Sonnet on a Sunday

3

Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest
Now is the time that face should form another;
Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.
For where is she so fair whose unear’d womb
Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?
Or who is he so fond will be the tomb
Of his self-love, to stop posterity?
Thou art thy mother’s glass and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime;
So thou through windows of thine age shalt see,
Despite of wrinkles this thy golden time.
But if thou live, remember’d not to be,
Die single and thine image dies with thee.

(Hmmm, not sure I agree with the sentiments of this one. :) )

Thursday 13 #2 ~ 13 Favourite Things

So not quite raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens but 13 of my favourite things.

1. Green, okay I’ve now got Kermit in my head singing. But truth be told my favourite colour tends to vary with my mood, though it’s usually somewhere at the bluey/green end of the spectrum. must be something to do with being a pisces.

2.Baking, something I definitely should make more time for. There’s something about the smell of home baking in the kitchen that is comforting, plus it helps to know that you get to eat cakes at the end of it.

3.I love being by the sea. It has a way of putting things in perspective, you’re very small when you stand next to the ocean.

4.Comfort reading - something I no longer have as much time to do. But I love curling up with a good book and taking the time to go somewhere else in my imagination.

5.Giraffes and penguins. The world can be a pretty terrible place, but I hold onto the fact that as long as we’ve got giraffes and penguins then it’s not completely terrible. (This is turning into raindrops on roses…)

6.My favourite films. I wish I could put something trendy and clever in here, but I’m not that highbrow. I like films that make me laugh and where there’s great chemistry between the actors. Two of my favourites are - The Long Kiss Goodnight, High Heels and Low Lifes. In common with #12 I like banter and verbal sparring between the characters.

7.Favourite food is probably Italian, mainly pasta because it’s so quick. I am terrible for losing track of time when I’m writing and missing meals, so quicker is better.

8.My favourite season is autumm. I love the wind and the rain (yes the rain ), the vibrant colours of the trees. You still stand the chance of getting a sunny day, and it’s not yet winter.

9.Favourite album, this is one I don’t even have to think about. Fumbling Towards Ecstasy by Sarah McLachlan.

10. Bumblebees. (Which I guess is kind of opposite to the song). I know they hurt if they sting you, having been stung. But I guess the fact that they can fly when aerodynamically they shouldn’t be able to - they’re the little insect that could.

11.My dog. I’ve only just recently got him, always been a cat person before but when my last cat died I couldn’t face getting another one as I’d had him for so long. So instead I have a spaniel cross who may be small but he’s got a big personality to make up for it.

12.Shakespeare. Yes, some of it is difficult to understand. But 12th Night, Macbeth, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing -the plays I studied at school are favourites. And I think it’s one of those situations where the reward is worth the effort. His dialogue could be incredibly cutting and to the point, with sarcasm, double meaning, banter and sparring between the characters.

13.The moment just before you go to sleep and just before you wake up. I find when I’m nearly asleep I have a capacity to solve a lot of my plot and character problems, if only I could hold onto the ideas once I’m properly awake.

Natural History Museum and Updates

So a quick word about the Natural History Museum in London - well worth a visit if ever you have a few hours to spare. I think I spent about 5 hours wandering around and still didn’t manage to see all of it. Though I made sure I visited the Earth’s Treasury in the red zone, having studied geology it was probably the section I most wanted to see. Plus LOL I think it’s by far and away the most gemstones I have ever seen in one place, a simply stunning and beautiful collection.

Of course no trip to the museum would be complete without seeing the dinosaur skeletons - favourite dinosaur is the tricerotops - and the life size model of the blue whale. I think of all the skeletons the one that blew me away was of the giant sloth. Maybe because you expect dinosaurs and whales to be big, but trying to comprehend a furry land mammal that was that big…and thinking more of modern sloths as being dog sized. LOL - maybe I should stop there, I just found it hard to get my brain wrapped round that one.

And as Dr. Who would point out where there are museums and people there have to be gift shops. :). I picked up a lovely marble egg - very white and calming - sitting next to me now as I type.

Speaking of typing. Raven is going very well. I’m managing to write every day, so on current speeds I should have a first draft finished in the next four weeks. 50,000 words may have been an underestimate but I’m not going to change my target. Later on there will probably be cutting and adding so it could all even out.

Now I’ve settled into a blogging routine there will be Thursday 13, Sonnet on a Sunday and I’m going to try and squeeze in a post on a Tuesday as well, which will either be updates, news or the character profiles which I’m hoping to start posting next week.

That’s all for now, back to work for me. :)

Sonnet on a Sundayish

I’m off to the Natural History museum tomorrow, so am posting this a little early.

2

When forty winters shall besiege thy brow,
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty’s field,
Thy youth’s proud livery so gazed on now,
Will be a totter’d weed of small worth held:
Then being asked, where all thy beauty lies,
Where all the treasure of thy lusty days;
To say, within thine own deep sunken eyes,
Were an all-eating shame, and thriftless praise.
How much more praise deserv’d thy beauty’s use,
If thou couldst answer ‘This fair child of mine
Shall sum my count, and make my old excuse,
Proving his beauty by succession thine!
This were to be new made when thou art old,
And see thy blood warm when thou feel’st it cold.

Thursday 13 #1 ~ 13 Random Songs

THURSDAY THIRTEEN - 13 random songs from my Ipod

I got the idea for this Thursday 13 from Sarai at Thoughts of an Aspiring Writer. Hopefully nothing too embarrassing will come up.

1. Years - Beth Nielsen Chapman (Greatest Hits) I have a real weakness for buying songs after hearing them on tv. So this album was one I picked up after hearing Sand and Water on Charmed. It was one of those where I ended up loving the whole album.

2.Every Day is Exactly the Same - Nine Inch Nails (With Teeth) LOL - I also buy songs if I hear them on soundtracks. So picked this one up after seeing Wanted and love it. Definitely could write something to this.

3.Full of Grace - Sarah McLachlan (Surfacing) I know you’re thinking I picked this up after hearing it on Buffy. Wrong! I’d got this album before the song was used. Love Sarah McLachlan and Fumbling Towards Ecstasy is perhaps my favourite album.

4.Eyes Like Yours - Shakira (Laundry Service)

5.My Last Breath - Evanescence (Fallen) Love this album and I think the majority of songs on it lend themselves well to character inspiration.

6.Dumb - Garbage (Version 2.0)

7.Nara - E.S.Posthumus (Unearthed) Also known as the theme to Cold Case, and has been used in movie trailers as well. Very dramatic and I find it helps when I’m plotting tense situations.

8.Grace Kelly - Mika (Single) It’s nice to have the occasional happy song on there.

9.Hurt - Christina Aguilera (Back to Basics) This is actually an inspiration song for one of the characters in the Untitled piece I’m outlining at the moment.

10.Henry Martin - Figgy Duff (Due South Soundtrack) Another song with a story.

11. Songbird - Eva Cassidy (Love Actually Soundtrack) Just a beautiful song

12.The Planets Suite:Jupiter - Holst, performed by London Philharmonic - One of my favourite pieces of classical music. An incredibly emotional piece, uplifting and melancholy at the same time. The middle section is used for the hymn I Vow to the My Country.

13.Duel of the Fates - Star Wars Phantom Menace Soundtrack - A great piece of music for writing action and fighting scenes to.

Sonnet on a Sunday

So as Lily loves Shakespeare’s sonnets and the next Land of the Fey book is about her. I thought it would be nice to have a regular delve into the work of the Bard. So every Sunday I’ll post a sonnet. Also if you think about Lily reading these to Alaric as he lay in the infirmary, some of them would cut quite close to the bone.

1

From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory:
But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed’st thy light’s flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:
Thou that art now the world’s fresh ornament,
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thine own bud buriest thy content,
And, tender churl, mak’st waste in niggarding:
Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
To eat the world’s due, by the grave and thee.


There is a wonderful website shakespeares-sonnets.com which has commentary on the various sonnets and delves deeper into the meaning behind them. I’ve added a link to this site in the sidebar.

Heading Back into the Writing Cave

So the sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed I’ve edited my progress meters to more accurately reflect what I’m working on at the moment.

I’ve started work on Raven, and am continuing to work on The Bargain. As I’m not sure when I’ll get round to revising The Tithing I’ve taken it off my WIP list for the moment.

I may not be posting quite as regularly as I have been. Though I’ll keep you up to date with my writing progress and any exciting news as it happens. Once a week I’m going to try and post about a character or something along those lines. The first one will be about Valerian. And if ever I can squeeze it in I want to write a short story about when Lily first met Alaric. Appropriately enough it will be called When Lily met Alaric. :)

Teaser from The Bargain

So I know I promised a teaser from The Bargain and that’s exactly what this is.

Unedited excerpt (teaser) from The Bargain. Copyright Sarah Leslie 2008.

Sebastian stood at the foot of the bed, watching as David struggled against the thorny vines which snaked around his body. Pinpricks of blood appeared on the werewolf’s straining arms and Sebastian licked his lips. “You look like every vampire’s wet dream.”

Songs to Write With

I meant to post this a while ago but it was one of those posts that just never got posted.

Quite a lot of the time when I’m writing I have a song that plays in the back of my mind for a character. Of course as the story progresses and the characters evolve this song may change and some characters have more than one song. And some songs or pieces of music inspire more than one character or situation. Anyway, songs for If Wishes Were Horses, which you may or may not agree with.

Alaric - Hello by Evanescence

Valerian - Insatiable by Darren Hayes

Lily - Bitch by Meredith Brooks (LOL)

Another Review for If Wishes Were Horses

At Fallen Angel Reviews:-

http://www.fallenangelreviews.com:80/2008/July/Teresa-IfWishesWereHorses.htm

Back From Holiday

So I made it back from holiday - refreshed and recuperated and ready to get stuck back in.

I completed the outline for Raven, currently it’s looking to come in at a minimum of 50,000 words. So a little bit longer than If Wishes Were Horses.

I also completed a second outline for a completely unrelated story following a remark I overheard about adjoining bedrooms. LOL - inspiration comes from everywhere.

So my task over the next couple of weeks is to get the first draft of The Bargain (now looking like a working title) completed and then I’ll start working on Raven. Hope to have a teaser from The Bargain up some time this week.