NaNoWriMo 2015

Wowsers, it's been AGES since I was last here. I didn't realize how much I'd missed this place, and I'm feeling just a bit rusty.

I'm doing as well as can be expected since Dad passed away. I'm definitely getting my zest for writing back, which is a good thing; writing's always been excellent therapy. I also landed a job at Deseret Industries and I'm starting to make money of my own. May not be a thumping fortune, but it gets my foot in the door. Hopefully one day I will be able to live off my writing, but until that happens (if that ever happens at all), I still want to be involved with books, and this year, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for the second time. This will be first-rate practice for my fantasy series with Terence that I'd been slaving on since 2005, and I'm only half-joking about that!

My NaNoWriMo Page

Losing Dad

This is one blog post I never expected (or wanted) to write. My dad, Keith Allen Mather, was called to his heavenly home on June 2, 2015, at the age of 57. 

It was so sudden, which makes it both easier and harder to handle. On one hand, I'm grateful that he didn't die in a horrific accident or take his own life, that he didn't suffer unnecessarily. On the other hand, the suddenness of his death delivers a much harder blow.

I'm also glad I wasn't home for it, but I feel bad about Mom making such an awful discovery. She simply found him on the floor after dropping my siblings and me off at Institute, and the paramedics were unsuccessful. His heart just quit, which is eerily similar to how my paternal grandpa passed away. What's even scarier is that they were roughly the same age; Dad was only two years older than Grandpa.

I don't know what we're going to do now. We relied on Dad so much for so many things. It's also tragic that he died so soon after becoming a grandpa, that Lizzie and Josh and Spencer will spend the bulk of their lives without "Pop-Pop." God must have had a reason for calling Dad home; I'm not mad at God, and I'm not at all worried about where Dad is now. What bothers me is why it had to be this way, why now. I remember being scared of losing Mom first when she had cancer in 2007, and now it's Dad we've lost first. Now I'm worried about Mom, partly because she's all we have left, partly because she's been "sheltered" for so long.

I have several friends who have lost a parent within the last couple of years, and now I've joined the group. I remember telling my friends to simply focus on putting one foot in front of the other. I guess that's all I can do now. I can only take it one step at a time, and have faith and trust in God. I'm trying to, but I miss Dad so much. The house seems bigger and quieter without him, and I still half-expect to see him walk through the front door. He was supposed to help me settle my college debts, and basically support me until I found a job and got on my feet. He didn't even live to see Corie's high school graduation, which was yesterday; the rest of us were there (knowing Dad would have insisted that we go), and Aunt Sue, my mom's sister, accompanied us. Throughout the ceremony, I kept turning my head, expecting to see Dad, only to see Aunt Sue instead and have grim reality kick in once more.

There will be a viewing at Lindquist Mortuary on June 7, and the funeral will be at our church on June 8...exactly two months after Dad's birthday. I can't say I'm particularly looking forward to it. I imagine a lot of people will be there, and I personally invited a few of my old friends who have met Dad and know him to some extent. My friend Melissa said she'll come, and I hope to see my friend Paul, too.

On a slightly more uplifting note, the Relief Society has been planning a trip to the Salt Lake Temple on June 13, one week before my birthday. I have a feeling I should go. I need spiritual nourishment, and what better place to go to during a rough time than the temple? Thank the good Lord that death is not the end, that families are forever. As hard as it is for me now, I can only imagine how much harder it is for people who don't have a knowledge of the gospel, who only view death as "the end."

I love you, Dad. I miss you. And I hope you are happy and where you're supposed to be.

Book Cover

I may not have a book of my own on the market yet, but there is a book now available for pre-order (comes out in June) whose cover I personally designed! Gets my foot in the door, if nothing else.

Best of all, my friend wants me to do another design for another book, and this time I'll get a little share in the royalties.

Graduation

Boy, has it been a long time since my last blog post. The last month has been crazy, getting ready for finals and graduation and all that jazz.

But it was well worth it, mates.

50 Shades Reaction

A picture is worth a thousand words, after all. ;)

This is also fitting for all the other garbage flaunted in today's media. Can't say I feel entirely bad about not having cable anymore.

Werewolf Sketches

Felt like showing my werewolves in their human shapes (since all werewolves had been human at one point). I'm also going to try my hand at their life stories, explaining how they went from men to monsters. Nothing like Twilight, that much I can guarantee.

1: TITUS

Even as a human, that smile warns you to never turn your back on this guy!

2: VULCAN

 

 

Tried my hardest not to make him look too much like Terence. Oh well, that's what practice is for.

Amethyst and Darkheart

Terence and Tristan's dam and sire, with a story that would give William Shakespeare a run for his money. In fact, I like to think of their story as that of Romeo and Juliet, minus the suicide.

You can get the picture: mare falls for stallion, stallion falls for mare, parents on both sides not only disapprove but do everything possible to keep their children apart. Some unicorns are friendlier than others, but between Amethyst and Darkheart's parents, we're talking a legitimate feud here. There's more than one reason for this bad blood, but suffice it to say that whenever they cross one another's paths, there's bound to be trouble. 

Still, that didn't stop Darkheart and Amethyst from falling head over hooves for each other. They became determined to become mates at any cost, and when their parents refused to give their blessing, the young unicorns were obliged to run away together. This came at a heavy price indeed; Amethyst's heart was all but broken, and even Darkheart was affected so much more by the loss of his parents and his home than he would have readily admitted. Unbeknownst to them, their parents' hearts were also shattered. 

For a little while, Darkheart and Amethyst got along very well. They soon had their first foal, Tristan, and Darkheart's relationship with his boy was a far cry from the one he'd shared with his own father. Before too long, Amethyst found herself expecting yet another foal. 

However, before this second foal was born, something happened that drove a serious wedge between Amethyst and Darkheart. Darkheart ended up walking out on his mate and his son, and he never came back. Neither Tristan nor Amethyst were ever the same after that.

Terence became Amethyst's sole reason to go on living. Despite having to raise him alone, she took up the slack remarkably well. For the first few years of Terence's life, he was inseparable from his mother. 

Tristan believed for the longest time that Amethyst favored Terence over him. Of course, she adored both her sons, but there was only so much of her to go around, and Terence easily required the most time and care. Still, Tristan saw it and took it the wrong way. 

It might have been all right if Darkheart had come back sooner, or never left at all, or if Tristan had at least been able to talk things out with his mother. Unfortunately, Amethyst died while Terence was still quite young. Now Terence and Tristan were all alone. 

To make matters worse, Darkheart was just about to come back to Amethyst. After going away, he'd had plenty of time to cool down and reconsider, and his love for Amethyst ultimately got the better of him. He resolved to go back to her, plead for her forgiveness, and try to make things right with her. As commendable as his resolution was, it came just a little too late. 

Eat your heart out, Shakespeare.

Bad Boys

With every hero, there's a villain. Where Terence is the good guy in my story, Scorpio is the bad guy.

No doubt about it: out of all my characters, Scorpio's given me the most grief. I struggled with everything about him (and I mean EVERYTHING) for the longest time. Even now, I'm still fine-tuning him. But the good news is, I believe I finally have some idea of who he is and what I want to do with him.

On the surface, Scorpio appears as your typical villain. For some reason, he's absolutely hell-bent on finding Terence and destroying him. He's as hard on his followers as he is on his enemies, and he makes little to no distinction between those he's after and those who get in his way.

However, there is more to Scorpio than meets the eye. Don't want to give too much information away, but he's more, so much more, than just some cold-hearted sadist; he does what he does for understandable if unjustifiable reasons.

As if Terence didn't have enough with Scorpio, he's got a few werewolves to worry about, too, especially Moloth, the leader and possibly the most feared werewolf of them all.

I'm no fan of horror. I don't read Stephen King and I wouldn't watch a Freddy Krueger flick if you paid me in diamonds. So you'd be surprised at Moloth and his gang; they say it's a smart move for writers to write outside their comfort zones, and this is definitely out of my comfort zone. (Far out!)

I guarantee these werewolves will be nothing like Twilight's perpetually shirtless shape-shifters. They would make Jacob into a throw rug and polish off Edward and Bella, and still have plenty of time for breakfast.

While I've yet to figure out how to draw Moloth's entire gang (there are five werewolves besides him), I have come up with passable designs for two of them, Titus and Vulcan.

Titus is one of the smaller, scrawnier werewolves, but he's easily the most insane member of his gang, which makes him one of the most dangerous. Rumor has it that he was already mentally unstable as a human, but becoming a werewolf sent him completely over the edge. He usually gets his pleasure at someone else's expense and harbors immense fascination in the most twisted, bizarre things. He would give the Joker, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Azula a run for their money.

He's supposed to come in patches (white and crimson), and I've yet to refine those patches. At least I got his creepy-as-heck smile just about right. Yeesh!

Vulcan is one of the biggest and strongest werewolves. Unlike Titus, he's quite mentally sound, but he keeps to himself and seldom utilizes more than two or three words at a time. Moloth would have had some mighty fine competition with Vulcan as the leader if Vulcan had showed any actual interest in leading the pack.

Rhiella

Of course, I had to invent a human girl who would win Terence's heart when he became human. While Terence has encountered plenty of women as a unicorn (unicorns have always had a strange attraction to human females), something sets Rhiella apart from the others.

Being a princess, Rhiella has also met with a number of royal suitors, all of which turned out to be abysmal failures. But when she meets Terence, something just clicks.

Much as I love Disney and fairy tales, I don't believe in rushing a relationship. I don't believe in marrying someone you've only known for one day, or a few days, or even a month. This means that while Terence and Rhiella do notice each other at the first, they take their time to build up their relationship. Terence doesn't speak to Rhiella or give her a whole lot of thought; he just acknowledges her presence and moves on. After a few more meetings, when they do start talking and getting to know each other better, that's when he warms up to her and you can guess the rest of the story.

Some people may view Rhiella as one-dimensional, as another typical rebellious princess. That's not quite the case; at least, I'm working my hardest not to make it so. She does have a rebellious streak, a knack for doing things not considered fitting for a princess. She can ride a horse, shoot an arrow, and wield a sword as well as any man, and while she honestly needs help now and then, for the most part she can look after herself just fine. Half the time, she's saving Terence's life.

When she's not fighting or caught up in her royal duties, she loves to swim. She essentially taught herself to swim and takes to water like a fish; if she were living in our time, she would really get off on snorkeling and scuba diving. (So would Terence.)

While generally sweet and even-tempered, Rhiella can blast through the roof when she gets angry. She's not afraid to speak her mind and can get brutally frank even with Terence. While Terence adores Rhiella and would never lay a finger on her, he still has his moments when he lets her have it, too. It's a little joke of mine that you know you're an official couple when you argue like a couple. Despite the flowers, the candy, the hugs and kisses, and the overall goo-goo feelings, it's the first legitimate argument that seals the deal.

People view Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey as legitimate love stories. Well, I'll show 'em! With Terence and Rhiella, I'll prove what real, honest-to-goodness love is. Just you wait, mates. Just you wait.

I'm half-tempted to say in my advertisement, "Everything that 'Twilight' and 'Fifty Shades' are NOT." But that probably wouldn't be a very good marketing strategy. Or would it?