14. Patiently Waiting For You

My Dearest Darling,
When you left I promised to keep a light in the window until you returned. I kept my promise.

There is a light in the window burning brightly so you can find your way home, my dear. I keep it burning day or night rain or shine. I never let it go out for fear that you will lose your way and not return as you said you would.

I am waiting patiently but it has been so long now. Many times I have had to change the candle that I have burning for you. I light another before I put out the old.

I am so weary of waiting. Please. Come home soon.
Your Truest Love.

Greeting the Sun King

Title: Greeting the Sun King
Fandom: Ogham-Duir ( Original)
Characters: Lady Aura
Author: sidhe_faerie
Rating: G
Length: 244
Content notes: 48. Ceremony
Summary: The residents of Una celebrate the Winter Solstice.

Greeting the Sun King
The sun started to rise on the morning of the Winter Solstice. The worshipers of the Mother Goddess were at Blackstone Tor greet it. They had been waiting all night for the sun to rise.

There was a celebration in progress. The quiet drumming had gone on all through the night. The smell of sage and other herbs wafted through the air. The fire in the center of the Tor was just dying down as the first tendrils of sunlight glittered on the black stone.

The Sun King was reborn once again.

Lady Aura stood at the altar with outstretched arms to greet the sun as it rose over the mountain. She closed her eyes as the sun shone on her face.

“Greetings Sun King. Come forth from the world below and see that we are here to greet thee. Rise and grow. Your time with us is just beginning. Blessed Be!”

There were whispers behind her of “Blessed Be!”

The drumming started to grow louder and the dance of celebration began. Some discarded their robes and danced in the cold light while others threw more herbs and offerings into the fire.

Lady Aura dropped her robe and shrugged. She shifted into her dragon form and rose into the air. She flew over the Tor and high into the sky before coming to rest beside the altar once again. She shifted back into human form and went to join the others as they celebrated.  

Writer’s Resolutions for 2017

This is the time of the year when I state my goals for the New Year and try to be positive. This year, I think I would like to try something different. I am going to do a list of things that I don’t want to do instead. I know I should be positive and not negative but sometimes you just have to set limits. These are my limits and maybe a few goals too.

I don’t want to neglect my original writing.
I spend far too much time writing fan fiction and not enough time developing my own universes. I want to build my own worlds not live in everyone else’s. I have two universes that I am writing in now with notes for another.

Ogham-Duir has been going on for years now and it’s still not finished. I have parts of it that I haven’t even started to write. It’s frustrating. This universe should be more developed by now but I have been neglecting it far too much in favor of fan fiction.

Dark Realms was started this year and I have kept the format of an animated television series. I write it as if you were watching an episode unfold on the screen. I want to continue this universe in 2017 and I hope with the help of “puzzleprompts” I can keep it going.       

I don’t want to be involved in things or communities that pull me away from my writing.
No more land communities! I am a better writer than gamer. These communities are geared more to graphics makers and people who love a meme. I suck at graphics and I hate memes. I also don’t like those quickie flash games. I think I’m just burned out on this stuff and I will be taking a break starting the beginning of the year. 

No more watching communities that I never join. I have a few prompt communities that I watch just to steal prompts. It’s time to go all in or go home. To be honest, I really don’t want to add another prompt community to my list of ‘monthly obligations’.

What I can do is clear out a lot of communities that don’t interest me anymore and some that I know I will never join but I steal prompts from. There are also several that have just stopped posting prompts. Those will have to be removed from my list as well.    

I don’t want to add to the already long list of unfinished stories. (a.k.a The Pile)
I need to make time to finish all those stories on the list. If that means signing up for a big bang as incentive to finish then I will do it. There are far too many on there and I want to start more. I can’t start more until I finish the old ones. It just makes me feel guilty.

I need to just start at the top of the list and work my way through it. Okay, that will never happen but it is a plan. I think that if I do the small stuff first it will help me get the larger things done. Before long The Pile won’t be such a pile anymore.

After I tackle The Pile then I may just start on that big long list of story ideas. One thing at a time…..    

I don’t want to feel obligated to do a fest/challenge/big bang if I don’t want to do it.
In the past, I have let others talk me into things. I really need to stop doing that. I need to be able to say ‘no’ when I want to without feeling guilty. Guilt is not good. Guilt is not motivating. Friends don’t guilt friends into things.

There might be some people coming off my friends list as well. This is still an option but one I won’t exercise unless they want to give me more guilt in which case they will be dropped faster than a participle at the end of a sentence.

I do want to reach my word goals for 2017
I have a pledge for GYWO of 300k for the year. I will meet it and I hope go over it. I have plenty of things to work on that will help me reach my goal and then some.

There were also some changes mentioned for things coming in the next year. I hope they will be as fun as I think that they will be. I need some fun while I’m writing.

I want to do NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNo again in 2017.
This is where those world building notes will come into play. Hopefully, I can have an outline for the story ready in time for November.

Camp Nano would be a great place to start on another one of the Ogham-Duir kingdoms. Maybe Cullen or Ren? I look forward to finding a cabin that was as friendly and helpful as the one I was in for the April 2016 session. 

And there it is…. or at least some of it.

This got a little wordy. Well, I am a writer. What do you expect?