Look What's New!

I just finished the cover art for "The Wolves of Langoor" today when my dad and I got home from church. What do you think?

A few weeks ago I got a bit antsy to see TWOL finished and in book form, so I couldn't resist the opportunity to begin working on the cover. :)

(Click on the picture to see a larger version)

TWOL is coming folks, it is coming! :)

God bless.

~ElizabethMarieKauffman~

When Life Speeds Up Without Warning. . . .

You know that feeling?? When all of a sudden it feels like you're running at break neck speed just to keep up with yourself. . . . Well, I'm just getting into the downward slope of that feeling right now. I'm thinking that it must have been toward the end of last month that life started speeding up for me. I successfully went through my first ever production week for a short film that I wrote, produced, directed, and am now editing. My hope is that it will get into this up coming San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (some of you may remember last year when I was an extra in a short film that was a semi-finalist in that same film festival, if you don't, you can find that post here). Making a short film like that was SUCH an amazing experience!!! Even with the stresses that it caused, and even. . . even as we sat there all stuck on the beach that we were filming on, huddled under towels and the few beach umbrellas that we dared have open, trying to keep both ourselves and especially the equipment dry while a big storm was raging over us. . . even then, I could very happily tell myself, that this was where I belonged, this was what God had created me to do, at least at this point in time.

Since that experience of a lifetime, my mind has been overrun with exhilarating thoughts and plans for future films (short AND feature length!), but of course I've had to make myself leave those as mere ideas running around in my head and occasionally over notes to pick up later, so that I could work on completing the editing for this short film. Knowing me, if I started writing a screenplay for one of those others, I would probably never get back to finishing this one. . . . So, they shall just have to wait patiently on the sidelines for the time being. :)

I've been able to work farther on "The Wolves of Langoor" as well, during this time, and the plan is to get myself back into a schedule of writing every single night. If I did that, I think that I should easily be able to make my goal of completing the first draft for TWOL by the end of November 30th (that will take me through NaNoWriMo).

And so, for the most part you are caught up on my life. . . . I'm continuing to work on character development for my role in the short film that the sister of my friend is making (see here for a bit more details on that), so that is always fun. :) The second read through for that is this Saturday, and then Burns Family Studios announces their next film project this Friday!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D So I am very eagerly awaiting the weekend! :D

Amorette 99 (who was just barking rather obnoxiously in a brave "I will defend everyone!" sort of way–as much as a 4 pound puppy can–at a prop still sitting in my bedroom from filming week) greets you all. :)

Assr vísa ykkarr or∂.

~ElizabethMarieKauffman~

Christmas, CHRISTMAS, CHrIsTmas, Christmas

Well, NaNoWriMo is over. . . . I'm still working on typing up The Wolves of Langoor so that I can give you a final word count, so be looking for that to come very soon!

I just finished a pretty busy weekend, filled with acting the part of Mary in a Christmas pageant tableau (meaning that you act a segment of the scene while the narrators are talking, and then freeze in a position and hold it for a VERY long time), which performed two nights, with shows twice each night. I had the privilege of playing this same part last year, and last year as well as this I found it a very good way to get into the spirit of Christmas, and the mind set of what Christmas is truly about. Especially this year, when the added a segment at the end of the tableau; while me, Joseph, baby Jesus, and the shepherds and wise men and angels were all posed in the typical manger scene, a man who was supposed to be Jesus when he was older came across the lawn (it was outside), all beaten and bruised, with blood all over him, and more than half of his face made up to be all purple and blue. He was carrying a cross, and slowly made his way to the pavilion where we were, dragging his feet as he came. When he got there, he stopped and just stared at the baby Jesus for a while, before turning and going around and back to where he had come from. In the moments that he neared, and he just stood there, swaying slightly and breathing hard, as he stared at the baby in the manger, were really powerful! And what with me into the part of Marry so much that I began to feel what Marry might have felt, I was almost in tears with the thought that to her this was her baby. . . her son.

So that was a really amazing experience! And then as soon as that was done (as in the next day, and we were rehearsing while it was still happening), I played the part of the Narrator in a Christmas pageant for the children at our church. So I went from acting out the Christmas story, to telling it. :) But it was very fun.

But anyways. . . maybe I should get back to typing out that book instead of chatting away on a post. :)

Assr vísa ykkarr or∂.

~ElizabethMarieKauffman~

The Sword of Teneraz: The TRAILER!

I'm am very excited to announce that the The Sword of Teneraz book trailer is now complete!!! :D However. . . I am not going to show it to you, yet. You may thank my dad for the wonderful advice of waiting until closer to the books publication date to place it out in public. And I think that I'll keep the reasoning to myself and he: it may ruin it's affects on you otherwise. ;)

So keep your eyes open for the trailer to be released soon, with a great amount of hullabaloo and confetti.

And with that announcement, I think I should let you know how progress on my books are coming.

The Sword of Teneraz– is still in the editorial process. My mom is on her second run through, at the completion of which my dad will go over her notes and see if he has anything to add or such. My cousin has had–as he put it–an evil {crook eyebrows evilly} semester in college these past months, but his plan is to get TSOT edited over his Christmas break.

The Wolves of Langoor– is about 1/3rd written if my estimations are correct–which they seem to be known to not be, so we shall see just how far I truly am. The fantasy of completing NaNoWriMo's required 50,000 words in one month hasn't turned out to be a reality this year. :( All though I HAVE been able to make a great dent in the mass of writing to be done in order for this book to be called complete. So that has been exciting in itself. And I feel, that if I can keep up even just the amount of consistency that I've gotten in writing this month, I MAY (just possibly) be able to get the first draft done in a few months. (Don't hold me to that though, what with Christmas coming up and all. . . . It can be a great time to get lots of writing done, because of getting a break from other things; such as school. But on the other side of things, it's very possible to not get any writing done over the Christmas holiday, because you're so busy spending time with family.)

I hope that you feel U.T.D on all the latest happenings with my books now. Oh! And that reminds me. . . once NaNoWriMo is finished, I WILL be typing all that I have so far of TWOL into the computer so that I can put some numbers into the word count for it on my side bar; which, to my chagrin, still very clearly says "COMING SOON".

Thanks for following! And happy (late) Thanksgiving!!!! :)

Assr vísa ykkarr or∂.

~ElizabethMarieKauffman~

It's That Time of Year Again. . . .

NaNoWriMo is here. . . . Well, technically it came several days ago (I was a little late in starting). But anyways, my goal is to write 50,000 words in The Wolves of Langoor before midnight November 30th. Wheeew! That is a lot! But I've calculated that if I write approximately 5-8 pages a day, I should have it. . . . Yesterday I got a little over 5 written, and today I'm hoping to beat that, so I'd say I'm off to a decent start. . . .

I'll keep you posted with updates as the month progresses. But first, I want to hear back from the rest of you NaNoWriMo participants out there. How are you faring? What are you working on??

Before I go. . . I have 1 more announcement/question. So I've come up with 2 simi-title names for the series that includes The Sword of Teneraz, and The Wolves of Langoor. What do you think of:

1. The Chronicles of the Sword of the Kings

or
2. The Sword of the Kings Chronicles. . . .

I threw out the idea of calling it a trilogy, as I have a feeling that it might become 4 books instead of the originally planned 3.

Please let me know your thoughts. :)

Assr vísa ykkar or∂.

~ElizabethMarieKauffman~

Brought To You By: A-99!

Wow! It sure has been a LONG time since I last even got onto blogger. . . not counting that one time that I just opened up my blog page to listen to the music on it while putting dishes in the dishwasher. :)

A lot has transpired since my last post. . . . "Anne of Green Gables; the Musical" is done (I never did tell you what part I got in it. . . I ended up being Tillie Boulter–which meant that the summer before I almost drowned in the lake, AND I got to dress up as an igloo. ;) It was a super fun role.), I'm also in "Meet Me In St. Louis" now, as a ball room dancer (which means I get to learn to waltz. Which is super fun! :D ).

On the writing side of things, everything is going pretty well. :) I really need to get back into some kind of schedule here. . . really, just any kind of schedule would work. But you'll be glad to hear that that hasn't kept me from writing! I'm somewhere around chapter 7 or 8, I think, on "The Wolves of Langoor", and my mom is nearing completion of her editorial run through of "The Sword of Teneraz", my cousin is working on his copy right now, and my dad is going to start as soon as my mom is finished. Over all, things are moving closer and closer to getting that first copy. {fans face, and reaches for a paper bag to breathe into}

And now. . . (drumroll please). . . I have what I believe to be a very (and when I say "very", I mean extremely) important introduction to make. So now. . . before further ado, I would like you to meet Amorette 99; also known as Amorette, also known as 99, also known as A-99:. . .

in other words; my little chihuahua puppy. :) My friend breeds chihuahuas, and her dog had puppies, so after discussing with my parents, I decided to get one of her puppies and start breeding her myself to make some college money (since I kinda dug into it to buy her in the first place. :} ). But I am very proud of my little baby. . .

I just need to work on her not chewing on erasers when she writes. . . . tsk tsk. ;) Of course she's a little too big now to sprawl across my desk like that, though she still likes to dig at my writing papers when she wants to get on my lap and it's in her way. lol.

But I guess I'll say so long for now! Hopefully I'll be able to post more often now, but we'll have to see.

God bless.

Assr vísa ykkar or∂.

~ElizabethMarieKauffman~

Oh What Happiness! Oh What Thrill!

Just maybe 10-20 minutes ago I finished the 4th draft of "The Sword of Teneraz"!!! :D I am very excited. . . . . Now it is time to relax and celebrate as others edit it (and of course do a bunch more writing in "The Wolves of Langoor") until I get it back from them and take the final editorial step of putting them all together into my last draft. *deep sigh* :)

Assr vísa ykkarr or∂.

~ElizabethMarieKauffman~

Yurt: ?

Last weekend (Memorial weekend) my family and I went up to our little piece of land that we have up north, with a yurt on it. . . .

What's a yurt?

(yurt |yoŏrt; yərt|

nouna circular tent of felt or skins on a collapsible framework, used by nomads in Mongolia, Siberia, and Turkey)

The time was very relaxing, and one of the best times I've been able to have up there in years! On account of either being, or getting sick whenever we go up there. . . . But God was good, and this time I only had a minor cold/allergies that were easy to deal with. :) So I went canoeing every day (sometimes more than once a day), and went hiking in the hundreds of acres of national forest right next to our property (my ankles and up into my calves were still sore for several days after getting home). And besides having an all around great time in that way, I got a jump start back into my writing. I was able to rewrite the first chapter and a half about over the weekend. And when I got home I was raring to dive into editing, and get more writing done. So I arranged a schedule, and now I'm writing in the evenings on Mon, Wed, and Fri, and editing on Tue, Thur, Sat. With that schedule I've already been able to get a bunch done, and I'm lovin' it!! (To quote Max, from "Get Smart": I've been watching those lately. :>)

Assr vísa ykkarr or∂.

~ElizabethMarieKauffman~

Update On Books

The editing of the 2nd draft for The Sword of Teneraz is underway. :) So far I'm pretty happy with how it is coming along, though I really need to put more focus into it so that it can come along faster.

But The Wolves of Langoor however are having some troubles. . . . :\ So I'm currently taking a break (gives me more time to focus on editing), and when I pick it back up, I'm planning on doing basically rewriting what I've written so far. I was only on about the 30th page so far, so it won't be that much to rewrite. . . . [sigh] all that hard work.

But anyways. . . my reasons for doing stated dreaded thing: It just didn't feel right, and I was at the point that the ideas simply weren't coming out unless I poked, and prodded, and–to put it plainly–tortured them to. I finally realized what I think my problem was:

1-I needed a break. Time to clear my mind and bring back to focus where I want this story to go.

2-I was relying on my own strength; my own will power and imagination. At the beginning it wasn't coming all that smoothly, because this story has a more complicated story line than any others that I've written, and to be frank, I hadn't spent as much time just sitting and daydreaming about this story, to the point that I'd figured out the structure of every sentence in a certain scene, like I have for the others I've written. So, I had heard that it was good to make a layout of your story, and I decided to give it a try. But that was my error. Don't get me wrong, for others, I'm sure it helps a TON! But for me. . . planning everything out like that left out any room for last minute spurts of inspiration, which push the story in a different direction; any room for God to give His ideas. I'd left MY author out of the planning. He's the one who had always given me those spurts of imagination that kept my pen going–He's the one who gave me that imagination in the first place! I remember when writing TSOT, a time when He stepped in and completely changed where I thought the story was going, and because of that, it turned out FAR better than it would have if I had kept going the way I'd thought it should go. I know that other authors use the layout, and it works great for them. But for me, that's obviously not the way God wants me to go. I believe, that He wants me to trust in Him; trust that He will guide the story where it needs to go; trust that, when I sit there with a blank paper, and an open mind, asking Him what He wants me to put down, that He will tell me, and I won't be at a total loss like I fear I might be.

So. . . [takes a deep breathe] the layout goes in the trash. And I feel like I'm stepping off a cliff. . . . But, like that one character that I pushed off a cliff; since the author's still breathing, I know that somehow I will survive–and in the process, have the adventure of a lifetime. :)

Assr vísa ykkarr or∂.

~ElizabethMarieKauffman~

Yipppeeeeee!!!! :D

I have like 5 or 6 more chapters in TSOT to edit, then I'll have finished my first round of editing!!! :D I'm very excited!! Of course, I still have 2 more times of doing that, each coming from a different angle. This time was just a basic over all, make sure it flows well, work on grammar problems. . . etc. Next time will be focusing on the characters; are they consistent? Do I describe their personality, appearances, or things that make them special, singular people well enough or correctly? Then on the third time I will work on Alleria's history and the landscapes-also description. You know, all of the things that makes it more than just a story in a book, but gives it the feeling of it being someplace real. 3D instead of 2D if you will. . . .

After that, I'll pass the manuscript out to my parents and a few choice people for them to edit. And once that is done: publishing! :)

And The Wolves of Langoor is going pretty well I think. I'm probably about 3-4 chapters in, so it's not going incredibly fast, but that is because I am focusing more on editing TSOT, and getting that done. I won't tell you the story of TWOL. . . not yet! Further down the road I'll post the summary as I did for TSOT, but not just yet, you'll have to wait for that. :) Though I WILL say that TWOL is going to be a lot more epic of a story than even TSOT was. It's more of a constant battle raging on one side, while on the other is suspense and mystery. Ok, that's all I am going to say. ;) Hehe!

Assr vísa ykkarr or∂.

~ElizabethMarieKauffman~

Announcements!!!

*clears throat* I have two grand announcements to make. First off, today, at around 10-11 o'clock, I wrote the last sentences of The Sword of Teneraz, thus, finishing the writing segment of a completed book. :D I am now currently typing it into the computer, and then I'll begin editing. And soon, very soon (for I fear I will not be able to wait until I have finished editing) I will begin writing the sequel to TSOT. (And that is the second announcement) as I promised here is the long awaited name of the sequel: (drum roll please!) The Wolves of Langoor.

Also, I've been thinking. . . and I really need to find a name for this trilogy I be writing here. (Forgive my switches between old british, scottish, others of the sort and normal writing, I am rather excited right now, and in a fantastical, dreamy, bouncy sort of mood.) I had had the thoughts of calling it the Trilogy of the King, but I think that sounds too much like The Chronicles of the Kings, by Francine Rivers, I believe, and doesn't sound all that good, besides, there is really more than one king in the series, so it would have to be Trilogy of the Kings, making it even more like that other title. What about Keys of the Kings Trilogy? That sounds sort of nice. . . besides being a tongue twister in itself. Do you have any suggestions?? I know you don't have much to go off from, but perhaps you can come up with something better than these, or do you like one of those titles? Please tell me!

Assr vísa ykkarr or∂.

~ElizabethMarieKauffman~