Write Your Post! May 3, 2014

This is the note I left myself this morning before work:

 

 

Because I forgot last month.

The reason I forgot? I was in the middle of moving my “day job” business to a new location. It took about a month to get the space ready, from cleaning and painting, to buying new supplies. The move was necessary because the atmosphere of the previous location had become depressive and stagnant. To the point where I no longer looked forward to going in and even contemplated quitting. I didn’t realize just how much it affected me until I was firmly settled in my new place.

Suddenly I felt renewed. I looked forward to going in again and even began jotting down new ideas to expand my services. In less than two weeks, I garnered four new clients. I felt lighter and happier than I had in more than two years.

The other day when I thought about all this, I realized I’d done the very same thing with my “writing” business. I was stuck ¾ of the way through my fantasy novel, THE GENTIAN SOUL, and had been since last year. I hated everything new I wrote, the story became less and less appealing to me, and my creative juices seemed to dry up because of it. I couldn’t even switch and write in my other fantasy stories. Everything felt stagnant. It wasn’t because I didn’t love them, I just couldn’t feel them.

Sometime last year, and I can’t even remember where I saw it, someone said try writing in a different genre if you’re stuck. It was either that or quit. I hadn’t written anything decent for nearly six months but I didn’t want to quit. So, at the end of January this year, I started writing a contemporary. And WOAH. That baby took off. I’m at 62,000 words (I didn’t write in March or April, only edited—1) because of my move and 2) CPing for friends) and even though the story isn’t actually the first in the series, I’m WRITING.

And here’s the best part: not only has writing contemporary helped me improve my pacing and character development, it got my creative juices flowing again. Ideas for THE GENTIAN SOUL are dancing in my head and I’m actually looking forward to diving back in. Hopefully in a few months I can write a post titled THE END and tell you all about it.

What about you guys? Ever had to move in order to re-invigorate your writing?

Kate

As You Wish: A Post to Honor “The Princess Bride” February 12, 2014

The Princess Bride is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it. Well, I’ve read the first chapter. But, I’ve watched the movie a gaziliion billion times and it never gets old.

Why?

Well, a fantastic screenplay and cast doesn’t hurt, but really, it’s because William Goldman is an exceptional abridger. I mean, he wrote all the best parts: fencing and fighting, torture, poison, true love, hate, revenge, giants, hunters, bad men, good men, beautifulest ladies, snakes, spiders, pain, death, brave men, cowardly men, strongest men, chases, escapes, lies, truths, passion, and miracles.The Princess Bride, when all is said and done, is a classic tale of true love and high adventure. Even the great Florinese writer, the immortal S. Morgenstern, called it such.

Anyway, while I had fun storming the castle the other day, I came across this photo:

Inconceivable! The movie is twenty five years old?!? Yep. This is Entertainment Weekly’s reunion photo. The New York Film Festival celebrated the film’s 25th anniversary with a cast reunion at Lincoln Center. You can read all about it here. I did. And then, of course, I watched the movie again. I also downloaded the book; I’m going to read it this weekend for relax.

So, if you’ve never seen the movie, or read the book, I suggest you do so immediately. You’ll at least learn how to fill out your name tag properly. You might even fall in love. You think I’m teasing you? I’m not. The Princess Bride the best thing in the world. Well, except for cough drops.

So, good night readers, and movie watchers. Good work. Sleep well. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.

Kate

First of her Kind release day! February 4, 2013

Hi all!

Today it is my pleasure to announce the release of FIRST OF HER KIND (A Darkness And Light Novel) by our very own K.L. Schwengel!

Blurb

Everyone, it seems, wants to dictate what Ciara does with her life:  Serve the Goddess, destroy the Goddess, do as you promised your aunt. All Ciara wants is to keep the two magics she possesses from ripping her apart.

And that won’t be easy.

Not only are they in complete opposition to each other, blood ties pull her in divergent directions as well. And then there’s Bolin, the man sworn to protect her. There’s no denying the growing attraction between them, but is it Ciara he wants? Or her power?

None of which will matter if Ciara can’t overcome her fear and learn to use her gifts.No one knows the depths
of the ancient power she possesses, or what will happen if it manages to escape her control.

Will she lose herself entirely? Or be forever trapped between darkness & light?

First 200 words

“Ciara pulled the hood of her fur cloak over her head and slogged through the deepening drifts up the hill toward the house. The winter wind howled like a maddened banshee, tossing her lantern light across the swirling snow to create eerie shadows that wavered and danced around her. Even with the lantern, Ciara couldn’t see an arm’s reach in front of her. If it weren’t for the fact she’d traveled the path from the barn to the house numerous times every day for the past four years, she could have easily gotten lost. It already felt as if she’d been walking far longer than normal. She tugged her scarf over her mouth and nose, ignoring the ice crystals forming on its edge. Her feet had long since gone past merely chilled to painfully cold, making them harder too ignore. She peered up the hill between blasts of wind and caught a glimpse of her aunt’s cottage — nothing more than a hulking, dark shape amid the churning white wall around her. Then the wind gusted and snow obscured her vision once again.”

Doesn’t this sound great?!

Here is where the book is available for purchase:

SmashWords (ebook)

Amazon (ebook)

Amazon (paperback)

Barnes & Noble (paperback)

You can congratulate Kathi on her blog, her Goodreads page, on Facebook and on Twitter.

Happy release day Kathi!

EM

 

2012 Fantasy Round-up! December 31, 2012

Hello Readers!
As all of you know, it is the eve before the New Year. I originally was going to write a post about voice in fantasy, but I got the flu and had to delay my post. Due to this, I’ve decided to do a 2012 Fantasy Round-Up. I was inspired by several posts in which other bloggers tell about their year in writing and I decided to give you the year in Fantasy Writing!

1.) One of the biggest successes of this year for fantasy writers was the success of the Young Adult Epic Fantasy Novel, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. Many believed the fantasy genre was a thing of the past, a genre that only appealed to a narrow field of readers. The success of Shadow and Bone disproved this thought and kindle hope in the hearts of fantasy writers everywhere! Congratulations to Leigh Bardugo and cheers to the fantasy genre!

2.) I would be a terrible fantasy writer if I didn’t give a nod to the huge success of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movie this month. The movie has hit record numbers worldwide, bringing in nearly $690 million. This should also give hope to budding fantasy writers, showing there is still a huge market for fantasy if one knows how to tap into it.

3.) The second season of Game of Thrones outstripped the first season in viewer ratings, raking in at least 4,000 viewers per episodes, 1000 more than the first season on average. The last episode nearly hitting 5,000 viewers, making it one of the most viewed fantasy television programs.

4.) Sarah J. Maas’ Throne of Glass and Rae Carson’s Crown of Embers were both released this year and gained fairly popular reviews.

5.) There were no huge moves in the adult fantasy world, other than the fact G.R.R Martin’s series, A Song of Fire and Ice continues to be one of the most sold books on Kindle. This is notable for us fantasy writers because it shows that there is still a market for fantasy novels out there and people who wouldn’t necessarily read fantasy are picking up new fantasy books.

This is my year round-up! Feel free to add any notable going ons in fantasy in the comments. I would love to discover what you were most excited about!

First Post and Book Giveaway ! December 1, 2012

Welcome and thank you for stopping by our blog There And Draft Again: A Fellowship of Fantasy Writers.

Today is our official launch day and we’re hoping you’ll come by often in the future to share our journeys in the realms of fantasy fiction.

If you want to know more about who we are, please see the About Us page. If you’re looking for other Fantasy websites, see these Useful Links. If you would like some advice on which fantasy books to read, check out our Books Recommendations.

Then on this blog, you will find posts related to the following topics:

Writing Fantasy: a challenge of epic proportions. Under this category you’ll find posts about word count, world building, writing tips and online resources for Fantasy writers.

Publishing a Fantasy book: how to avoid an epic fail. Here you’ll find posts about the different publishing routes a Fantasy writer can take (traditional, small press, indie) as well as query and publishing tips.

Industry news: making sense of the fantasy world. These posts will bring you the latest newsabout the stateof the fantasy publishing industry: trends, awards, new acquisitions by big publishers, etc.

Reading epic books: here you’ll findbook reviews as well as a guide to all the sub-genres in fantasy literature.

Epic Inspiration: we will share with you our recommendations for fantasy TV shows, movies and photos that we find aspiring.

Now and before you go, we’d like you to follow our blog via email or WordPress, and if you do, you get a chance to win ONE of the following two books:

A SIGNED copy of Inheritance by Christopher Paolini (YA Epic Fantasy)

A SIGNED copy of The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (Adult Gritty Epic Fantasy)

 

*Giveaway is now closed*

The giveaway runs from today until Saturday 15^th December 2012 at midnight (BST time) and it is international.

To enter please fill in the contact form below with your name and email, and let us know if you follow via email or WordPress. Don’t forget to mention which book you wish to win!

You HAVE TO follow our blog by email or WordPress to enter.

Entrants must be at least 13 years of age.

This giveaway is open Internationally.

The winner will be chosen randomly, notified by email and will have 72 hours to reply or a new winner will be chosen.

We are not responsible for items lost in the mail.

We hold the right to end the giveaway before its original deadline without any prior notice.

We hold the right to disqualify any entry as I see fit.

Privacy information: no information given for this giveaway will be used for other purpose than this giveaway. All information provided (names, emails and mail addresses) will be deleted after the giveaway.

Good luck and feel free to leave us a comment below…

Welcome! November 25, 2012

Welcome to There And Draft Again, a fellowship of fantasy writers who decided to blog about writing and reading all things fantasy.

Our blog’s official launch date is Saturday, December 1st 2012. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter or check out who we are here.

Thanks for stopping by!