Early Mornings

I've been getting up early to write every morning, maybe not so early for some, but an hour earlier for me every day. I can say that the writing is going really well, my characters continue to surprise me and I very much look forward to what they are going to do next. Here's a very brief taste of the tail end of a conversation my main character, Elum (yes, I changed his name or should I say he changed it for me?) and his mother:

“Elum?”

I look up to see her a hundred marks away, waiting patiently for me to catch up with her.

“Coming,” I call and trot down the path. “Thank you, Mother. Your words are always a comfort to me and I bless you for giving me life.”

“You give me too much power, my son,” she says smiling. “You’re father was also involved!” and with that she turns laughing and continues through the forest.

I know it's a brief taste and doesn't really show you what's happening, but I wanted to share that Elum is very close to his family even though they don't know he is a guardian or the danger he is in. (Please don't worry too much about the grammar, sentence structure, etc....just a reminder to anyone reading this blog and to myself "this is about quantity people, not quality. Editing comes in December."

Before I get back to Elum, I just wanted to put in a word about why I linked "The Golden Compass" movie trailer to my blog. New Line Cinema certainly doesn't need me advertising their movie (although they are obviously encouraging it by providing the code to pop it into your blog) but I wanted to add it because Philip Pullman's books known as "His Dark Materials" were a true literary shift for me. (Thank you Deb E. for introducing me to this amazing trilogy!) I'd never before read anything like them and to date that has not changed. If you haven't picked up "The Golden Compass," "The Subtle Knife," or "The Amber Spyglass" you've just got too! You also have to read them in order (follow the sequence I listed). Go, run lads, get ye to your nearest seller or lender of manuscripts and expand your literary experience. You won't regret it!

On another note: Congratulations to Deb E. for moving forward to swiftly with writing 100 words for 100 days! You go girl!

OK, Elum, here I come.