Prayers for Jessica

Jessica is the eight year old daughter of a friend of ours. She's sunny, smart, musical and a book reader. She loves a good joke, and she really likes Disney fairies. She's courageous and joyful in the midst of hard circumstances.

She's been in halo traction for the last 10 weeks in a children's hospital, and today she is undergoing a spinal fusion surgery. At 6:30 a.m. she'll be taken to pre-op, and at 8a.m., her two surgeons and team of specialists will start an eight to ten hour surgery to straighten and fuse her spine.

Her brother, her grandmother and grandfather will be waiting by the phone. Her mom and dad will be in a waiting area of the hospital all day with a pager in their hands.

Please take a moment and pray for Jessica, for her family, and for her medical team. Pray for a miracle, pray for peace, pray for strength, pray for endurance, pray for wisdom, pray for the surgeon's hands, and pray for an outcome of joy.


This is Jessica and her family at a Halloween party hosted by a church near the Children's hospital. She's in traction with a walker - and they walked to the church. She and her brother (in the lego suit) won a couple of the costume contests. (she's a cat, but had a fairy costume in reserve, just in case)

Jousting Tournament and Launch Party!

A New Adult Urban Fantasy, The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear is the first book in a new series. And it’s now out! The main character, Hetty, is a twenty-two-year-old, stumbling about in an effort to become a full-fledged adult. She struggles with self-esteem, weight, relationships, and making the transition between college and the real world.

Graduation from community college isn’t the magic elixir Hetty Locklear counts on for becoming an adult. Her parents, who work the Renaissance fair circuit, insist she spend part of the summer with them. Hetty doubts pretending to live in the Middle Ages will help her find her way.

 To make it worse, an entity haunts her at her dead-end job, warning her of a dangerous man she doesn’t know. The ghost leads her to a lover who has a lot of secrets. He pulls her farther into peril and into a strange, hidden world of genetic experimentation.

New Adult Urban Fantasy with a contemporary sci-fi twist. Mature content.

Available as an ebook at Amazon / Amazon UK / Smashwords / iTunes / Kobo

(B&N is coming – visit www.mpaxauthor.com for other links)

 

I am Knight Light!

 

M. Pax is celebrating her latest release with a jousting tournament and contest at www.mpaxauthor.com. Help me win. To score points I need you to comment at her website before Saturday, November 17th, and tell her you’re cheering for me, Knight Light to earn me a point. Score me an extra point by using the medieval phrase pray tell, which means ‘please tell me’. Example, I’m here for Knight Light. Pray tell, what is the current score? (You may rewrite the example)

For each day you comment, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a free ebook of The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear. Tell all your friends. Win me the championship! Win a book! Huzzah!

Remember, comment for KNIGHT LIGHT!

 

and if you haven't already, sign up for Hobbit Fest. M Pax and I will be co-hosting Hobbit Fest on December 14th!

On a completely different note, for you music lovers, we happen to kind of know a lead singer who will be performing at the HMMAwards  on Thursday night. He's the son of some friends of ours from our church . . .check out this interview and this preview clip of his band's album Zelodius.


And I just have to throw this in at a later moment in the morning . . .I just saw this cover, and loved it!

 Congratulations ali, on a beautiful cover reveal!

 

A Taste of NaNo - both kinds

So, I'm flying the invisible airplane of superwoman (I'm not her, but I'm borrowing her plane for the month), and I'm trying to both revise Champion in the Darkness to it's final, completely done finish (is there such a thing?) for NaNoRevMo and write a new novel for NaNoWriMo 2012.

Today I thought I would give everyone a taste of each. (Plus this way I can say that I'm blogging and working at the same time, right?)

Here's a bit from a chapter I'm working on for NaNoRevMo (about 130 words):

Clara pivoted to watch Helena climb up the short ladder to the forecastle.

“I think I saw a real mermaid!” Helena pulled on Clara’s arm and pointed out to the open sea.

Clara didn’t see anything, and then, close to the boat, a woman’s head came to the surface. Clara gasped, and the woman saw her and ducked back under again.

“A mermaid?” Stelia asked quietly from behind them.

Dantor said, “A fanciful –

“No, a sign of Kalidess’s minions,” said Stelia darkly.

“Like the snake woman in the tunnel?” asked Clara, although she already knew with the sinking feeling in her stomach that it had to be like that. Only people changed by sorcery could take on the appearance or partial shape of a creature.

“Worse,” said Stelia.

Unfortunately, Stelia's comment reflects how I feel about my revision work on Champion at the moment.

 

However, I'm also working on The Identity of Captain Wrath, and here's a small slice of that. BTW, Doug will become Captain Wrath, but he's going to mess up seriously before he gets to that point.

          It all started innocently enough, with a card game in the barracks during off hours. Doug was winning. His side of the table held a dozen credit slips, a pink slip for hover-bike, and a few watches. Doug loved card games of all times and cultures. His Grandad, Grand Admiral Cranton the first, had taught him all the tricks before he even started standard school lessons. He knew that some people felt that counting cards and reading player’s faces was tantamount to cheating, but he figured that if they all played to their fullest ability, then he shouldn’t have to hold back. Besides, it was easy. Any fool smart enough to make it into the Spacy Navy should be able to do it.

          Unfortunately, the Space Navy admitted even bigger fools, like Reynad Colter from the Eutrope Moon Colony.

        As Doug won another game, sweeping up the cards from the table, Reynad stood up, and knocked the whole table onto Doug’s lap.

So, how are your writing projects going?

And have you signed up for Hobbit Fest yet? Or joined M Pax's jousting tournament?

Watch out for Knight Light!

Superwoman Falls from the Sky: IWSG

So, I realized the other day that recently I've tried squeezing into a superwoman suit. I'm into NaNoWriMo, NaNoRevMo for the last revision of Champion, blog fests, and all the other stuff I do in life.

I was flying pretty high, feeling good, keeping the invisible plane at a good height from the ground (you know, so no one actually could see me in that skimpy superwoman suit).

Then life interference flew into one of the engines, and it died.

I had to fight for control, cut the power to the remaining engine so I didn't spin, and take a long glide down, down, down to cold waters of Puget Sound.

My tiny little superwoman outfit isn't made for swimming in 50 degree waters.

Thankfully, I managed to check my radio before the plane became water-damaged.

That's the story of my writing week so far.

Thankfully, the awesome bloggers of blogland came by to cheer me up, wrap me in blankets of love, and warm me with cups of encouragement. (Thanks to the I'm So Thankful blog hop led by Tara and Viki - you both are wonderful superwomen!)

So, this superwoman (not) is climbing back in her invisible plane with some organized lists, a pocket timer with a really loud ding to keep me on track with my writing, and a full set of clothes.

I'm not sure what this says for IWSG except that I love the writing community here, and I hope I can encourage some of you the way that you've encouraged me. Also, I highly recommend having a writing timer, and making space for your writing, even if it means squeezing it in around other commitments.

 And, because I don't think I said it enough times on Monday,


THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why? For being awesome, supportive, encouraging, and for sticking around and reading all my ups and downs.

Check out the I'm So Thankful Blog Hop entries - they rock!

Sign up for Hobbit Fest - details on the tab on the upper right!

I'm Thankful for my Readers! .

Dear Readers,

You have stood by me and encouraged me every step of the way in my writing journey. You've been there when I've been down, and you've lifted me up. You've been there when I'm up, and you've just lifted me up higher . . .sometimes with words of wisdom that I didn't expect. :-)

You've read my poetry, my flash fiction, and my story starts. Some of you have even read some of my devotions. You've read portions of one of my novels, or you've read the whole novel. Then you critiqued it, and read it again.

You'e read my blog, and shared your insights. I've read your blogs, and found inspiration!

You are:
my amazing critque partner, Angela Anderson (author of an awesome, upcoming YA scifi/dystopian novel);

my youngest daughter with her eagle eye for detail;

my mom, who never just tells me what she thinks I might want to hear, but gives it to me straight;

my oldest daughter who liked my story so well she read it without prompting from me;

my husband who reads my writing and looks at me with surprise ("it makes me wonder what you think about all the time!") and then gives me loads of encouragement;

my friend Trina who has encouraged my writing since I let her read that terrible story in 8th grade about the boy and the secret note (one of my few attempts at romance);

my niece who was so excited about drawing my cover that she brought her whole portfolio over to my house, sketched out ideas for an hour, and then said she would try to draw hands (one of her least favorite things to draw);

my friend Susan who asked me to recite one of my poems at a gathering (I gulped and turned red, but I appreciated the thought);

my blog buddies who have encouraged me with awesome comments about wanting to read my stories, and who have helped me set up a blog tour!!!!!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

I'm over my word limit, and I haven't even named all the names . . .please know that I appreciate you and I am especially thankful for you.

With love, and lots of Big Hugs!

-Tyrean Martinson


And I'm thankful for Vikki and Tara for setting up this awesome blog hop of Thanksgiving!

NaNoWriMo and NaNoRevMo
NaNoWriMo news: Doug is on his way to becoming Captain Wrath in the Identity Crisis of Captain Wrath! My husband was home when I wrote the court-martial scene, and was on hand for all the military jargon questions I had for him.
NaNoRevMo news: I finished critiquing my critique partner's novel, and sent her the last half of mine. I'm continuing to revise one chapter at a time, even before I get her notes, which I know is dangerous.