I have reached a major event in the story

It’s taken me a minute to be able to get to this part and now that I am here, each time I sit down to write is more productive.

It is still a bit difficult to get a chance to sit down and write. I have manage to add over 1k to the draft bringing it nearly to 76k (I might even pass that if I get another chance to write today).

This next part of the story is kind of rough emotionally. I have parts of it mostly written out, as I have had this event (more or less) in the story since the first draft.

A little snippet from the action this week:

While there had been people who went ahead to scout and ensure it was safe, this was the first time he or Aila had seen it. He stepped to her side and took her hand which she immediately gripped as a lifeline.

“It’s gone.” Her voice rang like steel, revealing both her sorrow and the rage it fueled. “The ruins are ash. They’re…” Aila broke off and Aaron dropped her hand, opting to pull her to his side at the sight of her tears.

Heavy Week

Like many of you probably have been, I have had a very heavy heart this week. I got a few hundred words in early in the week and have been unable to write since both because I have had obligations with my family and just too sad and distracted to sit and write. I do have the draft over 74k now and hopefully I will be able to write again soon.

Doing creative things on my instagram has been pretty cathartic and writing has always been a good outlet for me so I don’t anticipate being off my game for long. It’s good for my mind and heart to write.

This scene isn’t necessarily cannon, it’s a little fluff scene I wrote to introduce Zuriel and Aila’s relationship, but I thought a little fluff would be good to share this week. Enjoy friends.

“I don’t know if I can do this.”

Aila stepped closer and held his face in her hands. He kept his eyes closed so she kissed his cheeks trying to draw him back to her. After a moment he finally met her eye.

“You can do this. You are doing amazing, Zuriel.”

He shook his head. “No.” she said firmly and pressed her hands against his face forcing his mouth into a pout but stopping the movement of it. She could feel his cheeks tightened briefly in a smile beneath her hands.

With a sigh she pulled his face down until their foreheads touched. Her heart swelled with love for this man who was facing death for her; for all of them. She directed her affection to the link and felt him relax and press closer to her.

“What would I do without you?”

She smiled, relishing the warm affection shifting to desire in the link that bound them. His mouth found hers as he pulled her closer. She returned the affection until it swelled further. Pushing back against his desire and body, she met his gaze and smiled warmly.

“Stop that, you’re trying to distract me.”

He laughed and kissed her forehead. “You are not a distraction, love. You are my light in all things.” He sighed and settled his head against hers again. “I need a little light today.”

Progress Update

Still making painfully slow progress, but I am getting a few hundred words in each day.

It has only amounted to about 1k this week, but it is 1k more than it was so, I’ll take it.

This draft is currently just over 73,500 words and I am approaching some of the key scenes I have been really eager to write. Hopefully once I get there I will have a little rush where I get a bit farther, a bit faster than I have been.

The nature of what I wrote this week combined with how little I did, I don’t really have any excerpts to share. Hopefully next week I will.

Thanks for reading!

Making Slow Progress

I completely spaced on doing an update last week. I am still working on The Shadow of Vale, I am just having to do it very slowly because my children are not a fan of me being on my laptop lately. (I have two little ones under the age of 4) So that has been a complication keeping my daily writing down to a hundred if I am lucky.

I have a lot of ideas for this book and a deeper understanding of the meaning of the story and the character arcs, so I am happy with the progress and when I do get the chance to sit down and write, I haven’t been struggling to come up with words or ideas.

This draft is currently 72,500 words give or take.

Harkin is going through it unexpectedly. haha! I have always known he had a rough backstory, but a bit of the darker notes surfaced in a scene I wrote recently. I have also written back in a relationship that I was planning to cut from the story, but it just really feels like it belongs there for some reason I can’t quite pin point just yet.

Maybe when I get to the point of letting other people read the full draft I can work out some of that stuff.

At any rate, here’s a little snippet (Be aware, it’s a dark one):

A scream broke from his lips as he recalled the feeling of the maternal link. The bright warm light that soothed him and acted as his strength and sanity through the merciless beatings and terrifying tests. His mind frantically reached for that light, but it was long since gone.

He was alone in the dark again.

Thanks for reading!

Update

I know I missed a week, I was trying to work out what I am going to be working on. As of now, I am going to be shifting away from The Shadow of Vale to work on two of my other wips (they are contemporary romance).

I don’t know how long it will be before I come back to this story or if I will pick it up where I left off, or start it over again. While I like this version of the story and I think it works better than previous versions, I have been getting more in tune with my relationship with God and it has been shifting how I structure and write stories. So, I’ll see where it all ends up when I come back to it. Maybe the fact that I have lost inspiration for it is related to it not yet being the story I need to tell.

If you want to keep up with other things I am doing, I am most active on Instagram: @words.and.lore

Blessings!

Michelle

Checking in

Not a whole lot to share this week. I had a few good writing days, I have the draft over 66k and I enjoy writing it, I just haven’t had much of a drive for it, or any of my wips. I got derailed with some personal things and a few migraines and I am still trying to get my rhythm back.

Sometimes I think writing slowly helps me, so hopefully I’ll look back once I get going again and really love what I’ve been pecking away at this past few weeks.

A little snippet of Zuriel losing himself in Aila’s presence:

When they both stood on the stones that made up the surface of the island, Aila quickly walked to the edge and examined the small space. He watched her with a smile. She had absolutely lit up when he’d told her Pyre was happy to let her work her magic on the island. Aaron felt almost as excited to watch her. There was always a slight twinge of longing at the sight of nymph magic, his own magic that he couldn’t access, but mostly it was just beautiful to watch her as she shifted between the links, each element dancing across her flesh as she worked.

It was still strange that every change still looked very much like her, even when linked to the Tera which made her a little larger in form.

Even when her eyes changed color, they were still her eyes in a way he couldn’t quite explain.

“Zuriel?”

Aaron shook his head and realized Aila had been speaking, and he hadn’t heard. “Sorry, I spaced out. What was that?”

With the soft breath of a laugh, she shook her head. “I was asking if you recognized any of these.”

Okay, I might be a little burned out

I didn’t quite write 1k in TSoV this week though I did write a few thousand in another WIP. It’s not really that I don’t know what I am writing next, I just don’t feel particularly motivated to do it. I am planning to take some time and play around with other ideas, maybe a week, and come back to it.

Snippet:

“Yeah, I was going to see if you wanted to go flying, or on a flight, rather, with Pyre and me.” He felt his face warm but managed to hold her gaze as he stumbled through the invitation.

She smiled. “Yes, I would.”

He grinned and felt something unknot in his chest. “Alright. Let’s go.”

Derailed but undeterred

I didn’t write much this week. Had some personal family issues come up this week that kept me from writing for a few days. I added just a little over 2k this week bringing it to just over 63k for this draft.

Not a whole lot to report since I didn’t write much and I am a little stuck to be honest, but I have been pleased with how this draft is going thus far, even with a few set backs.

A little snippet:

Pyre laughed with the naim’s form. “I’m using him as an avatar. I can’t exactly picture myself speaking, I don’t have a voice. I remember his though.”

Approaching the Halfway Point

Pretty good week of writing. I didn’t hit 1k most days, but I did make good progress in the areas of the story where I am still figuring things out.

I wrote about 5k so far and I still have some writing to do today which will probably take the draft to 60k which is halfway to the 120k I have planned.

This week I got to work on a really fun and sweet scene with Zuriel and Aila. It was a joy to write even though I spent most of it with no idea how it was going to go. I think it turned out well.

Here’s a little snippet from this week’s work:

Aila took a deep breath as the giant azure dragon landed before them with more grace than his size seemed to allow. For all his muscles, he was remarkably lithe.

“Do you want to climb the stairs or…”

Her stomach flipped when she remembered being carried from the dragon before. Despite the awkwardness of the rescue and the obvious difficulty he still had mounting the dragon, she’d rather enjoyed it. The relief of not being alone anymore, to feel safe.

“It’s a bit too difficult to climb stairs I can’t sense or see.” She gave a sheepish grin.

“Right.” He opened his arms to her and she reached for his neck as he swept her into his arms. She grinned at the blush that rose to his cheeks. She considered saying something to break the tension but the idea of pointing out the awkward position they were in only made her own face heat.

Back at it

This week went really well for writing. I added a little less than 6k to this draft and I have written past the few scenes I outlined after pulling the outline from the draft I got interrupted writing. I got it over 50k now. Woop! I am pretty excited about that. I am still very much discovery writing this version of the story despite pauses to think through how each of the story strands are going to come together.

I have a few of the side and more minor characters getting a promotion to “important to the story” which has been a lot of fun. I keep finding little quirks in how the magic works that add and fill out the story. I guess that having a world with four distinct magic systems leaves plenty of room for that sort of thing. And man is it fun to play with.

Here’s a little snippet from the excitement I got to write this week:

A curse broke from him as he realized he had overshot his landing. He hit the ground but couldn’t slow enough to keep himself from flying over the edge. He brought up a block to stop his forward motion as something wrapped around his waist and jerked him back at the same time, another block formed beneath him.

With a grunt he slammed into the platform behind him and his legs folded as the block beneath him rose rapidly. Soon he was on his back in the dirt, a slew of ice and lightning and the occasional ball of fire, flying just over the edge where he’d just been dangling.

“Zuriel!”

Staying low, Aaron rolled over and found Aila’s green eyes looking at him with a mix of relief and fear. She released the plant link, and he looked down to find a vine wrapped tightly around his torso.

“Thanks.”

“Same.”