Neverworld’s End

Chronicling The Craft: Draft #3 Is DONE!!

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Plus, the Final Five-Song Reveal from 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. These articles alternate between a) progress updates and fun “TKC-related” content, and b) revising / editing tips. Today’s post marks the end of Draft #3 with a final progress report and more songs from TKC’s novel playlist.

Well, the title gives it away… but this happened 2 weeks ago!!

So, yes, TKC is done for the third time, and 2 weeks before my “soft” deadline of November 20th. Since then, I’ve been feeling… well, a weird mix of emotions. Relief. Accomplishment. Excitement-anxiety-nausea over the upcoming beta-reader phase.  Also, a sense of “What do I do with myself now?”. You get used to weeks and months to doing something on most weeknights and weekends, and when it’s done you’re almost at a loss. But I won’t let myself flounder for long, and I’ll explain why shortly.

You know what else this means? It’s DANCING PIKACHU TIME!!

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Now, here’s the final progress for Draft #3, as well as the final five-song reveal from TKC’s novel playlist. 🙂
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Time Flies!: July 2015

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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.

Hello from Writer’s Digest Conference! Today is Day One of the event, and I’m beyond excited for everything. The individual sessions, meeting other writers (especially some of my DIY MFA colleagues), being in NYC for the first time in a while, LOTS of books… It’s hard to believe that this weekend I’ve been looking forward to since early March has finally arrived, but it’s here! I can’t wait to share more of my experience with you once I’m back at home. 😀

And what about the past month? It’s been an interesting one, that’s for sure! So, here’s your chance to catch up with the month’s blog postings and other things:

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Five Years at Sonic Cathedral – A Retrospective, Part 3: Artists #10 through #6

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Finally getting around to the next part of my retrospective! We’re halfway through the countdown of my 20 favorite artists that I’ve covered at Sonic Cathedral over the past 5 years. If you’ve missed the first two installments, now’s a great time to catch up:

Part 1: Artists #20 through #16

Part 2: Artists #15 through #11

Which means that today I’ll reveal the first half of my top 10. 😉 And remember that you can catch the daily version of the countdown at my official Facebook page.

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My Favorite Music of 2012

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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

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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

New Review at Sonic Cathedral: Xandria’s “Neverworld’s End”

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Time for another new CD review!  This one is on Xandria’s fifth album, Neverworld’s End, out now in Europe and on March 6th in North America via Napalm Records.

I’ve always liked Xandria’s music, but the only pre-Neverworld’s End record of theirs I’d recommend would be their 2005 album India.  Otherwise, their brand of gothic pop-metal with Celtic and Middle Eastern elements was… decent. Over the past few years, however, Xandria have had to replace their frontwoman twice while crafting a major shift in style. Today, Xandria’s sound is more symphonic, more metal, more bombastic and operatic (thanks to soprano singer Manuela Kraller) – and much more awesome. That’s one of many reasons why I called Neverworld’s End “[Xandria’s] ticket to the forefront of the genre.” I think we’ll be hard-pressed to find a more impressive symphonic metal album this year, even from Epica, whose next album comes out in a couple of weeks.

Click here to read my review of Xandria’s Neverworld’s End.

More articles coming soon at both Sonic Cathedral and Suite101!

~ Sara