Monday, March 31, 2014

Excerpt: Fate & Destinies

Just an short piece from my current WIP. It is sitting at about 71k. The goal is to have the first draft complete before I leave for RainbowCon on April 16th. I figure it has about 30k before it is finished.

This is unedited and I'm still fiddling with the archaic wording. I'm sure I have something somewhere wrong. It's inevitable because it's me. This wise chick will be speaking with a editor before this is submitted ANYWHERE. ^_^

Excerpt of Fate & Destinies
Copyright 2014 Lexi Ander

The noise of a hard rain could be heard from whence we sat. I tore my gaze from his tempting form and turned my attention to the labour of detangling my hair, once more. I was sharply ware of him settling in the chair behind me. When his rough hands ghosted across the back of my neck, I stilled. He gently pulled the damp hair and comb from my hands, asking without words for my consent. Giving in because I thirsted for his touch, I tilted my head back for him. He ran his palm over the crown, lightly touching along the edges of my temple afore his fingertips brushed the edge of the scar.

"I wouldst take this pain from you, if I could."

I opened my eyes to behold him leaning over my shoulder, gazing at me with soft amber eyes. "I do no' mind the marks anymore. I wouldst gladly suffer any torment if the path led me to you." The pounding of my own heart sounded loud in my ears, my cheeks growing warm under his steadfast gaze. I knew no' what I expected, the soft smile he bestowed upon me seemed at odds with the sorrow, deep and compelling, within his gaze.

"I wouldst wish no' for you to bare such merely to be with me. You esteem me overmuch, I no' be worthy of such devotion." Kissing the top of my head, Ewen settled back and ran the comb through my hair, working out the tangles. "Wouldst you confide in me, tell me how you came to know me?"

Looking back on the last confession we had afore leaving Renfrewshire, and the resulting cold shoulder, I hesitated to reveal that secret. Feeling guilty for I planned to momentarily evade his question, I pressed my lips against the palm that caressed the damaged cheek. Behind me came the sound of a strangled inhale. Turning on the stool until I could behold Ewen, his visage full of wonder and desire as he gazed at his hand. My mouth was of a sudden dry and I swallowed a few times to clear my throat.

"First tell me of Bear. I heard your kin speak of companions. Be this why you seek to woo me?"
Ewen's hands parted and gently combed, slowing in their care of my hair. "I almost changed once. There be still a chance Bear wilst come forward, yet I did no' believe he wouldst."

Whether Ewen was ware or not, Bear moved within him, at times speaking with me. Their combined aura was a map of pain and silent agony, a constant reminder of what Ewen and Bear endured on a daily basis that left me speechless. For Bear to be caged, able to look out but not able to emerge, and for Ewen to behold his brother's change, yet never be free himself, how tormented would that life be?

Being a seer could be a blessing or a curse. At times, what the visions revealed was obscure and confounding, the meaning only becoming known as the event occurred. Yet not once had the visions revealed the key to Ewen and Bear's conundrum. This did not mean there was no resolution, only that the goddess would not make unraveling their mystery easy.

He bade me to turn on the stool to face him. His dark amber eyes, Bear's eyes, gazed out with such longing. "Our beasts choose companions much like the human wouldst choose a husband or wife. At times both the human and the bear agree upon the same person, at other times no'."

I thought I understood. "You chose Caitriona as your wife, natheless Bear did no'. So he wants me as his companion?" My gaze slid away from him, a bitter laugh escaping afore I could call it back. "When you said that my purpose in your household were to be the beast's companion I thought you wanted me for a herdsman. I no' be good with animals and I… it does not matter what I thought." As I spoke, the meaning of those mumbled word came to light, threatening to crush me.

"Nay, Roi." Ewen's visage crumpled with sorrow, his skin blanched to a startling degree.

I forged on. "I am a seer of the Temple of Cerridwyn. Do you know how oft you stole into my dreams unbidden? Afore, in Renfrewshire, I were enamoured with merely being nigh you, awash in joy to simply stand next to the man I espied in my dreams every retched day of my miserable existence. The night whispered my death wouldst come by your hand, Ewen. That fate wouldst be more desirable than a life devoid of your affections. I wouldst accepted you and Bear, yet you did no' trust me with all that you when, not knowing I would take your secrets unto me and guard them with my very being."

"Roi," Ewen sounded desperate. I needed to say all before I thought better of it.

"Why did my Goddess allow me to be plagued every single night of my life with glimpses of you if there were never a chance you being mine? I do no' understand!" I shouted in consternation. "I have watched you grow from a boy to the man you be. I know your visage so well I could fashion your likeness in clay with my eyes closed. Over the past sennight, I oft wondered why fate spared me, handed over to the only one I had yearned for all my life, only to be dropped into a life of despair. As harsh as it may be, I would have rather spent a short and painful lifetime in the bowels of Somerled's dungeon than live a natural life within arm's reach of my heart's desire, yet not able to touch you. I deserved more than scraps of your affection. I had almost believed that be all I be worthy of, blinded by the stations we be born to, you a noble and me a commoner. Tell me now, Ewen, do you want me for yourself as much as for Bear?" The walls seemed to close in, causing me to labour to breathe yet I refused to move from the stool. Never would I turn away again, from Ewen for the issues that face him and me.

"Aye, Bear chose your for all that, but do you no' see? I wouldst you be mine as well. I have been trying to understand why I feel as if I know you. Since the first time I laid eyes on you, you were familiar to me. I knew no' why then, yet now I do. You have watched over me, evermore beside me, guarding me. I hold to all I have vowed to you these past days. When I look upon you I do no' see a commoner, I see the one I trust to hold my fate in the palms of his hands. Please stand steadfast at my side. I need you. I think I always have."


Thank You For Reading!!

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Striker: Sketch of Galactic Emperor Cyprian

Where Have I Been?

Time flies when I'm working my tush off.

I spent roughly 60 days editing various manuscripts.

I'm putting together everything for RainbowCon. Sort of freaking out a little because this will be the first time that I'm going as an author.

I've been working on the sketches for Striker and becoming frustrated with my drawing limitations. I won't tell how many I've quietly filed in the trash.

Now with RainbowCon looming I'm determined to have Fate and Destinies completed. I'll have an except in a couple of days for you.

But that is for later. Right now I have the progression of the drawing of the Emperor Cyrpian of the Fal'Amoric. I messed up on the eyes a bit because I was too focused on the iris being silvery white. I hope you enjoy it anyway.






Galactic Emperor Cyprian of the Fal'Amoric 

Thank you for reading!!





Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Stories That Have Found Homes

I have some awesomenews. Sumeria's Sons found a home with Less Than Three Press! The contracts were signed earlier this week. I'm absolutely thrilled, you have no idea.

For the next several days, I will be reading through the four books to ensure there aren't any changes I want to make. My first response was, "Naw, I think everything is okay but I'll check anyway." *snort*

I hadn't went back over these in some time and it was evident that my writing had improved since Twin Flames was first released. I actually spent the weekend agonizing over the prologue. Before the book was published, there was some debate on whether to keep it. For those who didn't know, Twin Flames and Songs of the Earth was submitted as one story. The publisher split it in two and the prologue was created after the fact because the majority of the paranormal came in Songs of the Earth. I put clues in the prologue that would be revealed over the course of the series, plus for those who weren't familiar with the Epic of Gilgamesh, it served as a sort of crash course.

So what stuck with me the most, other than laying my head on my desk and crying the first time I received edits, (really, the manuscript was a hot mess when first subbed because I had no clue what I was doing), anyway, what stuck with me all this time was the debate over the prologue. Keep it or delete it? Maybe have it tucked at the end of Twin Flames? It was stilted and clunky and it probably scared off more than one reader. That and the was-ing but that's a different story.

As I read over Twin Flames, all that earlier angst surfaced and I took a good, hard look at the prologue. Was it essential? Did it add substance to the story? Would it better serve broken up over the course of the story? I talked through all the scenarios and the 'what if's' with my husband. Spoke to a few others who were familiar with the story to get their take on the prologue. 

In the end, I re-edited it with a heavy hand. I didn't add content, it simply said the same thing in a different way and the flow smoothed out... and then I edited the rest of Twin Flames. It was a compulsion every time I came across something that needed to be fixed.

Now I have three other books to read through and I hope--pray that the writing improves with each volume. ^_^

The best thing is they found a home. I can finish the series up and start plotting Sumeria's Magi and maybe Sumeria's Children. Yay!

Oh, and a quick side note about Ruby Red Booty Shorts and A Louisville Slugger... well, the second book in that series is complete and currently with a critique group. But for Ruby Red I'm considering expanding the story. 

I wrote it for a Christmas/Holiday submission call. It was rejected for that call but accepted under a normal submission. The call had a word count limit so there was some heavy cutting from the final draft to make the submission. 

Unfortunately, I cannot find the draft before I cut up the story. Some of it I can't even remember, which means to me it wasn't that great anyway. So I'm going to take a long look at it, see what I would like to fix about it. I know I should probably put some relationship building on the front, give Denise more page time so you get a better feel for her before book two. Smooth out the ending so that it's not so abrupt... You get the picture. It may be out of print for a little while so that I can fix it. 

Wish me luck!

Thank you for stopping by and reading!

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Shrug It Off Tour Winner Announcement.

For those of you who participated in Mathilde Watson's Shrug It Off tour, you can go here to see the results of the drawings. Winner Announcment

Congratulations to everyone who won!!

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Shrug It Off Tour and Giveaway with Mathilde Watson

Greetings!

My name is Mathilde Watson and today Lexi has been kind enough to let me take over this little corner of her blog. Thanks, Lexi!

All week I’ve been hopping around, talking about my newest release, SHRUG IT OFF.

At each stop along my way I will randomly select one commenter to receive a free ebook from my backlist, AND, at the end of the tour, everybody who leaves a comment at any of my stops will be entered for a chance to win one of two $10 gift cards to All Romance Ebooks! And, of course, that includes this stop! Just be sure to include your email address in you comment so you can be contacted if your name is selected.

For my first stop I visited with my good friend Angel Martinez and I introduced Stephen and his constant companions. You can check that out here: http://angelmartinezauthor.weebly.com/1/post/2014/02/the-first-stop-shrug-it-off-blog-tour.html

On my second stop I introduced Connor at Iyana’s Rainbow: http://iyanajenna.blogspot.com/2014/03/in-spotlight-mathilde-watson.html

On my third stop I spent some time with Cherie in the writing cave, talking about devils and angels: http://talesfromthewritingcave.blogspot.com/2014/03/shrug-it-off-blog-tour.html

And I got to play with Freddy MacKay at stop number four where I talked about CATS!: http://freddysstereograph.weebly.com/2/post/2014/03/shrug-it-off-bloug-tour-day-4.html

Today, I’m going to talk a little bit about me, but first, let me tell you about SHRUG IT OFF!
* * * *
BLURB:
For Stephen, dating is more than a challenge, it’s a nightmare!

All he wants is a man he can talk to, someone he can laugh with and be himself around. What he’s got instead is an incessant running commentary on everyone and everything. The meddling guides posted on his shoulders each have their own ideas of what Stephen should be looking for. From the right he’s urged to find a man like himself: confident, successful, and upwardly mobile. The little devil on his other shoulder is only interested in a guy’s face and what he’s got below the waist.

The two can never agree on anything—until Stephen meets Connor—and then things get really interesting…
* * * *
And now I’d like to introduce myself…

My name is Mathilde Watson and I grew up in Eastern North Carolina, where I have lived the majority of my life. I was raised on a farm where the cows, horses, goats, sheep, chickens, geese, peacocks and turkeys were pets rather than livestock. It was a great way to grow up. I was kid number five out of six, so the work got divided up nicely.

I now live in Indiana where it is FREEZING. I’m not really sure how that happened…

One of my favorite things to do as a kid was read. Probably no surprise there! I read everything and I loved most of it. I love how it feels to watch a movie in my mind directed by words on a page.
I became a writer because I wanted to see if I could reverse the process—take the movies my own mind conjures up and put them down in words.

And it seems to have worked out pretty well for me. J

I stumbled upon gay romance entirely by accident.

I bought the Jason Bourne trilogy for my kindle and I went browsing through the list of titles frequently purchased by people who bought those book—and one of the books in that list was ZERO AT THE BONE by Jane Seville.

I got it, read it, loved it and went looking for more. Since then I haven’t looked back.

My first attempt at writing a gay romance of my own was a contemporary May/December romance. I have since tried my hand at paranormal shifter stories, military stories, and a few bittersweet short stories.

http://authormathildewatson.weebly.com/books.html

My next big adventure is a SciFi story that will be included in an upcoming Mischief Corner Anthology, NOT IN THE STARS!

And that’s me in a nutshell!

If anyone has any burning questions about me or my writing, now is the time to ask! Remember, everyone who leaves a comment of any kind—question or not—will be entered in the drawings to win prizes!

Thanks for stopping by!
* * * *
SHRUG IT OFF is available through Mischief Corner Books: https://mischiefcornerbooks.weebly.com/store/p40/Shrug_It_Off.html


You can find Mathilde Watson (that’s me!) online at: