Thursday, October 21, 2010

NaNoWriMo & Serial Updates!

Hey Readers!

Halloween is in the air, and you know what that means for writers? The National Novel Writing month is only days away from beginning! For those of you not familiar with NaNoWriMo - check out their website here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/  I encourage everyone who has never tried writing a novel and has always wanted to write one to give it a shot. This will be my 2nd year doing it! I won last year and I'm hoping to win again this year with another 50,000+ words! (Last year I finished over 60,000!)

In preparation for NaNoWriMo, I will be ceasing production on my serials: Last One Standing Tall and 11 & Counting from now until the first week of December. This is to give me ample time to focus completely on my new novel, including some time nightcrafting a story structure and character arcs before November starts up. Don't worry though, Reed and Andrew will be back before you know it! They've both hit the halfway point and I'm so excited to be working on both of them. Their development has been a constant source of joy and relaxation for me. I hope you're enjoying them as much as I have writing them.

So you might be asking, "Hey Joanie, what are you writing this year for Nano?" And I'm really excited to tell you that I'm in the middle of development for it right now! I think my title says it all so that's all I'm posting for now. Are you ready?

Medina Harper, Monster M.D.

 I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't wait for November! I'll be posting weekly updates with how the novel's coming along and possibly some sneak peeks as well. For now you'll just have to wait and see.

- Joanie /^>

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

"The Great Gulariss Barbeque" - 11 & Counting



Part 13: "The Great Gulariss Barbeque"

Afterwards the clan gathered at the lakeside, the humans drying off with towels. Aunt Jenna stopped Andrew from taking one.

"Hold on, you still have one more thing left to do." She called Duke over and the large red gulariss leaned down to him. He sniffed his dark woolen robe and closed his eyes for a moment. He opened them, staring at Andrew.

"Year after year it never ceases to amaze me how much of him I see in each of you," Duke said. "Your hair is just like his and you have his eyes - so intense."

"You mean Erik?" Andrew asked, remembering the story, "You knew him?"

He nodded.

"But that would make you..."

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

"Tornado Tower" - Last One Standing Tall

 A Fantasy-Western serial



Episode 12: "Tornado Tower"
 
Four men fell to Reed's first round of shots, but he was only one surrounded by many. He did not know if he had killed any of them. At the moment he wasn't even thinking consciously, only Troy's fifty rules were on his mind, playing one after another as their need arose. He scrambled up from behind the catapault, running back towards the windmill. He ran along its backside into what he quickly discovered was an alley, blocked on one side by a wire fence and the other by heavy machinery. The men followed behind him, shots firing.
 
Wheeling around he flung out his arms, whirling them, casting dust into the air. The bullets stung him like knife stabs but none hit his torso or head, and as the dust settled, the men stumbled back as they saw he was still standing, with his long vined arms snaking through the air. His hat had fallen and he scooped it up with another free vine as he shook the bullets free of his arms, forcing them to heal quickly as a few chunks separated and fell. As soon as he could snap his right arm back in close he fired again, taking down a couple of the ones too stunned at his appearance. The others fell back around the corner to regroup.
 
Reed bent and threw his arms high up and caught onto a pipe. He pulled himself up just as the men returned out of hiding to open fire. Nothing was there. They looked up but Reed settled himself behind one of the larger pipes, keeping into the shadow. The men scattered, but he could hear them calling out to each other.