Holding Sand in my Palm

Closer, closer, drawing ever closer.

I have in my hands a proof copy of Sand into Glass. It's a mess because my PDF conversion decided to take a block of about 50 pages and change the formatting so the first character of each paragraph was a different font. I've fixed that error and now I'm reading through to make sure all other errors are corrected. Once that is done, I'll try again with the PDF upload and hopefully I can do that one little thing I've been waiting three years to do -- hit the "publish" button.

I am going to die here. The rage in my soul has finally defeated my mind and now I'm on trial for a crime I'm not certain I committed. Atalor is a festering pit of a city and it has declared me its most reprehensible victim.

My name is Arden Masiona. Yes, those Masionas, the perpetually magical family headed by the immortal Time Child, Bethel Masiona. I am mundane, however. I'm the only non-mage in a family of extraordinary people and they've never let me forget it. No... I can't acknowledge my heritage anymore. I am no longer part of my own family. Rage has rendered me an exile.

Time wants to claim me, but I am not hers to claim. I am an apprentice of the Desert, a child of eternity, a prisoner of my own soul. I am the Glassmaker, and Atalor is where my story ends.

Shadows of a Teaser

I was playing around with the camera while my kids napped this afternoon and came up with this little teaser. If I decide to use this one, it will change slightly as the spine is added in the center, but it continues the picture. I hunted around for a while to find objects significant to the book.  Bethel's charavens (couldn't find any metal feathers and was too impatient to make them up as they should look), symbols of time, Dacibrega's runestones, Redemption's lantern, a metal fox, seashells (for the location of the second act), and a calla lily (this one is a teaser for the final chapter). I was thinking of going dark for the background, but it doesn't fit this book.  Wrinkled fabric suited it better, like canvas sails on the Chulanlir. I haven't started editing the draft yet because I was gone all weekend and I've been working on copy-edits for the print editions of the trilogy. Mayfly Requiem should be available in print shortly. I ordered what should be the final proof on Friday and it will be for sale as soon as it arrives and I check it over. I really ought to get on my butt and finish those, but the kids only give me a little time each day to work and June is crazy for me this year. My goal is to have Shadows of Absolution out by the end of the year, so I need to stop procrastinating and start editing.

Reboot

I just restarted The Crystal Lattice.  I'm trying to turn the file corruption into a good thing instead of seething over three weeks of lost work and pointless late nights.  I've decided to undertake some major story changes.  A couple of early scenes are going away, as are two tiny little characters who appear through the entire book but don't really do anything until near the end.  I'm replacing them with something else during their pertinent scene.  These changes should streamline the beginning a bit and make the first act less rambling.  I may have been listening to a little too much Led Zeppelin when I wrote the first draft.

The first person who read this book in its earliest form told me it felt like a guy sitting in a pub telling stories.  I'm going to run with that perspective.  The narrator is a bard with one hell of a crazy story, after all.

I've only rewritten the first two paragraphs so far because the baby demanded a feeding.  I've never been particularly comfortable with this book.  It's a great story with great characters, but has some issues, especially at the beginning.  I'm trying to keep it YA, which won't be too difficult considering the age and personality of the narrator.  Here's to starting over.