Autumn

Tuesday's One Word (5)

Sundered

- Break apart or in two, using violence

Saturday's One Line (5)

'I do believe, boys, your father aims to, er, appropriate a ship,’ Cat murmured.

Authonomy Comment (5)

'...this definitely has the feel of a different world...It's very readable, good voice and I feel part of the action. The plot deepens in chapter with the unexplainable deaths. Some of your descriptions are excellent, 'leaves skittered across cobbles, driven by gusts of contrary wind' I like that one.' - Charlie

Glittering Darkness

And one day they gazed around and noticed they had chased all life away, out of the universe, and what hadn’t fled, they had annihilated. They were alone.

Finally they paused. A truce was declared.

It didn’t last long, but it was lengthy enough for certain things to come to pass.

Such as the lone emissary despatched through a doorway into an alternate reality, a thinning of the spaces discovered when the birdmen were belatedly tracked. His mission was to locate the Q’lin’la and to bring them back; magic still lacking had to be learned. Darkness desired the sorcery of ultimate supremacy. In their single-mindedness they hadn’t understood the Q’lin’la wouldn’t have that kind of power.

The emissary did not return.

Such as the telling by Queen Rianna, twenty-third of the title. She foresaw the coming of a powerful leader, one who would lead the Light over all shadows, eventually to overcome the Dark eternally. She foresaw there would come a time when the Kallanon would exit their realm in search of this leader, and she foresaw, too, that their enemies, the dark Dragons, would follow, bringing their ages-old wars into that other, perhaps undeserving reality.

She told only her heirs that the One they sought would not be a Dragon.

The wars resumed, intensified, and continued without end.

Grinwallin

This photo reminds me of the city of Grinwallin in Tales of the Valla.

Tuesday's One Word (4)

shielded

- protect, hide or concealed from danger or harm

The Power of Positive Thinking

Point 1: I am not one for self-help books. It's the one shelf I tend to walk on by quickly in a bookstore; I'd rather read about sports, and, folks, that is something I hate doing.

Point 2: Many writers amateur and professional suggest, nicely and sometimes not-so-nicely, to read certain books on style and grammar, etc.

As far as the craft of writing goes, yes, there are books that teach the basics, but they should NEVER be the bible you follow when you write. I believe rules are made to be broken if you want your voice to be unique.

Self-help for writing- take it with a pinch of salt. If you know your grammar and have a good vocabulary, you are already halfway there. The rest is your voice.

And now to my real point: The Power of Positive Thinking.

To succeed in this competitve environment of publishers, agents and readers, you need the tools of the mind. And this is the one area I move away from my stand about self-help books. You have to believe in yourself and your work, you have to visualise your work in published form for it to be published. This is not rocket science and many would mutter they already know that. I would agree and did...and then took it a step further.

Read these three books and tell me if I am wrong:

The Secret - Rhonda Byrne

Think And Grow Rich - Napolean Hill

Feel the Fear and do something about it - Susan Jeffers

I am still reading and taking it all on board, but already I feel far more positive for the future. One of these days Gathering of Rain will be in print!

Saturday's One Line (4)

‘Cease your chattering. I am here for the Q'lin'la, nothing else.’ Torrullin looked at Vannis, but there was no feeling in his eyes.

Authonomy Comments (4)

'What a riveting read! I really liked the prologue and found it intriguing, which surprised me because I don't usually like prologues. Great first chapter, providing the reader with just enough to stay interested and providing questions the reader will want to read on to get answered. The only question I had whether or not Rain as a sorcerer, but that was answered at the end of chapter 3, not a sorcerer but a necromancer.

This is my favourite book on Authonomy so far. Gathering of Rain will spend time on my shelf.' - Laurie

Darkness

When the forces of Darkness

Outnumber those of the Light

Then goodness will flee.

And life will become as nothing.

Hark, poet, to your actions,

Not your words.

Tanos, Lord of the Guardians, his diary - a note in a margin

A place to think...