excerpt
I went to a concert!
Dec 04, 2010
I went to the most AWESOME U2 concert last night. We were sitting pretty high up, but the view was amazing and I’m pretty sure we had the best seat in the house, except for maybe the chick who got pulled up onstage to dance with Bono. I’ve never been to such a massive concert before. I went with Amie, who said there were something like 80,000 people there. I have no way of knowing if that’s true, because basically after about 50 people my brain shuts down and can no longer tell the difference between 200 and 2,000 people. But she’s pretty smart, so I’ll take her word for it.
Looking down on the crowd on the floor was like flying low over the ocean during a storm. The booming thunder of the bass, the lightning of the camera flashes lighting up the surging waves of people–and in the dark the cool glow of cell phones was like phosphorescence churned up by the stormy sea. I spent nearly as much time watching this as I did watching the band, because I was so mesmerized. I couldn’t shake the impression that I was hovering over the ocean.
Commitment–and an excerpt.
Jun 17, 2010
I’m nearing the end of my book–I’m currently at approximately 75,000 words, and I forsee maybe another 30,000 words to go. It’s not quite close enough to make a mad, sprinting dash for the finish line, but that’s not really what I want to do anyway. Although I always was a sprinter rather than a distance runner, in this case I think consistency and a steady pace are going to be what sees me through.
That said, I’m close enough to set myself a deadline. So that’s what I’m doing, here in public so everyone can see, and therefore can hold me accountable if I don’t manage it.
So: By my birthday, July 5th, I’ll have this first draft completed. That’s a promise. Please judge me and hate me and all-of-my-irrational-fears-of-failure me if I don’t hold up my end.
To pass the time until then (even though it is no longer Teaser Tuesday) I’ll post another excerpt. I had so much fun with the last one, but it was such a brief, superficial moment in the book. It was really the first serious danger Lark encounters outside the Wall, and its purpose is mostly to show her just what she’s let herself in for, and that nothing–absolutely NOTHING–can be trusted in this new world.
This scene comes from a somewhat more character-driven part of the book. Lark has joined company with a young man named Oren, so far the only person she’s encountered who hasn’t been twisted into a monster by the magical vacuum and storms ravaging the wilderness. He’s unused to company and terse to the point of rudeness, but he knows how to find food and water, how stay ahead of the monsters, and when to seek shelter.
Lark has been struggling with fairly significant agoraphobia ever since setting foot outside the Wall. She grew up never having seen the sky, and now finds it overwhelming. Though she’s made significant progress over the past two weeks since her escape, the wilderness still has a few tricks up its sleeve.
We were maybe half an hour out from the start of the forest when the rain began.
Correspondence from the Front: WIP Excerpt
May 04, 2010
Hey folks! In honor of Teaser Tuesday, I’ve decided to post a scene from my current work in progress, which has the working title THE IRON WOOD. I’ve chosen a scene out of the middle of the book, but it’s an action-y sort of scene that hopefully doesn’t require too much context.
All you need to know is that Lark, our heroine, has untapped and previously unknown magical abilities and is on the run from the scientific Facility that wants to turn her into a magical battery for the rest of her life. She’s discovered that in the wilderness lie pockets of highly concentrated magic, which serve to camouflage her from the Facility’s machines: half-magic, half-clockwork creations called pixies. When she steps inside the magical, violet-tinted pocket to escape, she discovers a forest unlike anything she’s ever seen. Lulled by its beauty and the sense that for the first time in weeks she’s at least temporarily safe, she falls asleep…
When I woke, night was falling outside the barrier…