Winning Nano--Year Three

This is why there is little content on here for the month of November. I'm sprinting, now, to finish the entire book THE DAY IT RAINED GLASS by December first--at least that's the idea.

Here's a short synopsis:

Thrace and Chara are sisters who have survived the end of civilization as they knew it. Now they are fighting just to find food, shelter, and safety from the hungry cannibals who rove the landscape looking for anything they can sink their teeth into.

The girls begin to manifest special skills that can help them make it at least to the next day. Soon other young survivors flock to their growing community, each manifesting a special skill or two. Unfortunately their opposition is also growing.

The Force is a gang of people who follow Vagio, a charismatic thug who is raising an army to take control of the ruined city. They'll collect anyone who can aid their cause, whether voluntarily or not.

In Thrace's frantic bid to keep her 'family' from being entangled in Vagio's web, she nearly misses her most valuable asset. Grit is a boy with a dangerous secret. He can spell success or absolute defeat, not only for their lives and civilization, but for love.

It's all together, or be picked off one by one.

Lost Boy

H. Linn Murphy

I wrote a truly wonderful poem for a friend of mine the other day. He was experiencing a particularly dark time in his life. For some reason the poem got erased en route to the blog. I tried everything to get that stupid poem back, but it wouldn't come, wiping out hours of my much-needed writing time.

So I just re-posted this picture and put it on a time release hoping I'd still somehow retrieve the poem. No go. But then I finally realized that It was Christ's voice he needed to hear, not mine.

We all have challenges and rough water to navigate. Who better to tell us where the rocks are than the person who put them there under God's direction? Who better to calm the storms in our hearts than Christ, the One who stilled the angry seas one day in Galilea?

This is a picture I drew one day when facing my own rough seas.

Sitting Atop the Writer's Block

I was going to leave a note saying I was off at the NANOWRIMO sweat shop pounding out words this month and leave it at that. But I couldn't pass up the chance to say that it's sailing right along. I have almost half of THE DAY IT RAINED GLASS done.

THE DAY IT RAINED GLASS is a dystopian YA book about some kids who survive a nuclear holocaust in Chicago. I wanted to set the book there because New York has been done to death. It's been interesting researching the area and thinking about what it would look like two years after The Blast. I don't remember going there when I was little (I was five or so, I think) so I've done lots of research. I think this calls for a lovely trip to Chi-Town--maybe to watch a baseball game or see the Chicago river run green on St. Patrick's Day.

I love the characters. Thrace is a sixteen-year-old girl trying to build a life for herself and her little sister while still remembering and mourning the old one. How do you deal with the fact that your younger sis can boss you around or life gets hairy?  
Chara is the spooky fourteen-year-old sib with a burgeoning psi talent and a soft heart.
The mysterious loner, Grit, has troubles of his own, not least that everyone thinks he's a coward.
As their band grows, so do the troubles. Navigating through the rocky shoals of Chicago After can be deadly--especially if you taste good.

Anyway, that's my tease of THE DAY IT RAINED GLASS. See ya at the finish line.