The Sacred Tree in Fabric Form

Pauline did it again! She took my design and is transforming it into the costume she has already created. It looks like she only needs the tree trunk here and it is done.  What patience, Pauline! I would have printed the design onto some iron transfer paper and just ironed it into place. You have a real talent for costume recreations. Well done!

 Here is the design I created.

This is the front of the costume she is making the collar for. The top photo is the back of the collar to this costume.

Free Writing Meters

I'm heading out today for a four day trip to Stagecoach Trails Guest Ranch to do some writing, scrapping, drawing/painting, eating, resting, swimming and riding.  It's a lovely dude guest ranch and I can't wait. I'll be taking my laptop (no Internet tho) and art supplies and hope to enjoy this event along with twenty-two other ladies.

I know this has nothing to do with Tiaera so let's get down to why I am posting today!

I have found a neat website that offers not one, but 16+ FREE Writing Progress Tracking Meters and I wanted to share this find with you! I hope to pick one of these out for use here at my blog when I finally get back to working on my next story based on the world of Tiaera. It's still waiting for me to finish and I intend to use a meter to help remind me where I am at in getting it finished. It will also give you all an idea as to how close I am to completing it, in cause you are wondering.

Click here for Tia Ross' blog post about Free Writing Meters.

For you writers out there, I hope this info helps you find a good meter to help keep you motivated with your writing. It doesn't need to be used for a novel. You can also use a meter to help you keep track of how many words you have written this week or this month.  You can use a meter for projects, blogs, writing assignments, competitions and clubs. If you're a online content writer, novelist, blogger, short story writer, or journalist, a writing meter may be useful for you.

Check these out and see what you think. Send me comments here if you have have used one or are using one.

Well, it's time for me to mosey out and ride into the sunset. I hope to have the next post for "Add a Spark of Valor" ready for next week.

Yeehaaaa!! Happy writing/riding!

The Priestess and the Ravenknight - In Print!

It's almost autumn! Darkness falls earlier in the evening and the monsoon rains are here. Craft stores are pushing holiday items in preparation for everything from Halloween to Christmas. I love crafting almost as much as I enjoy writing and drawing.

But I won't be doing much crafting this year as I prefer to work on my ebook, The Priestess and the Ravenknight ( or P&R). After of two years of pushing Realmwalkers soft cover books at the various book events, I have decided it's time I turned P&R into a print version, and include some of my illustrations and a little more story.  Because of all the changes to this ebook, I will mark the printed version as a Second Edition. Once the book is sent for publication, I will update and re-submit the P&R ebook as a Second Edition to Amazon.com also.

And for those of you who already got my P&R ebook, I will be making the new updated ebook version FREE (for a limited time) to download once it's available at Amazon.com.  Stay tuned for future post announcements here!

I hope to have the P&R book finished, sent and published by the end of this month. My next book signing will be in early November, so I should have not one, but two books to sign. The cover will be the same, but the book is now approximately 110 pages, a big jump from the estimated 47 pages as an ebook.

 

Thanks to all of you who have supported me these past few years. I am grateful for all the help I get from local authors and friends alike. {{{BIG HUGS}}}

I have managed to earn enough to even purchase some professionally printed bookmarks and business cards for this winter season. It's a real thrill to hand out these shiney, slick bookmarks. I will have to get some made for P&R also. 

Have a great weekend!

Oh, one more thing. I am still working on my mermaid-pirate book. That will come out sometime next year.

 

The Sacred Tree

Since my friend Pauline honored me with a costume like those worn by the Sisters of the Sacred Tree, I was inspired to design a symbol that represents that order. It would be worn on their robes, cloaks and gowns so that they were readily identified by that crest. This is a common druid symbol and I saw many incredibly beautiful renditions of the "Tree of Life" done in celtic knotwork. There are no celts in Tiaera. My love for that type of art compelled me to turn a blind eye to that fact. It's art and it's historical and if I can "borrow" things like castles, elves and humans from our own earth, I can borrow the celtic knotwork designs. Maybe I will call this type of artwork "Tiaeran Knotwork" or "Druidic Knotwork" or "Ancient Knotwork" if pressed to give it a name for a story.

This is my first time doing any kind of celtic knotwork design. I referred to a book and the Internet and spent hours trying to create something that was uniquely mine. I thought using graph paper would help and to some extent it did, but not always. I had to draw and redraw all the shapes until they looked the same width all around. Then I scanned the black and white pencil drawing then with my stylus/tablet I carefully drew and cleaned the sketch. I also ended up cutting the tree top from the trunk and worked on those parts separately. This is the sketch I started out with.

Remember this?

You may recall in a previous post that I drew a sketch of Audrey and her friend, Karyn. Here it is again.

 

Well, my friend Pauline who is a talented seamstress and who enjoys making period costumes was inspired to make Karyn's outfit. Great job, Pauline! You even used the colors as I indicated in the story as well. I am flattered by your creations.

 

 

If you wish to see more of her lovely costumes, find her at Facebook under Pauline Cortez3.

Audrey and Karyn before the Training Session

Last night, I was inspired to do a sketch of the scene where Audrey and Karyn are preparing for the training session (see yesterday's post), but I decided to draw Karyn in her druid gown. In the story, she is dressed like Audrey so she can train also. I tried not to make her look like a nun or like she was wearing pajamas. This would be the type of outfit she would wear on those occasions where she would be seen in public. This was also a good time to show how small Audrey (an adult gnome) stands next to Karyn. Gnomes were often mistaken for human children because of their size and built. At this point in the story, Audrey and Karyn are in their late teens in human years. I will be doing a short article about what druids are like in Tiaera soon.

copyright EV Medina2013

World Building: The Country of Vawdrey

As I continue to write stories and posts about Tiaera, I find that world-creating is a fun pastime in itself. At first, it was tedious and boring. There we were, Jack and I, trying to get our Realmwalkers chapters done and all had to stop because we found out that it was potentially dangerous to use someone else's world to write about for commercial purposes as authors. It wasn't harmless fan fiction that was written purely for personal enjoyment. Jack and I meant business. We wanted to write a book together and offer it up to the world and earn something from it. Thank you to all who made that dream come true! We really appreciate your support and encouragement.

Anyway, I knew nothing about mapping or cartography and to this day I still don't know much, but I do know how to draw and so with Jack's help in figuring out aspects about earth's geology and atmosphere, he helped decide what Tiaera's size and countries should be. No, it's probably not accurate info. In fact, we decided Tiaera should be smaller than Earth. But that's fine! Tiaera is not Earth even if some of its inhabitants are human and live lives like those of Earth's medieval-renaissance periods. After all, this is a sci fi/fantasy story. The images had to be quick and simple so we could move on and get back to our story. Using MSPublisher, I managed to make several global and sectional maps.  Some fantasy world builders tend to use special programs like Autorealm, ProFantasy Software, and DnDjinni. I didn't want to use anything that was difficult or expensive, so I used what I have: MSPublisher and Photoshop. Realmwalkers contains some of those maps.

This image and info is next to the title page in Realmwalkers.

Here are a couple of graphics I made using these programs and a regular mouse to draw with. I hadn't gotten my wonderful Wacom table w/stylus when I did the artwork for Realmwalkers. I hope these drawings will inspire you if you are in the process of writing a book that might be enhanced with a map or two. Maps are very useful tools when you write a story that involves more than one city or town. Jack and I referred to these maps often while our characters traveled from country to country. I highly recommend creating or using maps to make your story more accurate and realistic. Maps help me keep from becoming confused as to what town is where and what race or races live there. Yes, if you can't draw or afford any of the programs currently available, you can make charts or lists to help out. I could have done that also, but since I can draw, I did what I enjoy.

Since I am currently writing a story about Audrey, I have decided to re-create and update the country of Vawdrey where this storyline takes place. Vawdrey is not a big country at approximately 687.5 miles from east to west.  We figured that Tiaera is about the size of Mars, not Earth.

This is the simple and quick drawing I used for the book. This graphic also shows the NW section of the country of Lythopia

And here is the newest and updated version of Vawdrey showing Chardonvale, and the druidic monastery and cloister where Carlyn and Audrey live and train.  All graphics are copyright protected.

Again, I hope these images will inspire you if you are writing a novel. You don't have to be an artist and you might discover, as I did, that world-creating can be fun!

Pinterest

I am now at Pinterest and uploading parts of my Tiaera blog there. I hope to gain more readers with my graphics and stories. Pinterest is a good place for sharing images much like Photobucket and Facebook. Here is the link to my profile there. Check it out!

EV Medina at Pinterest

The Summer Heat or Writer's Block?

It's July and the temperature here is going to 112 today.  I spoke with a good friend yesterday and she asked about my latest book "Sirens of Swansong." I frowned. I began to explain that in the midst of all my research and preparations, I find it hard to work on my third book. I explained that I still blog and I even plan to go back to doing Yahoo Content articles again, but work on the book remains further down on my list of priorities these days.  She was visibly disappointed and offered that with all the work I have done to promote Realmwalkers these past few years, the joy of writing has lessened since another book will mean a whole new campaign of marketing.

I have blamed it on the summer heat, saying to my husband that it's just too hot to write. We have plenty of air conditioning and we do get out to cool movie theaters, restaurants, and other locations. I am reminded that in the three years of working on Realmwalkers and The Priestess and the Ravenknight, that the summer heat was never a problem. But this year is different. This summer finds me doing little in the way of research about mermaids and the world of Tiaera so that I can continue with my third book.  I have about sixty pages started, the layout is done and I have a notebook filled with character sheets, historical data, story notes and inspiring graphics.

My Sirens Workbook

I have tried to keep motivated on my project by watching pirate and mermaid movies on TV or checking out mermaid/pirate books from the library. I am currently listening to an audio book about mermaids.

But I do not write.

Writer's Block?  Could this be?  Am I "burned-out" and need this time off?

My friend thinks it's possible. She suggests I take this time to do whatever little projects I can to keep me writing in some way or some form. Continue with my blogging, do some short articles, work on a journal and keep on doing whatever writing I can do until I am able to get back to my unfinished book.  Maybe the cooler temps in the autumn will get me back to work on my unfinished book.

Write! Write! Write!  I see that advice in every book about writing. I have started a story about Audrey, my little gnome. I can keep doing posts here about her also. In any case, I will deal with the temperatures here and keep cool, go swimming and write whenever I can. I will find some way to keep motivated, even if it's only to blog here with something I hope you will all find interesting.

If you have any advice or suggestions on how to keep motivated to write, I welcome your feedback. I know all writers go through this sooner or later. Whether it be burn-out, writer's block, or triple digit temperatures, I will finish my book somehow. I just wrote this down and so I can't take it back now.

I will finish my book, as soon as I am able to.

Writing and the Online Clock Timer

Since I became a full-time writer working at home, I have added some weight and now I have to watch my blood pressure. Like anything else, writing can be cruel when one does it for too long. We are often told by health experts to take hourly breaks away from the laptops or computers and now I am paying the price for not doing this.

When I worked with my collaborator, Jack Shepherd, on Realmwalkers, I spent hours without a break almost everyday. I did this also when I wrote The Priestess and the Ravenknight. I kept forgetting to get up and walk or do chores or whatever. It never even occurred to me to buy a kitchen timer of some sort to help me remember. Hours would fly by before I realized I hadn't taken a break.
Well, I think I have an answer to this problem and I wanted to share it with you. No, it's not a Tiaeran timer, but this may help keep you from gaining weight and getting sick. It's an online clock/time/music/video website: http://onlineclock.net/

It has an long list of different types of clocks and timers, in various colors and functions. It's also free and definitely worth a try. Now that I am in the middle of my next book, Sirens of Swansong, I am already using this clock timer for it and it works for me. This reminds me. I should go when this timer goes off and do some archery outside! No, wait, it's too hot now. Maybe later! But I can go do something else to stretch my legs and get some exercise. I know! Dance! Dance and do a load of laundry!

Till then, back to this post.

In the world of Tiaera, time is not as important as death makes time not so precious as in our real world. Thanks to Goddess Astria and the druids, Tiaerans don't have to worry about dying as we may. And despite all the hours spent in the libraries and great scholarly halls, reading and writing doesn't affect my fictional characters. Besides, their life is still mostly medieval and so there is a lot of physical work that needs to be done. This helps to keep the inhabitants of Tiaera healthier and stronger. I guess the closest thing they would have for timers would be hour glasses. Sun dials would only work outside and only when the weather allowed. I also hear that special candles could be used as timers. Marked in hour long sections, one would be able to measure time as the wax melted from notch to notch. For more information about candle clocks there is a wiki about them. CANDLE CLOCKS  No doubt, the tiaerans used these as they could afford them. I can imagine Audrey now, dipping candles at her convent.

Photo by www.myrandburg.co.za

I am sure there are other types of modern clocks and music players for those of us who work at our desks all day. If you know of any other site that offers a similar clock timers you would recommend, please leave a comment and share it with us.

Flickr and My Blog Slideshow

Flickr has opened up it's server "gates" and is now offering it's members ONE TERABYTE of server space and that is great news for those of us who like to take screenies and photos. It also lets you upload and share your videos too. Up until recently, it limited the non-paying members about 200 images max. So if you like to share photos, screen captures (screenies) or artwork, check out the new Flickr.com and enjoy all it's tools and benefits. Oh, and it saves all your images in FULL resolution. For those of us who want that, it's a real benefit. I have tried Photobucket, Revel and Picasa.  They all have limitations. I also see that Google's Drive now offers you up to 15 GB of space. Well, Flickr offers a Terabyte. I still can't believe they can do this for FREE!

What does that have to do with my World of Tiaera blog? Well, for those of you who haven't noticed, I have a slideshow of graphics about Realmwalkers and Tiaera. If you scroll down and look at the left column you will see my dragonling logo.  It looks like this:

Click on it and Flickr's slideshow will appear to show you my virtual gallery of graphics. Most of these graphics are in color and you might recognize a couple of drawings from Realmwalkers. It only has about a dozen images right now, but in time, I will be adding more. The slideshow also has controls so you can control the speed of each of the images.

On a side note, you may also notice that I have added another column to this blog. In an effort to make improvements, I decided it was time to try three columns instead of two. Please leave some feedback about these changes and definitely let me know if you ever have problems with any of the links here. I would really appreciate it.

I hope you take a minute to check out the slideshow and feel free to share it with your friends. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

More Archaic Words

Greetings! It's been awhile since I shared a few more of my favorite archaic words I try to use in my writing. Tonight I would like to cover some archaic samples of greeting others. As usual, I used the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and an (online) glossary book written by Shakespeare. Enjoy!
_________________________________________________________________________________

Good morrow = Good morning 
(13th cent. noun)

Good day = Good day (said before noon)
(12th cent noun)

Hail or Greetings = Hello or Salutations
(13th cent noun)

God ye good den or Good den =  Good evening or good day (said after noon)
(according to The Works of William Shakespeare it means "God give you good e'en")

Good e'entide = Good evening or good night 
e'en = evening + tide = A time or season. Often used in combination: eventide; Christmastide; Shrovetide. (13th cent. noun)
_________________________________________________________________________________

Next post will be samples of saying good-bye.

New Extended Realmwalkers Video

I just created a new version of my original Realmwalkers video. After some editing and a few extra pictures, I came up with this. I hope you like this better. A special thanks to my friend, Vince, for his help with "Quality Control."  I owe you a Starbucks, buddy!

Realmwalkers is on sale at Amazon.com!

I just found out that Realmwalkers has a special promo price now! Not sure how the folks at Amazon.com came to the new price, but it went from $18.95 to $17.06. That's almost two dollars off! If you have been waiting for the price on this novel to go down, now is the time to take advantage. 

Here are some of the testimonies I have been getting:

It's easy reading..meaning it's a fun story, interesting characters and it's not this deep reading that I have to keep reading each line over and over to understand. Some books are full of such verbose sentences/paragraphs that I get lost halfway through and have to start the sentence over again. The characters are familiar so I can picture them so easily, which is awesome! - Maryanne of Riverside CA

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Done with the book! Awesome! I liked it very much! Now you need to write a sequel with new adventures of Hilo, Felucia, Alain... need I go on??!! I want more!! Sequel! Sequel! Sequel!  - Amanda of Lake Havasu, AZ
___________________

I've really enjoyed reading "Realmwalkers". I've read it more than once and continue to become imersed in the story and enthralled by it's cast of characters. It has a lot to enjoy: Heros and Villians from another planet, pirates, Elves and Gnomes, romance, battles on land and sea, a snowball fight and a beautiful Goddess.
The only problem I have with the book is that there is no sequel
Something for everyone to like. Give it a read. - Vince of Hamilton, OH

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The author has me drawn into the story and I feel as if I am actually there, living this saga. The drawings are magnificent! I anticipate every moment, and can't wait for the next chapter to unfold!!  - Pauline of Hawley, PA

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I really enjoyed this story. The characters were well developed and interesting. The settings were described in enough detail to give me a good visual image, but not overly described. The conflicts were believable and urgent enough to keep me engaged to the end. I definitely recommend this book.  - Layne of Lake Havasu, AZ

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What an exciting book with lots of great adventure and fun. Look out Harry Potter! This is the next up-and-coming new series. Would like to see it made into a movie. - Michele of Lake Havasu, AZ  

Realmwalkers has a new fan and this one can sew!

I met a new Facebook friend the other day who purchased Realmwalkers and enjoyed it so much she was inspired to create a similar outfit that resembles Solita, one of the main characters of the book. Her name is Pauline Cortez and she enjoys medieval history and fantasy. She is also a talented seamstress! She creates various medieval costumes which you can see at her FB page. Here is her version of Solita's outfit.

Sir Krymson's Prayer

Networked Blogs Morning News for Today

I just received an email from Networked Blogs and I am sorry to see my free promotion of last weekend is now being shown...three days too late. Well, the promo did well and I got a lot of responses. I do apologize if you are coming here to download the ebook. The Priestess and the Ravenknight is still available to all at Amazon, but it's now back to $2.99. I didn't know my blog would be featured today.

Since you are here, I hope you'll look around at my artwork, short stories, poetry and news about my books and events. I am always looking for new friends and readers and that's why I joined Networked Blogs.

I hope you have a good visit and become a follower. Leave me a link to your blog if you would like me to visit.

Take care and keep writing!

Another Freebie Weekend!

The two day promotion last weekend just didn't seem to be long enough. I have met with friends who missed out on the event and wanted to download my new ebook. For those of you that still want to get a free copy of my ebook novella, The Priestess and the Ravenknight, please click on the link below and it will take you straight to the Amazon webpage where you can get it for FREE.today, tomorrow and Sunday! It's supposed to be available all day long from midnight to midnight. Make sure you are paying ZERO cents when you purchase the ebook there.  Some of you may have bought this ebook before, but this is the latest version with a new graphic and it's now seven chapters long instead of five. 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Priestess-Ravenknight-ebook/dp/B00B9EQS2K

FREE Today, tomorrow and Sunday!

I realize not all of you will have a Kindle, but Amazon.com does offer a free app here Free App for non-Kindles  With this app you can read your ebook on a PC, laptop, Ipad, Iphone, etc...

Enjoy the ebook and please please please review it at Amazon! Have a great weekend!

Free Download of The Priestess and the Ravenknight eBook

www.amazon.com/The-Priestess-Ravenknight

      A mysterious deity takes over the dark elven city of Espion, bringing mass executions and unholy sacrifices. In the face of the new god’s reign of terror, rebels still loyal to the Mother Goddess of Tiaera remain in the once peaceful medieval city, determined to help those captured by or hiding from the usurper’s Host of Wrath. Serving in Espion's army, Ravenknight Krymson Larolin is torn between his sworn duty and the seemingly absent goddess, until he finds himself protecting the High Priestess of Espion — a revered follower of the new god. The Priestess and the Ravenknight is a tale of courage, love and loyalty that is now available at Amazon KDP. 

Everyone is invited to download this Free Ebook at Amazon.com today and tomorrow till midnight (April 20-21st).  

If you have previously bought or borrowed this ebook before it is worth checking it again as I have made some changes to it. Click on the link above to get to the Amazon webpage for this ebook.

How I create my graphics...

I have been busy working on a graphic and thought I would share with you what it looks like as I am making it. I have decided not to do any illustrations for submission with my next manuscript, working title "The Sirens of Swansong". As I have posted before, I intend to write only and avoid any cover art or illustrations. Nonetheless, I desire to do ONE graphic to decorate my three ring binder and to inspire me while I write. My notebook contains all my research notes, glossaries, maps and outline. And my binder needs a graphic sooooo....

Here is the image of Lyrica and Dalyn, my two main characters. After Googling "sirens" and "mermaids" I came up with what I think Lyrica will look like. She is Tiaeran siren and one of the guardians (angels) of the Mother Goddess. After several name change I decided Lyrica would be my final choice and this character will use her singing as a power to affect friends and enemies as needed. Dalyn is a carpenter turned pirate.

I started this graphic with a pencil sketch then inked it with an artist's fine point marker. After I have the main details drawn, I scan it and open it up in Adobe 10 Elements. I check all the details careful and clean any mistakes or spots I find. I make a black and white copy and a color copy and begin coloring using the many wonderful tools in Adobe Elements. After a couple of hours of relearning this program and using my new Wacom tablet I come up with this:

To save me a lot of time, I found a neat and free wallpaper background online. Remember this is only going to decorate a three ring binder and so any short cuts are acceptable for this piece. Depending on how long this takes to finish, will determine whether I will go through the trouble of also creating a background. As you can see, this graphic is still not finished. There lots of white areas that still need to be colored. Stay tuned for the next post when I finally complete this.

If you have any questions about my graphics, feel free to click on the COMMENTS link below or email me.

The Priestess and the Ravenknight updated

As some of you may know, I have updated The Priestess and the Ravenknight recently.  Those of you who have purchased this ebook, do not fret. I will be making this ebook available for FREE in the next week or two and I will post news about it's availability just as soon as I figure out how to do this at Amazon. It will only be free for a day or two so please keep checking back or email me at evmedina@dragonling.com.

The cover is the same and it's still going to be a Kindle version that you can buy at Amazon.com for only $2.99. If you don't own a Kindle ebook reader, don't forget that you can also get a free app that will enable you to read this free ebook on your PC, laptop, tablet, Android/iphone. One thing you will notice is that the novelette has grown from five chapters to seven. I also added one more graphic to the ebook.  If you own a Nook or some other reader that requires an EPUB file, I have it in that format. I am looking to see how I can send this file without going against my contract with Kindle. I can't see how Kindle would hold me to not selling the EPUB file if their app doesn't work on EPUB readers. Till I find out what to do about that, you can still get the ebook to read on your PC, laptop and smartphones.

The-Priestess-Ravenknight-ebook

Why did I re-do this ebook? Well, I did it mostly because something kept nagging me that it wasn't really finished. I asked some of my readers for feedback and most were happy with the way it ended, but once I changed the ending and added more text to the story they seemed happier with the changes. All I know is that I could not rest until I took the time to pull up the file and work on the story once again. I also decided to include two chapters of Realmwalkers for those who haven't bought the book yet. I saw this being done with some novels and thought this would be a good idea.

For those who wish to know, KABAM was not very active this year. Not many people attended and a few authors were missing. The weather was nice and I got a good table to set up my books. There was music, food, drinks and vendors at the park. I suspect the date might have had something to do with the event not being so crowded as in the past. I had a good time while I was there and gave out a lot of bookmarkers, answered questions and met some really nice people there. It also gave me a chance to promote The Priestess and the Ravenknight.

Now that the snowbirds are gone and the heat is here, I can now focus on writing my next novel and get ready for some swimming. SPLASH!

KABAM Book Festival

Now that we are in spring and the snow birds are leaving our fair city in droves, it is time for one more major book signing event in the city of Kingman (about an hour's drive from here).  Kelley and I (as well as other members of the LHCWG) are driving up there to attend the event again this year. There will be lots of authors to rub shoulders with, food, entertainment and one more chance to promote Realmwalkers before the heat turns my attention to swimming and writing indoors.

The festival lasts for days, but we will be up there next Saturday,  April 6th from 11AM - 4PM. 

Mark your calendars! If you are in the area, stop by!

Metcalf Park

315 West Beale Street
Kingman, AZ 86401

Community: Kingman
 

View Map | Get Directions

KABAM Book Festival Info and Event Schedule

Archaic Words for the Day

Abide = Tolerate, await, to remain stable or fixed in a state, to continue in a place, to accept without objection

Middle English, from Old English ābīdan, from ā-, perfective prefix + bīdan to bide; akin to Old High German ir-, perfective prefix — more at BIDE

Synonyms:  stay, dwell, hang around, remain, stick around, tarry

First Known Use: before 12th century

Befall = To happen as if by fate , occur

Middle English, from Old English āwiht, from ā ever + wiht creature, thing — more at aye, wight

Synonyms: be, happen, betide, chance, come, come about, come down, come off, cook, do, go down [slang], go on, hap, occur, pass, transpire

First Known Use: 13th century

As you will = (adv archaic) Expressing obedience: as you wish or as you like

I have found a nice website today I Bequeath Thee for those that would like to know more words. I will post such links as I find them so that you can peruse the glossaries, as you will. :)

The New Portal of Light URL

Jack Shepherd, co-author of Realmwalkers, has changed the location of his Portal of Light blog mentioned in the Dedication Page of our novel.  Please make a note as needed that his blog is now...

The Portal of Light: Potential Realities

http://rakkav.blogspot.com/

Archaic Words of the Day

I hope to kick off the sharing of some of these words with three of the most commonly used in Tiaera. As many of you who have read Realmwalkers and other writings in the past, I like using words that are considered archaic - meaning that they are very old and rarely ever used anymore. When I began writing fantasy fiction years ago, I learned that English or Old English became known as Common in Middle Earth and D&D worlds. This makes it possible for various races and peoples to be able to communicate. Universal Communicators were not yet invented like the ones used in Star Trek. So aside from the elves speaking their elvish and the dwarves speak their dwarvish, etc... almost all in such fantasy worlds grew up to speak some Common (or universal language). Those of you who enjoy writing historical fiction/non-fiction might find these archaic word posts useful in order to give that Old World feel to your stories. I welcome any comments from you.

According to a WOW wikia: "Common is derived from the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game. In that game, the Common tongue is a lingua franca, or a universal language, spoken natively by humans and bilingually by other races. The concept is derived from Westron, the "common tongue" of Tolkien's Middle Earth, hence the name. It is the language of humans, halflings, half-elves, and half-orcs . The Common tongue also has great hints of the Icelandic tongue."

When John and I began RPing and writing stories, I started doing more research about archaic words and I find them very fascinating. I recognized many words from the King James Bible. But I wanted Realmwalkers to be easy to read while incorporating words that the Tiaerans spoke whenever they used Common. I tried to use words that were used before the 15th century, the earlier the better.  I usually checked such words with the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

So here are few words to start us out today.

Afore = Before  
chiefly dialect

Middle English, from Old English onforan, from on + foran before — more at before

First Known Use: before 12th century

Aught = Anything, all, everything, at all
Middle English, from Old English āwiht, from ā ever + wiht creature, thing — more at aye, wight

First Known Use: before 12th century

Beseech = To beg earnestly, to implore
Middle English besechen, from be- + sechen to seek

First Known Use: 12th century

Blog Interview & Hastings Book Signing

Hello friends!

It's been a very busy month with several book signings in the area. The next one is at Hastings Books, Videos and Music next Saturday from 11 - 3PM. This is the Lake Havasu Store located at 321 Lake Havasu Ave. N.  (928) 680-7272. I will be signing copies of Realmwalkers and promoting my new ebook, The Priestess and the Ravenknight. Stop by to visit with me, ask questions and get out of hot mid-day heat at Hastings this Saturday. Is it summer already? Really? What happened to spring?  Hahah!!

I have also been invited to Virginia Nelson's Guardian's Hangout blog when she posted an author's interview about me. If you wish to see it click here: Guardian's Hangout  I hope you find it interesting and inspiring. Virginia also resides in Arizona. Maybe one day we can meet in person. She seems like a very busy lady and is currently doing a blog hop this month.

Keep on writing and stay in touch!

My First Video!

I have been meaning to do this ever since Realmwalkers was published but was worried about the cost of the service. Well, time has passed and so this morning, I have saved some book money to see about getting a video made. During my web search this morning, I discovered a service called Stupeflix.com. I looked around the site and decided to try it.

After trying so many different programs in editing, graphics, ebooks and publishing, I dreaded the problems and frustration I was about to endure with this video creation service. But there was none of that at all! I LOVED IT!  It was easy to learn and I was making my video in no time. This took me a couple of hours to make, but it because I wanted to take the time to be creative and have fun with it. I highly recommend anyone to try Stupeflix if you're thinking about getting started with video creations. You can always upgrade and move on to more complicated programs later.

If you want to try them out, you get a free HD video when you register. Please use my referral link if you read my post and want to check them out: http://bit.ly/13YzwOq  Thanks!

Archaic Words of the Day?

As some of you know, who have read Realmwalkers, archaic words were often used in the dialogue of Tiaerans.  I use the word "archaic" instead of "Old English" and will explain why.

Over the years, when reading historical novels and watching historical dramas on TV, I learned to appreciate and enjoy the words of old that are no longer commonly used today. Then AOL came along in the 70's and chat rooms were invented. I discovered the graphical chat rooms called "The Realms." What a joy it was to find beautifully decorated webpages filled with icons of AOL members talking in Old English, or what I thought was Old English. In any case, I jumped in and created my own realm through self-teaching and The Dark Forest Realm was created.

Dark Forest Realm map by EV Medina

When Jack and I decided to write a book together, I began to study more about the use of Old English only to discover that such was not really what we are all used to. The kind of Old English we hear in movies these days is a watered-down version of Elizabethan English or Early Modern English.
Even though we created a medieval world, Jack and I agreed we needed to keep Realmwalkers easily readable, so we made changes as Artistic License would allow. Not wanting our book to read like the King James Bible, we removed all the thee's and thou's and only used "thy" infrequently. But in an effort to keep the flavor of an ancient world, we checked various glossaries and dictionaries to show the Tiaerans spoke using words that were used around the 12th-16th centuries. I know I spent much time during the writing process to look up many many words in this endeavor.

Lately, it has come to me that some of these words should be shared here from time to time in the interest to educate and explain how the words were used in Realmwalkers.  I hope you wordsmiths find it interesting and entertaining, especially if you are an avid reader of historical novels.  Even roleplayers (RPers) may find this helpful with their roleplaying in MMORPGs or RP websites.

As I like to explain aspects about Tiaera here through my artwork and stories, brief posts on the Tiaeran "Common" language may also be of interest. Let me know what you think of this idea. I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Renaissance Festival Book Signing

Greetings Good Friends!

I am back from my trip to Phoenix and Apache Junction where I was invited to have a book signing at the 2013 Arizona Renaissance Festival, thanks to my friend and fellow author, Ann Chamberlin.  Here are some photos as promised.

 

 I worked up to the day before the trip sewing and getting last minute items to complete my costume.

At the motel Saturday morning before driving to the festival.

The morning was really nice, cool and sunny.  My husband, Lee, and I has stayed the night in Phoenix and then drove to Apache Junction where hundreds of cars lined up on US60 to enter the festival parking lot. Once inside the renaissance village with my rolling crate of books and book signing necessities I got to work setting up the table located outside Lady Ann Chamberlin's Book Shop.

You can see the table with the red and white tablecloth at the front. I was so glad it was shady there as the day got hotter as time passed. It was hard to believe it was winter as temperatures rose into the mid-seventies.

Passer-byes grew steadily in number until the road in front of me was filled and sitting at my table became impossible. So many passed by without stopping as there was so much to see. It was steep competition out there with so many talented merchants and entertainers vying for people's attention. I read that there were over 200 merchants and thirteen stages of entertainers plus a large variety of eateries and rides at this year's Renaissance Festival.

I stood to stretch out my hand and called out to grab people's attention. "Smile and sound excited," I kept telling myself. My aggressiveness paid off.  One person led to two, then three and more. People began to circle around my little table as I showed them my drawings and books. It was a good place to sell "Realmwalkers" and despite the competition and despite the fact that I am a new and unknown author, I sold eighteen (yes, 18!) copies in the six hours I was there. The only time I got to sit down was for signing the books and my poor feet were killing me. The throbbing still haunts me just to remember. Anyway, it was a good event and I met many people who enjoyed medieval fantasy books. Ann was pleased with how well the event went. 

The left photo shows my little feather brooch on my black velvet hat. I even took links from my belt to make the hoop earrings and hat brooch. If you look close enough, you might be able to see how the sides of my black surcoat are laced up with red/green ribbons. I almost lost a thumb while hammering the grommets into place. LOL! I was warm and comfortable while I pitched my book to the many visitors there that day.

Lee stopped by to check on me and brought me some lunch. He strolled the faire and even passed out some business cards. My friend, Vince, suggests I get Lee to wear one of those sandwich signs to promote the book signing next year. HAH! I don't think so. After the book signing, he helped get my rolling crate back to the car and despite my aching feet, I spent about a half hour wandering around the faire to see what was new.

There were the same events and artisans I have seen from previous visits. There were souvenir shops, rides, jousting, dancers, comedians, performers, and artists. I saw artwork there that made my drawings look like doodles. Such talent! I drank some cold Pear Cider and felt right at home in my scribe costume. It was a wonderful time!

The Priestess and the Ravenknight at Amazon!

I am very pleased to inform you that my latest story, The Priestess and the Ravenknight, is now available at Amazon.com. The events of this story take place in the capital city of Espion, Sangrey (land of the dark elves) some time before what took place in Realmwalkers, and introduces two of my dark elf characters. I call this a medieval fantasy romance novelette and it is my first solo endeavor. Jack (co-author of Realmwalkers) helped me with some editing and proofing, as did other dear friends Vince and Brett. Thank you all once again!

The ebook costs $2.99 to download the Kindle version. There is no printed version and it's not going to be sold anywhere else for now. I have joined Amazon's KDP program where Prime Members are able to borrow this ebook for free! Non-Members can buy it and download it in just a few minutes. I am trying the Prime Program out to see how it works so I won't be selling any copies of this ebook here at my blog. Instead, please click on this book image and it will take you straight to the Amazon webpage to learn about my newest ebook: The Priestess and the Ravenknight.

If you don't own a Kindle eReader, Amazon now offers a FREE App for your device so you can download and read Kindle books. Click the image below to learn more about this app.

Phoenix Renaissance Festival 2013

Well met, good friends!

Now that the holiday season is finally over, it's back to business with book signings and this year I am very lucky to do one at the Phoenix Renaissance Festival which takes place next month and runs for several weeks. As the brochure indicates: The Festival is an explosion of sights and sounds in a 30 acre village with the King and His court, castles and cottages, shops and pubs, and over 200 artisans with open air shops, plus twelve stages of non-stop music, dance, swordplay and comedy to enchant every age.

Last year I met a book dealer there, dressed in period costume, by the name of Ann Chamberlin.  She is the author of a number of books including: The Woman at the Well,  The Joan of Arc Tapestries, and Leaving Eden. A very friendly and talented lady, she invited me to join her this year by having a book signing right there at her shop. I was happy to accept. I would love to help out there at her book shop. I guess I better brush up on my Renaissance English! It will take some planning, but we have already set up a date for that day.

Realmwalkers Book Signing

at the Phoenix Renaissance Festival

February 16th!

I don't have a time yet but it will be around 10:30 - 4:00. 

I have already started sewing my cloak and outfit as it is winter and the weather can be anything from sunny to cold and rainy.  Lee and I enjoy going to the fair every two years or so. It is one of the best I have ever attended.  If you are in the area, I hope you will stop by at her bookstall and say hello. As a matter of fact, I better find out what that stall is called. When I do, I will post it here. 

I also have a couple of other book signings and craft events I plan to attend in the next few months which include Hastings Books and The Book Exchange. The dates will posted here as usual and I hope to see you if you are in the area. Be safe and keep warm this winter. 

Now I need to get back to my sewing!