries or apricots.

    Some of the agony of dental work became less stressful when they recently started using a “block” to keep my mouth open. Besides nerves I have tremors which effect both my hands and my head. The block means no matter how long the mouth has been open, the jaw muscles no longer ache and I no longer fear losing control and closing my mouth on a drill or other tool.

    Praying for others sounds worth trying.

    All the best. Linda

  7. It may a bit late to post this, however there are apparently some people who have home-brewed spruce wines and meads (found some links on google at any rate) and beers, meads and wines have been distilled to higher alcoholic contents through freezing. I imagine this would work well in Pargun and Kostandan being farther north than most of the rest of the 8 Kingdoms – though the Northern Marches and the northern parts of Fintha look to be as far north on the maps, but so far seem to not be as densely populated. That was mostly how I imagined “drinking spruce” at any rate – an alcoholic beverage made from spruce and probably distilled through freezing to a higher alcohol content. And Count Vladi dozed off while drinking out of a flask if I recall correctly, so I always assumed it had high alcohol content.

  8. Vladi’s “spruce” has a very high alcoholic content. But luckily, right now, he’s a happy camper and not trying to escape reality. He appeared right where he needed to be.

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