Leah

Chronicling The Craft: Draft #3 – 60% Progress Report

/ saraletourneau / 18 Comments

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Plus, Four Songs from Leah’s Kings & Queens That Appear on the WIP’s Playlist

Chronicling The Craft is a series where I share my experience with working on my YA fantasy novel THE KEEPER’S CURSE, which is now in its third draft. These articles alternate between a) progress updates and fun “TKC-related” content, and b) revising / editing tips. Today’s post marks 60% completion of Draft #3 with another progress report and more songs on TKC’s novel playlist.

It’s time for another update! And you know what’s better that giving another progress report? Sharing the news that I’ve met my stretch goal for cutting TKC’s word count!!

Guardians of the Galaxy dance-off

Let’s dance, Star Lord!

To be honest, I’m not surprised that I reached this second goal so quickly. I was just over 2,000 words away at the 40% update; and with several overwritten chapters around the corner, it was bound to happen before this pair of Chronicles. But that doesn’t change how thrilled and relieved I am that TKC is now within the recommended word count for its genre (under 100K for YA fantasies by debut authors).

Today I’ll go more in-depth about where TKC stands and what happens now that I’ve reached my stretch goal. I’ll also introduce you to the music of melodic metal singer-songwriter Leah McHenry and share more tunes from the novel’s playlist. Ready?
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Time Flies!: November 2015

/ saraletourneau / 29 Comments

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Welcome to the latest edition of Time Flies! It’s my version of a monthly update, where I recap the past month’s accomplishments and articles, share news and random things from my offline life, and hint at what may be coming in the month ahead.

Huh? What do you mean, tomorrow’s the first day of December?! I’m not ready to think about 2016 yet!!

Buddy the Elf

It’s insane how quickly this year has sped by. November in itself was a blur. I was hoping things would quiet down after a nutty October. Nope. Life offline turned into another kind of crazy altogether. So I’ve craved more time than usual to relax and meditate, and I know I’ll still need it now that the holiday season is underway.

Btw, I hope all my fellow Americans (and anyone else who celebrates the holiday) had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I’d traveled out to state to spend it with relatives, hence my absence from the blog and social media for the past few days.

Let me give you a chance to catch up on the past month’s posts now:
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Time Flies!: September 2015

/ saraletourneau / 25 Comments

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Welcome to the latest edition of Time Flies! It’s my version of a monthly update, where I recap the past month’s accomplishments and articles, share news and random things from my offline life, and hint at what may be coming in the month ahead.

It can’t be fall. September can’t be over. I refuse to believe it!

Pikachu No gif

See? Even Pikachu agrees!

Ah, well. Denial only works for so long, right? And in some ways, I really enjoyed September. But in other ways, I ran myself into the ground halfway through the month. You probably noticed the massive output of articles over the past two months, not only here but at DIY MFA and other guest posts. In short, I demanded too much from myself over a short period of time – which led to a case of blogging fatigue. (A crazier-than-usual work schedule also didn’t help things…) I still pushed through it to stay on top of my writing, but I let a lot of other things (visiting other blogs, commenting on posts, etc.) slide because I’d simply lost the energy. And it’s not the first time I’ve done this to myself, either.

This time, I need to ensure I’ve learned my lesson. Which, in this case, means no extra blogging assignments for a while, apart from two October guest posts I’ve already committed to for DIY MFA and The Sprint Shack. More on both articles when each goes live.

All right. Let me give you a chance to catch up on the past month’s posts now:

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My Favorite Music of 2012

/ saraletourneau / 2 Comments

Hello!

I hope your New Year has gotten off to a promising start. The end of 2012 was a busy time for me, between various writing projects, the holidays, and other things. However, I made sure to consider which albums from 2012 I considered as some of my favorites.

I always make two lists: a personal one that combines all of the music genres I listen to, and one for Sonic Cathedral that focuses exclusive on female-fronted rock and metal. Now that the Sonic Cathedral Best of 2012 article is online, it’s time for me to share my picks for both lists! And – ready for a shocker? – for the first time in a couple years, my #1 picks for both lists are different albums. Then again, that just goes to show how incredible some of 2012’s albums were.

So, here are the lists!

My Personal Top 10 Albums of 2012

Anathema Weather Systems cover2

1. Anathema – Weather Systems

2. Beyond The Bridge – The Old Man & The Spirit

3. The Mariana Hollow – Velvet Black Sky

4. Xandria – Neverworld’s End

5. Astral Tears – Hypnotic

6. Lyriel – Leverage

7. Kamelot – Silverthorn

8. Ideal Zero – Ideal Zero EP

9. Atoma – Skylight

10. Arjen Lucassen – Lost In The New Real

My Sonic Cathedral Top 10 of 2012
(click here to read the full article by the SC staff)

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1. Beyond The Bridge – The Old Man & The Spirit

2. The Mariana Hollow – Velvet Black Sky

3. Xandria – Neverworld’s End

4. Astral Tears – Hypnotic

5. Lyriel – Leverage

6. Ideal Zero – Ideal Zero EP

7. Leah – Of Earth & Angels

8. Venturia – Dawn Of A New Era

9. Vajra – Pleroma

10. Akoma – The Other Side EP