My Author Journey Dec. 11, 2020

 This week, the progress on Surge was slow. I think, though, that the read-through I'm doing with my mom has helped a ton in pointing out some places that need major work. I'm writing this post on Tuesday to prepare it for this coming Friday while I wait for one of my indie author friends to come over for a writing day. 

 

I think I mentioned taking on two challenges in my last author journey post. I think I'll share some of the responses I've come up with. In all honesty, I'm doing better on one challenge than the other. Sometimes they don't line up and that makes it more difficult for me. But I've been happy with what I've shared so far and it's been great to reconnect with my far-away author friends after a couple months of extremely sporadic posts. I think I'm allergic to facebook and its affiliates...

#ChristmasWriters2020 Challenge hosted by Natasja Eby and Michelle Wright

1. Introduce Yourself - Hi! My name is Melody, but my pseudonym is Robin McElveen. I'm a wife, mom, home school teacher, and crafter. I enjoy sewing and music, especially singing with my family. I've written and published one book in a fantasy series I've been working on for a while. There are three more books in the series, all of them in various stages of completion. I've also written a few short stories which I hope to give away to my newsletter subscribers someday.
2.  Introduce Your Characters - The collage I created shows a few characters from three of my books. I'm not sure where I stored all the character inspiration photos from book four so I couldn't add any of them.
   First row- Yestye Shirasdatir, Tsadok Akal'a, Ya'el Shirasdatir, & Edrea.
   ...
   Second Row- Kol Udota, Outh'n Durr, Eiva Di'Amo, & Serafin.
   ...
   Third Row- Binya, Se Lyn, Zek Inessi, & Tor Gervell
   ...
   Fourth Row- Liha Gervell, Zim Haya Ne, Bal Shif, & Ibin Etina
   ...
   Fifth Row- Ili, Tam, Jai Nisse, & Shi Malaki
3. Christmas Village - When I saw today's prompts, I almost despaired of posting anything. I don't really do the Christmas village thing. I'm more of a glass box and perfume bottle collector. But then I remembered. My mom gives our girls a music box every Christmas. Over a couple of years, she gave them these. Each one is an ornament, but since we have a tiny tree, they're better suited to the curio shelf.
4. Story Snippet - (See extra photo below) - If you don't like spoilers, do NOT read the snippet below. I try to share bits that don't spoil the story, but in this case, there was no way to share a snippet which wouldn't spoil the story if a person hasn't read book one yet.
   
5. Worst Holiday Tradition - The Mr & Mrs Right Cookies for Santa party game. - I still struggle with left and right, as does our youngest daughter. That game was always stressful for me. And my grandma loves party games. I did, however, find the story online here to share it with those who love party games. I do make one request, though. Please don't try to force your introverted or learning disabled friends and family to play reindeer games because it can be more stressful than fun for us.
   
6. Best Holiday Tradition - Glass Candle Tree - My grandma found this pretty little blown glass Christmas tree that held 5 or 6 tiny candles, smaller even than birthday candles. Each family was assigned a candle and one rep from each family lit a candle at the same time. The candle that burned the longest was the winner. They got a special gift and bought the gift for that game the following year.(I tried to find another tree made of blown glass or just a glass Christmas tree that looked similar and there wasn't anything even remotely like the one my grandma had.
   
7. December Birthday Shout-out - I have a cousin who was born in December.
   

#1WordPromptChallenge hosted by MJ Vaughn

1. Rise - It's good to get back to our relatively normal schedule this week. I got a newsletter sent out on time. The last newsletter I sent out was for September. 🥴🤦‍♀️ I also got two blog posts done. One more of those, and I'll be back on track there. I will rise to the challenges I've set myself for this month - 1. Take one day at a time. 2. Live joyfully. & 3. Just keep writing.
2. Fresh - I created a fresh character collage to introduce you to a handful of my characters. There are 20 Y'Dahnndryans in this collage. They come from the first three fantasy novels in my #ChildrenofYDahnndrya series. 
3. Stale -  This prompt was a bit more difficult. I have been going through a really tough patch in my life and in my author journey. I wrote like a mad fiend for four years. Then came all the changes of this year. There were annoying and intrusive adjustments to make. Two major hurricanes passed over our house. I'm learning more about teaching a dyslexic student. And I honestly believe I burnt out. My writing was getting stale, as were my blog posts. Even writing challenges weren't really improving my technique or story plot like they had been.
   ...
   Through all of it, God's been there, walking with me every step of the way. He reminds me of wonderful people like Corrie ten Boom and the ancestor I talked about a few days ago. I shared today's scriptures because they lined up again today. All of my devotional readings were about trusting God, believing He keeps His promises. That's why I shared a ton of verses for this prompt. All of them showed up on the same day of Bible study. The one I shared here is one of my favorite verses. 
4. Joy - See snippet below...
5. Days 5-7 were a bust for this challenge. I hope I can post something new soon, though. 

Thanks so much for stopping in and joining me on my author journey. I hope you'll come back again next week.