"Constellation"--Happy Birthday, Tarion!

Happy Birthday, tarion_anarore!!!

I hope that your day is wonderful and portends a year of much more joy! :)

The short story that I have written in honor of Tarion's birthday got its inspiration from two places. The first, naturally, is Tarion, who wanted a story about Carnistir in his youth, preferably angsty and not the romantic sort, since she got angsty romantic humor for Christmas.

The second bit of inspiration came from rhapsody11, who asked me how Carnistir--who once likened the music around Macalaurë as buzzing gnats--might see a writer. Would he perceive the words that constantly whirl around our heads and dominate our thoughts, even while we are doing other things? I thought this was a wonderful question, and it opened the topic for exploration for me.

"Constellation" is a story about the friendship between young Carnistir and the loremaster Rumíl of Tirion. (Not the cute one...sorry, girls!) I am using my Felak!verse version of Rumíl. For those who have not read the chapter in Another Man's Cage where Nelyo discusses meeting Rumíl with his father, a brief synopsis of my take on this character follows, behind the cut.

( Felak!verse Rumíl...warning for discussions of violence )

"Constellation" also uses the Felak!verse notion that Carnistir is extraordinarily gifted with osanwë and can perceive things about people that others cannot. This story is essentially about perception: Two Elves who are often misread by those around them and the friendship they formed based on this connection and their ability to see what the others cannot.

I behaved for once and, aside from a bit of violence, there are no strong warnings for this story, and I'm keeping it at a safe general warning.

( Constellation )

The Daily Drabble--"The Many Things I Am"

I could hear you all sighing all the way in Baltimore: "She's missed a day already. After less than a week."

But no! I have not! I simply did the daily drabble late because I was busy at work today.

So, without further ado, here it is:

( Word of the Day for 23 March 2006--paterfamilias )

Alina, I think you'll like this one, as it features cute!young!hott!newlywed!Feany. ;)

( The Many Things I Am )

Happy Day!

Today was a happy day! One of those days when things just don't go wrong.

They're rare; I enjoy them.

It started when I woke up and I was not in pain. Nope, not a bit. Part of this probably had to do with my rather strict sleeping regimen: no sleeping on the injured hip and keeping the right (injured) leg elevated around my chest. For some reason, this is the only position where it does hurt to make sudden movement, like coughing or sneezing. Of course, that meant that poor Bobby had my knee in his back for most of the night.

I got to work and was piddling around, doing my warrant stuff that I do every morning, and the phone rang. It was my coworker Charlie; I'd made him a candy gift basket for his wife's birthday. It was my first non-friend/family order, and I asked him only for the cost of materials--since I'm not officially in business yet--but he gave me twice that. (Which means that Bobby and I have Italian ice money for at least four trips to Rita's!) And he called me this morning to say that she loved it and wanted to know immediately if I would take an order for Mother's Day. Hells yeah! I was less impressed that she said she loved it than that she loved it enough to want to order more. Anyone can say, "Yay, thanks, that was really good." But to be willing to spend money on my candy...okay, I'm gushing quite shamelessly. But this is a big moment for a confectioner.

Then I posted Tarion's birthday story, and it got a better reaction than I expected, considering that some muse wrestling had been involved and--as of 10 a.m. on the 22nd--I didn't even have two pages written.

So with some nice comments to boost my confidence, I embarked on *cue dramatic music* AMC. Yes, the dreaded novel that got mashed in the death throes of my USB key drive. I've been putting off for weeks looking at the last PoV section. I thought I had the whole thing saved, that it wasn't one of the sections that got lost, but I couldn't remember. And I couldn't quite muster the courage to look. Well, today I looked and it was all there. So I thought, "Well, why not read the first few pages of it, so that I have a place to aim in finishing the end of the previous chapter?"

I ended up reading the whole thing because--well, I don't like to praise my own writing but...it was kinda good.

Certain parts I didn't remember writing. It was like, "Dayum, who wrote that?" I like when that happens.

And it requires very little tweaking before it is ready to post, so when I finish this week's chapter, AMC is officially and completely written.

And Bobby and I had a fine Italian meal at home tonight, I didn't fall asleep from the wine, and I got a page done on my Midhavens (nee NaNoWriMo) novel. And my leg still doesn't hurt. I didn't have a single moment today when I was cringing from the pain. (I can tell it's injured, but it's healing, and that's what counts.)

It's just been a good day.