National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2018

For those of you wondering, what the heck is NaNoWriMo, here's what they say about it:
     National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing.
    On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30.
    Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought about writing a novel. For more information visit the site.

For those that wish to follow my progress in NaNoWriMo, here's a link to my page.

I have been doing a lot of prep work for this year's novel since I'm trying my hand at a mythological fantasy based around shapeshifting forest dwellers and the Celtic Púca. The only other novel I did this much prep work for was Rise of the Dark Angel, my first book. Fingers crossed it pays out in the end. I'm using Scrivner for my prep work, so here are a couple of images for you:

Characters

Locations

As you can see in my Character Plan, I will (hopefully) be following the NaNoWriMo daily prep, so if you are interested you can follow along on my Instagram or Twitter. I am also doing the 2018 November Geeky Girls Knit Photo a Day Challenge so you will be seeing that thrown in as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read my latest update and I hope you enjoy my NaNoWriMo novel when it's done.

Violence effects everyone

 Yesterday, there was a double shooting at the house across the street from me. One person was killed, another went to the hospital. When I came downstairs I found my yard taped off, firetrucks and police cars everywhere. It was frightening. Then, as the news trickled in, and I learned what happened, it broke my heart. A family lived there, their lives shattered but a mentally unstable man with a gun. She had tried to get away from him. Here is an article from the local newspaper about it.

This morning, when I went to take Princess out to go potty, I was greeted by quiet streets. Overnight the tree in the yard beside the house where the shooting occurred turned colors. It was just another fall day, but why don't I feel any better about it? Honestly, it feels like nature is trying to hide the dark, horrible thing that happened, but it's not working. I still remember the lights, the tape, and the concern for the family.

Now, I would like to point out, in the nearly seventeen years I have lived here, there have been small things. Mischievous kids, petty crimes, but never anything like this. Yes, we hear gunshots, we live in the inner city, that happens, but never so close. Not on our block.

I remember last Halloween, the kids from the house proudly displaying their jack-o-lanterns in their front lawn. Watching them dance around in their costumes.

I remember "showing off" our push mower to them after their mom said, "that's how we used to do it when we were young." Yes, the mom would occasionally yell at the kids, the kids would occasionally yell at the mom or each other, they were a family.

Now for a rant. So many people complain about the city police. Say they don't do anything for us, but I saw first hand that is not true. There was a police presence at the house from beginning all the way up to when we went to bed last night. The police that took down the shooter, they put themselves in danger to protect the people in the area. Heck, the ones here even made sure the family's kitten was taken care of. I even watched as they helped one of our elderly neighbors get to their house after returning to find the street taped off. He carried her walker down to her and gave her support as she walked the half block to her house. End of rant.

I'm going to leave this blog with one final thought, you never know what tomorrow will bring, so live each day like there is no tomorrow. And be kind to your neighbors.

Delay in publishing Samael's Wish

The past few weeks have been quite hectic. At the beginning of July I received a print, proof copy of Samael's Wish. The cover is perfect, but as I started leafing through it, I found so many imperfections I am running it through another rewrite, then it will need to be re-edited.

So, I spent two weeks working on it, then from Jul 26, 2018 to Aug 11, 2018 I was in PA for Pennsic War. I thought, oh, vacation, perfect time to edit. Right? Nope! I've found I need quiet to edit, and a kids camp is far from quiet. So, for two weeks, edits were put on hold.Since I've returned, it has been nothing but laundry, sorting and unpacking. Five loads washed, about six more to go. Maybe next week I can get back to the rewrite.

Because things couldn't get worse, on Monday Khione, my daughter's albino rat had a seizure.  Thankfully she and Polyhymnia had an appointment that evening. Khione had an abscess behind her left ear and signs of an ear infection in that ear. They drained the abscess and now she is on antibiotics and anti-inflamitories/pain meds.  Polyhymnia was in for a follow-up x-ray on her broken leg, which is healing fine. I have started weaning her off her pain meds and hopefully she will adjust without withdrawals. Small critters, big worries.

So, once I get done with the Pennsic explosion taking up my entire first floor, I can get back to working on Samael's wish. Until then, here's the first paragraph:

Available Now! Midnight Town by Pixie Brearley

Ripley is a witch of the Romani descent. After a spell went awry, she found herself bound to the land, neither alive nor dead. Walking between death and life, she is forever in torment. 

Nick is a lonely wanderer. Born with the ability to see the spirit world. He also suffers from a white knight complex. Running from his hometown after a terrible accident, he is forever in search of something to make his life whole. 

Now, in the small town of Braxville, when midnight strikes strange things happen. Nick experiences the odd phenomenon first hand when he steps into a bar that should not even exist. All the answers lie with Ripley, but when Nick tries to find her, a force beyond anything he has ever felt stands in the way.     

Will he save her or will he lose himself?

Find out in the latest book by Pixie Brearley...

Midnight Town.
 Buy it now on Amazon.com $2.99 for the Kindle version and $8.99 for the paperback which comes with a free Kindle version through Matchbook.

All proceeds from the sale of this novel will go toward paying for Sidney's surgery. Sidney is my ferret, today she is having a growth removed from her stomach and a hernia repaired.

And Because I'm Not Busy Enough Writing...

Because I'm not busy enough writing, and because my writing queue isn't long enough, I thought I would also share my knitting and crocheting queue. I will start with my works in progress:

Kye's Fire & Ice Socks

Mom's Shawl

Sock Monkey Scarves

Simple Shawl

Charity hats

Kayla's Toothless

Supernatural Square

February Mood Scarf

Temperature Scarf

And here's what's lined up for after I get some of those finished:
Champagne Cowl (Kayla)
Thick Tweed Socks
Twisted Kraken Hat
Cheerful Step Socks
Fast Floral Legwarmers
Grape Fingerless Gloves & Hat
Step Lively Beret
Blue Fingerless Gloves
Twisted Knitter Socks
Intermezzio Shawl
Water Shawl MKAL
Negan's Revenge Shawl
Slouchy Camas Hat
Druidess Beret
Through the Woods Hood
Red Stripe Socks
Celtic Triad Socks
Windowpane Socks
Unintentionally Shawl/Scarf
Baby -Tree of Life Blanket
Portacula Cardigan - Purple
Portacula Cardigan - Grey
Monty Python Square

I wonder how much I will get accomplished in 2018. Oh, and if you're on Ravelry, you can find me here: https://www.ravelry.com/people/Faerybug and follow my progress.

2018 is here

Another year has come and gone, and I feel as if I have been seriously slacking. Truthfully, though, it's been a rough year. I've been in a lot of pain, which makes concentrating difficult. I did, however, finish a novel in November, Samael's Wish (50,570 words), which is now in the rewrite phase.

I have also run my first three novels, Rise of the Dark Angel, Dark Wings Spread, and Fall of the Darkness through a new editing program and will be re-publishing them over the next month or so. I also intend to release a compilation of all three books, as well as the short Evil Man, in print, soon so keep an eye out for that.

Then there is Midnight Town (53,056 words), although the first draft was done two years ago, is still in the rewrite phase. I'm having a really hard time with this one for some reason but hope to get it out this year. {fingers crossed}

Witch Way Now (76,197 words), which was originally going to be a trilogy, is looking more like a long novel. I just can't see it making it into three books, unless they are short and that's just not fair to the readers. I think I will pick back up on that after I finish Midnight Town and Samael's wish, though. It requires a lot of research and that takes a lot of time, which is why Midnight Town was on hold for so long.

Finally, here's what I have started in my short story folder and their current word counts:
Painful Promises - 9,716
Losing Innocence - 9,254
Drawing Insanity - 7,581
Maggie Mae - 6,512
Bus #212 - 4,680
Lost Not Found - 1,824
Bittersweet - 775
Disastrous - 647

I'm aiming for between 12-15K words for those, as they are shorts in the Bandages on the Soul series. Once they are all done, I will create a print compilation as well as the Kindle versions.So, as you can see, I have gotten a lot of words down, it's just a matter of finishing the strenuous rewrites and edits, and I can eventually get them out to all of you. Until then, I ask for patience.