Brief update on Dragon*Con 2011

Look!  Look!  It's me as Katniss Everdeen.  Down with the Capitol!  It was so much fun being Katniss at Dragon*Con for a few days.  Some people did not know who I was, but those who did were extremely excited.  I've never had my picture taken that many times at Dragon*Con before.  And I have to admit, it was very satisfying to be called Katniss.

But I didn't go to Dragon*Con just for the extra attention.  I spent most of my time between the Writer's Track and the YA Lit track.  Both had fantastic panels full of valuable writing tips and advice.    The  most common pieces of advice being write and keep writing, and the importance of establishing my own marketing platform.   Wait, what?  Marketing platform, you ask?   Yeah, that's what I said.  I need followers, I need to network, I need to tweet and tumble and blog and. . . whew, I have a ton of work ahead of me.  That being said, this blog is going to undergo some changes and experiments as I try to bring out more of my personality onto these pages.  I might even vlog!  Maybe.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with The Raven and the Hawk yet.  Most of the panelists advised against publishing unedited work because it could work against me. 

Oh, yeah, I also met Tom Felton.  You guys, I shook hands with Draco Malfoy.  TWICE.  Seriously.

*sigh*

I miss Dragon*Con already.  I wonder if I can preregister for next year, yet?

The Write Stuff

During this Holiday weekend, I planned to spend most of my time away from The Corporate Place to focus on the 2nd draft of my Top Secret MG novel. Here is how things really went:

Halfday on Friday. Instead of writing immediately after coming home from work, I watched the last two episodes of Eureka Season 4, this week's Pretty Little Liars, the ending of this weeks The Nine Lives of Chloe King, ate dinner, and watched one or two episodes of Psych season 2. I get sucked into tv a lot on workdays.

Saturday I started writing first thing, however the day was interrupted by buying a new dishwasher and then helping the hubby install the new dishwasher. That evening I watched a borrowed dvd, Children of Men. Reasoning that I needed to return it to my coworker on Tuesday.

Sunday I also started writing first thing, but it was not a good day for writing. I've been struggling with a couple sub plots in the story, trying to decide if I needed to add more to tie the sub plots in better, or cut them and anything related to them completely. I started writing a new chapter to add to the subplots, but all day my internal debating held me back. Hours went by and I only wrote half of the chapter. For the whole day! My morale had dipped pretty low at this point. So I watched a couple more episodes or Psych. Shawn and Gus always make me feel better.

Monday turned out to be the best writing day of all of them. I decided to just write the extra bits and not worry about wether they fit or belonged. Worst case scenario, I could use the scenes later on in the series. Let me tell you, today was a very exciting day for writing. My characters were in peril! There was danger! It was exciting to read! It exhausted me. And it was fun, reminding me of why I love doing this. Maybe the book is too long now, but at this moment I don't care. That's what revising is for.

The Raven and the Hawk- Episode 8

Raven

Raven opened her eyes. Her clothes were damp against her skin. So were the sheets of her bed.

"Raven, how do you feel?" Jesse sat in the chair beside the bed. He looked terrible. His hair needed brushing and the dim light accentuated the dark shadows beneath his eyes.

Raven sat up and groaned. "What happened?"

Jesse placed a cold hand on her forehead and stuck a thermometer between her lips. She lay back against the pillows and waited until he removed the thermometer. He smiled as he read it.

"You're temperature is back up." He brushed the hair off of her forehead. "You were delirious."

"I don't remember anything except going to the bathroom at school. Then I got dizzy." Saying the word allowed caused a new wave of dizziness to consume her.

"We found you unconscious in the hallway. I couldn't wake you up, Raven," he swallowed and she could tell he was trying not to show how worried he had been. "The ambulance took you to the hospital where they ran some tests. They said it was just the flu and sent you home. You've been sleeping on and off for two days."

"I have?" She looked at the window and saw it was covered with a blanket to block out the sun.

"Yeah. And you were babbling."

"What did I say?"

"You were going on about flying and the desert and ravens and hawks."

"What?"

"You kept saying, 'the ravens can't find the hawks.'"

"Strange," Raven yawned, tears burned in her eyes. "I feel so grubby."

Jesse gave her such a serious look then, that she laughed.

"You scared the hell out of me, Raven. I thought I was going to lose you."

"You won't lose me, Jess," she chocked a little on the lump rising in her throat. Jesse hugged her tightly, crushing her ribs. "I might be contagious."

"I don't care," he said.

"Jesse, I'm soaked. I need to take a bath."

"Need help?" He grinned.

She smacked him on the chest. "Get out."

"Don't over do it, Raven. You still need to rest. " Jesse kissed the top of her head and then left her alone.

Raven did not stay in the bath long. The water was too hot. Plus she just wanted to get back into bed. Jesse sat in the chair, waiting for her. He jumped up to help walk her back to the bed. He'd put clean sheets on for her.

"I'm so weak," Raven complained.

"It's no surprise. This is the sickest I've ever seen you, Raven." Jesse sat down in the bed beside her. She snuggled up to him. If he wasn't worried about getting sick, then she wouldn't worry either. It felt so nice to have his arms around her, to have his fingers running through her wet hair.

"Jesse?"

"Hmmm?"

"I'm glad you were here when I woke up."

He kissed her hair. She was so comfortable in his embrace that her sleepiness grew worse. She tried to stay awake, but she drifted off while he talked about their upcoming graduation. And this time, she did not dream.

* * *

Raven awoke again at six o'clock. Jesse was gone. The chair beside her bed sat empty. She was thirsty, incredibly thirsty. She grabbed the cup of water on her bedside table and drank it all. She was still thirsty, but the weakness she'd felt early seemed to have gone.

She walked downstairs to the kitchen. Her mom stood over the stove, preparing dinner. It smelled delicious.

"Mmmmm. What are you cooking?" she asked and slid into a chair at the table.

"You're dad wanted steak. We're just about to eat."

Raven's stomach growled. "I'm starving."

"You are? That's great. I can make you some chicken noodle soup," her mom offered. She set the plate of steaks down in the center of the table. They dripped with juice.

"No thanks. I'll eat this," Raven picked up a large piece and plopped it onto her plate.

"Are you sure that's what you want?" her mom asked, turning to the doorway. "Scout! Dinner! Get your father."

Raven didn't even bother to cut her meat. She picked the whole piece up with her fingers and bit into it. She swallowed the juice as if it was water.

"Raven! For goodness sake, slow down. You're going to make yourself sicker," her mother placed a fork and knife beside her plate.

"Sorry." Raven dropped the steak onto her plate and used the knife and fork to cut it properly.

"How are you feeling?" Scout asked as he sat down across from her.

"Much better."

Scout scowled at her plate. "You don't usually like steak, especially when it's pink."

Raven shrugged. "Maybe my illness changed my taste buds."

"Do you want to play Mario Kart after dinner?" Scout asked.

"Christopher! You're sister is still sick. She needs her rest," said her mother.

Raven winked at Scout. He smiled and tried to wink back at her, but he hadn't managed to master a one eyed wink yet. The rest of dinner consisted of pleasant chit chat, but Raven barely heard anything. She ate two steaks. Afterwards, Scout ran off to play Nintendo. Raven got up to follow him, but her father stopped her.

"Sit down," he said, tapping his fingers nervously on the table.

Raven looked to her mother. Her face had turned gray. She suddenly looked tired and ill, too.

"What is it?" Raven asked.

"You don't have the flu," answered her father.

The hair on the top of her head crawled. "What do you mean? What is wrong with me?"

"The doctors don't know," her father sighed. He reached for Raven's hand over the table.

"They don't know?"

"Not yet. They ran tests while you were in the hospital. But we are still waiting for the results."

"Am I going to die?" Raven felt unwanted tears slide down her cheeks.

"Of course not!" Her mother clasped her other hand. "We won't let you. The doctors will cure you."

"But what's happening to me?"

"We just have to wait a bit longer," her father said.

"Wait? How long?"

"I don't know." He stood up and paced around the kitchen. Her mother began to clear the dishes off the table.

Raven was beginning to feel sick again. Maybe she should not have eaten. She swallowed. Her mouth was dry. She poured a glass of water and drank it down. And then another. Still she was thirsty.

"I don't feel well." She sagged against the sink. Icy chills spread through her body. Her father wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up. He carried her like he used to when she was a little girl and had fallen asleep on the couch.

"It's best for you to rest," he whispered as he lay her down on the bed.

Raven nodded, her eyes already closing. Darkness covered her like a blanket.

A voice cut through her peace. "Don't worry, darling. It happens to all of us." And then she laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. Raven was afraid. More afraid than she'd ever been in her life.

The Raven and the Hawk - Episode 7

Malcolm

"Mr. Trent. How are you this evening?"

Malcolm grunted at the little man. He couldn't stand Bobby Brady. His name was bad enough. What kind of parents named their child after the Brady Bunch, anyway? Malcolm cringed as Bobby held out a hand for him to shake. His skin was always clammy. The bony fingers wiggled at Malcolm and he cringed again. Bobby might as well be a skeleton. His tight uniform accentuated the rattly bones underneath. His face was so long and narrow that he looked like a weasel. Bobby's tiny beady eyes watched Malcolm as he waited to shake hands. Malcolm ignored him and continued down the white hallway. He imagined the white walls splattered with blood and smiled. They would be sorry they chose white walls. He would be gone by then, of course. But not Bobby. Bobby would probably be scrubbing these walls. Scrubbing and scrubbing, terrified of the death that blood could cause.

"It's her dinner time, Mr. Trent," Bobby called, scurrying after Malcolm. "You shouldn't go in there."

"Don't tell me what I shouldn't do." Malcolm passed by the armed guards lined up on both sides of the hallway. The hall twisted and turned until it ended at a cage door.

"Mr. Trent," Gary Fisher, the scientist in command of her scrambled from his chair and peered through the metal bars. "No one alerted me to your visit."

"Open the door," Malcolm demanded.

"You'll have to wait at least an hour."

"Why? She can't do anything to me. She's locked up behind three feet of steel!"

"I know, Sir, but after she eats she's always ten times more powerful, you know that. We can't chance the odds, Mr. Trent."

"Listen, Mr. Fisher. Don't tell me about her as if I don't know anything. I was the first to have her, I was in charge until they brought you in. I know everything about her--"

"Well, Sir. There must be a reason they hired me and took you off--"

Malcolm reached through the bars and grabbed Fisher around the throat. Fisher's eyes popped wide open and he chocked and squirmed like an ant between Malcolm's fingers.

Malcolm was surrounded by guns in an instant. One of the guards tore him away from the bars and tossed him down the hall. Malcolm stood up slowly, straightened out his suit, smoothed his hair and glared at the guards. He turned and walked down the hallway, head up, stride perfect as if nothing had happened. He'd be back later. Yeah, he'd be back.

The Raven and the Hawk - Episode 6

Hawk

By four o'clock Hawk's illness had him in bed. At first it was just a dull ache, but now he could barely stand the intense pains that coursed through every inch of his body. It felt as if his insides were stretching and bulging. Michelle was gone. She had left long before Hawk almost fainted on his way to bed.

Hawk lay flat on his back, arms and legs stretched taught. He gritted his teeth against the pain. And suddenly he was terrified, terrified of dying alone. There was something he had to do. Something he needed to...to what? Fear allied the virus and a cold rush of ice froze his blood. Hawk cried out, arching his back. He clawed the headboard, leaving scratch marks in the wood. He blacked out.

Hawk floated, suspended in darkness for what seemed an eternity. A voice whispered in his mind, so softly he could barely hear it.

"Who are you?" Hawk's voice echoed loudly in this emptiness.

"...know..."

"I can't understand you!" He reached out to the darkness and began to fall. Down, down, down he spun in an endless spiral. His hands reached for something to grab, anything. But there was nothing. Abruptly, the darkness disappeared. Hawk no longer fell, instead, he stood in a vast red desert. He knew where he was! He'd been here many times, for as long as he could remember.

"Someone, please help me!"

He heard the voice clearly this time. It was a girl. Hawk ran towards the sound, towards a huge cavern, gapping like a mouth in the red mountain. Fire immersed the inside of the cave. And the girl was standing in the middle. Her horrified cries cut into Hawk like a serrated knife. Without thinking, he rushed towards the flames.

"I'm here! I'll help you!"

She turned her head towards him. He braced himself in preparation of her burned and blistered skin. Instead, she was beautiful. Untouched by the flames, even her long black hair only reflected the firelight. He stood transfixed, forgetting about saving her. When her frightened eyes met his, she disappeared. And so did the fire.

"Hawk! Wake up!"

Hawk stirred, and he opened his eyes. The room was dark. His clothes were soaked with sweat, plastered to his skin as if he'd been drenched in a rainstorm. The pain was subsiding, not nearly as intense as before the dream. The dream. He couldn't remember the dream.

"Hawk! Are you okay?" Michelle leaned close to his face. The green light of his alarm clock illuminated her face so she looked almost alien.

"I can't remember the dream!" he said, agitated.

"Don't worry about that. There are more important things to be upset over. Like, what is wrong with you? Jimmy, come here."

"I'm sick," Hawk tried to stand but his limbs turned to jelly and he fell back onto the bed.

"Is he awake?" Jimmy asked as he opened the bedroom door. Light from the hallway chased away some of the gloom.

"Why is it so dark?" Hawk switched on the bedside lamp, squinting against the brightness.

"He's awake, but not well." Michelle put a hand on his forehead. "He does not feel feverish."

"But I ache everywhere," Hawk complained.

"We should take him to the hospital," Jimmy whispered to Michelle.

"Don't talk to me as if I'm not here. And I'm not going."

"Listen, Hawk, you've been delirious for the past two hours. Just now you were rambling about the desert being on fire." Michelle said.

That fragment of his dream came back. Red rocks, orange flames licking them...and...and...

"I'll start the car," Jimmy said. He turned towards the bedroom door.

"No! No hospital!" Hawk stood up, his knees threatened to buckle, but he fought the weakness and remained standing. "I'll be fine tomorrow. If I'm not, then you can take me to the hospital. Right now, i just need to take a bath. A nice hot bath."

"But--" Jimmy protested.

"It's no use," Michelle said. "As stubborn as he is, we'd never get him into the car."

"You're doing it again. I'm not dead yet." Hawk slammed the bathroom door shut. He filled the tub with hot water. As soon as he slid into the water, his aches melted away.

The song he'd been composing echoed in his mind. Desert Dawn. That's what he should name it. Desert Dawn.

Author vs Manuscript

Still in the ring Me vs Top Secret MG novel. I got in a few good punches this weekend. This editing stuff isn't as hard as I initially thought. Although, I almost deleted an entire chapter by mistake tonight. That's what I get for trying to work on a Monday night after a full day at the Corporate Place. Luckily, I have back ups, and back ups of my back ups.

The Raven and the Hawk - Episode 5

Raven

Raven was awed by her own painting. The image chilled her, it looked so real. As if the painting was a window and not a canvas at all. Satisfied, she signed her name.

Sunlight shone through the windows onto the painting. Dawn had come and gone. Raven stretched and opened the studio door. She found her mother in the kitchen, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.

"Hey, Mom," she greeted and poured herself a glass of orange juice. The first sip was sour, it made her stomach churn uncomfortably. Raven dumped the juice down the sink.

"Raven, it's after twelve. You really need to stop this. You're missing too much school."

"I didn't realize it was so late."

"You never do."

"I'm sorry, Mom, but you should see the painting I did."

"I'm sure it's lovely, but you only have one month left until graduation, Raven."

"Mom, I'm not going to fail," Raven said. "You should have more faith in me."

"Get dressed and go to school," her mother ordered and patted her hair at the same time.

Raven arrived at her locker just as lunch let out. She hummed as she collected her notebooks for the next two classes.

"What are you humming?"

Raven turned and smiled at her boyfriend. "Hi, Jesse. How has your day been?"

"Horrible, until now," he grinned. "What were you humming?"

Raven shrugged. "I don't know." The song echoed in her head. It reminded her of her dream. A desert at dawn. Haunting.

Jesse frowned as he studied her face.

"What?" Raven asked.

"Are you feeling okay? You look pale."

"Now that you mention it, I am feeling sort of funny. I was fine while I was painting."

"Raven, if the world blew up while you were painting, you wouldn't even know it."

Raven giggled, sheepishly.

The warning bell rang and the halls grew crowded as students hurried to classes. Jesse slid his fingers into hers and walked down the hallway. "So, what do you want to do for your birthday?"

"We still have five days to decide."

"But it's your eighteenth birthday. It has to be special."

"You surprise me, then."

Jesse grinned and kissed her goodbye before hurrying off to his Physics class. Raven entered her English class and sat down. It seemed that acknowledging her illness had made it worse. Her nose started to run like a faucet. She ran out of tissue and had to leave class for the bathroom to use toilet paper, which scratched the skin of her nose. Her head grew heavy, her skin suddenly clammy, and she was having trouble breathing.

"It's so hot in here," she said to her reflection. Her face was dripping with perspiration. Her dark almond shaped eyes shone with a reddish sheen, or was that just an illusion? Her vision was blurring. Raven pulled a yard of toilet paper off a roll and hurried into the empty halls. It wasn't any cooler in the hallway. The lockers and tile floor spun around her. Raven leaned against the wall and slid to the floor. The dizziness gave way to nausea and she wished she had stayed in the bathroom. She gritted her teeth until the nausea passed, but her consciousness was slipping. Can't...stay...awake...

A dream unfolded as soon as her eyes closed.

She was young. A fire crackled and danced and soared before her. It was as tall as she was. It mezmerized her. Through the dancing flames she caught a glimpse of a glimmering green pool. On the other side of the pool stood a dark figure. She did not know who it was, but she was afraid, nevertheless.

A hand on her back pushed her around the flames and into the shallow green water. The water swirled around her feet unpleasantly. Raven did not know how to swim. She hated water. And she wanted out, now.

"It's okay, Raven. Don't be frightened. Remember what you have to do."

But she was afraid. As she waded deeper in the warm water, the harder it was for her to move. The other figure moved towards her, the one she was supposed to hurt...

Raven screamed, bolting upright.

Jesse was shaking her. Faces surrounded her, swimming in and out of focus.

"Thank God! Raven, you scared me to death!"

"Jesse? What happened?" She tried to stand up, but fell back, too weak. Jesse caught her. Everyone was talking at once, making her head spin.

"What's wrong with you?" Jesse placed a hand on her forehead. "You're freezing!"

"I don't feel so well." Raven shut her eyes, falling unconscious again. Jesse shook her awake. "The world is spinning."

And it was. She was dizzy and so tired. So tired.

"Someone call an ambulance!" Jesse yelled. "Stop crowding her!"

"Did she OD?" someone asked.

"Is she dead?" someone else asked.

"Jesse? Why can't I fly?" Raven whispered.

She could feel his arms around her, lifting. Her head pounded. She was so thirsty, so thirsty. She needed a drink or she was going to die.

"Jesse?"

The world spun again and then grew dark.