The Passionate Guilt of a Writer

"Sorrow for what I did to a world I created before I delved to image it's beauty, but to preserve the planet would mean the story never happen." -Nekodra

My feelings for the world I created in Luminescence in the Darkness, my Sci-fi Vampire story that I am writing specifically to submit to Asimov Sci-fi short story magazine. The story I recently send to a few friends to get their opinions and editing what they noticed. I had a feeling that towards the end it gets a little confusing and sort of felt a little flimsy plot wise, and that was confirmed. I starting to work out fixes, which of course came to me moments after sending it off. As I was waiting for the feedback, not wanting to really work on the story itself till after I get the feedback...well, back. I began really thinking about what a planet would look like to evolve the (what my boyfriend amusingly dubbed and has now stuck in my mind) Vamplien race. I started sketching out plants based in creating or consuming blood, in place of making sugar. Plants that exist without needing sunlight- which just clicked in my head, Chemosynthesis (That is the word that's been on the tip of my tongue for weeks) instead of Photosynthesis. I have grown to love the beauty and interesting differences yet similarities to Earth. A planet quite literal a world of Vampires. Is anyone really surprise that I would do this? I hope not. This is my imagination at work and I have a probably unhealthy love and admiration for Vampires. I am surprise I didn't write it sooner, to be honest.

The more I sketch and work to create the ecosystem of this world, the guiltier I feel for what I have done to it. The more I would love to visit this planet, though be careful, getting too close to a plant will leave you tired and a little drained. I can't wait to get my new laptop, which will take me about a month to save up for, but I can be patient. >.< I will be patient. The laptop I am eying and plan to get is the Acer Iconia, once I get it I can take my sketches for the Vamplien home world and put color to it. Which I will share when I do. Once I am done with this blog post, I plan to continue with the research of things so the science is decently believable. Its a crazy universe, I like to think there could possibly be a planet of Vampires. There is a world that is made up of burning ice- 6 Real Planets that put Science Fiction to Shame.

But aside from that, I know I need to tear down and restructure the story. Though I am a little unsure how I want to restructure it. So aside from some research to put a decent amount of science behind my world and the occasional sketch as I think of new plants, I feel I need to take a step back from the story. Let my unconscious muse over how to reassemble, then the next time I look at the story the answers will come to me like magic (because our unconscious mind is amazingly powerful and never stops working.)

So though I have been talking a lot about Luminescence in the Darkness, doesn't mean I have forgotten my WOVaN project, or Modern Magic. To be honest the only reason I haven't worked on Modern Magic but for an occasion added note here and there is the slight laziness and daunting task of typing up that entire notebook of notes. x.x I kinda wish I could pay someone to type it up for me, but I doubt they could read my handwriting. I feel guilty though. Its not only typing it up, but then rearranging the notes into the proper story order. I feel guilty. I hope Ember, Cole, and the world of Modern Magic isn't too upset and plotting my death. Though, if it was at the hands of Cole, I would be okay with that. But I really should make the habit of typing up a few pages a day, otherwise it will just keep piling up. I know, I know. Bad Writer, bad. WOVaN, I need to step back from to think how I wanted to conclude/continue the main story of the collection. I plan to look at that today and make some headway on that. Heh, 3 projects, my brain is overwhelmed, but I will finish them. I will. Slow and steady wins the race, correct?

Movies & such:
Putting projects aside for the moment, let me talk about a few other things before I head back to working on them and finishing this post.

Bill Hader (Agent W) -Josh Brolin (Young Agent K) & Will Smith (Agent J) in MIB III (Image from Google)

Men in Black III:
I just saw it and it was awesome. Your always iffy about sequels and 3rd's, then when its been years and years since the last one, you worry it will ruin things. Your treasured memories of the originals. But, honestly. I think they did a wonderful job. Wonderful. I don't want to say too much, because if you go in with high expectations, then it ruins the movie for you. So I will say this, go see it. If you enjoyed the first 2 or even just the first. Just see it, let your curiosity wonder if they did okay, and watch the movie. Besides, just because I loved it, doesn't mean you will. See for yourself. ^_^

SNL:

Bill Hader & Seth Meyers on SNL (Image from Google)

While I have known of the show all my life, I only saw random episodes here and there. Why I never watched more is beyond me. Love the show. Always enjoyed the random ones I saw, so why I didn't actively watch it every Saturday, I will never understand. But since staying with my dad, I watch it every week. I have fallen for Bill Hader. He is my favorite, while the current cast is awesome and its sad to see Kristen Wiig leave, but we will see more of her, I hear she was many projects in the works. But while the entire cast is amazing, Bill Hader is my favorite. I have seen many of his other movies and liked him, I didn't realize his name and take notice, (that tends to happen a lot. I will like someone, but then they play one role that really sticks out and then you realize you have seen and enjoyed them in many other movies, you just didn't really put the name to the face and keep tabs.) But anyways, Bill Hader is awesome and I am slowly working on watching all of SNL through Netflix, which has from the beginning till 2010.

Bill Hader (Image found with Google)

While my main love is Vampires, I do love a good laugh. I love wit. Vampires and Wit, if you want to know what to use to seduce me. Get a Vampire comedian, scratch that, be a Vampire comedian and seek me out. Turning Bill Hader in to a Vampire wouldn't be a bad idea, also. <.<; *cough* Please?

No,no, who knows if he would want that, don't force it upon someone. That is how we get those depressed Vampires. So anyways, I tend to fall for Vampires and those who can get me to snort. Yes, if I laugh hard enough, I snort. People seem to think its cute and try to get me to do it again. >//< My boyfriend thought about making a drinking game with it, but discovered he was too good at making me laugh and everyone would have died. 110 shots in 10 minutes. I think it was also 2 am and everything is funny at 2am, I blame sleep deprivation for that insane fit of giggles with many snorts. My nickname on one of my softball teams was Laughalot. Get it, Lancelot, Laughalot? 9 year old's are so witty. I think in middle school someone used to call me Gigglebox...?

I love humor, just because I have my grouchy days doesn't mean I enjoy being upset. In fact I hate being upset. I love my boyfriend, he somehow knows the perfect moment to insert something humorous when I am crying or ranting, and turns my emotions on a dime. I love him, so much. Now if only he was a vampire... <.< I am kidding, love him even if he isn't a vampire. But have you ever laughed and cry at the same time? Its a strange sensation.

Back to Vampires and wit- I have a list of actors who I would love so see play a role of a Vampire, Bill Hader has just been added to the list. If I manged to miss it on his IMDB list of movies and he has played a vampire, you better leave a comment with the name of said movie. Though, I can't really take David Tennant off the list, >.< so close though in the Fright Night remake, which I still love. Watched again last night. Also not so sure about Nicholas Cage, Love Bites, that was a....interesting movie. >.< I think I will keep him on the list, in hopes of another Vampire role, though again...that movie is strange, was he even really a Vampire, or just crazy? I may need to watch it again, I don't remember it very well. I also still need to go see Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp, then he can be crossed off, once I see it that is.

Okay, I have rambled on enough. ^_^; Instead talking about Vampires, I should go work on my stories. If your in Washington, enjoy this day of sun, because I did a rain dance for the Gods and it looks like they were pleased and I can crawl out from this rock tomorrow to enjoy the comfortable chill of rain. Thank you Gods. Now if you guys could give me feedback on whats wrong with my Vampire Dance, that would be wonderful so I can please you and get my Vampire comedian.

Thanks,
Nekodra
Nekodra-blog@hotmail.com
@Nekodra

Still would love tips for indie publishing through Amazon from my previous post, Little Advice/Help

Little Advice/Help

Asking for Advice:

I would like to ask for advice/help from any independent authors who come across this blog post.
While the books I would like to publish through Amazon at some point are not done, I am trying to make sure I understand the process before I finish one of the books so I am ready when they are.

Question 1: I was reading through Amazons page on KDP, and such, it mentioned that I have to have exclusive rights to my book to publish them. Do I have to do anything special, pay some company in order to claim I own my book- as in copy right or something- or is it by default mine unless I sold it to a publishing company?

Question 2: What about commissioning the cover of the book? I have commissioned it from a friend and she knows I want it for a book cover. Am I golden to use it as the cover with amazon, because I have permission from the artist?

Question 3: Is there a link you can give me to a good source for independent publishing, in case I have any other questions about the process?

Question 4: What do you suggest about editing? I know there will be errors that I won't catch and I would like to fix that, what do you suggest for getting a story edited before publishing?

Thank you so much, for anyone who helps me to answer these questions!
I have read various tips and such in blogs, but it never hurts to have a nice large rang of advice on a topic.

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About WOVaN Project & Modern Magic:

The search is finished! I did find the story. I also found a whole bunch of old crappy stories I wrote 11 years ago as well. I did find a few old Floppy's which could have more stories. I am glad my parents haven't gotten rid of their old tower yet, we have a new one, but the old one is still nearby and it has a floppy drive, at some point I will boot that old puppy up and about a half hour later I can pop in the floppy and see what is on it, assuming they still work.

WOVaN is coming together nicely. If you haven't guessed yet, WOVaN is going to be a collection of short stories. It will be a series- I have MANY short stories. The first won't have too many, a small collection. There is a completely new story-ish, the first paragraph is from an old story I found, but after that is all new that I have been working on. I think it's at 3,000 words, it might end up as a Novelette and be the focus story of the collection and then a couple shorter stories. We will see how it goes. One story you may recognize from here, but I changed and edited it. Then some older stories I wrote years ago- fixed up and edited.

One of many Shrimp we caught. Big suckers.

I am still working on Modern Magic too, right now its sort of just typing up notes from when I didn't have a laptop (which is a LOT) and then trying to organize them in the proper storyline order. Kind of a daunting task at the moment.

How I am doing:

Started my new job last Tuesday! I work 4-10. Yeah, that is right, three day weekends baby. I think I am going to love this job! NDA doesn't let me talk details, but I work for Microsoft thru Volt, game testing. Don't look to me for leaks, I want to keep my job. XP Lol, but I am enjoying it. Bugging and Crashing a Natal (Kinect) game. Fun, fun. The people I work with are so much fun. I have finally found the perfect work environment. I don't want to leave this job anytime soon!

Me and a Shrimp. See! Big suckers.

Also speaking of fun, that last weekend with that super warm and sunny-ness- while me and the sun don't get along, I had a fun and packed weekend.

Friday- I went shrimping with my dad, grandpa and uncle Scotty. Spent time on my grandpa's boat from 6am to about 5pm. Good times. I am happiest on a boat. I want to have my own boat one day and just spend hours out on the water, perhaps a few nights. I love laying down on a boat and rocking in the waves. So calming. I can't describe how relaxing being on a boat is for me. Being on a boat rids me of nausea, that's how relaxing it is.

Cute little Dwarf Cuttlefish.

Saturday- I went to Pike Place Market for the first time- I know, whats wrong with me? I have lived near Seattle my whole life and I had never been to Pike Place. But I enjoyed it, and now that I have a job I want to go back and buy things. Several things. I will go back sometime later this summer. Me and my mom also went to the Seattle Aquarium. I love that place. I love getting to see all sorts of sea life, so beautiful. Also cute. I think my favorite part of the Aquarium is the Octopus and the Harbor Seals. Then- is it horrible that I went to the aquarium, loved and enjoyed seeing all the sea life and then I went to have dinner at Ivar's? <.< I love sea life both to observing and also eating. yum. ^_^


Oh, lets go to Book corner for a moment:

 I still have so many books I want to read, I have over 120 samples waiting to be read and about 34 books I bought or found for free waiting to be read. I recently finished reading Gunship by John Davis. (The links are for Amazon) I believe the third book is due to be released soon, but I am not sure when. I haven't read the second book yet, Glimmeria, but it is on my list- in fact I should grab the sample to remind me. I did rather enjoy the book. It had a nice Firefly feel to it. I can match parallels to some of the characters. While the format of the books was hard to get used to, it was a great story. You grow to like the characters and so you want to continue to see how they are, if they are okay. If you enjoyed the show firefly, you will surely enjoy Gunship.

Right now I am currently catching up on Asimov magazine and then I will be back to reading Blood Skies by Steven Montano (@Daezarkian) Which I HIGHLY recommend. I haven't finished it yet, I am only on chapter 3, but I have to say: The world Steven Montano has eloquently painted with words is breathtaking & marvelous.

Me at Snoqualmie Falls on Mothers day

I don't know if this really fits into book corner, its a blog. I stumbled across @Suzisquared on twitter last night and by proxy I found her blog - Vampire Sexual Secrets. I have read a good deal of it by now and I will read more later tonight. But I have fallen in love with her blog and her Vampires. Ideal. That is the best word I can use. I have been seeking out Vampire since I was 4- so ever since I can remember I have gotten my hands on anything Vampire I could and while I will enjoy them on some level, some not, some I do love, but more often then not I would feel something is missing. Her Vampires, are probably the only ones that have made me feel- 'I finally found it.' Like I can take a breath and relax because I have found what I have been looking for all my life. I can't wait to get to the actual story, I am so excited. I have been reading through the other parts of her blog, which talk about her Vampires, the characters, and explaining things. Then I will read the actual story, which I am antici------------pating. Sorry, Rocky Horror Picture Show, can't help it.

Oh, and have you seen the English trailer for Kingdom Hearts? I am so excited to play! Can't wait! Already pre-ordered at Gamestop, and there will be a collectors edition through Gamestop, so when that is pre-orderable I will upgrade to that. Release date is nearly here! 7/31/12!

Alright, I think I have talked enough. Sorry for the lack of Short Story or a WOTDS. Had a busy first week of work, still getting used to it and I am feeling a little off. So what writing I can do I am putting towards WOVaN right now. This blog post- I have been slowly working on since last week. So my apologies, next post I will see what I can put together for you to read. For now, if you haven't read some of my other stories here is the WOTDS Guide and Short Stories Guide. I will leave you with that and back to editing WOVaN for me.

~Nekodra
Nekodra-blog@hotmail.com
@Nekodra

Ohh We're Halfway there- Ooh Living on a-

Doodled yesterday/today, it was super fun. ^_^ I like it

Modern Day Magic:
YES! Over 20,000 words. I feel accomplished. 21,543 to be exact. I have a few new 'scene' ideas. I expanded on chapter 2, which I also made a decision about the detective. So Chapter 2 is coming along nicely now. The next thing is when I visit my boyfriend from the 13th-20th, I plan to play some Magic and use that 'battle' for a scene between Danny and Ember. So we'll let the fates decide who wins, aka he will kick my ass. >.< But we will see, he plans to make several new decks with his two boxes of Dark Ascension he got, so maybe the one I play against won't do so well against my Human/Spirit Token Shitting deck...maybe. >.> *cough*


So the conversation is moving along once more for Chapter 2. The ball is rolling again with ideas for Modern Day Magic. It feels nice. Still feeling out the characters, I have Ember down pretty well. Still have decisions to make with Cole. Edward is hard to write, because I don't have a brother. Though there aren't really any scenes to write with him yet, but there is a past scene I am working on and its a little hard. I always wanted an older brother, someone who would have stood up for me through grade school, someone who I could have talked to. Someone to have played with. I was a lonely child, well I had my books and Tv Shows. Heh. But still a few big things that need to be figured out, but its coming along. *Bounces* Over 21,000 words! *Plays Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer* Ooh, better idea:

Only my boyfriend works at Gamestop and I am the one out of a job, but he is what keeps me going. I don't know what I would do without him, his support and love, honestly. I don't even what to think about it. *shivers* I would say that songs fits pretty well for this point in my life.

So Modern Day Magic:
I have plans for holiday chapters, the story starts off in early October. One holiday is pretty-- gruesome, so far at least. And with the magic, of course there is going to be a little Harry Potter tossed in, really, it can't be helped. lol.


Modern Day Magic Sample
The Most recent and last post with actual parts from Modern Day Magic for those who may have not read it and are curious. Please don't steal. lol. ^_^;; If you have opinions, please don't forget to say them. ^_~

Here is the current word count from the last few days:

2/01/12- 18,639
2/02/12- 19,759
2/03/12- 20,161
2/04/12- 20,967
2/05/12- 21,543 - so far today

Yay. I woke up this morning at 10am to my dad calling from Nairobi and I tried going back to sleep and I ended up writing about oh-- 200 words on my phone with ideas before I could pass back out of which I promptly did once my muse let me.


Then I had 4, yes 4, of those dreams where you think you're getting up. Then you suddenly wake up again, only once again you didn't. 4 times. I woke up with a slight headache from that. x.x Man and my boyfriend had bought me a pretty sweet swiss army knife and we were at this strange amusement park that apparently we both use to go to as a child. It was pretty nifty, old and rustic, I may add something like that to the story, it was actually pretty cool looking. Its so strange how dreams tend to re-write your history, fun, but crazy.


One of the times I 'woke up' all the light bulbs had decided to go out in the house and me and my mom had no way of getting more till my dad got back from Africa.


One time, I was at a pretty nifty school with past teachers I liked and I think Harper from Wizards of Waverly place was there. So was Ian from the first season of Doctor Who. I watched several episodes with the 1st Doctor before I went to bed. I admit, small crush on Ian. I was about to buy a Chai Tea latte with white chocolate from the star bucks on campus and I woke up! Gah, of course. I haven't had a Chai tea in so long because I don't have money and my dream couldn't let me at least have a sip before I woke up? No, instead in one of the dreams I ate a raw ball of meat, yes raw ball of meat. It tasted like a flavorless ball of mush. >.< uck.


Then one dream, I was in an art store and apparently wanted to learn to knit, but all the balls of yarn were 100 dollars, the starters kit was 1,000 dollars. I had no money, so I don't even know why I was there. The salesman was trying to get me to buy it all, he wouldn't listen when I told him I only had 6 dollars to my name. He kept showing me things I couldn't have. It was mean. My unconscious can be very torturous a lot of the time. 

Info on the Blog: 
If you haven't noticed, I can be very random with my blog updates and I am sorry for that, but I am just not a consistent person. And that's not going to change, so if you want to know when I make posts, I would either follow me on Twitter or follow by email or follow if you have an account here that way you know quickly and easily when I make a post. Just a little fyi. ^_^;


In case you haven't notice, I went through and put tags on my posts. A suggestion I got from another blogger. Here are some lovely tips from another blogger My Name is Not Bob and his post on 25 Ways to increase blog Traffic. I hope the words I pick work okay... I may have to go through and mess with them more, but I think I picked decent words for lack of better words. ^_^; So now you can see which posts I talk heavily about Psych, Red Dwarf or Doctor Who. Which ones have WOTDS, short stories, and when I talk about Modern Day Magic.

Psych Count Down:

(USA's site from Psych Calender Countdown)

Can't wait! Love you Lassie! And Psych is the only reason I will tune into the superbowl at 5pm on Sunday (aka later today <.<;; ). Just like I recorded White Collar just to watch the other promo, which of course was at the very end. >.< lol, I called that. I also don't know how many times I have watched it, >.> but more then I probably should have.....


Anyways, I think I have yammered on enough for 5:30am >.< I should probably go to bed. lol. But I will probably work on Modern Day Magic a bit more before I do. <.<;;


Night! or Morning!

Here are the side notes:

-- Please Comment, I would love to talk!

Also any tips, suggestions would be loved. 

You can also email me at Nekodra-blog@hotmail.com
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--Follow me on Twitter. I will tweet every time I post on my blog. Nekodra's Twitter 
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--If you have never seen Psych and you love comedies or crime shows, I highly recommend it! Currently on a mid-season break and will return on Leap year, Feb. 29th 2012! 27 more days!
So excited here is a Link to a trailer for the second half of season 6. Here is the new promo. I am so excited, can't wait for 2.29.12!

-- Please remember, Modern Day Magic belongs to me, thank you.

~Nekodra K.D. LaCroix

2 Red Dwarf 2 Psych 2 Indie Love #14

Yeaaah...don't mind the crazy title, I slightly wonder if my hyper mood is just my mind insanely rebounding from yesterdays breakdown, from one extreme to another...wheee... That and yesterday I slept from 6am to 6pm and I haven't slept since. <.<;;

Forward

I completely did not download 6 or so different word a day apps to give myself a fun array of words a day to use for WOTDS (Words of the Day Stories) >.>; Several of them being in a different language, but that makes it all the more fun! Plus, in celebration of my 14^th post, because, 14 is the best number cause its twice as good as 7, but I still love 7 too, I wanted to try and use 14 words for today’s WOTDS. And, I am feeling a bit better today too, I have a solution for my problem and hopefully it works out, but until then, I refuse to stay upset. Screw that, I want to be in a good mood so I will! Remember it all starts with a positive mindset.

            So to start, YAY! Guess what today is, other then being my 14^th post!? It’s the first day of shooting in front of a live audience for Red Dwarf X! I wish I could be there, but I shall have to be patient and wait till September for it to air, BUT, I can be happy in the thought that they are filming as I type, maybe, I mean the tweets weren’t too long ago, so its likely still filming! And also, only 9 days till Christmas, which also means 9 days till the Doctor Who Christmas Special! And if you haven’t heard the upcoming season with be the end of Amy and Rory’s story, which is sad, I will miss you Amy! The new companion has not been picked yet, last I heard. I hope she is at least close to as awesome and beautiful as Amy is. I also heard River will be around for a while, and she has grown on me, so I don’t mind that.

            These two months are going to crawl by as I wait for the second half of this season of Psych! It doesn’t help that the first episode of part two of this season is an Indiana Jones ep! That series and the Star Wars series, the originals of course, I watched countless times as a child! I grew up adoring those movies, and completely crushing on Indiana Jones and Princess Leia, also Han Solo! Those three were probably my first crushes! But yeah, so I am super excited to see what Psych does with Indiana Jones. Hmmm, now I want to go re-watch the three ordinals, not so happy with the fourth, I mean it was pretty funny, all the cracks about Jones being too old for this, but I don’t like the idea of Shia LaBeouf possibly taking over for Indie. Also not only is there the Indie episode, but Wayne Brady is on the list of guest stars for the second half! I love that guy, aside from Colin and Ryan, he is the best on “Who’s line is it anyways?” and also he has been on HIMYM several times.

            So! Good times are ahead! Can’t wait! Red Dwarf X, Psych, Doctor Who, and wish me luck on finding a job. >.< I could use it. And I am having fun with WOTDS, so shoving my stress to the side, on to the story!

Note to those who maybe new readers, if you want to get to know Nekodra a little before reading a short story on her, the WOTDS Guide has a quip of her bio, so here is Link to the WOTDS Guide

WOTDS December 16^th 2011

(Note: they will be missing any special markings above letters because I don’t know how to add them, heh. Sorry)

Foment- To promote the growth or development of

Abrade- To scrape off

Etalage (French) – Display

Agire (Italian) – to act

An deiner seite (German) –by your side

Ikaika (Hawaiian)- Strong

Karwahe (not sure)- Carriage

Xi Mang (Vietnamese)- Cement

(ke) Niiche (Hindi)- Down/under

Gloria (Latin) –Glory, fame

Malus (Latin)- Bad, evil, wicked

Oculus (Latin)- eye

Oiche mhaith (Irish) – Good Night

Mediateness- The quality of being mediate

Oculus Etalage Mediatenss

By Nekodra K.D. LaCroix

Nekodra took a deep calming breath, her curl tipped bangs pulled back into a messy bundle of a bun, and clothed in a simple dark buttoned shirt and black yoga pants, rolled up slightly to keep their length from getting under her feet and her blue bag was still strapped to her hip, with is pineapple and ankh images contrasting with her dark clothing.

She sat out on a near flat rock about 4ft wide and 3 and a half feet long, which sat roughly 1 foot out of the water, and the rest of the 7 or so feet went down under the surface of the water in the middle of a small lake. The lake was only maybe 25 feet in diameter. The sounds of the waterfall behind her was soothing as she counted back from 10 to 0, slowly, calming herself into a deep and relaxing state of mediateness. Her forearms rested on her thighs, her thumb and middle fingers touching at the tips.

10 The leaves rustled in a short breeze that shivered the trees that completely surround and engulf this little hideaway, 9 and sun began to rapidly sink over the tree line, casting only a faint glow of light. 8 She faintly whispered, Oiche Mhaith, to the fading sun, as it finally disappeared, allowing the stars their past glory of shining brilliantly and vastly along the night sky with the utter lack of nearby lighting that current technology snatched away with a malus nature. 7 though her oculus were closed, she could easily picture the magnificence of the Milky Way above her, the image was calming, knowing that among all those billions of stars laying planets filled with life, and she one day hopes to step onto one of those planets and meet someone new. 6 Deep breaths, in and out, relaxing, calming, she thought, 5 and letting go of stress, of nosey thoughts, drifting away from earlier images. 4 Wiping the board clean, empty, with slow breaths, in and out. 3 in and out. 2 in and out. 1 deep inhale 0 slow exhale.

Eyes still closed, she moves to stand up, arms out stretched and her feet firmly cemented in place, solid and firm foundation, and imaging roots sinking into the rock and grounding her. With another deep inhale and slow exhale, Nekodra gathers herself, ready to foment, to grow and develop herself, her skills, her energies, her mind. Hearing nothing but the whisper of the wind and the waterfall, but not letting it distract her, merely there, existing in the background.

She brings her hands together, slowly, gathering herself, her energies and once her fingers from each hand barely brush each other, she snaps her hands away, in a bursting display; fire erupts from the space between and grows rapidly to fill the gap as the hands retreat from one another.

Just as suddenly she stops, hands held out wide, like she is holding the hands of fellow actors ready to take a bow after their act, but this act wasn’t over yet. Between her hands a beach ball sized bundle of flames, flicker, rotate, slowly, and controlled. Even and calm. In and out, deep and slow. The ball begins to shift, unfold, parts of it appear to abrade, and it takes the form of two horses and a carriage. In and out. The horses appear to stomp, inpatient, and with a flick and rise of one hand, the horses take off, upwards looking like Santa’s slay in the night. With that image in mind her other hand flicks and waves up, and ember rain float down like flickering orange snow. Pulling her hands closer together and a twist of her wrists, the carriage swirls into itself pulling the stomping horses with it, once again becoming a ball, smaller, compact. It shifts, becomes a pyramid, another shift, and it’s a cube. A flick of her hand and it begins to rotate, slow at first, and then picks up speed as she rotates a index finger. Then with a large sweeping motion it becomes a whip in her hand, then a snap of her other hand and it takes the shape of a sword. Letting go of it, it hovers vertically between her hands, which are close now, just barely brushing along the sword. She snaps her hands a little farther apart and it divides, becoming three, another short snap and there are 5, one more snap and it becomes 7. Turning her hands palm up, the swords become horizontal, then pulling one hand down and the other up, the numbers double to 14, two stacks of 7 swords, hovering in front of her. Flickering, calm and controlled, giving a warm soft glow in the night.

Suddenly but gently two strong arms wrap around her and she feels the body behind her, tall but leaning down and a head with long hair that starts to tickle her cheek, rests in her shoulder. “It’s just me by your side, sorry to bother you my love, but someone is here to see you.” His voice soft, barely a whisper, remembering the last time he interrupted with a little too loud of a voice, which snapped her concentration too quickly and she nearly set half the woods on fire and him as well. Not that the fire could kill him, but with quick ease and centuries of experience, his hand snapped up to douse with ice her flames before they went too far, which splashed into the water, cracking and sizzling, saving the trees from her shocked burst of flames.

Not letting the sudden intrusion break her concentration, Nekodra holds her breath, holds her calm clear mind, the swords waver slightly almost breaking shape, but stay put, they hold. With a slow exhale, the swords pulled in half, as she rubbed the tips of her fingers from her thumb down the curve to the other side of her palm, pulling the flames into her now enclosed hands. Releasing her breath slowly, she images the roots she had placed into the rock slowly retreat into her bare feet as she takes another deep breath. Exhaling again, she opened her eyes slowly, and turned around never breaking his hug.

“I was about to have target practice with swords, it was going to be dangerous for the nearby trees and fun.” She pouting for a second and broke into a mischievous grin.

“I am sorry; he was insisting it had to be right now.” He chuckled and kissed her forehead.

(end)

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Afterword

Yes! Success of 14 words of the day and all bundled into one story! Though I wasn’t sure what the plural of oculus is…so just pretend its plural. Heh…

I am pretty sure I mentioned that Nekodra loves to mediate and train, and here is an example. She has spent years honing her fire skills and has impressive results, but she still can make mistakes if she isn’t careful, or if someone startles her when she is that deeply meditating and concentrating.

1,092 words of fun! Yay! Like how I worked in 7 and 14? >.> Hell ya! wOOt! I win. *throws up hands triumphantly*

Anyways, that was really fun, and just for those who maybe curious. I have worked on ‘To Hell with it’ but it was mostly the ending I worked on, which means I don’t have a middle to post as part 2, sorry, but I am working on it! I promise!

So, with that done, I am going to watch some Psych, then more Red Dwarf, then onto a Magic the Gather type 2 tournament at a local and laid back comic shop, with some fun friends for some good ol’ nerdy fun! Have a good Night!

The Side notes:

 -Follow me on Twitter, because I will tweet every time I post on my blog and I will post a link.  Nekodra's Twitter and remember Sharing is Caring, retweet to your friends if they might enjoy this.

         -Have fun and toss me writing prompt, I would love the practice. I will credit you for tossing the prompt when I post the resulting story.

         -If you have never seen Psych, and you love comedies or crime shows, I highly recommend it! You will laugh so much. Psych Wednesday nights, but currently they are on a mid-season break and will return on Leap year, Feb. 29th 2012

         -Also if you have never seen Red Dwarf it’s a great British Sci-fi comedy, and a new season after many years will air September 2012 for Red Dwarf X. So excited they are currently filming, can’t wait!

        - Please remember feedback, I can’t grow as a writer from silence.

        -Also remember unless stated otherwise, these stories and drawings belong to me, I wrote/drew them, please respect that.

                                             ~Nekodra K.D. LaCroix 

Shadows of Unwavering Blue

Shadows of Unwavering Blue

By Nekodra K.D. LaCroix

Standing tall and unwavering, surrounded by a hill of fallen leaves. The trunk a river of abstract swirls, lines and knots going vertically from tip of the roots to tippy top branch. Embedded and grooved, but smooth, caressing it as you circle leaves your hand feeling soft. Like it frozen in time, petrified but alive. Its silky bark chilling to the touch, yet warmth is embedded deep inside feeling like a beating heart, pulsing against your hand. Speaking centuries, perhaps eons of wisdom, of lives, coming and going in the sweep of time. Touching it has made you wiser, given you strength that was within you all along, energy that is as old as time washing over you, healing and soothing. Like the hug of a beloved parent who has always cared for you and always will, having touched a deep place in your soul.

Looking up, hand still resting on the trunk as though the world could crumble apart if you sever the connection you have made. Security that you almost know will stay with you now that you have it, but you waver unsure and not wanting to risk it. It has wrapped itself around your soul and it’s a feeling of great love that you never want to leave. As you look up at the majestic old tree, noting how there is not a single branch till seven feet up, where it bushes out to shade an uneven wave of a thirteen foot radius. Leaves twist and dance, wiggling free from the top to grace the trunk and blanket the hidden roots. The snow of never ending leaves; tumble down as you reach where you started; having circled the tree as though you have circled it life from seed until it’s never end. The eternal raining of leaves continue to add to the blanket of cushioned ground, soft on the feet bare like feathers of angels. Like the velvet dress caressing your pale skin.

Turning, a single slender swing, a single simplicity hovering barely two feet from a mist of hue pastel blue and deep green leaves. Appearing from the mass of branches like its dropping from a portal to unknown dreams. Placing a hand on the faded brown rope, frazzled and worn; prickles to the touch like soft needles and thorns. Harmless but the pain is still there like a nostalgic memory. Vines have cushioned the hard old boarded seat, having scaled down the other rope. Flowers crawling along the twisting vines, an exotic flower, of pastel purples and ice blue, with warped petals and coiling little vines, like a pumpkins, cork screwed. Each flower that snakes up the rope is unique and distorted in its own ways. 

            The wind picks up briefly, and encircling fog shifts to show a house far in the distance, like a mirage out pass the hilled leaves, then it’s gone again, forgotten like an uncertain spell. The allure to the swing, calling. She touches the rope again, feeling pass the bristles of age. Lifting the thick iridescent blue velvet fabric with her other hand, her right releasing the rope briefly to position away from it, to slide with elegance upon the swing. Her dress further cushioning the vine engulfed wood. In a daze she studies the rope, stroking it, feeling the needles crawl along her pale hand. Feeling the centuries creeping in, like it’s been waiting all this time. The height allowing her to brush the ground giving illusion of floating but still able to caress the ground and know it’s safe. Gently as though the tree is uncertain of the protection, back and forth displacing leaves as her feet sweep pass.

            She looks up, a smile charms her freckled ghostly face, and through a window in the branches, the stars blink in delight back to her. In the charity of the speckled sky an array of stars fly pass as though the world was able to move once more. Time was moving forward as a river brushing pass the shore.

The allusion continues, time sweeps by as she sweeps up leaves with each pass on the swing. Back and forth, like time is trying to keep her safe happy, as though nothing has happened. But time can only move in one direction, and as she sweeps forward again, the world has changed. Houses come and go. Some times peacefully with age, to be rebuild over, sometimes in disaster. Fire engulfs with such anger, other times a storm strikes with such fury. Each different as time evolves, brushing pass in the sweep of the wind, there and gone, then there again.

The fog, trying to keep the dream alive, trying to mask the change in times and each swing back, her house is there just out of reach, beyond the haze. Safe as a dream, as though she could hop off the swing landing in those cushioned leaves and run back to it, to play with her faded toys and sleep in the forgotten bed, hug her buried parents, but the charm of the swing sung by the tree, keeps its hugging melody and time ticks on.   

I just love drawing checkers, its so much fun. ^_^

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Afterword

This was an assignment for a creative writing class I took, last year I believe. I went through and fixed a few things before posting it. A few iffy spots remain, but I couldn’t think of a better way to say it, I just hope its not confusing or anything. I don’t recall exactly what the requirement was for the assignment was. I think it was something about a single image and describing it in great detail. This image is from a recurring dream I used to have when I was a kid. I added the ghost for assignment purposes to give it a small story of sorts. But the swing and the tree with the blanket of leaves on the fog surrounded hill are from the dream. Its still a very vivid memory. Its so peaceful. It now serves now as a good way to relax, though sometimes I forget about it, its one of 3 or 4 places I visualize to relax or for meditating.

            It’s hard to imagine that most people never remember their dreams. Like several of my friends. Something I find hard to comprehend. I can’t always recall my dreams, later on like right now. I can’t quite remember last nights dream. I know I have it stored in my memory. Its sitting there teasing me, just out of reach, but its there and in an hour or two or maybe tomorrow, something will trigger it and I will recall it mostly. I recall the other nights dream- oh there it is, I remember last nights, completely. Some of them I don’t bother to try and remember, but I always want to be able to remember my dreams. They are just-I enjoy dreaming, I really- Really do, sometimes I won’t let myself wake up, so I can continue to dream. That's the real reason I sleep in. I actually wake up rather early, but I go back to sleep so I can dream more. I don't currently have a job, so I don't have a reason to get up. I enjoy dreaming so much that my body can hit REM sleep in record time or I like to think so. I don't know what the record is. I can hit REM within a half hour so I can dream when I take as short nap. Which when that happened the first time I had a dream when taking a short nap, made me ecstatic and it happens most times now.

            I remember my first nightmare, which I don’t really have nightmares maybe 5 in my life so far. The last one I had was when I still worked for Cinemark. I had a dream the popcorn was suffocating me. I hated working in concessions and with the popcorn; it was far too hot next to the popper. I preferred either Ushering or Box Office. But the first nightmare I ever had (or rather can still recall) it was when I was about 5 or 6, judging from the way I looked from behind (it was a third person view) I was wearing a jean jacket and jean pants. (It’s actually interesting to think back on it, how vivid but simple it was, and then thinking of last nights dream and have vivid and complex it was. My dreams have really evolved over my 22 years. But back to this dream) I was dressed in jean clothing, hair pulled into a half pony tail. There was no grass, no sky just a fence. One of those fences that are just has a post every roughly 3 feet with three horizontal posts with about a foot in-between them and it was a dark brown. Something was chasing me. I ran to the fence and tried to climb up it but something grabbed my leg and then I woke up.

            Now if I were to describe say last nights dream, it would be a whole story in of itself with details of what was in the background, to emotions, to the dialoged, to what I was wearing/what I lost, which was a awesome pair of handmade dice earring, that I found later on. There would also be several scenes, that don’t appear to fit together, but of course it wasn’t noticeable at the time. Also the time of year it took place, last night was a few days before 4^th of July, which was oddly random and this weird maze like garden. That was breathtaking. To the weird sudden cartoon style it took on for a single frame which I blame Jimmy Fallon for.

(I know how dreams work sorta from the psychology class I took.) Dreams are created from you brain going over what it did the day before to better remember it. Which is why it can be a good idea to study before you go to bed and why those audio tapes work. Those ones that you listen to while you sleep. Its also a great way to manipulate what you will dream about. Doesn’t always work, but its great when it does. So the creative side of your brain will spin a story around what your brain is going over to remember, aka to be a bit scientific*straights reading glasses* Pathways of your memories will fire off randomly from that day as a way for your brain to better cement the connections. Okay not really all that scientific, I could go grab my psychology textbook, but anyways.

Yesterday on twitter I decided to follow Jimmy Fallon, because when I was staying with my dad for a month, I watched his show for the first time and I really enjoyed it. The one with Kermit and Piggy was great. I can reasonably guess that while my brain brushed over the little detail of following him it brought up memories of his show and one of the ones I saw was that one, that actor who played on House… *IMDB’s* Kal Penn. They were talking about Harold & Kumar’s 3D Christmas and the trailer shown was that claymation scene. Also why it probably brought up that particular Episode of Jimmy’s was Kal Penn has been in this season of HIMYM (How I met your mother) I also added Neil Patrick Harris to who I follow on twitter and I just remembered I forgot to hit follow on the official HIMYM twitter page. Oh well, I will do that later.

Speculation, but reasonably logical. Along with this whole weird part I had the involved Star Wars, likely evolved from the image of Anakin I glossed over before I feel asleep last night. *sigh* I went one too many pictures over in the gallery on my iPhone. I have been trying to manipulate a Psych Dream as of late so I was looking at pictures of Shawn and Lassie but I went too far and the last picture I looked at was Anakin. Well trying to get another Psych dream. A few weeks ago, I managed to have a Psych dream where Henry was my dad and I was Shawn, only myself. I was being targeted by this Psycho which the cameo was Gil from CIS -random- but anyways. He was killing all the stupid kids; meaning those who didn’t pass his test he considered too stupid to be allowed to live. There was a lot more to the story and I woke up before I took his actual test. But I considered it a successful dream manipulation. I had fun with Henry as he was trying to help me, but discreetly because he is a cop and if Gil found out that a cop was involved he would get upset. But hell be damned if Henry wasn’t going to help his child. (I plead Dream logic) I wanted a dream with Henry as my dad, because I think Henry Spencer is an amazing father and it seems like it could have been an interesting dream and it was.

But anyways, I swear I will manipulate another Psych dream out of my unconscious, I will!  I used to get many wonderful Doctor Who dreams with 10^th Doctor, well one time it was 11^th, but I digress, while back when I was re-watching 10^th Doctor episodes. Which I should do again. I finished re-watching all of Psych up to ‘In for a Penny’ I am forcing myself not to restart Psych again. >.<# Though I will probably re-watch ‘In for a Penny’ <.<; I forgot to look for the pineapple again. Heh, got distracted by the show and its awesome-ness; but also because everyday needs a dose of Psych.

So to keep myself from popping over to Psych on Netflix’s and starting over at the pilot and working my way to ‘In for a Penny’ I am watching Buffy again, or picking up where I left off several months ago. I had realized that I missed the last 2 seasons of Buffy, which I was appalled at myself for. Since it has been years I started from the beginning and then I got distracted by Doctor Who, then Watching Star Trek: TNG. Which I proceeded to fall for Commander Riker and then Psych. Amusingly I left off just when it was getting to stuff I hadn’t seen. Lol. So I watch 4 episodes last night and I will watch many more today. I have no job at the moment, so I can spend whole days watching things like Psych which I will force myself to take a small break from. *coughbutwatchatleastoneepaday* So I will finish Buffy and by proxy re-watch Angel and also I still need to work on watching all original 26 seasons of Doctor.  I also need to catch myself back up on NCIS. I also will stop blabbering on now, doubtful anyone is still reading at this point.

Side Notes-

            -Follow me on Twitter, because I will tweet every time I post on my blog and I will post a link. Nekodra's Twitter

            -Have fun and toss me writing prompt, I would love the practice. I will credit you for tossing the prompt when I post the resulting story.

            -If you have never seen Psych, and you love comedies or crime shows, I highly recommend it! You can watch the first 5 seasons on Netflix’s, and you can watch the first 4 of 7 episodes of the current season on Hulu. Psych airs on USA on Wednesdays.  

        - Please remember to comment, I want honest opinions that why I am posting my short stories here. I want to improve, get feedback so I can better myself as an writer. I also just want to talk.

        -Also remember unless stated otherwise, these stories and drawings belong to me, I wrote/drew them, please respect that.

                                                ~Nekodra K.D. LaCroix