Very belated update, and Ygerna seeking a healer for #WIPpet Wednesday

A lot has been going on here in Central Europe, and I just haven’t been able to take the time for blogging while still moving forward on my writing. My sister came to visit — for the first time in over 25 years. Then we took a short trip to France, where we met her daughter and spent some time drinking champagne in Champagne. I still intend to write a blog post about that with pictures, but when we got back, I had better things to do: I FINISHED A COMPLETE DRAFT OF DRAGON TOUCHED TODAY! The rough draft was done end of February, but it was full of holes. That’s the way I work: first drafts are like a jumble of notes to myself and scenes that are completely written out. During revisions, I added another 20,000 words and deleted around 10,000. 🙂

This evening, I dived right back into Ygerna, inspired by the new cover by Lou Harper:

Do let me know what you think! It’s not finalized yet, and any feedback you have will be sent on to the cover artist. You can see the wraparound cover as well in my last post here on my blog.

I also never got around to a new goal post for this quarter, since that was up at the time my sister arrived, and shortly before we took off for France. I’m just going to carry over the goals from the last round. 🙂

I haven’t posted for WIPpet Wednesday for a while either. I’m sticking with Ygerna, but jumping forward to a scene I was just revising. Our protagonist has realized that she might be pregnant, and she goes in search of a healer who can help her do something about it. Thirteen short paragraphs for the 13th day of the month:

Ygerna reined in her horse on the outskirts of the small village and examined the roundhouses of daub and wattle. There was no help for it, she would have to ask someone which house was that of the village healer. She could only hope no one would recognize her; she wanted as few people knowing her secret as possible. That was why she hadn’t gone to the healer in the town across the land bridge from Dyn Tagell.
It wouldn’t do to be asking about herbs that would start her menses again there, where everyone knew the daughters of Erbin, the King of Dumnonia.
So she’d wrapped her distinctive red hair in a shawl, put on an old gown she usually only wore when she needed to help with chores, and set off for the next nearest village with a healer.
She dismounted and approached a woman throwing slops to the pigs. “Excuse me, can you tell me where the healer in this village lives?”
The woman set down the bucket and pointed. “The third house over there, Lady.”
Oh dear, the old mare and the old clothes had not been enough to disguise her class. Well, at least she knew no one here and no one knew her. They might call her “Lady,” but they didn’t know her name.
Ygerna lead the mare by the reins to the house indicated. A young woman perhaps a little older than Elen was tending a small garden of herbs and vegetables next to the house. A basket beside her contained some radishes, spring onions, and a couple of parsnips.
“Hello,” Ygerna said. “Are you the healer in these parts?”
“That I am.” The young woman rose, smiling, and wiped her hands on her apron. “How can I help you?”
Ygerna glanced around, unable to repress her nervousness. “May we go inside?”
“Certainly.”
The healer led the way into her modest dwelling, a roundhouse in the old style, and now Ygerna noticed that she too was pregnant. The belt of her gown was tied a little higher to allow for the gently rounding belly.
The healer closed the door behind them. “Let me guess, you need herbs that will abort an unwanted child.”

Emily Witt is our host for the snippet sharing session, in which we post an excerpt from a WIP on our blog, something that relates to the date in some way. If you want to play too, add your link to the Linky.

Revising, writing, and creeping through trees

I continue to jump back and forth between two projects that are largely completed, Ygerna and Dragon Touched, revising and filling in missing scenes as I go. It’s a lot slower than the mad rush to the end of Dragon Touched was, but I’m making steady progress. Last week, I got 4700 new words written and 7 pages edited.

What am I failing at? I haven’t been doing as much marketing, and my sales are slipping. I haven’t been submitting short stories like I intended. I haven’t started putting together any of the new ebooks on my list.

But I had a lovely day with my youngest granddaughter yesterday. We went on an adventure together, a walk to the river. We were creeping around and hiding behind trees, and taking a break on a bench to eat our “provisions” (“Proviant” is the word she used, which really surprised me). Writing and publishing are not everything. 🙂

On to WIPpet Wednesday. Two women have come to Ygerna’s aid in the cave used for storage, where Uthyr took her by force. My math today for 3/9 is 9 – 3 = 6 paragraphs:

“Ygerna,” one of the voices said — a voice she couldn’t place. A gentle hand went to her shoulder. “Ygerna. You should get up, let us take care of you.”
She considered the suggestion. Slowly she began to feel the cold of the cave seeping into her bones, a cold that only moments before she had wanted to sink into forever. Now it was just another detail of her misery, a misery she wanted to escape.
Ygerna’s eyelids fluttered open, and she gazed into two faces she barely knew: Elen, her brother-in-law Bican’s sister, and Morigan, wife of Ambrosius Aurelianus — and sister-in-law of the man who had just raped her.
“You are alive,” Elen said. “Thank the gods.” She took Ygerna’s limp hand and pressed it tight. Elen’s hand was so much warmer than hers. She felt herself clinging to it as she allowed herself to return to the world.
It was dark now outside the cave. The scent of spilled wine and olive oil and packed earth filled her nostrils.
She rubbed her eyes and pushed herself up on her elbows. “What are you doing here?”

By Oldfaw at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41064863

Emily Witt is our host for the snippet sharing session, in which we post an excerpt from a WIP on our blog, something that relates to the date in some way. If you want to play too, add your link to the Linky.

Showing Uthyr around Tintagel for #WIPpet Wednesday

I managed to increase my word count again last week a little. It’s still not where I want it to be, but I got 4100 new words written and edited another 20 pages. And that is despite having the granddaughters on the weekend and having to sew a bunch of Barbie dresses. *g*

I’m actually feeling pretty excited these days about getting a few more projects completed and published, and that’s helping a lot in creating new words. This month is not going to be as fantastic for sales as last month was, but I’m still in a place where this whole writing gig no longer seems as hopeless as it sometimes does.

On that positive note, it is time to turn to WIPpet Wednesday. Last week, Uthyr found Ygerna after she left her sister’s wedding banquet. Now she is showing him around the promontory. Math for today: 2 + 4 = 6 paragraphs for the day of the month:

Mist flitted in and out between the buildings as Ygerna walked with Uthyr to the edge of the cliffs on the north side of the near-island. She stared out to sea, pulling back wayward strands of hair with one hand.
“A truly impressive defensive site,” Uthyr said appreciatively. “It must be nearly impregnable. Has it ever been taken?”
“Not that I know of.” His words made her feel strangely proud of her summer home, although she did not like imagining it under attack.
Together they wandered along the perimeter of the cliffs. To the west, what could be seen of the sun through mist and clouds was nearing the horizon, looking like a bright silver ball. Beside them, the rocky slopes of the promontory dropped away almost straight down into the sea.
“Every time I see Dyn Tagell, I am struck anew at how perfect it is,” Uthyr mused. “If only it were possible to build fortresses as difficult to take as this one.”
Ygerna found herself relieved that he was thinking about defenses rather than staring at her, as he had at dinner. While his attention was flattering, at the same time it made her uncomfortable.

The promontory of Tintagel / Dyn Tagell. © Copyright Alan Simkins and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons.

Emily Witt is our host for the snippet sharing session, in which we post an excerpt from a WIP on our blog, something that relates to the date in some way. If you want to play too, add your link to the Linky.

A Golden Unicorn, an update, and Ygerna for #WIPpet Wednesday

First off, I want to point you in the direction of the most recent story in The Tales of the Rose Knights that was published on Daily Science Fiction today, “Golden Unicorn.”

All of the Rose Knights of these stories I wrote with Jay Lake are named after real roses. Here the Golden Unicorn of this week’s title:

Golden Unicorn

Speaking of Jay, I finally got another story I wrote with him revised and submitted to F&SF this weekend. I have such a ridiculously huge backlog of short stories at the moment that I’ve decided to try and get at least one story submitted a week until my database is no longer full of “ready to send” entries.

That will involve more time spent on revisions, however, and it’s reflected in my numbers for last week. My new words for the week were way down, only 3600, but I also edited / revised 28 pages (some more work some less, so hard to distinguish). I haven’t yet worked out how much pages edited are “worth” in terms of new words, but I figure I have to start counting them or else I won’t get around to finishing all the projects I have on my hard drive. If I only measure success in new words, then I’ll never finish anything.

I also spent a fair amount of time on marketing, setting up ads for a sale next week, and applying for another BookBub ad. Wish me luck!

Since it’s Wednesday, I also have another excerpt for you. Once again from Ygerna, even though I am mostly working on revising Dragon Touched and various short stories. But if you follow this blog, Ygerna provides the most continuity, and it’s still a WIP, so I think we’ll stick with it for a while. 🙂 10 sentences today, adding up all the digits for 2/17. This snippet comes just after Ygerna leaves the wedding banquet, disappointed with the behavior of her betrothed, Gurles (the excerpt I gave you last week):

Ygerna made her way from the upper hall where the festivities were being held to the nearly flat top of the promontory. Patches of mist and fog twisted and swirled around her, coming and going with the wind from the sea. Despite the buildings that dotted the near-island, gusts always seemed to find a way to whip her cape around and tug strands of red hair from her braid. She pulled them back from her forehead and walked to the edge of the cliff to gaze out at the ocean, the sea that was named for their enemies, the Erainn. The pirates who had killed their older brother and changed all their lives.
The position of the sun was barely visible through the fog, but a hint of brightness a handspan above the horizon indicated that it was evening. Late enough that her parents would not scold too much if she didn’t return to the banquet and sought out her bedchamber in the lower hall instead.
She turned, intending to seek out her room — to see Uthyr not far away, watching her. Once again, that pleasant nervousness overcame her at the sight of his charming smile.
“You left the banquet early,” he said.

Emily Witt is our host for the snippet sharing session, in which we post an excerpt from a WIP on our blog, something that relates to the date in some way. If you want to play too, add your link to the Linky.

New ads for Yseult, and a late #WIPpet for Thursday

I was analyzing the Facebook ads I have running today, and I noticed that I’m getting very few clicks from women on my ads for Yseult. That strikes me as a bit unfortunate, since it’s a retelling of Arthurian legend giving some of the female characters much more prominence and more pov action. So I’ve decided to experiment with a new ad in addition to the old targeting a female audience. I will write new copy emphasizing the female perspective, and I’ve been putting together some alternative images today to test with it:

Do please tell me what you think! Anything is fair game, I don’t bruise easily. 🙂

Given the ad analysis and graphics work I’ve been up to, I’ve haven’t gotten any words written yet today, but generally the writing is going well. I think I may have written the last sentence of Dragon Touched yesterday. I was envisioning it ending in a different place, but then I realized that would end up being a bit much wind down. The first draft is still not completely done, since I have to backfill important elements that only occurred to me during the writing, and add more detail as well as the sex (something I tend to put off, much like battle scenes). But I think the complete shape is there now, and I’m coming up with more and more ways to continue this thing if there’s a demand. Pretty amazing to me how quickly I was able to knock off a first draft on this one! Hopefully I can learn something from the experience for my other projects.

Even though it’s Thursday already, I’m still going to throw a WIPpet snippet at you in parting. 🙂 Once more from Ygerna, which I will be returning to more seriously in the next few days. 14 sentences, for 11 + 2 (today’s date), and one to finish the scene. This comes right on the heels of the excerpt I gave you last week:

Gurles laid his own spoon down, without even having tried his custard. “Ygerna,” he murmured. “Uthyr has a reputation with women. I think you should stay away from him.”
She was grateful for the ambient noise of the wedding banquet, which she hoped had made his softly spoken admonishment impossible for all but her to hear. It would be much too embarrassing otherwise. In private, she might have excused his patronizing words, but in public she found herself fuming.
At a far corner of the long table, someone was raising their glass in a toast to someone else. Ygerna ignored it as if she had not heard, breathing deeply.
Eventually she trusted herself to speak again without lashing out.
“Thank you for your advice.”
She pushed her custard away and rose. “I find I have lost my appetite,” she said to the table at large. “Please excuse me.”

Emily Witt is our host for the snippet sharing session, in which we post an excerpt from a WIP on our blog, something that relates to the date in some way. If you want to play too, add your link to the Linky.

Writing, sales, taxes, and more from Ygerna for #WIPpet Wednesday

It’s amazing to me how inspirational regular sales can be for my writing. And I don’t think it’s just a matter of greed. *g* Just seeing a steady increase in books bought and pages read makes this whole writing addiction seem so much less like some kind of idiotic weakness on my part. It’s working! I’m finding an audience! Maybe I really can make real money at this someday!

And that puts all kinds of inferiority complex demons to rest, which in turn makes the writing somehow easier.

Speaking of which, the new Looking Through Lace boxed set is doing very well during its introductory 99c sale. I’ve sold 85 copies so far, and it’s made it into several top 100 lists. Here are the rankings last time I checked:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,633 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

#32 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > First Contact
#34 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Galactic Empire
#38 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Space Exploration

Whoopie!

On the less positive side, on Sunday I started doing our taxes, and all that wonderful writing momentum has ground to a halt. Our taxes are a very complicated affair, unfortunately. Last week, I got 5100 new words written. This week, only 200 so far.

On to WIPpet Wednesday. Last week, we left Ygerna making embarrassed excuses to her betrothed. Today I’m giving you 3 paragraphs for the 3rd of the month that pick up right where we left off:

“The weather,” Gurles repeated deliberately. “Then why does he keep looking at you like that?”
The few bites of honeyed custard she’d eaten — one of her favorite desserts — was beginning to feel like a stone in her stomach. Yes, why was Uthyr looking at her that way? At the same time, his intense gaze made her nervous in that strangely pleasant way she’d felt around him before. And when it came down to it, why was Gurles asking her such questions, as if she had done something wrong? She hadn’t even been aware of Uthyr’s attention.
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Igraine / Ygerna

Emily Witt is our host for the snippet sharing session, in which we post an excerpt from a WIP on our blog, something that relates to the date in some way. If you want to play too, add your link to the Linky.

Publication news and more from Ygerna for #WIPpet Wednesday

It’s been a while. I’ve been busy. With this:

And this:

And this:

Six years old!

Sheesh. Hard to believe I’ve been a grandmother so long. I’m not that old! Or maybe I am, given the way my face is falling and my knee refuses to play along when I attempt the warrior pose when doing yoga …

But anyway, back to writing. I’ve gotten an awful lot done in the weeks I’ve been absent from my blog. Not only have I formatted and published the e-book boxed set of Looking Through Lace, I’ve published the POD version of the second book, Beyond the Waters of the World, and I’m halfway there on putting together the CreateSpace boxed set for both novellas. (I didn’t do the covers this time — that’s all the work of my fabulous new cover artist, Lou Harper.)

At the same time, my word counts haven’t been all that shabby either: 4300 last week, and 5500 the week before. I’m heading into the home stretch on two projects I’m working on simultaneously right now, Ygerna, and Dragon Touched, an Urban Fantasy set largely in the Woodstock neighborhood of Portland where my daughter lives. I started it on a whim during a recent Nanowrimo, wanting to see if the writing would go easier if I didn’t constantly have to research everything (or leave notes to myself to research this or that when I had the time).

It did and it does. Leaving notes to myself in the Pendragon Chronicles series doesn’t always work, since the fantasy is heavily based on what little we know of the Dark Age history of 5th and 6th Century Britain. Many times I can’t just wing it — I have to check my research notes, to make sure I’m using the right person in the right era.

Writing contemporary Urban Fantasy, I can wing it. I’ve wandered those streets, and if I don’t remember certain details, a place marker is enough. It’s not the same as not knowing who might have possibly been where in a certain decade, or what they might have worn, or who might have been their enemies or allies.

Sigh. Too bad I like history so much and have to keep using it in my fantasy …

Even though I’m jumping back and forth between two WIPs at the moment, I’m sticking with Ygerna for WIPpet Wednesday. The way I’m going now, I should be done with the rough draft of Dragon Touched in a couple of weeks, which means you might never see it again. 🙂 So here I give you 9 paragraphs, 2 + 7 for the day of the month. This comes shortly after the last excerpt, while the political discussion is still ongoing:

Vortimer pursed his lips. “I assure you, my father has the interests of Britain at heart.”
On the other side of the table, Bican’s sister Elen leaned her chin in her hand. “What if the Saxon warriors he has hired do not much care for British interests?”
Elen was something of a riddle to Ygerna. Despite her striking appearance, with her curly dark hair and intense hazel eyes, she was unmarried, although she was already into her twenties. But as daughter of King Aldroenus of Armorica, she must have had any number of princes and kings interested in marrying her.
Servants came by, setting plates of sweet custard in front of each of the guests, and interrupting the political discussion. Ygerna could tell Vortimer was relieved. His father might be High King, but he’d been elected to the position by the regional rulers of Britain, who could just as easily choose a new military leader if they were dissatisfied with Vortigern. It would be wise of him to take such grievances seriously.
Gurles leaned close, his spoon in his custard and his gaze at the head of the table. “What did the Pendragon want with you earlier?”
“Want with me?”
“When he walked back with you from the church. He certainly seems to want something now.”
Ygerna glanced at the head of the table. Uthyr was seated in a place of honor near the newly wedded couple — and he was practically staring at her.
Flustered, she laid her spoon aside. “We were only talking. About the weather.”

Emily Witt is our host for the snippet sharing session, in which we post an excerpt from a WIP on our blog, something that relates to the date in some way. If you want to play too, add your link to the Linky.

Increased word counts and Ygerna at the wedding banquet for #WIPpet Wednesday

With my last big promo push over, I’m happy to say that my word counts are steadily increasing. For the last week. I’ve been getting between 700-900 words a day written — with the exception of Saturday, which was the father-in-law’s 90th birthday. 🙂

The new year is getting off to a good start so far. The two book promos at the beginning of the month were very effective as well. I will post more on that in a separate marketing post for those who are curious.

With that brief update out of the way, on to WIPpet Wednesday. 🙂 This week I’m jumping ahead a bit, skipping the weather and the wedding and taking you to the banquet. Ygerna is seated between Gurles, her betrothed, and Bican, her brother-in-law, and feeling somewhat bored, while her little brother is playing with his nephew. I give you 16 sentence for the new year. It’s a bit of historical background, so I hope it isn’t too dry!

As much as she wanted to be regarded as a woman rather than a child, Ygerna could not help feeling a twinge of envy — she had to sit here and listen to political arguments.
Across from her, Vortimer was defending his father’s decision to enlist Germanic mercenaries in the fight against Pict and Erainn raiders. Since Ygerna had never seen Saxon mercenaries anywhere, she didn’t know what all the fuss was about.
Bican brought his fist down hard on the table. “Vortigern has given Hengist and his barbarians free run of Ceint! Tell me, what have they done for the kingdoms of Britain that would justify that?”
“They have pushed back Pict raiders all along the eastern coast,” Vortimer insisted.
“Truly? Anywhere that they have not taken over themselves?” Bican muttered. “And what of the western coast? Moridunum is now in the hands of Erainn pirates. What’s next, I ask you?”
“There will be no next,” Vortimer said. “My father is in Ceint even now to work out a better agreement with the Saxons. Soon our western shores will be free of invaders, I’m sure of it.”
With the conversation turning to events she was familiar with, Ygerna found her interest in the conversation picking up. “My sister wanted to have her wedding in Isca,” she found herself saying. “But my father wouldn’t allow it because of the threat of Erainn pirates. He said he had to be in Dyn Tagell.”

Some historical background for the above discussion, courtesy of Wikipedia

Emily Witt is our host for the snippet sharing session, in which we post an excerpt from a WIP on our blog, something that relates to the date in some way. If you want to play too, add your link to the Linky.

A few thoughts on goals for 2015, and more from Ygerna for #WIPpet Wednesday

It’s late in Central Europe, and I’m afraid I don’t have enough brain cells to do a serious accounting post this time around, checking off various goals that have been achieved, and putting off the rest for the next year / round / whatever. I’ll do that when I put together my new goals for the first quarter of 2016.

I missed last week, since we had visitors from the States, my lovely nieces. On Christmas, we took them to Rothenburg ob der Tauber for a true German experience. *g*

Hubby and nieces in Rothenburg ob der Tauber

So how do I feel about my progress for the year and the quarter? Mixed / positive. In general I can say that while working on translation, my word counts tend to be very low. I kept myself connected to my creative projects by committing to at least 100 words a day when I had other deadlines. That proved inspirational, because often when I thought I had no creativity left in me, the 100 words turned to 200 or 300 or more.

After completing the biggest translation project, I was able to “win” Nanowrimo in November with Ygerna, despite the fact that it is full of holes which I am now trying to fill.

Facets of Glass and Shards of Glass are completed in VERY rough draft. I see a lot of revising in 2016.

I’ve been putting more energy into marketing, with significant results — income that might even be a living somewhere in the world. 🙂

The big translation is finished — but not in the hands of the client, since my husband still has to do a pass for corrections, and he’s been inundated with work for the last few months.

I haven’t made much progress on my overarching goal of learning to write faster. It works for a week or two or maybe a month, and then life happens again, and I’m back to my pedestrian 500 word days.

That is my general summary off the top of my head — on to Wippet Wednesday! No complicated math, just the end of a scene for the end of the year. This comes shortly after the last scene I gave you two weeks ago, skipping some back story, which would probably only bore. Young Ygerna has caught the eye of the Pendragon of Britain, and her heart is all aflutter, despite the fact that she is betrothed to Gurles, a young man closer to her own age:

She couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t known Gurles. Ygerna had been more than happy to agree to the match. The two of them had played together as children, and she was sure they would be compatible.
But this excited nervousness she felt talking to the Pendragon of Britain was something else entirely.
“Please do not refer to me as a hoyden in my mother’s hearing,” Ygerna murmured. “She finds me difficult enough as it is.”
Uthyr threw back his head and laughed. “Ah, yes, I can imagine that you are a handful.” But somehow, the tone of his voice and the gleam in his eyes made words that would be a scolding from her mother sound like praise.
Ygerna watched the Pendragon walk away with the rest of his party, wondering why the few words they’d exchanged seemed so much more important than the usual pleasantries of a large social gathering.
Argante bent over and whispered in her ear. “You do know that Uthyr is married? And you are betrothed?”
“Of course I do!” Ygerna shot back under her breath. She felt the color rising in her cheeks.
But then she forced herself to calm down again. At least Ygerna wasn’t marrying Argante’s betrothed, Marcus Cunomorus. He was certainly handsome enough, but he made her skin itch. She didn’t know exactly what that meant, other than the fact that she avoided his company whenever she could.
Unfortunately, by the time this wedding celebration was over, he would be her brother-in-law.

Emily Witt is our host for the snippet sharing session, in which we post an excerpt from a WIP on our blog, something that relates to the date in some way. If you want to play too, add your link to the Linky.

Wishing everyone a very happy and successful New Year!

And here’s one more picture of Rothenburg, just because it’s so Christmasy. 🙂

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

More excuses and more from Ygerna for #WIPpet Wednesday

The last week has been filled up with marketing business and Christmas shopping, and my word counts have suffered accordingly. I had two 1000 word days in the last week, but I also had a couple with next to nothing, when I was formatting Looking Through Lace for Createspace, and everything else surrounding the new cover. The new ebook cover is now live, but the paperback is not yet available. I will let you know when it is.

I also managed to get a BookBub ad for Chameleon in a Mirror in the UK only, and I spent some time on various discussion boards, trying to figure out if it would be worth it. Pretty much everyone agrees it is, so I plopped down my $100 for an ad on January 5th. Maybe it will even get my sluggish UK sales going a bit. 🙂

Summary for the week: formatting, marketing, and 2900 words. 🙂

With that out of the way, I can offer you a little more fiction for WIPpet Wednesday. Today, I’m giving you 6 short paragraphs for the 6 in 16. This snippet comes directly after the one I gave you last week from Ygerna:

“My third eldest daughter, Ygerna,” Erbin said.
She stretched out her hand. “It is good to see you again. Welcome to Dyn Tagell.”
Uthyr took the proffered hand with both of his, hands so large they engulfed hers. “We have met before? I find that hard to believe. I am sure I would have remembered a young woman so beautiful.”
Ygerna felt herself blushing yet again — and wished her complexion did not always betray her so. “Several times, Dux. But if I remember right, the last time was over two years ago now, at the funeral of my brother.”
Vortigern’s chief commander released her hand and tilted her chin up with one forefinger. “Ah, yes, I think I recall a red-headed hoyden who might have been you. But now you are a woman grown. Forgive me for not immediately recognizing you.”
She stared into the Pendragon’s eyes, flustered, confused, and strangely happy, her heart beating so fast she could feel it in her chest. Her betrothed, Gurles, had never made her feel this way.

Tintagel, Wikimedia Commons

Emily Witt is our host for the snippet sharing session, in which we post an excerpt from a WIP on our blog, something that relates to the date in some way. If you want to play too, add your link to the Linky.