Beautiful People - Airen and Eryth {Valentine’s Edition}

It’s my favorite time of the month: Beautiful People time! And this month, in honor of Valentine’s Day and us writers’ inability to avoid shipping our characters no matter how hard we may try (you know it’s true), our hosts Sky and Cait have cooked up a delicious couples edition of BP! Twirl on over to Sky's post or Cait's to snag the questions and linkup. (And I don’t know why you need to twirl. I guess because people like to twirl when they’re in love and it’s Valentine’s. . .? Just pretend with me that it makes sense, okay? Okay.)

(And if you’re new to the word “shipping”, it’s usually a fangirl term for wanting two people to have a relationship and live happily ever after. It has, in fact, nothing to do with pirates. Unless you’re shipping two pirates together, but that’s neither here nor there.)

I’ll admit, this edition threw me for a loop a bit. Because, honestly, I don’t really have any couples! Or not officially yet. I have a ton of characters that will probably become couples later in the book/series/what-have-you but I’ve barely written much romance. I have nothing against romance. In fact, I enjoy a touch of romance in stories. I just never seem to get that far in my books. The most romance I’ve ever written is in Burning Thorns because, well, it’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Romance was kind of necessary. But I actually already did Rose and Beast in a similar BP post last year. It seemed a bit redundant to do them again.

But before Rose and Beast ever existed I had two characters in another story that have been my favorite “couple” of my characters for years, even if they’re not officially a couple yet. . . (Rose and Beast are now trying to become the favorite. It’s a constant war in my mind.) So today I shall be answering the questions about them.

Meet Eryth and Airen from my Colors of a Dragon Scale series (which is the series I always write for NaNoWriMo). Eryth is a soft-spoken dragon rider, and a half-elf. Airen is a jester. Just kidding, he’s actually a crown prince that would totally be the class clown should he live in modern times. I actually did a BP post for Eryth a few months back. And Airen deserves one someday because, well. . . Just because. (I won’t admit he’s one of my favorite characters. I won’t.) All their friends and family know they’re going to be together someday, even if they don’t. . .

~ Airen & Eryth ~

1. How did they first meet?
After her husband died, Eryth’s mother came to live in Airen’s kingdom and got a job in the castle. Eryth was only a baby at the time and Airen just 2 years old. Airen’s sister, Iraila, was also a baby and she and Eryth were raised together so Iraila would have a companion. Thus they never exactly “met”, they were pretty much raised together almost like siblings.

2. What were their first impressions of each other?
I think little toddler Airen was excited to have another squishy baby in the castle to play with. Baby Eryth cried a lot when this crazy toddler constantly tried to pick her up. Ah, romance.

3. How long have they been a couple?
Since they were babies. Obviously. I mean, they basically have an entire kingdom shipping them!

Okay, okay. They’re in their twenties and still not a couple. It’s ridiculous. Eryth doesn’t think she’s worthy enough to be with a crown prince and would never take the initiative. While Airen may pretend to be cocky and the “ladies’ man”, deep down he doesn’t feel good enough for someone as perfect and sweet as Eryth. Also neither are aware of the other’s feelings, especially since they grew up together and often have a brother-sister thing going.

Obviously we need a tragic, deadly situation to make them open up to each other, don’tcha think? *grins*

4. How committed/loyal are they to each other? Would they break up over a secret or a disagreement? Could stress drive them apart? Would they die for each other?
Loyal? Well. Airen actually is a ladies’ man, not to mention the crown prince. Basically every girl in his kingdom throws herself at him, but he never lets any potential matches last because, you know, they’re not Eryth.

One time when they were younger Airen teased Eryth and threatened to put a spider down her back. She cried. Their other friend Bryth punched him. It was a good time. Ahem. If they were ever going to break apart it would have been at that moment, but they didn’t. Eryth is usually too tenderhearted and Airen too laid back to let disagreements get in the way of their friendship.

Also they would die for each other so fast it sometimes scares me.

5. List 5 “food quirks” they know about each other. (Ex: how they take their coffee, if they’re allergic to something, etc….and feel free to mention other non-food quirks!)
Wow, this is a really hard question. Especially for a medieval fantasy. I also created these characters years ago when I was still figuring out the whole writing thing, so they’re not as in depth as more recent characters.

Eryth knows Airen is a little too fond of sweets and sometimes sneaks some under the table at feasts to eat later in his room that night. (He doesn’t want to stuff his face and look like a pig in front of his people after all. That’d be un-princely.) Sometimes he’ll give Eryth some because she gets too nervous to eat at big social gatherings. He believes food is a very important part of life.

Um. . .she knows his arrogant demeanor is really just him joking around. While he completely believes she’s far braver than she thinks. Those aren’t really quirks though. . . This question is hard! But that’s what I love about BP, it gets me thinking about these things.

6. Does anyone disapprove of their relationship?
Um, no. Like I said, most of the kingdom (except I guess the eligible maidens) wants them together. Airen’s parents, the King and Queen, love Eryth like a daughter. Iraila would be thrilled to have Eryth as an actual sister. It would be a delight to Eryth’s mother. Eryth’s father was a great elven warrior and she was chosen as a dragon rider, which is a huge honor, so despite what she believes she’s completely “worthy” to marry a crown prince and become queen one day. There’s literally nothing stopping them besides their own insecurities. *rolls eyes* Something needs to give them a shove. (Like their entire world being wrought and destroyed in war. *cackles*)

7. What would be an ideal date?
Airen absolutely loves when Eryth lets him ride on her dragon Neriin. (He may or may not be a little bitter he wasn’t chosen by a dragon.) He’d love a thrilling ride across the countryside together. Although she’d probably just want something as simple as a long, quiet walk with him.

8. What are their personality dynamics? Similar? Contrasting? Do they fight a lot or mesh perfectly?
Her timidity and his playful arrogance are way too much fun to write together. Though they’re pretty much polar opposites, they actually bounce off each other wonderfully. Eryth keeps him grounded and focused on the important things. While he helps her conquer her shyness and insecurities. It took them a while to get there though. The spider incident wasn’t the only one. He was a total joker when he was young (who am I kidding? he still is) and it took some time for him to realize making Eryth cry isn’t actually fun at all. Hearing her laugh is a thousand times better. Over the years he morphed from being a teasing older brother type to having a strong desire to protect her.

9. What have been their best and worst moments together as a couple?
I guess I haven’t really gotten to that in the series yet. There’s one more book to go, it’s gonna happen! I suspect best moment will be when they actually realize they are a couple and have been since they were like toddlers. XD Worst will probably be seconds before that when I put them into some sort of deadly situation that forces them into admitting their love for one another.  *smile, smile*

10. Where do they see themselves and their relationship in the next few years?
Eryth sees him marrying some amazing princess while she regrets never telling him how she felt and having to accept the fact that she wasn’t good enough.

Airen sees them happily married with like ten children. Ya know, once he figures out how to admit he’s loved her since they were tiny.

Hey, the question asked how they see themselves in a few years, not what actually happens.

~ ~ ~

There you have it. Airen and Eryth. And yes, sometimes I want to throw them together and scream, “KISS ALREADY.” But it’s hard when they’re like four kingdoms apart from each other right now. The world has to be in danger and they have to be heroes. Psh.

What do you think, guys? How do you feel about shipping your characters? Do you ever want to yell at them to just get married and live happily ever after already? Annnd, just ‘cause, how do you feel about Valentine’s Day? (I’m indifferent to it myself. I don’t hate it, don’t really like it either. It’s just there. *shrugs*)

Goodbye, January. Hello, February.

So apparently January is over and February is here. (Um, what?)

Usually I don’t do monthly wrap-up posts. I don’t have a reason, really. I get distracted by other post subjects to write? I’m too lazy to actually remember what happened during the month? *shrugs* But I know it’s a pretty big trend right now, and I actually love reading other people’s monthly summaries, getting a glimpse into all my buddies’ lives and goings-on. So I thought, why not? I seriously doubt this’ll be a habit. But today I just felt like writing a wrap-up post, and usually this blog consists of a jumble of posts I feel like typing at the time. (I’m organized like that.) So here we are. A January wrap-up.

January started out with the promise of new adventures, a fresh slate to scribble a whole new year of life on. After all, what’s more exciting than that single date: January 1st. Full of hopeful promises.

Usually I start out the year with a written list of goals to work toward in the coming 12 months. But this year, for the first time in many, I didn’t make a list. Instead I simply decided to FOCUS. To focus on my God. To look to Jesus to guide me instead of a piece of paper and pencil markings.

January is both an exciting and sad time. After all the thrills of Christmas and New Year’s, regular life begins to take over. A few days into January my dad went back to work after his Christmas break. I also returned to my job at the little bookshop. Slowly, the reprieve the Christmas season provides faded into normal life. But I didn’t mind so much. I was looking forward to ending my writing break I took for December and I adore my job at the bookshop.

2016 had begun.

Life

The first week of January started off a little slow as we settled back into the regular routine. It was not until the second week would I say things really started to pick up and work and life turned into a whirlwind.

The highlight of the month was the third week in which I spent the entire week out of town with my best friend (as mentioned in the last post). Lots of pizza and fun was had! (Obviously pizza gets its own mention.) We spent much of the time cataloguing almost all her 400+ books on GoodReads. (I insisted a while back she get a GoodReads account and, like a good friend, helped her out adding all her books there. I’m also a geek and have way, way too much fun cataloguing books on the site.)

Just a small peek of the many, many stacks of books we had scattered all over her room.

We also got a day of snow, which was THRILLING. Snow is a rarity in my neck of the woods.

(I know, all you northerners are laughing at my excitement over a single day of a little snow.)

Once I returned, I had a bit of a hard time adjusting back to regular life. But, as they say, life goes on. And this week has kept me busy with work and catching up on all the many, many things that got behind during my time away. I also got to see my other best friend one evening and had a wonderful time chatting with her over pizza. (I have an obsession, okay?)

Writing

January was going to be the big writing comeback after a good break in December. But. . .life happened and, sadly, barely a thing writerly happened.

The plan was to do a speedy read-through of Burning Thorns and then dive right into deep editing. Instead I spent almost the whole month sloooowly reading the book and only just finished a couple days ago. Pathetic. I did take notes while reading though, so at least that part’s done and I can start the actual editing process. Still, I had meant to be much farther along than this by now. But with a busy month and being gone an entire week of it, I just haven’t found the time.

Motivation is also being slippery and hiding from me. Whenever I go a while without writing, it takes me a bit to get back into the habit. Since I took a month-long break, I can’t seem to settle into things again. Life has just been too distracting. My motivation is fragile and persnickety and insists it have the perfect circumstances to cooperate. Psh. It’s so high maintenance. Nothing is going to get done until I just sit down and DO it. Once I start, my motivation begins to show its face. I just gotta do it.

So, with that said, I apologize to all my beta-readers. I know I said I’d start sending out chapters by January, but obviously that didn’t happen. This month I’m going to start it though! Burning Thorns is going to get edited if it kills me! (Which it may, but that’s just part of being a writer. *shrugs*) BUT I don’t want to rush it. I want to edit well, which may mean slow. I have no other writing projects to work toward until NaNoWriMo, so I’ve got almost the whole year to work on this thing. I don’t want to be too hard on myself to the point I become overworked or rush to “get it done” and not do a good job (I’m bad about doing that). I’m giving BT the time it deserves, so chapters may be slow in coming. They will come though! Hopefully soon.

Blogging

• I opened up my 2016 blogging year with the word I chose to live the year by.
• Sky and Cait's first Beautiful People linkup for 2016 had us talking about our writerly goals.
• Dear You was a letter to YOU. The beautiful you.
• January’s posts was wrapped up with a discussion on that yearning in your heart for something better. After all, we’re merely passing through.

I also gained a few more followers this month. I’m so grateful to every single one of you. I mean, you put up with all my silly ramblings and nonsense. That is deserving of cookies! *passes cookies around*

Reading

I read a total of. . .3 books this month. I know. Some of you awesome people knock out like 20 books a month. Can I go back to the excuse that life was busy? But I was also reading through my own book and a couple things from other people. So I guess I read 3 published books and a couple of other little things.

Illusionarium
By Heather Dixon

Whoa. This book. I adored Heather Dixon’s Entwined, so when I heard she was making a steampunk book (steampunk, people!!!) and my brain twin, Deborah, fangirled muchly over it I knew I HAD to get myself this thing. It was not a disappointment!

This book was full of steampunk goodness, some deliciously snarky characters, and parallel universes which is ALWAYS a yes to me. It had practically everything I loved! It also had a surprising lack of romance, which is such a rarity in YA these days. And, though it was extremely creepy at times, the material stayed clean. Again, a rarity. It was definitely refreshing to read a secular YA book without it being bogged down by immoral material littering the pages.

My only complaint was the speedy pacing. I love a good, action-y book, but this one almost had too much. I would have liked some slowing down and deeper internal monologue. And maybe an explanation over a thing or two. But still, it was a fascinating read and unlike anything I’ve ever read. The perfect book to start 2016 out with! (And can we talk about that cover? *drools*)

4 out of 5 stars

The Gammage Cup
By Carol Kendall

I feel like my childhood was empty!!! I had never even heard of this book until Deborah so sweetly passed it my way. (She’s my book fairy, half of the awesome stuff I read is because of her.) What a wasted childhood! This book was PRECIOUS. It’s about the Minnipins, a group of tiny people who are a little too set on tradition and perfection.

The characters are completely and utterly loveable. Each very different, but fascinating in their own way. The writing has this charming, witty style that just sucks you right into the Minnipins little world. I could have stayed there forever.

If you’ve never read this book, go do so this instant. It’s just perfect.

5 out of 5 stars

We Were Liars
E. Lockhart

Eh. . .this one. It was a completely fascinating read, unlike anything I’ve read before. But, sadly, it was littered in language. Like, serious language that should not be allowed in a teen book in my opinion.

The writing style was lyrical and beautiful. So different from any other book I’ve read. I really loved it. And the story itself totally entranced me. The ending was just. . .wow. It was a shocker and I’m still trying to recover from it. But, as I said, the language was atrocious. There were a couple of other things that bothered me as well, but the main thing was the language.

As interesting as the story was, I kind of wish I hadn’t read this one. Definitely not something I can recommend to anyone due to the material.

4 out of 5 stars
(it might have gotten a 5 out of me if it had been clean)

In conclusion. . .

January had a whole lot of thrilling days, with a few meh ones sprinkled in. But, overall, I’d say it was a pretty great first month to start 2016 in.

But now I’m looking to February which I’m dubbing “the month I actually start editing”. Regardless if my motivation has fled (but if someone finds it, could you send it my way?), I SHALL edit! And I think (think) I’ll have more time. My work schedule has shifted where I’ll be working more on the weekends which means I’ll have weekdays to focus on my writing life. I usually don’t write much during the weekends anyway, so I think this’ll work out great. (Sh. I’m naturally an optimistic person. Let me live in my delusions that everything will fall into place.)

February, here I come!

What about you, lovely reader? How was your January? Any exciting February plans? (If it really is February. I’m pretty sure we weren’t quite done with January yet.) And, important question here, what was your favorite book read of the month?

Merely Passing Through

Saturday I returned from a trip out of town where I spent an entire week with my best friend and her family. Getting to spend every single day with your best friend is a dream, especially for this extrovert. We stopped by multiple bookstores (she’s as wild about books as I am), frequented a particular coffee shop, jammed out to a variety of music during the car rides, had long conversations both deep and ridiculous, ate way too much pizza (just kidding, “too much pizza” is an impossibility), and in general enjoyed life away from life.

But now the week is over. She’s returned to college classes today and I’m back home trying to adjust to the norm, and we both have to accept the fact that we probably won’t see each other again until the summer (living miles away from your best friend is the worst). Regular ol’ life has returned and it’s a bit hard to swallow.

I’m feeling rather scattered; I can’t seem to get my mind to focus on anything. I have about a million and one things I need to catch up on and get done, but all I seem to want to do is disappear in an exciting book or just sit on the porch and stare into space. My mind is refusing to settle back into normality.

I think even the quietest of us longs for adventure. Every day life can sometimes be hard to accept. The drudgery. The sameness. We read books and watch television and wish we could go off to other worlds and have exciting adventures with our best friends. After all, fiction is an escapism. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. As J.R.R. Tolkien says. . .

“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its
glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it
his duty to escape? If we value the freedom
of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty
to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”

God loves to create, He created everything. And I think we were given that same love and desire. To create. To make new things. To ask “what if?” As long as we are using our abilities to glorify Him, I believe He encourages us to use our creativity to its fullest potential. Sometimes we need distractions from the drudgery of life. But, eventually, we do have to return to normal life.

For so long I never understood why I was dissatisfied with the life I’ve been given. Was I ungrateful to God? Was I just bratty and hard to please? Then, only a couple years ago, I found a quote by C.S. Lewis that made it all clear.

“The fact that our heart yearns
for something Earth can't supply is proof
that Heaven must be our home.”

There it was, and has been all along. We aren’t supposed to be satisfied with this life.

That yearning in our heart we feel every day, it’s a yearning for something far bigger and greater than our earthly minds can even imagine.

We yearn for Heaven, to spend eternity with the very One Who created us.

After all, we’re not to be a part of this world, to be so consumed in it that we forget our Lord and Savior.

But this is the tricky part. Where do we balance being content and peaceful wherever God puts us, while also still yearning for Heaven? That’s where the journey comes in.

You know all those books and TV shows we watch that we wish we could be a part of? Guess what. We’re already there. We’re Frodo and Sam taking the Ring to Mordor. We’re Alice falling through the rabbit hole. This life that we live every single day is the journey.

As exciting as these stories are to read, they’re not always so fun for the characters. Every day Frodo and Sam yearned to return home. Their journey wasn’t exactly fun and games. It was downright hard. But did they regret it? Of course not. Because as hard and impossible as it seemed, they saved all of Middle Earth, and in the end they returned home. Had they given up, not taken the journey, Middle Earth would have been overrun by evil.

This world we live in, its dark and sad and sometimes just hard. But this is our journey. The drudgery, the heartache. Every day. This is what we’re meant to do. Sometimes it’s a scary plummet into the unknown like poor Alice. Sometimes its just a seemingly endless, dull walk like much of Frodo and Sam’s journey. There are joys and pain and excitement and the same ol’, same ol’. But it’s our journey.

God put us here for a purpose. We are His warriors. And if we put one foot in front of the other, eventually we’ll find our purposes fulfilled and that we’ve made it Home.

And that, I think, is how we find contentment in this life and longing for the next. The heroes in our beloved stories press on to make the world a better place. To make it home knowing they’ve done what they were meant to do.

It’s not easy. But it’s worth it to one day hear those word.

“Well done, My good and faithful servant.”

I want to be His warrior. To press on through the drudgery. To live through the adventure He has given me and to be grateful and content with the big and small things of life. But to always keep my eyes on Home.

Dear You

You are beautiful.

Sometimes the world will say otherwise. Sometimes labels will be slapped on you and weigh you down. Sometimes those lies will seem an awful lot like truths. Sometimes you’ll wonder what is the point in your existence.

Do you know why you exist?

Because God loves you.

Just as the world is screaming you’re worthless, He’s whispering gently in your ear, “You were worth it.”

Don’t ever apologize for your existence. I know people like that, that seem as if they’re ashamed of even breathing. That they’re just here to get in the way. And they’re the most beautiful, sweetest people I know. I wouldn’t be able to survive without them.

You make an impact on the world. You’re here for a reason.

God CREATED you. Created you TO BE LOVED.

No, we don’t supposed to be caught up in vanity and selfishness. But when we hate on ourselves, we’re hating on God’s beautiful creations. Through Him are we beautiful. Through Him we can rejoice in being put on this earth. Because HE chose to put us here. He has a purpose for every single one of us.

You may think you’re not worth anything. That you’re talentless, a waste of space, ugly, useless. But He gave you a purpose and all the means of fulfilling that purpose.

“I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
marvellous are Thy works; and that my soul
knoweth right well.”  Psalm 139:14

You are not talentless. You are not ugly. You are not worthless.

You are equipped with everything you need to serve Him. You are wonderfully made. You are a Child of God.

Don’t let the lies of the world darken your light. Don’t let others define you. When we so focus on what the world sees in us, we smother the real us. We become artificial, fakes. The real us gets stuffed down and hidden away in shame.

But God made YOU. And He wants you to have the glorious freedom to be yourself through Him without the cares of the world. The only one that should ever be allowed to put a label on you is Him. And do you know what His label for you is?

“You are Mine.”

Shine brightly. Be you. Be the wonderful you He made you to be.

Because you are beautiful.

Beautiful People - 2016 Writerly Goals

Beautiful People is back! After a bit of a detour with Beautiful Books, our hosts Sky and Cait have returned with 2016’s first edition of Beautiful People. BUT, before returning to the usual interrogation of our characters, since we’re still adjusting to the new year (or am I the only one squinting at the calendar wondering if it’s lying to me? because, um, how is 2015 already over??) our hosts have concocted a fun new year-ish edition centered on this year’s writing resolutions and goals. Fantastic idea, methinks! You can join up yourself on Sky’s blog HERE or Cait’s HEEEERE. Come share your writing goals! (Seriously, I love seeing what delicious writerly things will be cooked up with the coming year.)

Let’s do it!

1. What were your writing achievements last year?
At the beginning of the year my plan was to rewrite Fallen Matter, but by February my Beauty and the Beast novella, Burning Thorns, was all, “MAKE ME A NOVEL!!!” (They’re so demanding.) So 84k words later, I had a Beauty and the Beast retelling novel.

In August I wrote a flash fiction piece. Something I’ve never really done before. I enjoyed doing it a ton and someday I’m going to try more flash fiction. I am, guys, I am!

Then in November I did my 6th NaNoWriMo and wrote the next to last book in my Colors of a Dragon Scale fantasy series, More Black than Night. Which ended at 76,700 words, making it my shortest novel yet.

So, basically, I wrote two novels in 2015 and made HUGE strides in pacing my stories and not making them drag on like a slug down a highway. Improvement! Hooray!

2. Tell us about your top priority writing project for this year?
Burning Thorns has once more demanded my attention. Sheesh, is it pushy. >.> Okay, okay, I want to work on it. It’s become very close to my heart.

My biggest problem is that I write first drafts and then. . .that’s it. I have tons and tons of first drafts on my computer but second drafts? Polished things? Nooope. It’s time I actually make PROGRESS if I want to, ya know, become a published author. (Turns out there really aren’t fairies that magically appear at night and perfect your novels. Boo.) So this is the year! I’m going to pour myself into editing Burning Thorns and making it the best it can be. I’m gonna do it! *holds up red pen and charges*

3. List 5 areas you’d like to work the hardest to improve this year.

-Actually editing and NOT getting distracted by shiny new ideas. Because, like I said, I have first drafts everywhere. EVERYWHERE. All those new, shiny plot bunnies plague me by the dozens and I get too easily swept up in new story ideas. I never put much effort into one particular story once the first draft is done. But NO MORE. Editing is gonna happen!

-Worldbuilding. I actually mentioned this in the last Beautiful Books, but my worldbuilding skills are a bit. . .lacking. I want to add a lot more interesting and in depth things in the Burning Thorns world.

-Keep it balanced. I’m kind of an all or nothing person. It’s either work-on-the-project-24/7-until-it’s-done-and-ignore-all-the-things or lay-around-binge-watching-Leverage-and-Doctor-Who-all-day. There is no in between with me. Last year the big thing I was focusing on was to keep things balanced. To not get SO consumed in my writing project that I ignore life, but to also keep a steady pace on it and make good progress. I think I made big improvements on balancing my life last year, but I want to keep at it and continue getting better.

-Research literary agents and publishers. Because, well, I do want to get published one day, which means querying, which means figuring out WHO to query to, which means researching. I haven’t really even begun with that part yet so. . .I need to start looking into these things. (Any tips? Links? Advice? *puppy dog eyes*)

-Stop being afraid of changing and deleting. Want to know why I never get around to rewriting/editing? It terrifies me. CHANGE my story? DELETE these words I agonized over? Go through and completely REDO entire plot threads? WHAT??? I can’t do that! Um, yeah, the idea overwhelms me to a huge degree. I want to get over that. I’m a little better than I used to be, but I have a looong ways to go. I want to really edit this thing, not just fix typos and things. But add and delete and change as needed ruthlessly. Basically I want to edit and edit well. That fear (and probably a lot of laziness if I’m honest) has got to go.

4. Are you participating in any writing challenges?
Obviously NaNoWriMo shall be happening in November! And this will be the 7th and LAST book of my Colors of a Dragon Scale series so, even though we kind of just had NaNo and the next one is nearly a year away, I’m SUPER excited about it!

Other than that, I don’t think I’ll be doing anything other than editing BT. I maaay consider joining in this year’s Rooglewood Press’s fairytale contest (that’s where BT originally came from after all), but I really want to just focus on BT. As of right now I’m more leaning against it. We’ll see when the time comes.

5. What's your critique partner/beta reader situation like and do you have plans to expand this year?
My “Pack” (as we call ourselves) is a group of absolutely fabulous beta-readers who have become like sisters to me and I’m SO grateful to them.

I think I actually have expanded some already. Quite a few of you have offered to beta Burning Thorns, which absolutely delights me. And blows my mind that you want to read something *I* wrote. I couldn’t be more honored and thankful. I need all the help I can get! (And I’ve started the beginning stages of editing, so details and the first chapter of BT will hopefully be coming your way SOON.)

6. Do you have plans to read any writer-related books this year? Or are there specific books you want to read for research?
I always mean to read more writing-related books! I read a lot of blogs and articles and things on writing, but the Go Teen Writers book is about the only physical writing help book I’ve read. (But it’s my lifeline and every writer needs that thing. Trust me. It’s not just for teens, it’s for all us aspiring writers. You need to get yourself a copy of it!)

I found Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott in a secondhand bookstore one time and it’s been sitting on my shelf waiting to be read for a while now. I’ve heard it’s really good and hope to get to it soon. And I think I have a writing help ebook or two on my tablet that I should probably try.

I want and NEED to read more writing help books, so if you have any suggestions do share!

7. Pick one character you want to get to know better, and how are you going to achieve this?
Hmmm. . . This is a hard one because I tend to learn every single tiny detail about ALL my characters that I possibly can. I’m sort of an obsessive character analyzer. Whether it’s my characters or others, I get totally obsessed with knowing all the ins and outs about them. I just love studying people—their quirks, personalities, everything. It’s probably strange. . . Analyzing fictional characters is my favorite pastime. Yeah, okay, it’s definitely strange.

Anyways, I spent a LOT of time last year studying my cast for BT and feel like I know them extremely well. So. . .I’m not sure I can pick one in particular I want to focus on.

OH! But, when NaNo rolls around and I start the last book of my CoaDS series there will be a new character that I’m veeeery interested to explore. Her name is Kaliq and she appeared in the final chapter of the last book out of nowhere. She’s already stirred up all manner of fun problems in her short appearance. So I’m quite looking forward to seeing what sort of trouble this new person has in store.

8. Do you plan to edit or query, and what’s your plan of attack?
Well. . .it seems I’ve already answered this question multiple times. XD

Editing? Absolutely. (Yes, Christine, you’re editing. We get it.)
Querying. . .? Eventually. Honestly, I seriously doubt I’ll start querying until next year. I want to make absolute sure BT is actually ready for that. But I do want to start looking in to querying, as mentioned earlier. That way by next year I’ll be ready to dive into it. (Not that the idea makes me want to wrap myself in a hundred blankets and hide in a hole forever or anything. Noooo.)
Plan of attack? Um. Drink lots of coffee and cry. *nods seriously*

9. Toni Morrison once said, “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” What are the books that you want to see more of, and what “holes” do you think need filling in the literary world?
I’d LOVE to see more steampunk! I’ve only read two full steampunk novels. TWO! I just never see any steampunk books. But come on. Airships and airship PIRATES and epic clothing and pocket watches and alternate Victorian settings and did I mention AIRSHIP PIRATES? Steampunk is AWESOME. I wants it!

Deborah mentioned this one and I’m stealing her thought because I totally agree. We need more whimsical, nonsense books such a Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. That is my FAVORITE book. I’ve never read anything like it before. It makes me indescribably happy. It’s so nonsensical with the most delightful cast and ridiculously fun storyline. I adore it, and I want mooore!

Also CLEAN YA books. I don’t care what genre. Anything. Everything. Just genuinely CLEAN ones. Sometimes I get disgusted going in the YA section of a bookstore. Which is horrid, because all I ever want to read are YA books. But there’s sooo much junk produced in that genre. Why are we making this amount of ickiness for impressionable teens? WHY?? Please oh please oh please give me more clean reads!

10. What do you hope to have achieved by the end of 2016?
I’d love for Burning Thorns to be edited and polished and ready for the querying world! (Gracious, you’re going to be sick of hearing about BT edits before they even START.) Don’t know if that’s gonna happen, but I want to try anyway.

And then of course my very last CoaDS book written by the end of NaNo. :D

But I also just want to grow and make strides in my writing. I want by the end of the year to say I’m actually, honest to goodness, working towards becoming a published author instead of just writing yet another first draft.

I want to move forward.

Now that I’ve babbled (waaay too much) on this year’s main goals, I want to hear about yours! What’s your biggest writing project for the year? What do you hope to have achieved by the end of it? AND what holes do you want filled in the literary world? I’d seriously love to know! Chat away!