Another one bites the dust

Well friends and followers, I've done it again. My poem, A Bridge and You, is officially on its way to be reviewed by an editor at HarperCollins publishing. It's exciting, but a bit sad at the same time. I'll be posting it on the Poetry page for you to take a look at.
Anywho, life is okay. I'm working on my Knight's End query, writing Dragon Quest, planning Darker Days, and building my characters for the plotless 19. Sounds fun, right? You know, it actually is.
I'm sorry I don't really have any great writing tips to share today. I'm only posting because it's been so long and I felt I needed one. Oh! I bought a new book today! *surprise, surprise* It's called My Dream Map. It's a book that you basically use as a type of workbook to "map" out the road to achieving your dreams. So far I'm really enjoying it :)

In the Works: Dragon Quest

Well I have scrapped all plans of completing a novel for NaNoWriMo this year, but all is not lost! While I have given up on Immure for the time being, I do plan to eventually write it. I think the major problem with NaNo this year *aside from lack of time* was the fact that I really wanted to be working on Dragon Quest, and writing Immure just wasn't inspiring me at all. So now I have quit  NaNo and I am working diligently on Dragon Quest.
I just finished reading Wendy Higgins' blog post where she went into detail about how the idea for Sweet Evil came along. And I realize she is a published author and therefor her stories are interesting, but I am in a blogging mood so I am going to let you in on the secret of how Dragon Quest was born.
First off, this trilogy started out as a six book saga. There were six Shields of Power, forty-two Gems of Power, and a lot more characters. It had a storyline that included the entire history of the world, a pair of brothers set against each other by a vindictive demon, and a group of Gorgins who were tied into the Prophecy.
I have since decided I could never finish six books. It's hard enough to find meaningful ways for the Four Destined to find seven gems, much less forty-two!

But maybe I should explain the story a bit better before I get into where it came from. You were a little kid once, right? We all were. And we all played pretend. We made up stories for our Barbies, our stuffed animals were superheros, and we ourselves for Sailor Scouts. But my writer side took over when I was young, and my sister and I became more than that. We became the Four Destined (who originally did not hold that title). There were five of us, at the time: Alice, John, Jackey, Alicia, and Antonio. (Antonio has since been cut from the book, and their names have all changed). We slayed dragons, made friends with the elves. Heck, we even started drawing the characters and making our world.
I'm not sure exactly how old I was when I first decided to write The 6 Shields (original title). I know I had a first draft finished in sixth grade, and a second around eighth. I fell in love with the characters, and this story has always been my baby. But I strayed. I wrote A Promise of Forever. Then I wrote Knight's End. And then I started in on Oblivion and Immure. But I came back to Dragon Quest when everything else sort of flopped, and it's coming along much better than my sixth grade mind ever imagined it.

It has since been retitled and shortened to a trilogy. Instead of The 6 Shields: The First Shield, ect, it is now Dragon Quest, Mahimi's Island, and The Last Battle. The Four Destined are Jace, Elysia, Aelita, and Cade. The creatures have all changed and the gems are now scattered and found throughout the first two books. The last book is a book of war.
But anyway, that's where the idea came from. Two young girls playing pretend. And it has turned into what I am hoping will end up being a phenomenon. It's not twilight; no vampires or werewolves. It's high fantasy at its (hopeful) best. And it's been such a joy working on it again :D
To all who care, this is me signing off so I can write.
Jami