A few cool things

So, I got a night out with the hubby!  The kid went to his "parents night out" deal and TJ drug himself out to take me to dinner.  Well, the anniversary is coming up so he probably figures he has to be nice to me...lol.  He did point out to me, however, we have been together for half my life...you gasp, but tis true!  I was 19 when we moved in together...you do the math; I do not admit to age.

My wonderful friend made me a wonderful photo to help boost my creativity - it's designed to be a wallpaper for my computer so that I can look at it whenever I open the laptop - inspiration at your fingertips!  I love the effort she put in to helping me get into the writing mood.  I probably don't deserve such wonderful friends but am very thankful I do have them!  (Thanks, Nik!)  I keep pulling it up to look at it.  I especially like the part that says "by Lela Robichaux".  tee hee

I've got a few scenes running around in my mind, and I've decided on an opening, which will immediately introduce the two characters above, Elerbee and Tia.  I've done some work tweaking my world's map to include the places these two will have to travel.  They start in Jareen, Elerbee's hometown and also the seat of the Elder (the highest priestly official, who governs the three main sects).  Their journey will keep them in the western part of the world, traveling to the Wintry Woods, where they hook up with Hadra and I'm thinking they'll travel through the dwarven lands to pick up Durlag, who had gone back there to help rebuild after Rekho destroyed the city (that's from the first book, for those who aren't familiar).  They'll employ him as a guide, yet again, since he's been all over Cantor as a soldier in the armies that first banished the dragons.  So far, that's all I've got on the map.  I haven't decided where the demon has holed up but probably just outside some huge city in the mountainous region where he has access to harvest all the souls he wants - of course, unrest would be beneficial, so he doesn't have to do too much persuading of the people to give up their souls for promises of either money, glory or a better life for their families...I think the bad guy is also a priest.  I had thought mage, but, no...I think it will be better if it is one of Elerbee's own - poor Elerbee, I have hell planned for him in this story! 

Here's a visual of my bad guy, who has yet to be named.  Yes, Rufus Sewell serves wonderfully as the antagonist!  His eyes just hold this really intense feeling.  Plus, every time I've seen him portray the bad guy, he's done such an excellent job!  I don't think that power is his only motive here.  There has to be more of why he would agree to set up house with a demon and do its bidding.  What could the demon have on him...hmmm?

This requires more thought.  So, until next time!  I hope you keep coming back.  :)

But is it the end?

Well, this is to be the last official blog post for class...I intend to keep posting at least once a week, so I do hope you will all come back from time to time!

It's been a hectic week.  Trent's had some issues at school this week but he's uber stressed about this silly iLeap testing next week.  I'm not a huge standardized testing fan, if you can't tell.  Tonight he told me that he is nervous about doing well because he wants to do well for his school so they get a good score and get their 5th star back...telling, no?  This huge burden should not be on a bunch of 11 and 12 year old's shoulders.  They should be encouraged to do their best, certainly, but to hound them to do well because the school wants that 5th star ranking...I just have no more words for that.  *sigh*

On to the story!  YAY! :)  So, I threw out the idea on my new ranger character to friends and family this week and she wasn't so warmly received...lol.  I like her, though, so that's what counts.  :)~  She is an elf, but an elf that has been 'touched' by her god; Chosen, like Elerbee.  But, when an elf is Chosen by their deity, they become what is known as a Spirit Elf.  They are able to hear, see and communicate with the spiritual realm.  Biggest drawback from this, they become partially spirit...this particular elf wears a cape with a hood that covers all but one of her eyes.  When she removes the hood, she reveals a ghostly face...kind of transparent and milky (you know, like a ghost).  Her right arm is the same.  Cool part?  She can reach through walls and when she touches anyone with that hand or arm, she has the effect of "ghost touch" - chilling the person to the bone and even sucking the life out of them, leaving them permanently affected from having come into such close contact with the realm of spirit.  She'll immediately be able to see that Tia has no soul, since a soul is of the spirital realm.  That's where she'll come in handy since they'll be chasing all these stolen souls...Her name is Hadra, meaning "half" in my elven language, she lives beyond Jareen, to the west, past the mountains where the dwarves live, in a place called the Wintry Woods.  All of the Spirit Elves go here once they are touched - people are kind of scared of them, so they separate themselves from the population but they go about helping, in disguise, hiding and in ways that people won't know it's them.  So far, I only have the one picture of her...I'll have to enlist my brother-in-law to draw her up for me...

SO, hopefully, I'll see some of you back next week!  I don't know how much I'll be able to think on my story because I've got tons of school work to do, but any and all of my free time finds me drifting off to Cantor to plot out the story and develop the characters...they only live in my blog right now and I can't wait to start writing some of this down!

Of course my saga continues

Not just my story, but life as well!  This week went by so fast for me.  I had a ton of work to do at the ol' job, which is unusual these days with the closing looming, but keeping busy makes the days go by so much faster!  Trent was on spring break and so things at home were not so stressful, even though he did have homework the whole time...ugh.  TJ (that's the hubby for those who don't know) is on spring break next week and then a couple of weeks later, it's my turn! My husband is in nursing school and will graduate (I'm on positive thinking mode) in December.  Clinicals have been progressively harder for him and stress levels between us have risen somewhat but he's doing such an awesome job!  I am stressing (as usual) about the research papers I have to write this month!  EEK!  I can do it, I just have to buckle down and commit...however, I am going to have to take some vacation time from work just to get some of the work done!  (Any excuse to get away from that place, right?)

Now, I've been doing a lot of thinking about my new story - I know, I know, when am I NOT?  I've got three of my characters set in stone, well four, if you count the bad guy.  I need at least one more and I was thinking along the lines of a bard.  A bard, in fantasy, is someone who weaves magic with their voice, either by storytelling or singing or playing an instrument.  Or all of those.  OR a ranger-type.  This would be an outdoorsy, tracker type who would be good with long-range weapons like a bow and arrow, throwing daggers - that kind of thing.  It has to be a woman.  And I'm leaning towards an elven woman.  I have two humans and a dwarf already - of course I need to throw in an elf! :)  Maybe a shapeshifter?  OH!  I just had an idea - so she's a ranger who can shapeshift into different animals but, she has to have been in contact with whatever animal she shifts to...AND she would have an animal companion.  I think I've made my decision - a ranger it will be! lol  Wow, thanks for talking that out with me y'all!  I leave you with an image.

Good things come to those who wait

So, I had to abruptly end my blog last evening.  My baby came out of his room sobbing like nothing I've ever seen before!  He had a nightmare...that's never happened before - well, if he has had one, it's never affected him that way!  I had to go and hold him and sing to him.  Sorry for that, folks, but, as the title implies, there is more in store for you! :)

So, where was I?  Oh, yes, the demon.  Trent named the one in the last book and we were at Barnes and Noble the other night, having tea and scones, I asked him if he would care to name the next one.  His choice: An'glar.  (I don't know what's with the apostrophe, but, hey, whatever works, right?)  It sounds good to me.  This is actually the TYPE of demon it will be, not it's actual name.  I have him working on that one as we speak!  He really gets into the fact that I'm writing, which is awesome.  I hope that I influence him to create his own stories.  He does well at creating characters - usually robot zombies that he draws and then comes to me to tell me all about...lol.  Boys are kinda great!

Ok, so, I guess that's all I've got.  I wanted to tell you all more of my story, but I'm not so much in story mode at the moment...hope it's not killing anyone to know - I figured I'd try to post more later this week.  I've been reading all weekend trying to catch up, so I'm really in reader mode at the moment, not writer mode...

Of course, I've taken on too much again

First, a fond farewell to a very talented human being!
http://www.slate.com/id/2289158/

So today I met with my friend who will be directing Little Shop of Horrors this summer at SLT.  She has asked me to stage manage the show and a year ago, when she asked, I didn't hesitate.  I've done this show before, I love it, it is a blast!  HOWEVER, things have changed so severely since last year...I am still going to try to keep my promise, but I let her know how busy my schedule is and that if at any time I couldn't honor my committment, then she needed to be read to replace me.  I  have to meet with her again this next week to solidfy schedules, but I just hope I can keep up with everything!

Still thinking about the new story.  Since my son named the demon in last book (a Zar'leith - cool, right?!), I asked him to name the one for this book as well.  I didn't want the same type of demon, because the Zar'leith, although intelligent, isn't nearly as smart as this new one.

Ok, have to end this blog suddenly...continued tomorrow!  I promise! :)

It's Gettin A Little Hectic

So, today I realized just how hectic my schedule has become.  I really should not have gone to that education conference in Bossier.  I should have stayed home finishing my papers so I wouldn't be up til all hours tonight!  LOL  I think I'm defective...I thrive on chaos in my life.  If there's not ten things going on at one time, then there's something wrong!  The conference was wonderful, though and very inspiring.  I'm always inspired by getting together with other advocates and strengthening the bonds to help our kids.  I learned that a letter I wrote recently about our experience with restraint and seclusion has made it into the hands of one of our local legislators who was 'very moved' by it!  How exciting!  I was trained in how to write, change and influence policy regarding people with disabilities and try to stay involved in the community efforts as much as possible.  Plus a dear friend from Lake Charles was the keynote speaker and I haven't seen her in about 5 years so, we went to dinner and just had a blast!  So, yeah, even though it cramped my homework time, I am glad I went.

I'm in total agony over this new story.  Trying to keep it on the back burner is painful!  LOL  I find myself writing in the car, while waiting on a train, in a parking lot, or picking up my son.  I keep my notebook on my desk at work in case an idea strikes...So, basically, you have this cleric-type, you know, a healer but also a fairly good warrior, who has been chosen by his diety to represent in the world of mortals.  He has proven himself time and again and helped in the effort to bring back the dragons that were banished from the world but also made the balance of good and evil shift too strongly toward the evil end of things.  Now he's been called to help 'clean out' the ranks of the followers of the three gods.  He reunites with an old friend, a dwarf, and they end up teaming with a woman who was trained as a specialty warrior (think Special Forces type training).  She can use any weapon, including her bare hands and is pretty much a badass.  I LOVE strong women in my stories who can hold their own with the men around them.  On the evil side, we have Lukan, a fighter, leader of an army, who is trained in magic.  He has made a deal with a demon that snuck into the world through the open pathway that was opened for the dragons to return.  This demon taught him how to extract a person's soul.  But, the demon tricked him.  In exchange for the knowledge he has demanded payment in souls - which will make him more powerful and able to bring more of his brethren into the world so they can take over and rule it.  Lukan, if he doesn't want to die himself, must harvest souls for this demon.  But there's a twist - a soul cannot be taken, it must be given willingly.  So, he has to con people into giving up their souls to him, which he turns over to the demon.  The warrior woman who teams up with the cleric has given her soul to him.  He tricked her into thinking he loved her and so she ends up giving her soul to him but then he betrays her and she flees.  But, now that he holds her soul, he controls her and he uses her abilities to get rid of those who stand in his way.  She has no control over what is happening to her and has to find a way to get her soul back - enter our hero.  I'll stop there for now - I do know the whole story but I'm gonna make you wait to find out the rest!  Stay tuned...

So much more

Wow, what a week this has been!  Car trouble to the extent that we may have to look into a new car (where THAT will come from, who knows!), the hubby and I having some very emotional times, my son still doing fairly well at school, and meetings all week to get ready for Camp Rainman this summer.  I'm the vice president of the local autism chapter and we do a summer camp for our kids every summer.  It was started 23 years ago and I've been part of it for the last 5.  I can't explain the feeling I get from camp.  The kids are so amazing and all the counselors we have truly do learn so much about giving and understanding that it touches my heart like nothing else can.  I can't wait!  I've also been in talks with another friend who, a year ago, asked me to stage manage her next show.  I had told her I would then, but so much has changed now.  I'm going to try to honor my promise to her, and I do need the money...but life has been so full and hectic lately, we'll just have to see how things progress.

I've been brainstorming Elerbee's story this week.  I think when I drive and so it is unfortunate that gas prices are so high!  I've been driving a lot!  LOL.  All the other stories I've had simmering have taken a backseat to this one.  Tentative title = Shadow Soul.  There will be demons, assassins, magic, soul-selling/giving, love, tears, fighting, healing.  I get all giddy when I think about it.  Hubby has tossed some ideas around with me.  I am so lucky that he is such a fan of fantasy that he will help out in the process.  Most people don't have that and I cherish it greatly!  I love my husband...

I'm a bit sad that I missed the RWA conference this weekend.  One more casualty of losing your job.  Which brings me to the last of this blog...for those who haven't heard the story, back in October, we were told at work that our plant was shutting down.  The product that we build was being shipped to Mexico to be built there.  The owners have been diligently working to find more projects to keep us open but so far it doesn't look promising.  I've been there for 15 years and it's scary.  I've moved to working part-time, but after that many years, there's no way I'll find another job that can pay me what I make there...and just to catch you all up, my husband is also in school.  He's a nursing student in clinicals.  He graduates in December.  But, because of that he only works like 2 days a week.  It's been tough, we've dropped all my son's therapy except for seeing the doctor who perscribes his medicine, but we're making it.  I've been miserable at my job almost since day one and have only stuck around because I've needed the money.  So, it's this weird feeling of wanting it to end so very badly and also being reluctant to be without work.  The people are mean and some of the things that have recently come out about what some other managers have said about me & my family really has me wanting to go now.  It's kind of brutal, but I'm surviving.  It's all I know how to do.  I know there's more out there for me and think I've made the right decision in going back to school.  When one door closes, another opens, right?