Firstly, I am sorry that I virtually disappeared around here. Secondly, will you be able to forgive my disappearance if I tell you why disappeared?
the Big, Humongous News
*breathes*
The first draft of the first book of Oddball is now complete.
Isn't that amazing? I think so. It was finished. . . a couple weekends ago (our internet's been a little dodgy, okay?) And since then I've kind of been taking a break. I have books to read. School to prepare for. Procrastinating to do (kidding. . .sort of). Such stuff.
Plans so far are:
1. Figure out what's going on in the sequel. (This is proving very difficult.)
2. Start sequel.
3. Type out the hand-written parts of Oddball. (halfway through the draft, I realized that I was going to have to type all of this out anyways, so why not just type it now?)
4. Copy and paste of all of the first book into one document (currently the first draft is scattered throughout many notebooks and computer documents, not exactly the smartest thing in the world).
5. Halfway through sequel, or near end of year start edits on the first book (I need some distance, okay?).
6. Finish the first draft of the sequel in less time than it took with the first book (I'm thinking a year, but that's about a quarter of the time the first draft took, though there had been many delays).
7. I feel like I'm forgetting something.
Now it is snippet time.
“Those without family or clan, those who don’t, belong,” she tripped over the word, “are Loners.”
Loner. That’s what he was. His mind grasped at the word as if he could tuck it away and cherish it as his own. As if it was a possession he could own. Something that was his. Rather something that he was. It was a sad, heavy thing to be. But at least he was something.
Thump!
“We should check it out.” Rocky stood.
Oddball rolled his eyes and set his sketchbook on top his pack.
They stared at each other. Oddball motioned for him to go first.
He crept forward. “Why me?”
“You’re the one who knows how to fight, aren’t you?”
“Why are we whispering?”
“You started it.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“Oh yes,” Ember said, “One with a princess.”
Oddball pushed the back of the wagon. “Yeah, Rocky. One with a princess.”
Rocky glanced back at him with a smirk. “Didn’t know you liked princess stories, Oddball?”
Ember laughed.
“Well, you know,” Oddball shrugged. “Those ones tend to have happy endings.”
Princesses get all the luck.
She closed her eyes and let the chaos of the crowd envelop her. Wrap around her like a hug. A hug of smallness. Of being invisible. Of being alone and yet part of something bigger than oneself. That hug of loneliness. Sometimes she struggled under it.
But on days like these. Especially in the noise and company of the crowd, she embraced it back. After all it was the only friend she had.
It was a rather illogical, insane thing to do.
But that was exactly what she wanted people to think of her.
She tripped over a cat. It shrieked and she spun around and kicked at it. “Doom to you feline race!”
The wagon bumped and jangled over the rocks planted in the ground for a pitiful kind of road. And through the growing darkness, he knew there were screams, there were quiet tears, there were broken hearts, there empty eyes, there were cruel hands. And there was no one who cared.
That was too much to
think about. Maybe he’d just leave the planning to Rocky. He’d think of
something insane enough.
“We will take any just punishment without complaint.”
The Arg crossed his arms. “Like death?”
“Um, I did say just.” Rocky gave his reasoning-with-unreasonable-people smile.
Oddball passed by and she aimed for another tree beyond him.
Oddball turned sharply. “You might want to-“
The knife flew a few inches from his wide-eyed face like she’d planned.
“-be careful.” He glared at her.
“You made me miss,” she whined.
