Tag: Awakened

Awakened Week Two

Posted on by Aya DeAniege

I’ve written about ten thousand words in the last week and I hate the struggle. I came up with the loose plot four days ago and then forgot it all. It’s like hitting a wall.

My sleep patterns have changed because the noisy neighbour moved out. Today I realized it’s been a year since I slept properly. No wonder I’m now struggling.

This morning I sat down and wrote out a rough geustimate of the plot. I started at the end and worked my way back because there was this little gap I was struggling with and working backward was definitely the way to go.

I’m hoping I can get a move on again. It’s about nine more chapters or about another 35k words. I’ll get about 23k this weekend but I do believe Awakened will be my longest project to date. I think even Contract Claimed was shorter.

I found and joined a high word count group and they think I’m burnt out.

I mean… Full-time job and the move and the life changes and trying to meet a project, okay. I guess they’re right but that’s not a great thing. I’ve been doing so good! I’m halfway there. May is supposed to be when I struggle.

When I’m going to Mexico the first week, and flying out for a wedding the the third week. Second week? Something like that.

I will have to just take it as it comes. This isn’t like the struggle with His Wings, I want to finish Awakened and I’m enjoying writing it.

All told so far, between writing and editing the books I’ve wrtten, I’ve clocked about 80k words a month.

Or about 320k from November until the beginning of Marcg. That’s still pretty darn good.

Oh, in other news. I’m about to finish the read edit for His Wings. The final draft will be up sometime this weekend. That’s another project down to bed.

If I can finish Awakened, I’m going to edit Contract Gifted again and hopefully get that up. Maybe get it up the first week of April. That’d be fantastic.

Awakened Week One

Posted on by Aya DeAniege

Just over 44k words in six days. I had to take today off writing because I feel sick to my stomach.

I’ve also been doing a read edit of His Wings on my commutes. It’ll be finished in time, but I’m going to avoid arranging a pre-order before the book has gone through the first couple of edits.

I haven’t been sleeping, working constantly. It’s no wonder I’m feeling sick and tired. But I’d sleep if my upstairs neighbour got evicted like they said he was going to.

Instead he does a bunch of drugs and stays up all night. Which keeps me up. If I could just sleep, I’d feel better.

Going to go curl up now.

Crop Week Four

Posted on by Aya DeAniege

Obviously, I’m not working on Crop anymore. I’ve been editing like crazy.

The wrap for Seed is done, along with the cover of Crop. The wrap for Crop could be done in about an hour.

I like that wraps used to take me something like sixteen hours, and now it’s down to an hour or so.

I had an anxiety attack Sunday so bad that I was in tears. It continued into Monday. No reason for it, just over stressed about the day-job and the move coming up I guess.

Monday night, I played some video games and had a little wine. Just unwound basically. The attack passed sometime around midnight on Monday.

I didn’t get out of bed until one on Tuesday, and then only because my older cat demanded I get up.

So that he could sleep on the couch instead of the bed…

Jerk.

Sometimes caring for yourself means sleeping off the tremor created by attacks and the weariness from forcing yourself through a day. This was the first time in years that I didn’t want to get out of bed.

And last time it was also a cat that made me get up. Except that time it was so he could sleep in my spot.

Cats. They are so mean.

Once I got up yesterday I finished writing Contract Gifted which isn’t a big deal, it was only two chapters left. Then I put it through a chunk edit and started a regular edit. One chapter left for that edit and I plan to do it at work today.

I also started looking at photos for the cover. I have to figure out how many edits it needs, but it could be up as early as next week.

Novelettes are kind of nifty, but I’m not certain I have a plot or way to do another one. It’s just that Nicole popped up just before Christmas and was like, “Hello,” and it just worked itself out.

Tomorrow I start Awakened and I don’t have the energy to be excited about it. The attack is still riding the edge of my mood and it could be a while before I completely recover.

Or I could be tired because I forgot to take my pills and eat before leaving the apartment. Or it could be weariness in general. I want to move yesterday. And as much as I ‘booked’ six weeks off because I know all but one is going to be anxiety riddled and scary, I want it to happen and I want to be on the other side.

Awakened will have to keep me distracted until then. Four weeks, and supposedly twenty-four chapters to go. That’s about 100k words. 25k a week, or about 6 chapters.

Okay. Maybe I’m a little excited. Just a smidgen.

March: Awakened

Posted on by Aya DeAniege

March’s project is Awakened. It has been bothering me nearly constantly. I’ll be writing it and editing and doing more writing for His Wings, Crop, Seed, and Harvest.

Most of that would be on my phone, is how it’d be done. I downloaded Grammarly’s keyboard for my phone. I just couldn’t handle the stupidity of the default keyboard.

Why does Kaz turn to Lax sometimes, Las other times? Why does fire turn into spit? Really? Really?

Anyhow. Awakened is a fantasy based in a high fantasy world after humans have killed the mortal races and the elves have all gone to sleep or disappeared. Every human is capable magic, but only a few ever get access to their magic.

So, it’s sort of like the elves and humans traded magic use, I guess?

It is set in the modern era, where pretty well all the same stuff has been created but at a faster pace because as mages became fewer, humanity built tech to replace what had once been done.

Just anyone can be awakened so there are taxes and fines on magic use and there are mage schools and patrons for the awakened. If an awakened doesn’t use their magic they end up burning out. Dying from lack of releasing magic is as familiar in awakened as starvation or exposure deaths in the homeless. But the taxes are kind of obscene, and the Mark usually empties a savings account.

It’s becoming fashion to give new parents money instead of gifts, so they can put it into a Mark account in case their child ever awakens. A child is more likely to have money saved for a Mark than for college.

Those who cannot pay are just like those who can’t pay bills. Though, it is dependent on what their magic can do. Some are offered jobs, but magical prisons are expensive. It’s not uncommon to find awakened among the numbers of the homeless. They offer their services in exchange for a few dollars, begging for both magic fines as well as food.

There is religion in the world, and an old sect called the Paladins who do mysterious things. The only way to become a Paladin is to be raised within the group. You can ‘join’ them so that your child has a chance to become a Paladin but then you’re referred to as a breeder. The Paladins understand that new blood is super important to the health of all but they look down on those who are called to the life and haven’t served.

Patrons have, at times, taken advantage of their mages. But for the most part human on mage violence doesn’t happen. An awakened is more likely to cause accidental death than a mage. And the difference between an awakened and a mage is years of training.

So when bodies start turning up, when mages are found with all their magic scooped out, the Magical Protection Agency sends the only man they think capable of hunting down a mage killer: Dave Archon, fourth son of the seventh son of the leader of the Paladins and the only one in six hundred years to be offered the knives and walk away. He’s got the pedigeee, the knowledge, and has even fought in both a magical and physical war and survived.

Our female MC is a newly awakened Abby Kestrel, a waitress with barely enough income to pay her bills. She is a nobody, her family has no history of awakening, and she knows about as much about magic as she does about brain surgery.

One would think discovering you had magic would be a blessing, that everything would fall into place. But this isn’t a fairy tale, and even though the world has magic and believes fate is real, none of them are so blinded by the magic to believe in true love or happy endings.