More blog awards!

So, I have once again had the honor of being nominated for some pretty nifty blog awards, compliments of my super cool Blogger/Twitter pal, Sarah from Squidink (actually she's from Idaho, but her blog is Squidink. Incidentally it's a good blog and you should check it out.) Ahem. So, thank you, Sarah!

Now, as per the rules, ten random facts about me:

1) My sophomore year of college I lived across the street from a super loud, super obnoxious frat house. My friend Adam bought a water balloon launcher, and he and my best friend Audrey and I hid behind cars in the parking lot of my building and launched water balloons into the frat's back yard when they were having loud, obnoxious parties. Immature? Yes. But also hilarious.

2) I was in marching band in high school. Alto sax FTW!

3) I also participated in two sports and I was terrible at both.

4) The first time I ever saw falling snow was Thanksgiving Day in Norwich, England, during my junior year abroad. It was one of the most magical moments ever!

5) One of my favorite cities ever is London, and I'm lucky enough to live just a short train ride away from it. I love how so much history and culture is jammed into such a small area in central London. I love exploring the museums, parks, galleries, shops, and cafés. I love the British Library, the Tower of London, Foyles book shop, Hampstead Heath, and London Zoo. Love!

6) I work in a college library. College in the UK is like 11th and 12th grades in the US. So I work with a lot of British teenagers.

7) Big Chimp and I really like pub quizzes, which are what they sound like: you get a team together and take a general knowledge quiz in a pub. If your team gets the highest score, you win a prize. The one we like to go to gives away free chips (fries) at half-time. Mmmm, chips.

8) We also like quiz shows on TV. Our favorites are Eggheads and University Challenge.

9) Aside from the aforementioned quiz shows, I don't really watch TV. This is partly because advertising is unspeakably evil, but also because there isn't much on that's worth watching. Exceptions are Dr Who and Sherlock. And Downton Abbey is my guilty pleasure :)

10) I just learned how to crochet, and I'm getting ready to attempt my first scarf. I just need to buy some more yarn for it.

And for the next part of the rules, I shall pass on these blog award nominations. Mainly to the same people I nominated last time, because they're still awesome:

1) Audrey at ChiquePeek—Style Scrapbook, because she's my very fashionable and awesome best friend/maid of honor.

2) Jeff at JRussellTeacher, because he continues to fight the good fight against bad grammar.

3) Susan at Harry Potter for Writers, because it's an amazing blog, especially for YA fantasy writers and Harry Potter fans.

4) Lora at The Scribotarian, because all of her posts are interesting and insightful.

So, there you have it! Please feel free to pass on or ignore these awards as you see fit.

WIP Wednesday: Puzzling it out

So I'm in a pretty fun place with my writing right now. I'm two-thirds to three-quarters finished with the first draft of my second novel, Dyllan and Abigail. I've built up a lot of relationships between the different characters over five or six different plot lines, and now many of these plot lines are coming together, and the story has become a puzzle that needs solving. In other words, I've built up this whole world and placed this tangle of characters and events in it, and now I have to figure out how to sort everyone out in a way that satisfies the reader and keeps the integrity of the story intact. And all of those answers are coming out in the most unexpected ways—witch colonies, magical botany, sand demons, battles, and enchanted disguises to name a few.

Here is the gist of Dyllan and Abigail:

Abigail Gray thought her father's series of children's stories about Abernwyth, land of the Folk, was just that: stories. But on her thirteenth birthday, she discovers that not only is Abernwyth real, but she has magic in her blood, and her father is actually a legendary Folk hero.

Halfway around the world, scrawny Eleanor Griggs runs onto the Scottish moors, fleeing bullies, when she is captured by a strange-eyed man, and taken through a split between two worlds.

And in Abernwyth, in the small mountain village of New Alband, the beautiful and enigmatic Dyllan becomes an orphan for the second time.

The course of the next three years brings the three children crashing together, with world-altering and tragic consequences.

(Oh, and there's a binturong, too. Her name is Steg and she adores a slice of cake (or two).)

So that's where I am with my WIP so far. It's currently 67,229 words long, with about another 30-40,000 words to go. I try to put down at least a thousand words a day, but it's hard sometimes with my day job. I'm hoping to have this draft finished by spring break (the beginning of April).

Image credit: Linda via Creative Commons.

Dear Readers, where have your writing adventures been taking you this week?