Reorganization began last year with my office. This year the amazing Kate (who has helped me do what I couldn’t on my own, and also untangled tech problems that I couldn’t do that either) accomplished three times as much in several months, while I worked on my writing (mostly) and she did the heavy lifting (actual lifting at times) that transformed bedroom, what *will* be the craft room when I finish the work, and crash attacks on several other problems. We also hosted an introductory saber workshop taught by the incomparable Russ Mitchell of Winged Sabre Historical Fencing from Dallas, whom I’d visited earlier, for some coaching in my attempt to learn sabre. Meanwhile, no word from Editor about Horngard, and after a discussion with Agent and a clearer eye, I went in to that battleground again, this time with aid from the writing group I’m in.
I have a new computer (well, she’s a year old now), a REAL high-speed internet connection, a new printer. And Kate’s mother Karen (who is NOT “a Karen” so no jokes about her name) is working on a “bible” for Paksworld, which has grown too big to handle with a few namelist files, especially since the demise of the previous computer (Bunter) zapped them. Kate also found me a fantastic data recovery firm, which recovered a lot of stuff that was on Bunter. Yay on that.
But back to the writing. Short fiction done while Horngard was being revised (MANY times) in the past year turned out to be useful to keep the first-drafting instincts continuing to recover.
So Horngard now has a new beginning that is less…verbose. Re-imagined in terms of the characters’ complexity and also specific developmental, um, constraints. Camwyn is 21 now, and Aris is 18. Camwyn, readers o the Paladin’s Legacy books will remember, was badly injured by an iynisin attack, saved by Dragon, who took him away to heal him dragon-fashion and later reported that he had survived but lost all his previous memories. Now it’s 5-6 years later. Camwyn indeed remembers nothing of his life before waking in Dragon’s cave. He’s spent the intervening years being retaught what can be retaught, by Dragon and the tutors Dragon hires, prepating Cam to become king somewhere in the Westmounts. Aris, 3 years younger, shocked and grieving, wanted Camwyn back…the Camwyn he remembered. That didn’t happen. Losing Camwyn apparently changed his personality from the active, mischievous boy who was up for any of Camwyn’s sometimes hair-raising ideas…and became the perfect page, then the perfect squire. He’s been vigorously discouraged (by his father, by his older brothers) from “daydreaming” about finding Camwyn himself and renewing their friendship. His father, at least, thinks Aris has given up that idea entirely. Meanwhile, like many a teenage boy, he’s counting the days until he’s free to act on his own. There’s quite a bit about horses in this monster–it’s not about horses, exactly, but the Marrakai family horses are widely known, and three Marrakai…no, counting Julyan, the youngest, *four* Marrakai, all of them horse-connected, are active in the plot. Juris, the eldest and kirgan, Gwennothlin, who was one of Dorrin’s squires and then went into the Bells and now is in the Royal Guard of Tsaia, Aris…co-MC with Camwyn…and Julyan.
If interested in snippets, there are several posted over on the Paksworld blog, one each for Camwyn, Aris, Aesil M’Dierra, and Gurtnor Sartanits…who’s Gurtnor? Owner-commander of Blue Company out of Valdaire. The kind of man who scrapes his spurs on a polished floor, carries not just a longsword, a dagger in each boot, and a street-fighting short-sword on his other hip and wants all these to show everyone how tough he is…and who condescends to Aesil M’dierra, sneering about Duke Arcolin.
Wasn’t it Blue Company who let Captain Arneson go without a pension when he had been wounded after nine years’ service? Evidently their leader is not a nice person,
Yup. Sartanits is not a nice fellow at all. Excellent memory–congratulations. The little hints at the end of the snippets over on Paksworld blog suggest that someone is going to die in this book (actually quite a few people die…what happens when you write about mercenaries, scoundrels, and war.)
He condescended to M’dierra? This will not end well.
(at the very least it proves he is A FOOL)
Have you had another computer failure? The last post here was August and it is now December. Paksworld blog comes back with “site expired”. How do we get any news now??
No, not the computer this time but a bunch of other things went haywire. Husband’s cataract surgeries, both of them, resulted in increased intraocular pressure, which meant he was told to stay indoors, no work in the barn or outside, no strenuous work, and daily visits to check pressure for weeks after each surgery. Guess who did the work he couldn’t do, and drove him back and forth…yup. Also in September, found out my driving license and passport would both expire this spring…but could not get time to apply because of R’s surgeries Either the extra work OR the extra time spent driving back and forth would’ve been enough w/o having to renew these, for which I had to acquire new proofs of just about everything. I discovered in November that I could not get a copy of my own birth certificate because GOP had told the TX vital records office that if the birth certificate name did not *exactly* match the person’s present ID, it was illegal to hand over their birth certificate. I needed that for both the DL and the passport. Luckily a family member (adult) can obtain their spouse’s or parent’s birth certificate. So I got that. Then came trying to get an appointment at a driver’s license “center” near me. And I gave up and went through a dotgov to get my passport. But they want a digital photo (I had prints) and they didn’t like my digitals because I’m no longer straight in the back and one shoulder was higher than the other. No shit, Sherlock, one shoulder IS higher than the other. This whole charade went on into February (both expired in March) involving both renewals and then on my *birthday* n March, the tax appraisal folks denied our wildlife managnement exemption (which had been acceptable for 23 previous year) because it didn’t match the requirements for commercial agriculture exemptions (not supposed to) and one of hte state forms that links with it got lost in the appraisal district’s handling. So it was “incomplete.”
Just now, today, this afternoon, I finally have my date with the appraisal distrct board for a protest hearing. YAY!! I have documentaton out the kazoo; sometimes it helps to lug everything along. Oh, and I’ve been really sick twice sine Christmas…pneumonia then, and a continuing choking cough since, now much better. I need to be totally well in May.