Hello folks! I wanted to share happy bit of personal news. My short story, “In the Empty Rooms” has been published by online lit magazine Haven Speculative, and is now officially out to the public today. It’s part of Issue 10 on their site.
Haven Speculative is an entirely volunteer, non-pro magazine that could use any and all support you can spare! They publish all stories and poetry for free on their site, but you can also download an ebook version of each issue by subscribing to their patreon, which I highly recommend. They are publishing some great work by new up-and-coming authors.
I particularly loved To Kneel at the Altar of Your Bones by Valo Wing, from Issue 8 back in March. (Fun fact: I had the pleasure of working with Valo during the Futurescapes Workshop last August).
Hello folks! I have been busy at work on my NaNoWriMo project and am therefore a bit behind on my reading and book-reviewing schedule for the month. I have one book review I need to write up still, and a couple books in the queue, but I am trying very heard to keep focused on my NaNo project while I can.
So, because I still wanted to post SOMETHING today, and in the spirit of sharing with the writing/book community, I thought I might share with you all the opening for my current project.
I gave a brief description of the project in this post: “It’s That Time of Year Again.” The project is going fairly well so far (*knock on wood*). I’m at about 28,000 words currently, which is just a TINY bit behind the recommended daily word count. But I have hopes for getting caught up this weekend (*fingers crossed*).
If you’re only interested in my book review posts, I totally understand, and I apologize for the lack thereof this week. But hopefully some of you will enjoy this little sneak-peek.
Art by Jenna Barton (@)dappermouth_art (used for vibe inspiration)
Prologue —
When Ellianora was five her mother told her folktales about the Osei, from her homeland of Noridreia — magical shapeshifters who lived in the forests and made deals with humans that were as much curse as gift. When Ellianora was ten her Noridreian-immigrant nanny told her the Osei were not mere folktale but REAL, hiding in the secret places of the world following years of human violence. There had been no recorded contact with the Osei in nearly a century, but every once in a long while one might still appear when summoned by a human desperate enough to call them. Or so her nanny said. Ellianora was not sure she really believed it.
When Ellianora was twenty she snuck out into the forest that skirted the eastern edges of Idelwyth to summon the Osei. She was finally desperate enough.
She wore her simplest, sturdiest dress in a deep navy that blended into the shadows. She carried a bag of the items needed to perform the summoning, as taught to her by her nanny, and a single lantern to light her way through the dark moonless night. The new moon was the best time to summon the Osei. They were more willing to appear with no moon as witness to their movements and the deals. Once she had gone far enough into the forest, Ellianora found a small clearing, surrounded on all sides by tall imposing great-grandfather trees, and knelt.
From her bag she revealed a small silver bowl she had borrowed from her mother’s best silver service, a glass bottle she had filled with cool, clean water, a sachet of tea leaves and rose petals, and the sharpest paring knife she could find in the kitchen. As her nanny had once instructed, she took a moment to clear her mind and focus on her intention, her desire.
Call the Osei. Make a deal. Beg for help.
Then, mind clear and intention firmly set, she placed the silver bowl before her and poured the water into it. Next came the tea leaves and rose petals. She waited a moment for the leaves and petals to swirl in the water, some staying afloat on the surface, some sinking to the bottom of the bowl. Finally, she lifted the knife in her right hand, pressed it firmly into the palm of her left hand, and pulled as quickly as she could, before she could overthink it and back out. The knife sliced through the meat of her palm. She squeezed her hand, gritting her teeth against the pain, and let the blood drip into the bowl.
Water, tea and flower, blood. Gifts for the Osei, to entice them out into the open.
“Osei, I summon you,” she spoke in a low clear voice. “I beg an audience with Kunochi, Lord of the Forest. Lord Kunochi, I entreat you to grant me your aid.”
Kunochi, according to her nanny, was one of the most powerful and most magnanimous of the Osei. If any Osei would grant her their aid, it would be he. It would have been best to speak the summoning in Noridreian, but her mother had given up her language in the name of assimilation and forbidden anyone from teaching it to her children. Wesmarin Imperial would have to do.
Ellianora waited. The forest was silent around her except for the occasional breeze and the music of the crickets. She counted to one hundred in her head, and then repeated the summoning, just to be safe. And waited. And waited.
Nothing happened. Of course, nothing. It was a silly fancy to try this at all. A fool’s errand. A desperate last-minute ploy for reprieve that did nothing but give her a momentary illusion of control.
And then, something did happen. The branches and leaves that surrounded Ellianora shook and shuddered. The entire forest seemed to take a deep breath and hold it. From the deepest shadows around her, a pale long-fingered hand appeared.
“Hello little human,” came the rumbling of a deep voice like distant rolling thunder.
Ellianora choked on a gasp and slapped both hands over her mouth. Blood from her left palm smeared across her lips and chin.
“I am not Kunochi,” said the thunder-voice, “but perhaps I will suffice…”
I suck! I know! I’m sorry! I keep trying to keep this blog alive and then I keep disappearing. In my defense, it has been a really weird and difficult few months. I quit my job, I went on a big trip, and I’ve been sick with covid for the last TWO WEEKS (which is so frustrating! I’ve been miserable and zombie-fied for two weeks and it just keeps lingering and lingering!)
But let me backtrack to the beginning: In the first week of July, I officially left my position as office manager and book curator for the book sub box company I’ve been working for the last four years. I spent all of June working like an absolute MADWOMAN to prepare everything for the transition. I worked ridiculous hours, under quite a lot of stress, and all by myself. (I will add it was a perfectly amicable split. The owner and I were, and remain, good friends. It was just time for me to move on to other things).
I then spent most of July on a little vacation, enjoying the rare privilege of being voluntarily jobless. My plan was to give myself the month to relax and recharge, with the understanding that I would need to start looking for new work in earnest in August. I’d already been applying to some jobs (I’ve been trying to get my foot in the publishing/editing door) to little avail, but if that proved unsuccessful I was content to go find some wage work in retail somewhere just to pay the bills. In the meantime, I wrote some, I read a lot, I slept a good amount (I’d more than earned it). And I prepared for August.
Because August was going to be a big deal. You see, I’d been accepted to the Futurescapes Writers’ Workshop taking place Aug 8-12th, in Snowbird, Utah.
In an effort to take my writing more seriously, I applied to several workshops and writer’s residencies in the first half of the year. Futurescapes was the smallest/most affordable of the bunch, which made it a really good starting place for me. Some workshops (like the very famous Clarion and Clarion West workshops) are multiple weeks long and cost several thousand dollars. Futurescapes (like Clarion) is a workshop exclusively for science fiction, fantasy, and horror, BUT it’s a condensed high-intensity four-day event, and costs $1600 (which included the workshop itself as well as room & board).
Futurescapes had been running on a purely virtual model the last couple years because of the pandemic, and this was the first in-person workshop they had done since 2019. I thought it would be a good first outing for me, as I had no previous experience in any kind of writing workshop outside of a couple classes in my undergrad several lifetimes ago. And unlike most other workshops, the Futurescapes mentors are mostly publishing professionals such as agents and editors rather than authors (which offers some really great insider insight to getting the first publication).
This year’s workshop took place at a ski resort (off-season right now, of course) called Snowbird, up in the mountains about 45 minutes outside of Salt Lake City. The scenery was beautiful. The weather was shockingly gorgeous. When I left Houston it was 101 degrees. Up in the mountains it was about 69 degrees. I could barely contain my absolute glee over the cool temperatures. However, the altitude change was pretty brutal the first day. Houston is about 70 ft above sea level (in some spots its actually below sea level). Meanwhile, Snowbird was approximately 8100 ft above sea level! With the altitude difference, and the air being thinner and much drier than I’m used to, I was pretty ill the first day — headaches and dizziness and all that. And even after I acclimated, I still had to drink water NON. STOP. I jokingly told my mother I’d discovered I was so used to Houston humidity that I was, in fact, a fish. I had a huge 32 oz water bottle with me, and I emptied and refilled the thing around 6 times per day! Still, it was absolutely glorious up in the mountains, and a very large part of me did not want to leave!
Snowbird Resort (one of several hotel/lodges at the location)
The basic setup was this: accepted applicants are placed into groups of 6-7 and assigned a “primary mentor” (mostly in accordance with our previously-stated preferences of first choice). Most of our feedback comes from that primary mentor. However, on each day of the workshop, the groups also rotate to working with the other mentors, so that we all have an opportunity to receive feedback from and network with the other professionals in attendance. One day is spent critiquing a manuscript excerpt for each member of the group (not the whole manuscript, but a sizable opening chunk). The next day focuses on the draft of a query letter we would send out to prospective agents. And the third day focuses on the synopsis of the full novel (easily the most evil genre of writing in the business). And then there is always time for Q&A sessions, social activities, and general mingling/networking.
My primary mentor was Dongwon Song (they/them), an agent with Morhaim Literary and by far my top choice. I’ve been following Dongwon on Twitter since 2011. And I have told multiple people over multiple years that they would be dream agent if/when I ever got published. Dongwon was just as amazing in person as they are online and it was such a delight to be able to meet them and work with them and chat with them over multiple days. In addition, the other writers in my group were all amazing. I loved having the opportunity to read their manuscript excerpts, and get their feedback on my writing (I was probably the weakest one in the bunch if I’m being honest), and just talk with them all. One of the writers in my group actually had the amazing good fortune of landing an agent just before the workshop started! I was very impressed and happy for them, and of course, a tiny bit jealous.
Me, at the top of the mountain at Snowbird
One of the highlights, however, was actually being “adopted” by one of the other groups. Lol! For context, the workshop started with an open hour for breakfast in the morning, with coffee and muffins and such provided. You were not required to attend,so people came and went as they wished before things officially started each morning. Most of my group, just by coincidence, tended not to show up til right before we were starting our sessions, whereas I was usually one of the first down for breakfast (I’m just neurotic that way). So I would grab a table and a couple other early birds would join me, and before long the table would be filled with mostly people from one of the other groups. So we chatted a lot in between official events. And just as a matter of course, I ended up hanging out with the people in this other group rather a lot during meals and break periods and such. So much so that on our free unscheduled morning we all decided to take a tram the resort provided up to the top of the mountain where the skiiing starts in winter. And then, the group invited me out to dinner with them on the last evening, and announced they were “officially adopting” me. It was ridiculously touching. I really adore all of them. And were are all keeping in touch via email and discord (which is true of my actual critique group as well, of course).
View from the top of the mountain (note the rain in the distance!)
The actual critique sessions themselves were hugely helpful. I learned so much about both craft issues and the business-side of the publishing world. I got a bunch of really useful feedback and suggestions on my manuscript. This feedback did, unfortunately, result in me feeling like I probably need to explode my entire manuscript, dismantle it, and try to put it back together again (better this time). And it was valuable feedback to receive particularly because I write mostly in a vacuum — I don’t have a writers group to routinely talk to or share work with, and I had gotten to a point where i just could not tell what was, and was not, working. So it was information I needed. Did I hope I was a little better off than I apparently am? Sure. But that’s the nature of the beast.
My critique group, with Dongwon Song (in the navy shirt and yellow shoes)
It was an absolutely wonderful experience. I learned a ton. I had a lot of great conversations with interesting people. And I had the opportunity to spend time in an environment I would never otherwise have had access to. If you are a genre writer looking to learn more about the publishing business and your own craft, I highly recommend checking out Futurescapes.
Well, folks, we’re two weeks into NaNoWriMo now. We have officially hit the halfway point. Which means I SHOULD be at approximately 25k words in my novel by now. Alas, that is not the case. I am currently at approximately 17k words right now, which means I am around 8k words behind. The last week especially has been very slow going. I’ve only been managing around 400-700 words per night lately. Partly because I am EXHAUSTED from work, but mostly because I am very stuck. As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m totally pantsing it this year. Usually I am a big planner, with lots of outlines and character profiles and chapter breakdowns, etc. I have none of that this year, and its really getting difficult now. I have no clue where I’m going. I’ve been forcing myself to write SOMETHING, ANYTHING, the last few nights, but it has resulted in mostly talking around in circles and not advancing the plot in any useful way.
I’m hoping I can work out at least a few rough sketchy outline-y bits and pieces this week. Even if it just gets me a few steps ahead of where I’m at, that would be a huge help. Because I am very very lost right now.
I have settled a few sort of general VIBES I’m going for in this story though. I’m definitely leaning into the shonen anime feel of it. But I’m also REALLY digging into a “found family” sort of thing, and probably a little queer romance subplots as well. I think.
In the meantime, if you’re curious, I put together a story mood board for The Onyx Seal on Pinterest, which can be found here: https://pin.it/1rcu9TT (The assortment of images there probably doesn’t make any kind of thematic sense to anyone but me, but I’m ok with that.)
In other news: I’ve also been reading a fair bit, and hope to have a couple book reviews up shortly. Hopefully within the next few days *fingers crossed* provided that I can a) find some energy after work, and b) fit regular blog writing into the Nano-packed schedule.
That’s all for now! If any of you are doing Nano and want to share your projects, please feel free! I’d love to hear what you’re working on!
Hey there, folks! Sorry I’ve been radio silent for so long. First, I was elbow deep in work (October was absolutely NUTS folks, and I’m still in the process of getting totally caught up). And THEN, NaNoWriMo started last Sunday, and that’s been keeping me busy too.
I think most people know what NaNoWriMo is these days, but just in case: NaNoWriMo stands for “National Novel Writing Month,” which takes place every November. It’s an event that started in 1999, and the challenge is to write 50,000 words (which is considered the average length of a novel) in just one month, from Nov 1st through 30th. It’s a ton of fun for those of us who are writerly types. You can find the website and more info here: nanowrimo.org
This year is my fifth attempt to “win” Nano (by winning, we mean actually completing the 50,000 words — while the organization has partnered with some places that provide fun prizes for winners, such as a discount to purchase the writing program Scrivener and such, its really just a personal victory sort of win). The only time I actually finished and won was during my very first attempt back in 2010. Since then I have barely even come close to finishing 50k words — in fact, last year I only managed about 7k for the whole month. I try not to put too much pressure on myself, after all I am working and this is mostly supposed to be fun, but I am determined to make a real push for 50k words this year! *fingers crossed*
My project this year is a secondary-world fantasy, with the tentative title The Onyx Seal. I’m usually a very serious planner, with lots of outlines and chapter break-downs ready long before the month starts, but this year I came up with the story idea late in October, and have done almost NO planning whatsoever. I’m pretty much totally pantsing it this year, which is both terrifying and exciting! So far, I’m pretty much right on track with the daily word goal (I fell a tiny bit behind the word count last night, but I should be able to get caught back up today).
Also, because I am addicted to the Penguin Classics Cover Generator (found HERE), I made myself a book cover for my project:
If you’re a Nanoer, I wish you the best of luck with your project! If you’re not, but you’re intrigued, I hope you’ll take a look at the website, and come join us (either this year, or next year!).
Amanda Haimoto Rudd 