November is always a crazy month for me because of Nano so I'm sorry that I haven't been posting much lately.
I changed my mind about Nano. Instead of doing two stories, I rewrote my fantasy YA novel. It had been roughly 69K, now it's just over 80K and (hopefully) ready for an agent's desk. In addition to that story, I wrote another combined 19K from other stories so I almost wrote 100K anyhow. A wild success if you ask me!
Now I've been doing my final revisions of Knight of Glory before I send it off to my Beta Reader. I hope to send it sometime next week. I'm really excited for some feedback on it.
And a bonus for you all, I decided to post another excerpt from Woman of Honor for you to enjoy:
This day, the last class was riding. After setting the saddle on Dream Rider’s back and tightening the girth to keep it in place, Aislinn adjusted the stirrup length and set her foot in the stirrup, swinging onto Dream Rider’s back. Again, the horse refused to cooperate. “Come on, go straight,” Aislinn muttered, trying to spurn the horse onward with a touch of her heels to his side. Dream Rider turned right. Aislinn pulled up on the reins, trying to get the horse to halt but the horse continued to go right and made circle after circle until Aislinn wondered why he didn’t stumble from dizziness.
“What is going on here?” Baron Benedict came over, riding his own steed, Moonshine.
“I’m sorry, Lord Benedict. The horse won’t stop spinning.”
“I thought you told me you knew how to ride a horse?”
“I did, my lord. And I do.”
“Evidently not.” The baron wrinkled his crooked nose in disgust. “But since you think you know how to handle a horse, then, by all means, go ahead. You don’t need my help then.”
Aislinn watched the Baron’s backside as he rode up to another page. The dark baron was a formidable instructor and his contempt wounded her more than she liked to admit. Refusing to let him see how much his lack of faith hurt her, Aislinn kicked her heels hard into Dream Rider’s formidable sides. But no matter how hard she dug in her heels or tried to coax the horse to the right or left, the horse refused to listen and did the opposite.
Finally, class finished. Aislinn swung herself free of the saddle to walk the horse back to his stall. “You listen well enough when I guide you and walk beside you, why can’t you listen when I use a rein?” she grumbled.
“I told you ‘fore, that horse don’t listen well,” Tomas said, limping over to her.
“What happened to your leg?”
“A knight brought me a wild horse the other day. I was tryin’ to break it in but it’s got a vicious mean streak and it kicked me. I’ll be fine.” He brushed her concern away with a wave of his hand. “The better question is what are you goin’ to be doin’ with that yon horse?”
“I don’t know.” Aislinn sighed. “The baron was not pleased with me.”
“Well, can’t say that I blame ‘im. There aren’t any more horses to offer either, not that the horses can be reassigned anyways. But, as if said ‘fore, I’ll help in any way that I can. I just don’t know how.” He grinned broadly at her and Aislinn wondered if the few missing teeth was from a well aimed kick by a horse.
“If I come back tonight, after I finish my work, will you still be around?”
“Not tonight, lass. But you can come ‘ron if you be wantin’. I don’t mind.”
“Thank you, Tomas, I might do that.” Aislinn untacked the horse and brushed the dirt and dust from him. If only she could figure out how to force the horse to listen!
Aislinn faces many difficulties on her journey to fulfilling her dreams. What are your dreams? What obstacles are you facing or might you face? Me? I would love to be a best selling author. But I'm also a mom and that comes first. What about you?
