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Let It Burn

Quick arty stuff today...scene from the WIP. Yes, Zara does run around for awhile with a shotgun and a Desert Eagle (not at the same time, and not pictured: Bowie knife), and sets a house on fire. This isn't exact, as in the book she does it during the day (long story) and has discarded her guns by that point. And it's not raining. But it's close enough. Also not pictured: her motorcycle.

"I let it fall, my heart,
And as it fell you rose to claim it
It was dark and I was over
Until you kissed my lips and you saved me.

My hands, they're strong
But my knees were far too weak
To stand in your arms
Without falling to your feet

But there's a side to you
That I never knew, never knew...

I set fire to the rain,
And I threw us into the flames"

(Rest of the lyrics.)

Song I had on repeat while writing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2j279pZxTY

(Actually, this and Linkin Park - In the End, but we'll stick with this one for the pic.)

I'm re-reading the 55K I've written so far and since a huge chunk of it was written in a NaNo induced frenzy and I've completely forgotten it. Like, a car chase. And a subplot with a necromancer. Jeez.

BTW, did you know you can add Exhumed to your GoodReads shelf? http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13110398-exhumed

Ana

This one came together pretty quickly.

No excerpt, but if you've read Bloodlines, you know all about Ana. And this is her.

I think an appropriate song for both Ana's awakening and Zara's (of a sort) would be Blinding...but then it's also probably appropriate for 99% of my heroines.

Seems that I have been held, in some dreaming state
A tourist in the waking world, never quite awake
No kiss, no gentle word could wake me from this slumber
Until I realize that it was you who held me under

Felt it in my fist, in my feet, in the hollows of my eyelids
Shaking through my skull, through my spine and down through my ribs

No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone
No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden
No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world

Coda

Yay! Arty stuff and end-of-the-book excerpt!

And I worry not about spoiling anyone because a) no one is reading the books anyway, and b) regardless of the context, I think the scene makes sense.Read more

In the Sun

"I picture you in the sun wondering what went wrong
And falling down on your knees asking for sympathy
And being caught in between all you wish for and all you've seen
And trying to find anything you can feel that you can believe in

May God's love be with you, always"

Print available here: http://www.deviantart.com/print/18678662

From this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QotZ7TIaztw

This is a little how I'm feeling right now.

Howl

I was INAMOOD last night.

In fact, it was beyond that...I was INADOOMMOOD.

To avoid howling at the moon and disturbing the neighbours, I did this instead.

Larger version at dA: http://indigochick.deviantart.com/art/Howl-201685571

"If you could only see the beast you've made of me
I held it in but now it seems you've set it running free
Screaming in the dark, I howl when we're apart
Drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart"

(And here's the song.)

(Side note: I sort of see it as a companion piece to Wild http://www.skyladawncameron.com/blog/art-wild)

"Falling Slowly"

"Falling slowly, eyes that know me//And I can't go back"

"Take this sinking boat and point it home//We've still got time"

From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzQ9VrnNQLQ

My friend posted this song the other day (yes, I know it's old--I listen to 30's delta blues so clearly I'm behind the times, kids). It smacked me across the head because it's very much Dess/Alec from the WIP right now...and then one thing led to another and voila.

Do give the song a listen; it's lovely.

"Dess"

I got my heroine into some trouble this evening...

Hurt like a million fishhooks dug in deep everywhere the blood touched. And it pulled. Pulled blood through tissue, bones through flesh, dragging me inside out. Tugging, ripping, tearing—I wailed a high-pitched sound that clawed behind my eyes and hurt my own ears. Then I was tumbling, falling, hitting the floor and I felt my bones rattle. Black spots danced over my eyes and a blurry, greyscale filter slid over the world. Agony burned hot like fire scalding my skin—

And I blinked. Bright white light like stars bursting stabbed my eyes. Faded.

Desert. Colour returned but it was shades of brown and flecks of golden sand for miles, blue sky that seemed infinite. A warm breeze tickled my skin, blew sand over my toes. I felt light, like the breeze could run through me—faint and ethereal, a ghost who would blow away if a high wind kicked up.

I drifted. Sun cut a huge orange circle into the horizon and heat travelled above the ground fluid like water. A throb started low in my temples, the way it does if you stand up quickly and feel lightheaded for too long. The sun sparked the gold in the sand and it glittered; a desert of stars in the ground rather than the sky. That sand burned the soles of my feet with each step, driving spikes of fire up, up, straight into my legs. The air was too heavy for me, weighing me down, and I struggled to take it into my lungs—

A little word broke through the haze around me, tickling my ears. “Dess...”

I slammed back into the world like I’d been dropped from a skyscraper into the pavement. Throat raw, mouth open, I realized I was still screaming and couldn’t stop. My pulse thundered in my ears, skin burned, and I flailed, arched, shook as if in seizure. Heels slipped and kicked uselessly in something liquid. Head thumped on the polished tile hard enough that stars flickered over my eyes.

Then a dark figure was over me; hands on my face, my tensed jaw; smoothing hair, soothing skin. “Dess...?”

That one little word. Over and over ‘til it lost meaning to my brain. Dess...Dess...Dess... It was a whisper, an embrace, a promise—it was everything in this scary, painful world suddenly and I clung to it because I was too afraid of what would happen if I let go.

“It’s gonna be okay, Dess...”

Safe

How I cleared my head today after lots of stressed freaking out.

(Print here: http://www.deviantart.com/print/13654207/)

Dessa and Alec from Wounded (WIP, sequel to Abandoned), which is currently 58K into the first draft. I'd have added a song, as typically I listen to a lot of music with both arty stuff and writing, but Alec doesn't like me picking songs. The closest would probably be Serenata Immortale.

One of the questions that's been popping up a lot in Wounded is, can you feel safe with someone you don't entirely trust? And how do you deal with it when your heart seems to drag that much farther behind your brain?

Longish except after the cut. Note: The above isn't an exact depiction of the scene (it was actually a closer depiction to a different scene later in the book), but it has the same feel as the excerpt and that was all I was going for. Plus I liked this one better. And I cut a bunch of plot spoiler stuff (note to beta reader: that's why you might feel like something's missing) from the excerpt but hopefully it still makes sense.Read more

Wild

lg version

You've got some nerve to come back here
You're not the only one who can smell fear

I go wild
'Cause you break me open
Wild
'Cause you left me here
I go wild
'Cause your promises are broken
Wild
Don't you get it dear
You're not the only one who runs on instincts
No I've got instincts of my own

Here's the song if you don't know it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAI__h-Bxzo

Nothing Else Matters

"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."
- Kahlil Gibran

lg version

Dess and Vaughn from my unpubbed YA paranormal Abandoned

And the appropriate music: