Full Steam Ahead

I always arrive at Sunday, surprised by how quickly seven days can fly by. Happily though, this week, I managed to hold on tight to the flying carpet that is time and arrive at Sunday with a lot done. And as it is Sunday, it’s time for a ROW80 update.

Before I get to the update, here’s a quick reminder of my goals for ROW80:

• read a book a fortnight
• blog about something other than WIPpet/ROW80
• practice Swedish/French/Spanish/Russian
• edit Queen of Hearts 
• write something, anything
• prepare my character interview post ahead of time
• submit job applications

Here’s how I went:

• read a book a fortnight – This week, I’ve been reading Cayla Kluver’s The Queen’s Choice. Despite myself, I’m enjoying it. Fairies are not usually my thing and the characters ages don’t match with the age they act but Kluver has a way of springing things on the reader, drawing me back into the world she had created. Well on track to have completed it by next week so I may even read more than one book this fortnight! 🙂

• blog about something other than WIPpet/ ROW80 – I’ve been regularly updating my progress of my 100 Days Challenge. I’m now about half way through which is both terrifying and exciting. I blog about my progress on Mondays. I also posted my latest character interview with Kara, the first of my Queen of Hearts interviews.
• practice Swedish/Spanish/French/Russian every day – I’ve been focusing on Swedish again because I am so close to finishing the duolingo Swedish course. 😀 In fact, if all goes to plan I’ll be done by this time next week.
• edit Queen of Hearts – I’m now well into the second part of edits for Queen of Hearts and if I finish them this week (which I’m hoping to) I’ll be very pleased. There have been a few setbacks – because I’m trying to split the original manuscript into two, I’ve been struggling with finding a suitable spot to break.
• write something, anything – Success! This has mostly been rewriting/redrafting the second half of Queen of Hearts, plus a couple of drafts for travel pieces.
• prep my interview with my next character – For only the second time, I prepped the interview a few days in advance. Well, part of it. 😛 This week I interviewed the MC of Queen of Hearts, Karavere.
• submit 3 more job applications – I submitted two and got an interview for one already. I also have another interview tomorrow afternoon. 😀

I’ve been mentioning this character interview business a lot but that is because I want you, the readers, to have a say in who I interview next. 🙂

Here are your options:

Hrithur (earlier referred to as Tiemil) is Kara’s cousin. The bastard child of a bastard child, he dwells on the periphery of the court.

Ailig (earlier referred to as Alexandru) knows what it is to be a prince without a country. Forced to flee from their homes a generation earlier, Ailig’s people now rely on the generosity of the Fariliens. And now the same threat that drove them from their homes is poised to attack their new sanctuary. Ailig is determined to make sure his people will not have to flee again.

Anjez is a proud man, a prince of Bashraan…and an ex-slave. He seeks to forge new alliances with Fariel in defiance of his father, the king, but can he truly leave the traumas of his slave past behind him?

Eriden knows forty ways to kill a man with her bare hands. Raised in the slums of Bal Briad, she worked her way up from the child of a whore to the prodigy of the Assassin Guildmaster. But helping Kara defeat her enemy may be Eriden’s hardest task yet.

Gwen was raised with her twin sister, Elia, in the house of their merchant father. For as long as Gwen can remember, they have done everything together.  Learnt to fight together. Joined Kara’s Ladies together. But now Elia has chosen to spy in the enemy camp and Gwen must decide where her loyalty lies – with the sister she suspects has turned traitor or with the princess she swore an oath to?

Lorcan Aelysk is a Haelean nobleman. Caught up in his father’s schemes, he is torn away from the one he loves and sent far to the south, to conquer a place called Fariel.