My Christmas Week

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years!

It's been almost two weeks sine I wrote my last post. Things have been very crazy with Christmas and the New Year, as I'm sure it has been with many of you. I went to New Mexico to visit my family again. I saw a lot of friends and went to Albuquerque's Old Town on Christmas Eve. I wish I had thought to take pictures for those of you who have never seen Albuquerque's luminarias. Here's a picture I found on http://www.itsatrip.org/events/featured/winter/holiday.aspx.

In the center is the gazebo where bands often play, and you commonly see people take pictures for formal events. This place is basically the center of Old Town, and the cathedral is just left of the photo. The paper bags on the ground are the luminarias. They are paper bags filled with sand and a candle (although many of them these days are electric). I think the luminarias are supposed to light the way to a new year or something (I might have just made that up), but they look beautiful. There's a section of town around Rio Grande rd. where people decorate entire neighborhoods in lights and these luminarias. Most years, some friends and I will travel these neighborhoods and see all the lights they've put on display. A lot of other people do this as well, as is shown by the amount of traffic around ^_^ It's wonderful to do though. I suggest any of you who visit Albuquerque on Christmas Eve go!

We were able to spend some time talking to my brother over face time. I don't know how much I've talked about Sigmund, but he's living in China right now teaching English as a second language in the schools there. He got a degree in business, a friend he invited to college invited him to visit China, and he's been there since. I don't know how long he will be there, but he's enjoying it so far, and he's already done a few years.

My New Years Resolution: Finish This Book!

I did some writing over the last couple weeks, but I was really getting bored with writing profiles for everyone. I saw a lot of benefit in it, and it's help me figure out where my story is going, but it's also not as fun as sitting down to write. I think that if someone had more patience than me and was good at thinking about things, they would really benefit from this writing method, but I need something to keep me engaged.

I'm going to keep the notes I wrote, and I will probably expand them as I go. I found especial use in talking about the characters, since I know who I am going to be working with now. As far as the story goes, I don't know enough about it to write a 10-page summary. I want to take the characters and see what they do and how they act. In the next chapter, I introduce the other main character, Kælon, and his closest friend, Renzoku. I haven't decided how many perspectives I'm going to write from, but I will write from Kælon's and Natalie's for sure. 

I have considered writing from the perspective of Curthadir or some of the other members of his council, but they know a lot about what's going on and would probably ruin the story for those of you reading this. When I read a book or play a game, I think it's more fun to have to learn as things go instead of seeing things ahead of time. I think of Harry Potter and how Dumbledor knew that Harry had to die, but if we knew that from his perspective, it would have ruined the story for us. 

I want to write from more perspectives that just Natalie and Kælon though. I will probably use Renzoku and someone that Natalie meets for other perspectives. Those four will probably be the main perspectives with a few "guest speakers" as I go. I know a couple of you have been good at reading and commenting so far. Thank you. What do you think about this idea? ^_^ I am glad to have any ideas you can offer. For anyone who has a thought about this book, please offer it! That's why I'm writing it here.