I seem to have caught a wee bit o' a sniffle. As colds go, this is the mildest I can remember, but then lately I've been reverting to the habits of my ancestors and treating everything with cod liver oil. I think it's a cold that hopped from one of Chats' dance friends to Chats and now to me.

Ah well, excuse to drink a lot of tea and take the afternoon off. I need to do some thinking anyway. Just sitting down and thinking is time well spent.

Dragon Strike is shaping up, but not as fast as I'd like. When I first started it, it seemed the Copper was the only character doing anything interesting on the page, no matter what my outline said. Then I replotted a bit and things are a lot more pell-mell for Wistala now. In fact she's eclipsing the Copper, which takes some doing.

Which leaves AuRon. He's got some nice moments at the end of the book (still not written unless you count the last chapter, which I sometimes do early in the drafting stages so I know my finish line), and the pivotal scene where they all three meet again is pretty good, but I think he needs one more good jolt in the first half of the novel.

Also, I've got a wicked human queen who's just way too much out of Disney central casting.* I tried to write her as sort of a fantasy Catherine the Great empire builder cross between Coco Chanel and Ayn Rand, but she never quite made it. Trying to come up with a new way for her to be scary. This is my first attempt at writing a Bad Girl and I don't want to stumble.

*Not that I'm slamming the Disney villainesses. According to my mom the witch in Snow White blew me away as a toddler. As a ten year old I was pretty scared of Cruella (book version). I loved dogs, and to have this kitten-drowning woman running around screaming for the puppies to be skinned NOW! rather freaked me out.

Ah, Cruella. Owner of the loudest motor horn in England and not afraid to use it, with her Tallulah Bankhead wit, proto-goth fashion sense, and unwillingness to take no for an answer. Of course prim little Mrs. Dearly ended up with the city boy husband and Cruella married a milquetoast, but damn, I bet Cruella would have been a trip to date in college.

As seen on mssrcrankypants

Sadly, I don't have a lawn so I can't yell at kids to keep off it.

How I scored this well I don't know. Is it because I believe you should give one warning shot?