Birthday Happy, Me!

Today is my birthday. I'm 22. Frankly, I'm not sure how that happened, since I still haven't given it permission to be 2017 yet, and am still considering allowing myself to be 21.

Anywho, it's my birthday. *tosses confetti* (If anyone wants to get me a gift, I accept donations towards paying for my computer. Don't feel obligated. You could also send me random bits of writing to kendraeardnek@gmail.com)

To celebrate, I'm going to make a list of 22 of my WIP's that I can't wait to write and get into your hands. No particular order. Enjoy!

1. Bookania #5. This is the book where Maryanne first gets to really shine, and the book where Rapunzel shows up. In fact, the title may be related to Rapunzel. It might also be related to Meg, who gets the main romance in this book. I'm especially looking forward to writing the proposal scene(s). I'll have you guys rolling.

2. Half-Hidden. Readers of the Ankulen know of a certain redhead whose father wrote stories about dragons. Well, Half-Hidden is that story. I crack into some heavy topics, and the world building is awesome. This won't be a kids' book, though, and I may be rating it as New Adult, instead of YA like my other writing.

3. Love and Memory. The third book of the Rizkaland Legends. I know that all of you are looking forward to this story ... but boy is it breaking my heart right now. My poor characters. But it's gonna be awesome, too. You guys will probably place me firmly within the ranks of evil authors for this story ... even without killing half the cast.

4. Bookania #6. This book has pirates. And Cinderella. And the Odessey. And the Merchant of Menace. This is one story you guys won't want to miss.

5. Rizkaland #5. While I do like the story of book 4, and you won't want to skip that book - it's the center of the series for a reason, book 5 is the one I'm really looking forward to writing. Convoluted timeline, finding out what happened to a certain character's mother, Clara's Chinese heritage coming in handy ... it's going to be awesome.

6. ROCKS. The first volume of my Superhero Dystopia trilogy. This world is so much fun to write, and I love the subversions it places on its genres. Also, it has such a dynamic cast of characters. Everyone has a story, and the stories are all so interestingly interconnected. Also, Roxanne might get to rule the world. We're currently negotiating the details.

7. Bookania #8. This is a bit of an "It's a Wonderful Life" story. It'll star Robin, and everything'll get turned on its head. I'm looking forward to this. Not a nice alternate world, though. If this were the actual timeline, I wouldn't need Love and Memory to push me into the ranks of evil authors.

8. Sing, Aling. One of my contributions to my sister's sci-fi series, this is a sci-fi retelling of Peter Pan, focusing on the Tinkerbelle character, Aling. The story is turned completely on its head, as Peter and Wendy are established recurring characters throughout the series, and this sprang from my asking the question of "hey, how does Tink factor in?"

9. The Worth of a King. This is the book that Jack and I were writing together, but Jack had to bail on and I'm now rewriting it on my own. Don't miss out, though, because it features an intense cast of characters, awesome worldbuilding, a twisting plot, lots of political drama that leads to relationship drama, and Amber and Granite before Amber took up the Dragon Scale. Yes, a GOOD Amber. I can't wait to write her.

10. Bookania #10. You know how Robin always wanted to run away from home but could never muster the courage? Her daughter doesn't have that problem.

11. Rizkaland #6. The only timeline more convoluted than 5's is 6's. Andrew's younger brother, Kyle, and Kevin's younger sister, Tina, are the main characters. And Tina might have a crush on Andrew. And according to the people scouring my Pinterest board, there are babies involved.

12. The Nine Gems of Virtue. Like Half-Hidden, this story belongs to a secondary character in The Ankulen. I've also stolen this story from my mother. Diverse characters, creative worldbuilding. incredible plot twists. And did I mention that the "Nine Gems" are based on the fruit of the Spirit?

13. Bookania #12. This book ... will involve Maryanne trying to make a new friend ... but instead triggering a curse and she and some of her other friends will have to venture into the unknown parts of Bookania and comfront their worst fears in order to break the curse. It's gonna be awesome, especially the part with the wolves and a certain girl in a red hood.

14. Jessica's Summer. This is an interesting story about a girl who becomes Summer. As in, the season. Yeah, it's gonna be awesome.

15. Bookania #14. This one is a revisit to the alternate timeline of book #8. This time, but a different character. It's going to be great.

16. Rizkaland #7. JEJS. The final book of the series. I have five deaths confirmed for this book. You will cry. You have been warned.

17. The Eternal Queen. This story is mentioned in LDTD, and it will be awesome and intense. And you might find a plot twist involving Laura. You'll love it.

18. Bookania #16. This is probably the ... fourth Bookania plot that I came up with. It mostly involves a Greek myth and Arthurian Legend. Stay tuned.

19. Shut the Door. This is Lucy's story. Yes, the same Lucy that Laura mentioned both in WPFP and LDTD. I was plotting around with the climax and ... it was intense. (And this is one of the annoying stories that have been bothering me with the lack of title, and I just came up with this beauty, and I'm just going to leave all of you guessing as to what it means)

20. Bookania #19. I was talking with a friend about this one the other day. This is my Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling. It's based off of the French version, rather than the Grimm, and may involve a subtle commentary on substance abuse. And grief, love, and what happens when the Happily Ever After crashes and burns. (Also, the fox shows up in this book ... I can't wait to introduce all of you to the fox)

21. Fire and Song. This one came from a random song that I woke up with one day, which I think was vaguely inspired by Frozen. It involves birds and fire. And it's going to be awesome.

22. Infiltration. This book serves as a sort-of bridge between my Rizkaland multiverse and my sisters Sci-fi system. It's inspired by Hobbits, and the plot by an element of the Left Behind series (not the rapture part, but the mark part). How would we behave if there was a physical mark on true believers? Also herbs. I love herbs.

And there we go. Any of these that you're particularly lookign forward to? Anything on my WIP list that you think that I missed?

Happy Birthday, everyone!

(Oh, and I'm looking forward to letting all of you read the edited version of Sew, it's a Quest. I can't believe that Younger Kendra published that mess.)

The Story of Notebooks Continued

A couple weeks ago I came to you with a collection of notebooks that I had purchased but wasn't sure what I wanted to write in them. You guys offered your suggestions based on my WIP list, and here are the results.

Blue went to Cayra, natrually. I haven't started writing it, but I'm looking forward to it.

I know that no one actually voted for this story, but it's been wanting me to write it. That blue stripe is supposed to represent a river. Rivers are an important part of the book.

With only one exception, everyone voted for pink to be To Perfect a Fairy Tale. To tell the truth, I've been a bit hesitant about this story, not being exactly sure where I'm going with it ... but I had a nice long conversation with my mom the other night, and now I'm REALLY excited to get this book written.

Wait, you don't remember there being a green? Well, I found some more of these notebooks at a different walmart the other day, so I picked up a few more. Unfortunately, I accidentally got wide ruled, but I'll live with it. Green went to the entire trilogy, because I don't see the books being very long. Haven't started writing them, though.

Ever since Kathryn submitted her version of this book's first chapter, I've been very excited to get back into Jessica's summer. I'm really pleased with how this cover came out. 

Fun fact: Because this notebook was too dark for permanent markers to show up on, this one is done in nail polish.

Why the wings in this picture? Well, you'll understand it once you read it. 

Also, nobody tried their hand at the treasure hunt, so nobody gets to read Woodcutter Quince. Oh, I guess it's just as well, since I've realized that there is a portion that I need to completely rewrite. One of Doranna's scenes. She needs more than internal monologue. I know what I'm going to do with it, but haven't gotten around to it. Maybe tomorrow.

And, I set up a which character are you quiz for The Ankulen on Buzzfeed. Go try it out and let me know who you get!

I plan to do a Bookania Princess one next ...

An Excerpt from Jessica's Summer

Yesterday, Kathryn posted her entry for the fanfiction contest - her version of Jessica's Summer, which is one of my favorite WIP's that can't seem to get off the ground. Since today is my long day at work, and I don't have the brain power to do up the 12 things post for the Land of the Fallen Rainbow, I decided to share what I have written for this story.

This book does not have it's own document yet, not sure when I'm going to buckle down and actually write it, but I have this document that I call RambleK, where I just write excerpts from various books that I haven't reached yet but want to write. For instance, there are three stories from Bookania (One of them is Madeleine's painting scene in Do You Take This Quest? and another is Shira's meeting with her ORIGINAL love interest, before I got her involved with the Locksley family.), and two from Rizkaland. Then there are some random bits from HaV Academy, Half-Hidden, and Nine Gems of Virtue.

And I have the opening scene for Jessica's Summer. I don't know where I'm going next with it - I got bored with it, but I've decided to share it with you. Enjoy!

Via Pinterest

     “Jessica,” called Mrs. McConnald, “Jessica Anne! Where are you?”
     “Up here!” answered Jessica, coming down from her tree house, “What do you want?”
     “I want you to watch your younger sister while I make an important phone call inside,” answered Mrs. McConnald, “Play tag or something.”
     “Tag please, Jessie,” said a very hopeful Gina, “Let's play tag.”
     “Oh, all right,” said Jessica, “You'd better run!” She let Gina stay ahead of her. They might as well have fun. Their mom headed in to make the phone call. Gina ran round and round the yard, Jessica never all that far behind, but letting her stay a few steps ahead.
     It was a hot day, and soon sweat was dripping down Gina's face, but Jessica, strangely enough, was unaffected by the heat. Well, actually, it wasn't all that strange for her. She almost never felt the effects of heat. In fact, for her, the hotter it was, the better she liked it. She was always absolutely miserable in winter.
     Suddenly, Gina turned around, and gasped. “Jessie!” she exclaimed, “Your hair's on fire!”
    “What?” said Jessica, looking at her sister curiously, “My hair is what?”
    “It's on fire!” Gina repeated, just staring at Jessica as if she had just grown another head.
    “It doesn't feel any different from usual,” said Jessica, confusion clear in her voice and face. She put her hand to her head and pulled one of her dark brown curls from her ponytail to where she could see it. The ponytailer snapped and her hair fell down onto her shoulders. Sure enough, little orange and red tongues of flame licked all through it.
    “Stop drop roll!” ordered Gina. Jessica frantically followed her sister's advice. When she stood up, the grass was now on fire, and now Jessica's shirt, too.
    “Jessica!” cried a strange voice that was somehow quiet and commanding at the same time. It definitely had an English accent. Jessica turned to see two girls running towards her.
    “Who are you?” Jessica asked, despite the fact that she was now in the center of a bunch of flames, “and how do you know my name?”
    “Stop the joke Jessica,” said one of the girls, the one with waist-length black hair, almost-white skin and piercing blue eyes. She was wearing a shimmery blue shirt and a shimmery white skirt. She had not been the one to speak first, for her accent was low, thick, and mysterious, but not without command, “Or do I need to cool you off. I don't want the ice caps to melt, you know.”
    “The what?” said Jessica, “This is Texas. I don't think we could affect the ice caps from here.” She looked down to realize that the flames had by now burned away all of her clothes, but had woven themselves into a dress, that flickered and popped, but was actually quite comfortable.
     “Who is this girl, Jessica?” asked the other girl. She had knee-length blond curls, rosy cheeks, and soft blue-green eyes. She was wearing a pink shirt and a grass green skirt. She was the one with the quiet, English accent.
     “My sister,” said Jessica, bristling.
    “She is not,” said the girl with the blue and white. She bent and kissed Gina on the forehead, then Gina’s eyes went glassy, and she fell stiffly to the ground.
     “What did you do to her,” Jessica cried, the flames flicked hotter, although Jessica didn’t notice.
     “Tabitha,” said the other girl at the same time, “that is uncalled for.”
     “I didn’t kill her,” said Tabitha, with a roll of her eyes, “But she’s human, and it is dangerous to have humans alert when we are around.” She turned her attention to Jessica, and added, “Now for you.” She walked towards Jessica, and where she stepped, the flames spluttered and died away. When she reached Jessica, she put out her hand touched her hair. Suddenly, all the flames, other than the ones that had turned into a dress, flickered and died. The ones in the dress merely froze, turning into pretty much regular red dress. Tabitha’s dress, Jessica noticed, dulled, and stopped shimmering.
      She took her hand away. Her face was flushed.
     “How did you do that?” Jessica asked, shivering. Tabitha had cold hands!
     “How did you start the fire?” asked Tabitha simply, “You used to know, but it appears that something has happened to your memory.”
     “What do you mean?” asked Jessica.
     “Jessica what has happened,” the blond girl cried, frantically.
     “Who are you?” Jessica repeated, “How do you know my name? Why did my hair suddenly catch on fire? What did you do to Gina? What is going on?”
      “You used to know,” said Tabitha.
      “I am Clara,” said the blond girl, “and she is Tabitha. We know your name because we have known each other for most of our lives. Your hair, probably because you over heated. Gina, is that the girl? Tabitha kissed her. And we would like the answer to the last question just as much as you.”
      “What do you mean, I used to know?” asked Jessica.
     “Yesterday,” said Clara, apparently choosing her words carefully, “the four of us were together, Sara was with us too, still. Then Tabitha and I were separated from you and Sara, and when we began to look for the two of you, we realized that the two of you had been separated. We looked for her first, and only found her necklace. We then looked for you, and find you with no memory.”
      “We need to go talk to Mother,” said Tabitha urgently, “And we need to go now.”
      “Agreed,” said Clara, “But with Jessica lacking her memory, this could be complicated.”
      “I know,” said Tabitha, rolling her eyes.
      “I told Mom I would watch Gina while she made an important phone call,” argued Jessica, “I don’t think she’ll be happy about her current state when she finds out about it.”
     “I will take care of this girl,” said Clara, bending over and kissing the girl, “as my kiss is life, not ice.”
     Gina stirred and looked around herself. “Jessie,” she said, “I’m so cold. What happened?”
      “I’d like to know that myself,” said Jessica.
     “You must stay here,” said Tabitha, “sit on the doorstep of your home. We must go to our mother to speak of very important things. You must stay here, and you will never be able to learn of what transpired, as it is not good for you comprehend it. It is beyond your knowledge.”
      “What of Jessie?” said Gina.
      “Jessica is not your sister,” said Clara, “She must come with us. Very well, we will stay and watch you until your mother comes, but you will not see us.”
      “Why not?” asked Gina.
      “We are going to turn invisible,” said Clara, “Or at least, we will become as humans can’t see or hear us.”
      “Who are you?” asked Gina, looking at Clara and Tabitha in confusion.
      “It is not for you to know that either,” said Clara.
Jessica looked down at the charred ground that was around her. “How did I do this?” she asked, still not sure what had just transpired.
      “You probably overheated,” said Tabitha, “I wish you hadn’t of, we have just seriously imbalanced the earth’s temperatures, and Mother really doesn’t like it when we do that.”
      “How did you do that?” asked Gina.
      “Is there any way we can make this girl be quiet?” asked Tabitha, “She asks entirely too many questions.” She turned to Jessica and added, “So do you. You should know everything we are telling you, or at least most of it. You should not be here, making our task harder. This had better not be a joke, or Mother will be most angry.”
     “Who is Mother?” asked Jessica.
     “We can’t tell you that now,” said Clara, “Not with this girl here. Tabitha, show Jessica how to get home. I will follow quite shortly.”
     “I am home,” said Jessica.
     “No, you’re not,” said Tabitha with a definite tone of annoyance.
     “Yes I am,” said Jessica.
     “No, you’re not,” said Tabitha, “and we are not going to have this argument. It is merely wasting time we don’t have. Let’s go.”
     “Go where?” said Jessica, her hot temper flaring, and she heard a popping in her hair, as if it were catching on fire again.
    “Home,” said Tabitha simply, her voice now seemed filled with ice. Her hair straightened, and stiffened as frost crept through it, “Grab your necklace, close your eyes, and take a step backwards.”
Jessica put her hand to her throat, fingering the sun charm that hung there.
    “Good,” said Tabitha, “Now close your eyes and take a step backwards.”
    “What is happening to your hair?” Jessica asked.
    “Don’t worry about it,” said Tabitha, “I will explain later. Close your eyes and take a step backwards.” Hoarfrost rose out of the ground around her feet, and her shirt and shirt began to shimmer again. Jessica’s dress turned back into flame.
    “What is happening?” asked Gina, looking at Jessica and Tabitha with fear in her eyes.
    “Oh,” said Clara, “It’s normal. The two of them have been fighting for years. Nothing new at all. Although, usually, it’s not with Jessica minus her memory. Jessica, please do what Tabitha asks. We won’t hurt you, we promise.”
    “What are you planning to do with me?” demanded Jessica.
    “Nothing that you have never done before,” said Tabitha.
    “What are you doing!”
    “You are melting the artic,” said Tabitha.
    “What are you talking about?” asked Jessica, truly bewildered.
    “Please, Jessica,” said Clara. “Please, close your eyes and take a step backwards. You have done it plenty of times before, and if it were going to hurt you, I’m sure it would have already, but as it hasn’t, I would assume that it is quite safe for you. Tabitha and I will do the same as soon as you leave.”
     Jessica stared at the ground indecisively for a minute, then finally did as she was being asked. After all, what could it hurt?
     She didn’t expect for there to be no ground under her feet and for her to be falling. Her eyes flew open, as did her mouth to let out a scream. She was falling through the air, nothing save the clouds she zoomed past to be seen. Oh, and Tabitha and Clara were there, too, also falling. They seemed much calmer, though. Tabitha also seemed annoyed.
    “Use your wings,” Tabitha said, icily.
    “My … wings?” questioned Jessica. She glanced over her shoulder as best she could hurtling who-knows-how-fast through the air, and let out a gasp as she caught sight of something red and flame-like sticking out of her back. “I have wings!” she exclaimed, in a mix of amazement and horror.
   “Yeah,” said Tabitha, “flap them.”
   “Flap …” muttered Jessica. She tried flexing her shoulders … that didn’t work … uh …
   “Come on!” exclaimed Tabitha.
   “I’m trying!” exclaimed Jessica, glancing down and noticing that ground was rapidly approaching. She squeezed her eyes shut to block the impending doom. Before she could collide with the earth, she felt Tabitha and Clara grab her and her descent stopped almost instantly. Clara’s touch was much warmer than Tabitha’s, but still not as warm as Jessica preferred.

Story Saturday - Winter's Home

I probably should have posted this back in winter ... but it completely slipped my mind.

"Winter's Home" was for a cover contest. I was given a word and told to come up with a title that contained it, a story to fit the title, and an amazing cover to top it off. I entered the contest because the girl running it looked lonely. I was sure I wouldn't win.

Wouldn't ya know, I got third place. I think it mostly had to do with the fact that my word was "Home" and the way I used it was very much not the usual thing you think of when you hear that word. The only reason it occurred to me was the fact that I wanted to use one of my own pictures - and a surprising number of my pictures were of snow-laden trees ... Apparently, I like taking pictures of snow ...

Hey! I have an excuse - we don't get snow very often where I live, so when we do, it's a big deal!

Anyways, I'll show you the award-winning cover, and then you can read the story. "Winter's Home" may or may not worm it's way into Jessica's Summer. I'll have to see.

Winter's Home

Spring's home is  a flowery pavilion. Butterflies flit here and there.

Summer's home is on the beach, with sand, sun, and fun!

Autumn's home is in the forest, where she can always have food to gather to protect against want.

But Winter is cold. She has no home. She has an icy fortress to which she'll retreat, but it is not a home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Winter stalked up and down the halls of her fortress. It was Summer beyond her domains, and her power was at its weakest. She was always the most restless at this time. Finally, she got tired of inactivity.

She had her sleigh readied, then got in and took the reigns.

It took only a few minutes for her to reach the edge of her territory. Good ... good ... the snow wasn't melting. Still ...

She got out of the sleigh and surveyed the area on foot. There was something off here ... something that didn't belong here. She wrinkled her nose as she pulled back an evergreen branch. Evergreens were such nuisances, being so colorful and all. Yet, she put up with them ... 

Then she let out an annoyed growl.

There, laying on the ground was a small child, a girl, maybe three years old. Such was not an unusual thing during her own reign. During her own reign, the portals to her land were open. People, especially children, wandered here frequently.

It was no matter, however. Winter bent over to kiss the child, a kiss that would pour her cold into the miserable creature, and end its miserable life.

Yet something stopped her. She held back. What was the child doing in her lands?

For some time she just stood there, eyes fixed on the child. If she had been Spring, Summer, or even Autumn, she would have taken the child in, and made attempts at returning the child to its parents.

But she was Winter. Cold-hearted. Cruel.

Yet ...

She bent over and scooped the child up. She almost balked when she felt its wamth. The child was nearly blue, yet was still warm compared to Winter herself.

She carried the child over to the sleigh and climbed in. She would have to talk to her sisters about the child. For it to have wandered in during Summer's reign, that meant something was up.

Once in her fortress, she handed the child to one of her few warm-blooded servants. Even though Winter could stand cold - no, thrived on it -  those puny humans, especially children, could not. She handed the child to her servant ... and forgot about it. She had more pressing issues to attend to.

A few days later, a curious sound awakened her. Was that ... laughter? A child's laughter? Here? In her fortress?

Then she remembered the child she had rescued. Frowning, she went to investigate.

She discovered the child playing in the snow. Playing ... and laughing.

The faintest smile touched the corners of Winter's mouth. The edges of her frozen heart melted ever so slightly. The child could stay, she decided.

And that was how Winter's fortress became Winter's home.