The Simmering Mind

I don’t have many links today, but I’ve been doing lots of writing this week – hurray!  Down below the Simmer Starters I’m putting a short excerpt from my work-in-progress, for your interest and reading. 🙂

What it’s Like to Be Laughed at on the Internet (Amy Salloway) – A great reminder to all of us to consider first before we treat other human beings as laughingstocks!  “I treaded for 80 minutes, my typical time, and when I was done, there was still more House to partake in, so I changed back into my regular clothes, dragged a chair onto the treadmill, and kept watching.  And I should have known.  I should have realized.  The comedic gold, of this body, sitting in a chair on a treadmill, staring glassy-eyed up at a screen. … With everything I’ve lived through already, I should have been smarter.”

4 Lessons I Learned From My Readers (Kathrese McKee on Ralene Burke’s blog) – Good advice on writing and critique here.

10 Bits of Stellar Writing Advice from J.R.R. Tolkien (Jenny Hansen) – I’m not sure all of these are really from Tolkien, but there’s good advice here too!

Splickety Writing Contest – Fellow speculative fiction writers, here’s a great opportunity!  Enter this flash fiction science-fiction and fantasy contest for only $10, and at the very least you will receive a year’s subscription to their digital flash fiction magazine.  (That’s $2 less than their usual price, so basically by entering you can get a discount on a flash fiction magazine, if you like flash fic!)  Winners of the contest will get lots more!

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Short Excerpt from The Trusted: Book One of the Kraesinia Trilogy,
by Bethany A. Jennings

This is, of course, a draft and not a finished product.  But here is a short snippet from the latest scene I wrote.  Kevin, the main character, has just encountered some Drivvs (the villains) for the very first time…

Kevin stopped Lunatic under a spreading tree as soon as they were far enough away from the Drivvs to feel safe. Uryaldis’s wound was a wide gash, but not too deep – the largest gauze patch in the med kit was not quite big enough to cover it entirely. Uryaldis sat stiffly on Lunatic’s back while Kevin wrapped the edges with smaller bandages.

As Kevin packed up the medical kit, the lid and bottom clattered, and he was forced to stop and still the shaking of his hands before he could shut it neatly.

“Now I know why they made you my Companion,” Uryaldis said, zipping up the front of his uniform.

“Why?” Kevin hoped he hadn’t noticed how badly his hands were trembling.

“Because you’re a lunatic, just like my Heth,” Uryaldis quipped.

Despite his stress, Kevin laughed. “Says the guy who was going to stay behind and fight off ten Drivvs by himself!”

“At least I had training. And a weapon.” A smile crinkled the corners of Uryaldis’s eyes.

“I didn’t have to have training to know my job.” Kevin clipped the pack to Lunatic’s saddle again. “We’re supposed to have each other’s backs.”

Uryaldis gave him a low, thankful nod. “I am not sure I would be alive if you hadn’t returned. I don’t know what would have happened. So I thank you.”

Anything…any one thing gone differently, and we could be dead now. All it takes is one shot aimed in just the right place, or one spear thrust, or one sword swing. All it takes is for me to make one mistake or miss one thing. Kevin’s head spun. This is the life I’m giving myself to. This is my life now.

He leaned into the Heth’s warm, fuzzy mane. Every part of him ached, and more than anything he wanted to collapse somewhere and sleep…sleep away the rest of this fear and pain and uncertainty, until it felt far enough away to ignore. But there were too many questions, and Lorekrez’s face was burned into his mind’s eye, as vivid as the scar on the Drivv’s temple……

Heth, saddled for two riding companions – drawn by me back in 2009.