Now that I passed the manuscript for To Darkness Fled (Blood of Kings, book 2) on to my editor–and since it’s National Novel Writing Month–I decided to plunge right into book three, From Darkness Won.

I am sick, but sitting at the computer isn’t so tough. I stayed in bed all day yesterday, and today I sat at the computer all day. I’m hoping to knock out a decent rough draft of book three by the end of the month, but Thanksgiving is involved, and I’ll need to do a quick edit on book two, but here’s to the effort!

If you’ve read By Darkness Hid, you know that Sir Gavin tends to rush things. I’m now working on the third book in the trilogy and Achan is getting dressed for battle–a real one, not tournament. I’ll post some interesting information about that soon, but for now, here is an excerpt from book one, when Achan is getting dressed for tournament.

Wils helped him dress. First a thin white linen tunic and scratchy black wool leggings, then a padded, long-waisted wool tunic with long sleeves. After that, Wils had Achan sit on the bed so he could lower a thick coat of steel chain over his head. It draped heavily on his shoulders.

“How am I supposed to swing a sword with this extra bulk and weight?”

Wils shrugged and pulled another tunic—this one of fine yellow linen—over the chain. Fancy ties hung from the neck. Achan tried to lace them.

Wils swatted his hands away. “I’ll do it.” He ignored the ties and, with a small smile, presented a black leather jerkin. “Last one.”

Achan held out his arms so that Wils could slip the vest-like garment onto him. The leather was soft and a bit worn, but of high quality. Gren would approve.

Achan never realized how much clothing noblemen wore. He hoped Master Fenny might see him dressed in such finery. Maybe he might change his mind and give Gren to him after all. Not even Riga had a coat of chain.

Riga. Achan suddenly wasn’t sure he wanted anyone to see him. What if Achan were humiliated? What if he were killed?

One of the loops on the chain coat irritated his neck, and he scratched at it while Wils laced up the tunic and jerkin. It would take Achan an hour to get everything off.

“Ready for your belt and sword, Master Cham?”

Wils had been doing that, calling him Master Cham, like he was someone special. Achan had burst into laughter the first three times, but this time his mouth hung open. He was to have a belt and sword? A real steel sword? “Where?”

Wils went to the window and returned with a brown leather belt studded with steel and pale blue stones. A carved wooden scabbard hung from the belt, holding a sword that had an ivory grip. Achan could only gape as Wils fastened the belt around his waist. His life was worth far less than one jewel on this belt.

When Wils backed away, Achan drew the sword. The sound of metal scraping against wood sent a tingle up his arms. He studied the carved ivory grip wrapped in worn leather, the long steel blade with one raised rib along the flat and a rounded tip—no good for thrusting—and the engraved copper and steel crossguard with some sort of ivory fish set into the center. He could almost imagine himself a Kingsguard knight.

Carman Boley interviewed me on her blog, A Sequence of Continuous Delights. Check out the interview by clicking here. If you leave a comment at the end of her interview, you will be entered in a drawing to win a free copy of my book.

I had the privilege of interviewing with Taylor Kent of Snark Infested Waters last Thursday night. The podcast is now up for your listening pleasure, so check it out!

Click here to listen to the interview and see all the links we spoke of during the show.

I bought a microphone months ago to record an MP3 file of me reading my first chapter so that people could download it to their computers or iPods, etc. It took me a really long time to figure all this out. I downloaded Audacity and the MP3 file extension. Then I played with it unti I figured it out. But it’s really hard to read a book into a microphone and not mess up every two sentences. I’ve got a new respect for those audio book readers! That’s talent.

Now, I’ve never been a fan of my speaking voice. Kind of nasal. So I’d twisted my husband’s arm to see if he’d be willing to read chapter one for my free download project. He tells me that he’s been practicing his Alec Baldwin voice, but he’s busy right now and I have to wait.

So I got thinking what else I might be able to do with my new toy… Hmmm…

To Darkness Fled has a few songs in it, one of which is a love song originally sung to Achan by a Berland girl. So I thought I’d give composing a shot. I went to the piano a bit, then to my guitar, and I came up with a folk/medieval-sounding tune that I think works okay.

Then I played the guitar into my new microphone and laid down that track. Then I sang into my new microphone and laid down that track, too. Fun, fun, fun!

Then I saved it as an MP3 and it opened right up in iTunes. How cool is that?

Well, it could be cooler. I am not the greatest guitar player or singer, but if you want to hear it, forgive my lack of musical skills and click here to hear “View Not My Face” from To Darkness Fled (Blood of Kings, book 2).

View not my face, I am undone beside you
The beating of my heart will not cease
Whilst I am near you, whilst I am near you

Pity on my heart, from the day I first saw you
Your pleasing face burns my memories
Whenever we’re apart, whenever we’re apart

Though I am nothing to you, I love you.
How shall I make it known, that I love you?

I talked about how I made my book trailer in this month’s issue of CFOM. Here is an excerpt from the article. Click on the link at the end to read the full article.

I designed my Book Trailer using Windows Movie Maker. This program comes free on most PC computers.

Before you decide on any pictures, music, or visual enhancements to include in your trailer, think about the text that will make your viewers want to get and read your book right away. You might already have done this when you made your one-sheet. Envision your trailer as if seeing it as a movie preview. What might the voice-over say? Will you want a female narrator? Or a male? Should the music build then taper, or continually build? How can you use sound, words, and pictures to engage your would-be readers?

Once you’ve got this fixed in your mind, or even sketched out, create your text for each slide.

I wrote this for my Book Trailer of By Darkness Hid:

In a land where darkness grows . . .
the kingdom of Er’Rets awaits its new king . . .
a young woman goes into hiding . . .
and a kitchen slave is given an extraordinary offer.

As these two fight for freedom . . .
they discover a mutual gift.
But that gift binds them more than ever.

As the time of the prince’s crowning draws near . . .
secrets are uncovered . . .
and lives are forever changed.

This spring . . .
join the adventure . . .
and discover the mystery hidden by Darkness.

Library Journal Endorsement
Eric Wilson Endorsement
Donita K. Paul Endorsement

(Picture of book cover)
Available everywhere, April 2009, Marcher Lord Press

Once I had the text, I chose… (click here to read more)

It’s true. After a month of serious focus, I have finished the first (edited) draft of To Darkness Fled. It is now safely in the hands of my trusted critique partners who will let me know what works and what doesn’t.

I was sharing this process with a lady from my church and got a lecture! I know, huh? She said, “You treat those characters right, Jill. I really care about what happens to them.”

Thus the biggest struggle with writing a sequel. People like book one. A lot. They really do care about my characters and what happens to them. I have a responsibility to deliver! (No stress there. Ha ha.) Still, my characters are who they are and the story is set in my head. Never fear, I’ll be good to them, because, well, I love them too!

While I was finishing up book two in the Blood of Kings series, I pulled out all my medieval research from book one to refresh my memory on the times. Here are some fun things I learned about the middle ages that I tried to use in my book.

-Medieval people did not eat with forks and spoons or plates. They ate food off the platters or pans with their fingers and sometimes used a small knife to cut or stab their bites and eat off the knife like a fork.  Oftentimes a man might offer a bite to a lady on the end of his knife so that she would not have to get her fingers dirty. Slices of bread were used as plates. Trenchers were slices of stale bread or toasted bread that were used as plates.

-Castles were cold, drafty, and dirty places. Tapestries were used to section off a large room into a smaller one, to keep the heat in. Hay or rushes (pleasant-smelling swatches of herbs such as lavender, chamomile, rose pedals, or fennel) were strewn over the stone floor to disguise the bad smell and keep people’s feet warm. But they attracted all kinds of bugs and bits of food or bones that had been thrown to the dogs. So even as fresh rushes were laid over the old ones, underneath were layers of grease, crusty food, spit, wine, and dog and cat excrement. Eww! The floors would be swept out every-so-often, but sometimes not until spring.

-Privy chambers or indoor outhouses were positioned on the outer walls of the castle, as far away from the interior chambers as they could be. They often had an antechamber or a small room before the actual bathroom, to further reduce the smell. These “toilets” had chutes that often led straight to the castle moats. During times of war, an opposing soldier might try to climb up the privy chutes to get inside the castle. Double eww!

And that’s enough of that for today. Maybe I’ll post some more cool/gross medieval facts of life later.