After much deliberation, Samantha and I have decided not to move to San Marcos. The decision came first and foremost because we really don’t want to leave her grandparents with DaDave in this condition. This is a time when they need us most, so we can’t just up and leave on them! They have been such pillars of strength and wisdom, always there when we’ve needed them.

So we’re looking at it in a positive light. It is true that San Marcos would have been beautiful and probably much more “us.” Who knows, perhaps we still might try to live there eventually (hopefully very near the Guadalupe River if so!). Since we’re not leaving, the plans have changed to fix up the house and the yard. We did a whole lot in the yard today. It was fitting for Earth Day, though we didn’t remember that until after the fact. We were just that attuned with nature I guess!

So I can cross moving off the 2010 to-do list! Which makes me think I need to do a post with updates about that.

I’m getting back into things this week. I want to thank you guys for hanging around! I thought surely my subscribers were going to drop these last couple weeks. Happily, it has not been so! DaDave has had some positive news. His cancer hasn’t spread past the liver, and they expect a good outcome. We still have the highest hopes for a speedy recovery!

Next Tuesday we’ll get back into the weekly podcast. Next Sunday or Monday I’ll probably do a catch-up post to remind everyone what’s going on in Adventures Through The Window. I also have some reviews to catch up on, and a number of other things. Consider this fore-warning of many posts to come.

To get back into the postings, I’ve decided to share something I wrote recently. David, who narrates our podcast, has decided to get back into music and we’re talking about making some geeky rap songs with a medieval theme. I’m told the official term is Geek-hop, dig it. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity! This is the first song we’ve been working on. He’s a lot better at beats and such, and he’s helped me a lot with editing. I don’t know that this will be the final draft (I’m actually quite sure it won’t be), who knows what will happen once the recording starts. I feel like some things need tweaking, but I’m curious how he’ll interpret it and read it.

I hope you guys enjoy!

Ridin’ through the forest on the back of my horse,
behind me come shouts as they follow my course,
A glimpse of my face was enough for their advance,
Not all blindly came, but most would want this chance.

I leapt from the back and ducked quick into a roll,
the horse kept on running, knowing where to go.
I hid behind a tree as the guards rode on by,
the price on my head brought greed to their eyes.

As they pass I depart back the way that we came,
Snatching up an old cloak and dark, withered cane,
In seconds my appearance looks nothing the same,
Back at the gates to the castle I seem quite plain.

The guards seem suspicious but don’t sound the alarm,
All was going fine till that hand laid on my arm,
I snatch at a knife tucked safe in my cloak,
I slash across his neck and his blood starts to soak.

The alarm bells ring, but it’s part of the plan,
I dash toward the cellar of the King’s right hand,
I sit above the wine racks quietly in place,
A natural chameleon, a mark of my race.

The cellar door slams open up top of the stairs,
the heavy boots of guards pounding hard in pairs,
I watch as they search for any possible threat,
Then they push the king in panting, covered in sweat.

Convinced the king safe, most guards swept from the room,
Little did he know the guards were sealing his doom.
I leapt down from the racks throwing two daggers hard,
Each dagger flew true to the neck of his two guards.

Now alone with the King, I turned and drew my sword,
He falls to his knees saying feeble prayers and wards.
I claimed the Gods would answer nothing he said.
Those eyes showed defeat as I took off his head.

My duty complete, there’s no time to waste,
I had to get away and I knew they’d give chase.
I tossed the worn cloak in need of new garb
Beneath the old rags I was clothed as a guard.

Two more of them died outside the cellar doors,
A flash of surprise as they fell to the floor,
Along the west wall stood a gate to the drain,
A dozen gold coins meant that it wouldn’t be chained.

A breath of relief for the lock was open wide,
I grin at the convenience and then slip inside.
It’s now a straight shot right to the ocean,
That cool morning breeze there to greet my freedom.

We’re still awaiting results from our grandfather’s biopsy. I hope everyone understands why the blog has been pretty silent this last week or two. We’re hoping for good news this week. I’ll do my best to get back to regular posts soon, thanks for your understanding.

I’m sorry to report there is no TNS this week. Last week Samantha and I found out her Grandfather, DaDave, has lymphoma. They don’t know what type it is, it comes in dozens of forms. No matter what form it is, a cancer of the lymph nodes is not happy news after weeks of testing.

Writing has had to sit on the back burner these last few days. Luckily we had a good Easter to bring up our spirits a bit. I hope to be back on track by next week. Hopefully you guys will be understanding. We’re hoping for a speedy and full recovery!

So, this is a late Easter post. A friend at work cut himself pretty bad with the box cutters we use. He’s alright they say, a few stitches and couple days of rest. I said I’d work for him tonight, so it was straight from Easter to work.

Easter brunch was a blast. My family doesn’t often all get together like that. The niece and nephews all got to hunt down Easter eggs after having their fill of the dessert table. Brunch was basically endless buffet of goodness. Fruit, soup, shrimp, waffles, bacon, oh yeah, I could keep going. Samantha did say I had to mention there was a hot pink chocolate fountain. It was most excellent. My sister took some pictures so I figured I would share.

I hope everyone had a good day!

Today Samantha and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. I am constantly feeling grateful that we have so much to share with each other: we both love to create things (like jewelry and stories and websites), we both love fantasy, history, reading, and so much more. Days like this always remind me of just how lucky I really am to have her. That goes double for her support of my crazy love of writing. Samantha is always willing to help me write the best stories possible, and she is never afraid to tell me what she doesn’t think works. I cannot imagine where I would be today if I didn’t have her in my life.

The main point of this post is to apologize for leaving everyone hanging on Tuesday. I had planned to write this then, but Samantha and I took a trip to Austin for the first half of the week. When we got home Tuesday night there was no power in our house! Because we didn’t get home until after 5PM, they wouldn’t come out to fix it the same day. It got quite cold in this house that night! Grr…

I’ve always had a lot of respect for Lewis Carroll and his creation of Wonderland. Well that has multiplied since I’ve been working on my own little “wonderland” story. You’d think a story about nonsense in a fantasy world would be easy, but it’s been far more challenging than anything I’ve done yet. That’s why I do this podcast though, to continually challenge myself as a writer. I really like this story, I think you guys will too.

So sit back and take a bit of a break with me, how about? I picked up extra hours and work this week because of spring break, and I’m trying to catch up writing, cleaning, and web design while I’m at it. That’s what breaks are for right, getting ahead on everything else? Rest is for the weak!

Regular postings will begin again shortly.

Samantha made this from scratch!

Well I attempted to write this yesterday, you know, on my birthday, but things kept coming up. It was a great day! For me, birthdays are what New Years is to others. It’s a time to look at what you’ve accomplished this year, and using what you’ve learned to make the next year better. This year, it was mostly about writing for me.

I realized that I haven’t done a writing update in awhile while I was thinking about what this coming year will mean to me as a writer. I’ve gotten behind on it. First of all, The Forest Awakens jumped up to 100% on my editing goal. It’s pretty good, grammatically speaking. The rejections I’ve gotten from agents have made me look at it under a new microscope though. They all like my writing, they all like the story idea, but they all also said they didn’t connect with the main character enough.

I’ve more or less come to the inevitable question that most writers probably go through. My assassin book has been sitting at about 20% completed on the backburner while I edited TFA, and now I have to decide if I want to work on the changes to my YA novel that agents have suggested, or if I want to put it aside for now and finish my new book?

Currently I’m leaning toward another draft of The Forest Awakens. It would be a big draft, basically rewriting many parts of it, although most of the current material doesn’t need to be cut, just have more added to it. We shall see over the next couple days, while I have a podcast to finish anyway.

Happy (now late) Birthday to meeeee!