Sneaky Scheduled Post

I don’t know if you’ve noticed by now but titles are REALLY not my strong point. As the above (highly witty and clever) title says, this post was scheduled. I am writing to you from the past. Oooooo spooooky…

As it’s Wednesday, I owe you guys a ROW80 update and a snippet from my WIPpet (poetry right there, folks:P)

We’ll start with the ROW80 /NaNo-y stuff. All current ROW80 goals are on track. Yep, on track, not trampled beneath the feet of a dozen horses. Huzzah! During NaNo, I hoped to edit chapters 10-20 of Queen of Hearts (one every three days). I am very happy to say that by the end of tonight (Tuesday), I’ll have completed preliminary edits of all these chapters approximately a week and a half early. I might even have time to do some rewrites before the end of the month. NaNo word count is also pretty decent at the moment. I caught up yesterday after a week under that little grey bar so I’m quite pleased although I’ll be away for a few days (hence scheduled post) with little opportunity to write. I’m hoping to hit a few thousand by the end of tonight so I’ll be well ahead. In two more days time, I’ll have beaten my previous NaNo best from last year which is also super exciting. I know I started out as a skeptic of NaNo but I now really believe in its powers to motivate me. If only there was something that ran all year so I could keep track of my goals. One productive month a year just won’t cut it. 😛

Onto the WIPpet hosted by K.L. Schwengel. (You can find the other WIPpeteers here).

An excerpt from page 30 (19+11) of the 3rd section of edits (chaps 14-20). Kara’s army is holed up in the city of Adelin which sits at the foot of a mountain range. In front of the city stretch great grass plains. Assembled upon the plain is the Haelean army (basically Romans, if I’m honest). They’ve cut off supplies and are waiting until the city starves or surrenders, catapulting missiles over the walls to hurry the decision. Kara’s having a small freak out but a conversation with her old friend helps her regain her composure. This scene takes place atop the battlements between Kara and her friend Alexandru (have you met him yet? he’s pretty cool)

“Kara,” Alexandru said, “the king is a skilled tactician and, if half the things Tiemil has told me over the years are true, you have overheard enough of his private war councils to have a fair idea of what to do.”

Karavere sighed, “Maybe you’re right.”

“I’m always right.” Alexandru teased.

She slapped at him playfully, relieved to have sense spoken. “Don’t bet on it, Dru.”

“So,” he paused expectantly, “what will you do?”

Kara thought for a moment, “Bring the men inside the wall. Find a way to get supplies in, maybe through the east side of the city. Push the people against the walls; they do not seem to be trying to break them down.”

“They want the city for themselves. They need it one piece.” Another missile sailed over their heads and smashed with surprising accuracy into the roof of the city library, “Or, at least, as few pieces and necessary.”

Kara followed the arc of the missile, frowning at the dust cloud that billowed at its landing, “Tonight, I’ll send out a team to destroy the catapults.”

“You should have done that three nights ago.” Alexandru observed.

“I know.” Kara smiled, “Thank you. And don’t die on me, Dru, I need your advice more often than I care to admit.”

So there you have it. 🙂 Also I’m super happy to announce I’ve hit 300 followers so thank you all for sticking with me, even if I sometimes make no sense. 😛

Also, congratulations if you’ve made it this far down! As I mentioned in my last post, I’ll soon be looking for beta readers for Queen of Hearts (in around mid-December).  If you’re interested in beta-ing (is that a verb?) let me know in the comments or send me an email at aebrowne.ink (at) gmail (dot) com <– remove spaces and replace with necessary symbols 🙂 I’ll send a synopsis to those who express interest so you can better decide whether it’s something you’d be willing to do. 🙂