More writing -- may be moving towards somewhere

Strange dreams again. Gary wiped his face and checked his watch in a morning habit that had become ingrained. Into the shower, and the hot water sprayed stingingly on his face, warming up the rest of his body. He felt a song starting to rise up in his chest and soon it was coming from his mouth. The acoustics in here were like in any bathroom.

Turning the water off, reaching for the towel, and starting to rub hair dry from most of its moisture, before rubbing gel into the ends. Looking into the mirror, Gary decided he could get away with another day before a shave.

Putting on his shirt, he only had to try twice before getting all the buttons to match up. Followed swiftly by a tie, and Gary was ready to go.

Early morning public transport. Was there anything better? It was almost a benefit to be living so far out of the city that fewer people were in the carriages and you could nab yourself a seat. Sitting between the 16 year old school boy with a vacant stare, and music so loud he didn't need his head phones, and the middle aged man falling asleep against the window, Gary decided he didn't have it so bad. At least he was a morning person.

Character sketches -- some speed writing

"So you see," he said, over a glass of drink, and with the slumped shoulders of someone who had already had quite a few of them, "The situation is more than anyone could have born."

The redheaded bartender nodded her head sympathetically, and handed over another drink.

"Cheers." This time, the bartender poured herself a drink as well. As Matthew picked up his shot, his clinked it against the glass she'd poured for herself. They both drank deeply.

"Where are you staying tonight?" Charlie asked.

Dejected--looking into his drink as though there should be more--Matthew shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright then, you're staying with me." Picking up her coat, she dragged it over her shoulders. Reaching for his, she threw it onto him before leaning into the staff only section behind the bar. "I'm signing off."

The other man on shift nodded and waved his hand vaguely. He was on the phone. Charlie didn't wait. Grabbing hold of Matthew's arm, she commenced to drag him out of the Fad Bar and Gallery.

*

It wasn't easy being the one gay friend in a group of football loving yobs. Especially not around Grand Final season. They left the ground, already half pissed from drinks had all game, and then had in excess through the final quarter. He doubted they were the only St Kilda fans who were going to have a heady hang over the following day. Come to think of it, there were going to be a lot of sad Geelong fans going into work come Monday.

Now that he thought of it, he figured he might be coming down with that hang over a little bit early.

Thomas kept him standing, at least long enough to get him into the cab. Wouldn't go in there with him, of course. Wouldn't want to risk catching the gay. Gary muttered a slurred thanks he didn't really mean, and told himself that tomorrow it wouldn't matter as the cab pulled away.

Tomorrow it wouldn't matter. Until it did matter. Just the same as always. But soon, he'd be able to close his eyes and go far away into a world where none of this even mattered. In fact, Gary could feel his eyes starting to close even as the cab meter started ticking up the fare of his ride.

*

Darcy jumped awake. Her wrist was damp and she realised she'd been drooling on it; realised too that it was 4 in the morning and she had fallen asleep while trying to get an essay in on time, again. And this week it was worse, because this week it was supposed to be holidays!

Wiping the inside of her wrist absently against her tracksuit pants, Darcy moved things on her bedside table so there would be room to put her laptop when she shut it off. And didn't look at it tomorrow until after her lunch date with Matthew.

And didn't look at it tomorrow until after her lunch date with Matthew.

She sighed as her body touched down on and swiftly relaxed into the mattress of her bed. Her head felt as though it was blissfully sinking into the pillow. She sighed once more, grabbing her blankets around her, and then she fell asleep.

*

Matthew woke up to a glass of water being held up in front of him, and the indulgent look Renee baring down on him.

"I heard it was a big night last night."

Before he could reply, a full-grown Alsatian bumped into the back of Renee's leg in an effort to get to Matthew first. A couple of drops fell from the jolted glass, but the majority of liquid came from the dog's tongue, before Matthew could lift his arm to defend himself.

"Looks like you're going to wear it if you don't take it." Renee put out the water glass right near his hand again. This time, Matthew took it.

"Ah well, Grand Final night. You know how it is." He'd already had the excuse prepared. "We didn't wake you when we came in last night?"

"No." Renee left his side, and went about opening the curtains of the living room. The large dog looked torn, half stepped after Renee, then licked Matthew's arm for good measure.

Life Update.

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything on here. Watch as I now run around to all my regular posts now, to rectify that.

There are some very good reasons why the internet has not been my first place of escape in the past month. First of all, house moving occurred in the first week of August. That move carried with it about the usual amount of stress and upheaval. Internet has and hasn't worked on my laptop, since then, fairly intermittantly, and my computer harddrive completely crashed once as well. Thankfully, I recovered everything and have a shiney new harddrive in the old machine, so that is as good as it gets!

My mother had another heart attack around the middle of August. That has meant that I haven't really been concerned about whether or not I have the internet at home, being as that my spare time hasn't really been spent on a computer in any case.

And lastly, most exciting and least stressful of the lot, my birthday occurred this weekend, on the 12th of September, making me a full rounded 25 years of age.

This has been a public service post. No doubt I'll have much to add on fantasy and writing elements again soon enough.


Nikki.

Fairy tale submission to Dante's Heart

Well, that's another short story done and submitted. This time the subject was a culmination of many tales of coming of age.

The story centers around a young girl and a wolf that she comes across. With this as the premise, it was sort of ambitious for me to try to draw it away from the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale, but I don't think I did a terrible job of keeping it distinct. It helped that my wolf was not only wolf, but also man, for a portion of the story, faintly reminiscent of the Angela Carter's take on Little Red, A Company of Wolves.

Other influences that became apparent as the story created itself were that of Alice being changed for her experiences in Wonderland, and of course of Sarah inside of Jareth's Labyrinth.

However, as I am a romantic, I had my characters leave with a happily ever after and of continued being together-ness. Okay everyone, on the count of romantic -- "Awww."

So, within 6 to 8 weeks, I should be able to find out if I have a place in Dante's Heart's autumn publication.

Fairy tales and short stories

I think that retellings of old fairy tales are one of the new ways of getting them seen anew by those who haven't experienced them yet.

I've lately been reading Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms and Superstitions of Ireland, by Lady Francesca Wilde, and finding them a really great source of inspiration for my current WIP and future stories that I plan to set in the same world as Unity. Francesca Wilde, consequently, was the mother of Oscar Wilde, who I can't believe I actually haven't written about in here before now.

I've never been one for writing short stories. Short stories, to me, have always ended up as a story idea that I didn't like enough to continue with, or alternately, a prologue for a longer story. This week, I was astonished and excited to write my very first short story, within the mystical fantasy genre that I have been indulging in now for quite some time.

Obvious for me to say, this story came with quite some inspiration from Lady Francesca's work. It only came in at almost exactly 1,000 words, and after some consideration, I have decided to submit it as a short piece for a fantasy magazine that I have been eying off for a little while now, and just wishing that I had something that was self contained, which I could share with them. As I look through my tags, I realise that I have mentioned this particular ezine before now, and had high plans to send them something already. This is something I obviously haven't done, considering I forgot it until this very moment. *bites lip*

The magazine's name is Les Bonnes Fees, and their website is http://www.les-bonnes-fees.com/. They have a current issue to peruse that's really worth a look over.

As with most things I post in here, I mostly wanted a convenient place to link this for myself. ;) So if I actually get accepted here, I might actually begin my branching from the romantic fantasy niche to include a more traditional fantasy readership. Could be fun, at the very least!


Nikki Watson.

Awakening accepted!

I just keep having more and more good news to post on here, don't I?

My good news for today is that I just got an email reply from my editor, informing me that I should please consider printing out the contract enclosed and send it back to the publisher for my follow up novel to Unity.

Where Unity tells the story of Darcy's first awareness of the world of Faerie, and her struggle to find balance between it and her real life, Awakening follows her story as she leaves Kinvara and tries to make a life for herself in Killarney. Little does she know that the world of Faerie will follow her down into that town, and Faerie itself will not remain so removed from her world as it used to be.

The story is set in Ireland and shares the mystical history that the land is rich with. I'm very excited to be told that this story has a tenuous release date of March, 2009. So keep a look out for it!

And Unity is still currently available at http://allromanceebooks.com/product-temperanceunity-9894-140.html

I'm a Tease author!!


Nikki Watson.

What does my Dark Tarot card mean to me?

I seem to be posting a fair bit in this half of the month. Must be a sign that I have more time available to me. Or maybe, since I just started university last Monday, it's a sign that I'm starting to better manage my time.

We can hope. :D

On one of the the chat loops to promote our books, a very good question was asked. "What does your card mean to you?" And it got me thinking.

I was very lucky when I finally submitted my story into the Dark Tarot series. The Temperance card was still available to submit FOR! Unity was already on my computer and written, and I knew the sorts of themes that it explored, yet there were a few cards that I thought it could fit well under.

For me, what cinched it was the wonderful cover art. I mean, look at
it. Those colors, and patterns, my name there in the middle of it. *grins* Isn't it beautiful?

In Unity, I explore the idea of two girls falling accidentally into
the world of Faerie, a fantasy world above or behind this world. As
fairies and elves are commonly attributed to have wings at their back,
what better for me to find than a cover with that very same
illustration? Add to that the fact that the Temperance card itself
means balance -something that my girls Celeste and Darcy find through
the passage of their travels- and I was sold! I hope you all are too. ;)

I'd like to thank the creative team at Tease for creating something so
perfect. I know I'm not the only author here to think so.

Unity, published by Tease Publishing. Available Now!
http://allromanceebooks.com/product-temperanceunity-9894-140.html.


Nikki Watson.