Added PRIDE’S CHILDREN – Chapter 18, Scene 4

This week’s post continues Chapter 18, with Scene 4 (1.18.4).

I’m sitting here shaking my head, wondering if I’m going to outrun my supply lines.

I won’t post work for readers until it is close to as good as I can make it, and the only improvements will come from considering Book 1 as a whole (rather than the scene by scene you have been reading); Life has made it well nigh impossible to stick to any schedule, and illness for the past two weeks helped nothing.

Some of these later scenes are long (not all), but I refuse to break them up – they are as the Muse intends.

I’m not panicking QUITE yet, but I’d rather make you wait (if necessary) than post things not up to snuff, so pray I get more done than usual the next two weeks, less paperwork from outside the pale, and a lot more courage.

It takes time to explore the things I set up, mine them for the REAL story – and I can’t skimp on that time. There are underground (to me) caves, and I’m spelunking.

That’s all I’ll say for now, but those of you who are praying types may pray, and the rest of you could cross your fingers, please.

PRIDE’S CHILDREN Table of Contents

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PRIDE’S CHILDREN, Chapter 18, Scene 4  [Kary]

Thanks to Quozio for the quote software.

—
Copyright by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt 2013-2015.

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Added PRIDE’S CHILDREN – Chapter 18, Scene 3

This week’s post continues Chapter 18, with Scene 3 (1.18.3).

End of the year paperwork is done! (Kinda had to be, didn’t it?)

New Year’s was great – spent it singing with friends in the Folk Society – and DH and daughter – perfect (except I DID have cheesecake – and paid for it with sluggishness for a couple of days).

Wishing everyone a great 2015 (and me to continue toward publication and preferably either some mastery of Pixelmator, or the sense to hire someone to make an improved cover). Time flies – and there are so many things to do.

I seem to have recovered the will to blog about the things that interest me – with less energy at the end of last year, I was having trouble doing the extra thinking that, believe it or not, goes into the posting.

Hope you like the next scene.

PRIDE’S CHILDREN Table of Contents

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PRIDE’S CHILDREN, Chapter 18, Scene 3  [Andrew]

Thanks to Quozio for the quote software.

—
Copyright by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt 2013-2015.

Added PRIDE’S CHILDREN – Chapter 18, Scene 2

This week’s post continues Chapter 18, with Scene 2 (1.18.2).

Half the paperwork of the end of the year is done!

More remains! 😦

December’s been a blur – every single thing has been one-of-a-kind, the hardest for me to adjust to. Everything is a little farther forward – but by ‘a little,’ I mean infinitessimally.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year, a good completion to this year which is disappearing, and a great 2015 (and me to get Book 1 finished and published before too long, if the Lord He pleaseth).

PRIDE’S CHILDREN Table of Contents

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PRIDE’S CHILDREN, Chapter 18, Scene 2  [Bianca]

Thanks to Quozio for the quote software.

—
Copyright by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt 2013-2014.

Added PRIDE’S CHILDREN – Chapter 18, Scene 1

This week’s post begins Chapter 18, with Scene 1 (1.18.1).

Writing is somewhat like baking a cake: you can’t hurry the cooking time. If you get all flustered, it will take longer. But there’s no way to shorten the preparation.

Sorry the blogging has taken a back seat to the myriad paperwork excursions required by our benevolent government before Dec. 31 is over; I will try harder next year.

BTW, where did 2014 go?

With the holidays and the wedding and general exhaustion and cold weather – and the shortest days of the week – I’m scrambling to stay ahead of readers, but really happy at how the end of Book 1 is pulling together. That’s all I want for Christmas: managing to stay one scene ahead – and there are four more in the buffer, so I’m ecstatic.

Just give me, Lord, a couple of weeks without drama! Hope your lives are full of peace on Earth and goodwill to all.

PRIDE’S CHILDREN Table of Contents

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PRIDE’S CHILDREN, Chapter 18, Scene 1  [Kary]

Thanks to Quozio for the quote software.

—
Copyright by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt 2013-2014.

Added PRIDE’S CHILDREN – Chapter 17, Scene 5

This week’s post is Chapter 17, Scene 5 (1.17.5), the end of Chapter 17.

I’m excited. My beta reader had good things to say – and not too many complaints – about Chapter 18’s revision. This is the thinnest margin I’ve worked with in having a bit of a buffer, and Christmas is coming, so pray for me! The world will not end if I have to take a break, but I’d really rather not. The subconscious keeps offering things I hadn’t thought about until I got to this point, and I have to listen to it.

Here’s a teaser from Bianca.

There WAS an enormous storm in California – we were offered a chance by the airline to switch to a day earlier, and took it.

Still recovering from the huge effort of the trip, so I haven’t gotten around to writing about the hike in Muir Woods yet, but I made the main loop on my own (with lots of stops), and I’m very pleased.

I keep working on those legs and back – spending some of my energy there – if it is physically possible, I will manage to get back to walking unaided. If not, I will keep walking as much as I can with my aids. The other option, quitting, goes against the grain. And it is too hard on other people – I’d rather be hard on myself.

PRIDE’S CHILDREN Table of Contents

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PRIDE’S CHILDREN, Chapter 17, Scene 5  [Bianca]

Thanks to Quozio for the quote software.

—
Copyright by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt 2013-2014.

Added PRIDE’S CHILDREN – Chapter 17, Scene 4

This week’s post is Chapter 17, Scene 4 (1.17.4).

We have survived the wedding and Jeremy and Ana are husband and wife, with all that entails. Phew!

A wonderful time was had by all, and family came from afar, and so did friends.

I write from San Rafael, California, and we will be going to Muir Woods tomorrow, where my attempt to do better quality walking will include two walking sticks, braces (AFOs), and a backpack with a built-in stool.

The only problem? The past week has been thoroughly exhausting, so it may not be a fair trial of the system. OTOH, it’s warmer here than NJ.

And I desperately need to get back to writing! But there’s a huge storm coming which may get in the way of our return.

Watch this spot next week!

PRIDE’S CHILDREN Table of Contents

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PRIDE’S CHILDREN, Chapter 17, Scene 4  [Kary]

Thanks to Quozio for the quote software.

—
Copyright by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt 2013-2014.

Added PRIDE’S CHILDREN – Chapter 17, Scene 3

This week’s post is Chapter 17, Scene 3 (1.17.3).

I hope everyone survived Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it. We had homemade pizza, a family tradition.

I’m trying to make finishing Book 1 appear smooth here, but the end of this year, and the beginning of 2015, are going to be… challenging. Please excuse bumps!

More to come – promise.

PRIDE’S CHILDREN Table of Contents

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PRIDE’S CHILDREN, Chapter 17, Scene 3  [Kary]

Thanks to Quozio for the quote software.

—
Copyright by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt 2013-2014.

Added PRIDE’S CHILDREN – Chapter 17, Scene 2

This week’s post continues Chapter 17, with Scene 2 (1.17.2).

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate the holiday this Thursday!

I’m working hard to stay ahead of the postings here, and still give myself enough time to polish. Chapter 18 is off to my lovely beta reader, Rachel!

I don’t know how the next couple of weeks will go – we have a trip out to California coming up, and holidays, and end of year everything. I am walking with walking sticks – and a small backpack with a built-in stool. Good idea – and it works to take some of the load off the leg braces, and onto the hands (except that now the ARMS get tired!) – but it is perfect, knowing I can sit for a few minutes when I need to. NJ weather has been all over the place – 30s last week, 70 yesterday, and 55 today when I went for my walk.

If you don’t know this about me by now, I’m stubborn. I want to walk among the giant redwoods at Muir Woods again. Maybe.

PRIDE’S CHILDREN Table of Contents

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PRIDE’S CHILDREN, Chapter 17, Scene 2  [Kary]

Thanks to Quozio for the quote software.

—
Copyright by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt 2013-2014.

Added PRIDE’S CHILDREN – Chapter 17, Scene 1

This week’s post begins Chapter 17, with Scene 1 (1.17.1).

The latest logjam has found its key link – I don’t know why my backbrain keeps wanting to go deeper into the subject matter of scenes as I get closer to the end of Book 1, but it does, and you don’t argue with your backbrain.

As soon as it got what it wanted, the next scene flowed through the path already set for it, and has been declared done. (18.4, for anyone keeping track – still trying to stay ahead of here and postings).

I love that feeling.

PRIDE’S CHILDREN Table of Contents

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PRIDE’S CHILDREN, Chapter 17, Scene 1  [Kary]

Thanks to ProWritingAid for the quote software.

—
Copyright by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt 2013-2014.

Added PRIDE’S CHILDREN – Chapter 16, Scene 5

This week’s post finishes Chapter 16, with Scene 5 (1.16.5).

I’ve been reading Lisa Cron’s Wired for Story – and finding all kinds of insights. Sometimes it helps to throw a new writing book at a story in progress – to get a different perspective. Now, while I’m working to make the end of Book 1 as good as I possibly can make it, it was a welcome hand-holding.

It also confirms that I’m not way off track from where I want to be – phew! We writer-people live in our heads. Reader-people are kind, and sometimes TOO kind. Readers become friends, and start softening things just the tiniest bit – so you hope to get a few more fresh eyes on the project.

Going on Wattpad is giving me new friends (drat!), and occasional new people who say they have no clue what I’m trying to do. Have found new nuggets in those comments, and appreciate all the feedback, ever, from anywhere. Once things go live, you ARE putting yourself in stocks (get it? ‘in stock’?) – where people may decide to throw rotten tomatoes AFTER it’s harder to fix things. I would rather make stock (will she never stop?) BEFORE I have to, and serve good soup up.

And now, to relieve you of the foolishness that seems to have invaded, I give you Andrew – leaving Kary’s for the last time.

PRIDE’S CHILDREN Table of Contents

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PRIDE’S CHILDREN, Chapter 16, Scene 5  [Andrew]

Thanks to Quozio for the quote software.

—
Copyright by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt 2013-2014.

READERS: the drug of choice

Yesterday someone left a trace on my blog: he or she read ALL of Pride’s Children posted to date, and a huge number of my other posts.

I am on top of the world. Squee!

Even though my mystery guest left no comments.

Added PRIDE’S CHILDREN – Chapter 8, Scene 6

Ending Chapter 8 with Scene 6 (1.8.6) this week.

Today is Read Tuesday, Dec 10, 2013, where a bunch of indie authors are offering wonderful deals for holiday gift-givers. Go take a look – you may find something you already knew you wanted – at a great price.

Pride’s Children is also being serialized via TuesdaySerial and VentureGalleries, which have lots of other serials and serialized novels of all genres for your reading pleasure.

Feedback and comments very welcome. Thanks!

I’m still looking for more beta readers; if interested, email me at abehrhardt [at] gmail.

PRIDE’S CHILDREN Table of Contents

PRIDE’S CHILDREN, Chapter 8, Scene 6  [Bianca]

—
Copyright by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt 2013.

Added PRIDE’S CHILDREN – Chapter 8, Scene 5

This week’s post continues with Chapter 8, Scene 5 (1.8.5).

Hope everyone survived Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday – and are looking forward to Read Tuesday, Dec 10, 2013, where a bunch of indie authors are offering great deals for holiday gift-givers.

Pride’s Children is also being serialized via TuesdaySerial and VentureGalleries, which have lots of other serials and serialized novels of all genres for your reading pleasure.

Feedback and comments very welcome. Thanks!

I’m still looking for more beta readers; if interested, email me at abehrhardt [at] gmail.

PRIDE’S CHILDREN Table of Contents

PRIDE’S CHILDREN, Chapter 8, Scene 5  [Andrew]

—
Copyright by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt 2013.

Added CONFITEOR (Fiction) to free short stories

CONFITEOR means I confess.

Everyone has a justification for their behavior.**

Confiteor is one of those stories.

Thoughts?

—

**The grammar for this sentence, the shortest way to write it, is impossible. Mea culpa. We hereby accept the popular definition of ‘everyone’ as genderless plural.

Added PRIDE’S CHILDREN – Chapter 6, Scene 5

This week’s post is Chapter 6, Scene 5 (1.6.5).

Feedback welcome. Thanks!

Still looking for more beta readers; if interested, email me at abehrhardt [at] gmail.

PRIDE’S CHILDREN Table of Contents

End of previous scene, followed by the link to the new scene:

End of Chapter 6, Scene 4…

She waved him off, forcing her voice light. “Haven’t had today’s hike.” Her eyes followed the black figure until it vanished around a curve. Can I promise a haven? One of my med students; they never succeeded in flustering me, even when I was younger than they. A friend’s grown child. Pure maternal instinct.

Her knees insisted she sit on a stump. Mount Fire had grown to twice as high.

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PRIDE’S CHILDREN, Chapter 6, Scene 5

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Copyright by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt 2013.