I have to wonder what I was thinking with Onesong. Really!?! Let’s take a story that I know has to happen before the Sacred Knight series and make it into a novel. Brilliant idea. Not! It’s like taking a skeleton you found lying around and deciding to put muscles and flesh on it.

Yeah, can you say, “Frankenstein’s monster”?

I must be just as mad as the good doctor.

Now here’s what may really surprise some of you: this story should have been told from Alityka’s point of view.  I really intended on it being her story. I have no bloody idea why I started telling it from Rivic’s vantage. None.  Well, okay, maybe an inkling. I remember thinking that I needed to tell the story of how Rivic build Lilinar. I honest thought it was going to be something like this: drop Rivic in Gohaldinest, destroy Gohaldinest, begin Rivic’s wandering.

The problem began when I imagined that Rivic and Alityka would be lovers. I figured for all he did for her (and remember that I was developing this backstory as I was writing Quest for the Three Books, a process which took 17 years! Egads I hate to admit that.), they would have to be lovers. Then I have a line in one of the books where someone mentions to Steigan that the speaker didn’t understand how Rivic and Alityka could go through all they did without becoming lovers. I also had the issue of, “If Alityka casts the spell as Gohaldinest begins to fall, then how does she and Rivic go on to have children.”

Yeah, talk about stopping a story dead in its tracks.

So, I knew that if Rivic had continued on with his life after losing his true love, he would never be happy with anyone else. Then I wrote the line: Never has a single son of Rivic given up on love so easily, and I knew that Rivic wasn’t in love with Alityka but someone else. So, I had to create her and figure out how they got together.

That kept the story growing.

Circulatory, endocrine, nervous, skeletal — yeah, how many systems are in the body? What all do I need to get operational in order to make this story rise up from the table as something that resembles a fully functioning novel (or two, or three)?

It doesn’t help that the series I’m reading (I’m on book 4) has so many author issues in it that it’s really starting to annoy me. I’d put it down, but the one thing the author does well is hooks. I want to be a better writer, and not annoy my reader like this author is doing to me. I want my story to make sense without the reader rolling their eyes. Really, the character is exhaling but somehow smelling a floral scent at the same time. Same sentence! Or how about the information repeated for the fourth time in as many pages.

Okay, enough. I’m stuck wading through the story because I have to know where it’s going.

And I’m stuck in Onesong because I know it will live! Bring on the lightening.

I was telling my oldest son about my thoughts on splitting it into two books and he teased me that I should call it, Onesong: The Two Books. Funny, ha, ha. After learning my lesson in naming the first book of the Sacred Knight series as The Three Books, and having to change it last year to Quest for the Three Books, yeah, no, Not going to name books like that anymore. It may take me a moment, but I do learn.

In other news, my children’s book is nearing completion. I hope to have it up for pre-order soon. I’ve tentatively scheduled its release much later in the year because I knew I’d need time to get a physical proof and review it for changes before making anything final. I certainly don’t want to be in a hurry on that. So, I am trying to give myself plenty of time. I’ll have more on what’s been going on with the book later this week.

I am truly halfway through the audiobook for Quest of the Three Books. It’s another project I can’t wait to get through. Of course, then I’ll have to work on Manifest the Magic‘s audiobook. Then To Birth a Destiny. Then Onesong. I really need to clone myself.

Let’s look at the numbers, shall we?

Fiction words written last week: 5.572 words

Blogs/Newsletter articles/non-fiction written:  1,863 words

Writing month to date total:  11,616 words – my writing streak for hitting my daily word goal is now at 40 days and hitting the weekly goal for the last 6 weeks.

Writing year to date total: 47,910 words

Drawing/painting last week: I spent about 4 hours working on my kids’ book and 2 hours painting, though 1 of those hours of painting wasn’t very productive.

Audio: I spent 4 editing audio.

Also halfway through my final read-through on Prince of the Ruined Land.