<\/p>\n
Like all good stories, MERLIN’S BLADE began with a small seed.<\/strong> It wasn’t an image, a word, or an emotion … it was a question.<\/p>\n Why would someone drive a sword into a stone?\u00a0<\/em>I knew why Arthur pulls the sword out.<\/strong> That means he’s the\u00a0new king. But why would someone drive a good blade into a stone? Authors have answered that question differently throughout history, but the answer that came to me back in 2006 startled me.<\/p>\n What if the stone was the enemy?<\/em><\/p>\n What if you were trying to kill it?\u00a0<\/em>That answer became the foundation<\/strong> for everything that followed: plot, character, weaknesses, and most of all, for the entire story arc that now spans nine novels if one were to traverse the clouds in my overactive imagination.<\/p>\n But how did I actually begin writing?<\/strong> Well, I started out writing a scene from the middle of the plot just to see how this “writing thing” worked, and I was very pleased with the result. (This scene has now become part of chapter six in the published novel!)<\/p>\n After that I stopped writing and did a year’s worth of research<\/strong> before picking up my proverbial pen once more. I needed to understand the era, the people, the land, the politics, the science, the religion … everything.<\/p>\n Then I began to write<\/strong>, and write I did until the novel was finished after two years and 153,000 words. Sadly, this was too large for an unknown, first time novelist, and thus began a six year odyssey of editing and cutting.<\/p>\n Fourteen drafts later,<\/strong> you can now hold a trimmed down, fast-paced, emotionally charged MERLIN’S BLADE in your hands, thanks to BLINK and their incredible editing, sales, and marketing team.<\/p>\n Did I struggle with my writing? Yes. What is writing?<\/strong> Writing is giving. It is giving of yourself sacrificially so that others might enjoy stories that yearn to be told. It is family and friends gathered around the campfire while a tale is imparted, just like a Celtic bard would have done in days of yore.<\/p>\n One of my characters, Muscarvel, says it best on page 129.<\/strong> Here, he is speaking to Merlin:<\/p>\n Muscarvel’s words fell away from him in the grief of tears. As he spoke again, a calmness, if not a saneness, returned to his voice. “Great lord, besides a few final tasks, I am now free. But you… you shall bear these words as a dark burden until your death. I merely carried them. You must live them.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And while I don’t think<\/strong> MERLIN’S BLADE will be a burden to you\u2014I, like Muscarvel, have carried these words for you for many years. Now it is your turn to live them.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Like all good stories, MERLIN’S BLADE began with a small seed. It wasn’t an image, a word, or an emotion … it was a question. Why would someone drive a sword into a stone?\u00a0I knew why Arthur pulls the sword out. That means he’s the\u00a0new king. But why would someone drive a good blade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-notes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nDid I weep when characters died? Yes.
\nDid I ever embarrass myself in front of industry professionals? Yes.
\nDid I spend time learning from those wiser than me? Yes (including paying them money to critique my work and tell me what needed fixing).
\nDid I learn patience with the slowness of the publishing industry? Yes.
\nDid I ever feel like giving up? Well, not really, but there were definitely discouraging moments.
\nDid I feel that thrill as I signed my first contract? YES.<\/p>\n