marzipan77

Challenge #8

In your own space, celebrate a personal win from the past year: it can be a list of fanworks you're especially proud of, a gift of your time to the community, a quality or skill you cultivated in yourself, something you generally feel went well. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I published two books! Today in 2021, my first book, Child of the Scales, was available for pre-order.

Changing from fan fic writer to original fic was a long process. I had to learn to write without the feedback and love of the fandom, develop my own characters and world, and give myself a schedule with goals to meet.

Worth it? Oh, yes. To hold that book in my hands, to share my stories with so many others? Priceless.

And, you know what? I'm still going to be a fanfic writer for life. Why would I stop??

But I've also learned that nothing is done in a vacuum. I have such a great cloud of supporters from fandom that it resonates through my entire life, fanfic, original fic, everything. I'd be nowhere without my heart sisters, kudo-leavers, and commenters.

Child of the Scales

I hear the football announcer, the stands erupting, those annoying vuvuzela drowning out everything.

I wouldn't actually mind people cheering for me every time I reach a goal, actually. Imagine that. You finish a chapter of your WIP and suddenly there are 80,000 people outside yelling and screaming. Or after you clean the house. Or call a friend you've been meaning to call. Okay, maybe that would get annoying.

BUT, I published my first novel on Amazon this week, so GOAL!!!!! I'd love for more creators, more artists and writers to get the serious love and attention of sports stars who kick a ball into a net, wouldn't you?

I got some great kudos (not on AO3) from my hubster this week. He bought me wine, saluted me, and said, "Wow. Who knew that writing a book could be so hard? I had no idea until I saw you work on it day in and day out for months and years to get to this point. This is an amazing achievement."

Yep, I'm going to hug that little scene to my cold, dead writer's heart for many months to come.



I will admit, my goals for 2021 changed this week. While I still have my writing goals, listed below, I've added others.

1. Finish formatting Child of the Scales for paperback publishing
2. Finish my deep edit of Book 2 in The Heir of Time series
3. Work on Book 3.
4. Publish Book 2 (yep, still dithering on the name) before December 2021
Here are the new ones:
5. Be kind - to everyone. Race, color, religion, political party - who cares? People are people all the way down. More kindness hurts no one and might help us heal.
6. Listen more. My own agenda might be wrong. My assumptions need to be challenged. Listen. Think. Consider.
7. Make the effort to stay close to friends and family - even from a distance. Write letters, emails, call (not my happy place). Check in. Care. Tell people I love them.
8. Life is certainly not progressing as anyone planned. So, maybe less planning, and more living. More experiencing. Eyes open, mind still, ready to receive.

May your hopes and dreams exceed your imagination this year.

Matthias is learning. Read Chapter 4 here: Chapter 4

Snippet:

The Avatar said the words slow and clear. “Kavvana says, ‘Obey the rules;’ Orexis laughs and calls us fools.”

Matthias couldn’t help nodding in rhythm with the verse. The words fell to a place deep inside him where the other parts of the rhyme lived. They sank into that flickering, in-between place, filling in the incomplete red weaving there, knitting up the edges of Matthias’ soul. The words fit. And, Matthias knew, there would be more to come, more empty places waiting for them.

“All of Kavvana stands on the right side of the Balance. All of Orexis on the left.”

Yes. He knew that. Pretty red. Ugly green. Matthias waited.

“Kavvana is rule and order. Orexis is chaos and fancy. Both are necessary for Balance.”

I’ve decided to upload my original fantasy novel on my blog, chapter by chapter. I hope you’ll find it entertaining, something new to read as we continue through these times of Stay at Home orders, as our nation erupts in fear and anger and grief. As we each, in our own way, seek to serve and love others, I ask myself what I can do. What can I give? How can I promote love and peace?

Maybe writing fiction isn’t what anyone thinks of when considering how to help. But this is my gift – and my words are better coming through my hands than my mouth. Fiction has turned society on its head. Stories reach past stony fronts, dive in through barriers people raise against the truth. I’m not writing this year’s To Kill a Mockingbird - I don't reach that high - but my characters know about hate. About fear. Maybe it will resonate with you. Maybe Matthias, my young main character, and his family will ignite your love for others. I can’t expect anything huge like that, to be honest, but my meager offering is what I have to give.

It's an alt history fantasy, set around 30 AD in an alternate Mediterranean. It's YA with many chapters also from an adult perspective. It's a coming of age story, where we learn, along with my MC Matthias, how this world works.

Chapter One