Subdued Intrinsic

Personal Note: When I was about four years old my mother put out a dish of milk for our cat, Cherry Kitty (ironically a straight black and white mix), during a very hot summer. Afraid the milk would spoil and make Cherry sick, I put the dish in the fridge . . . but then Cherry couldn't get to it, so what to do?

Four hours later I remember I'd left the cat in the fridge as well. Because I'd put her in to be close to the milk. That I didn't want spoiling.

The cat turned out fine and in a grand example of Nature stumping me once again, after that I was just about the ONLY person she wouldn't bite or scratch.

So kids, just proof we all do stupid, crazy crap and it can always turn out okay. Don't let it get you down.

Hi, my name is Amethyst and I am writing my first novel series, collectively (tentatively?)known as The Guardian Trilogy. If you've been following along you know I am on the final 'hand it off to smarter people than me' polish of Silver, the first novel, and have just begun the first draft of book two (so far I think I'm following all the advice).

But! While I'm not a linear thinker (at all) I am a linear plotter, which just means I can't plan these things out of order. I can't do as some people do and write the last bits first or write the last book second or whatever. I write the first book. I edit the first book. I write the second book, etc. And I plot that way. When I wrote the first book I wasn't entirely sure what would happen in the second book and even less in the third. I mean, I had some ideas, I wasn't going blind, but nothing so organized as a proper outline or anything. Even my concept of 'outline' is a fuzzy, blotchy, sometimes-bulleted page of factoids, and that works for me, but it isn't particularly mainstream.

So! How excited was I this past week when first I woke up just knowing (in a very un-Nick Cage kind of way) who was doing what and whyfore in book two (commonly known as Golden), and then yesterday characters in book three (Bronze) kept whispering conclusions in my ear, tying up loose ends and basically blowing my mind (let me tell you, one of them is a real hag, too!) as Nathanael and I drove to see Transformers: Rise of the Fallen? I actually had to sit down and write a Fact Sheet/Things We Know about Bronze today to make sure I didn't lose any of it.

It's really wild just how much . . . firmer everything feels now. It's like the little plot bunnies I knew about hooked up and birthed enough other plot-bunnies to fill in all the gaps and now I know what all's going to happen, it is on like DONKEY KONG, BABY!!