I'm going to be adding a few more decorations to this blog over the next few days while the rest of the beginning of Chapter Nine composes itself in my head.

One of the ways I write is to allow the part I want to write about to germinate in my head for a while, like a great stew boiling on the low heat for hours, until each morsel is tender and flavorful and simply unbelievable. Other times I just start typing and see where it takes me. Since the kids have come along, I usually end up letting the first way go for a while.

Chapter nine is having its way with poor Alaric, who is about to put his foot down in a way that his sister hasn't seen in a long time. I certainly hope the reader will end up liking Alaric as much as I do right now... it takes a while to warm up to the guy, but once he lets his little sparkle out, it's sure that you'll probably want to take him out for a drink.

I've also got to work on tying up the loose ends from the first two parts into this third part, and that's going to be hard part. Getting everyone to the same place at roughly the same time is giving my poor head a spin -- I think I'm going to have to buckle down to get myself a corkboard and set up a time line.

You will be seeing a list of my favorite authors and books showing up soon, as I seem to have gathered quite a collection of them. I figured if you are at all interested in this and me (and you have to be interested to read my bibble-babble) it would be great for you to find out where all these inspirations came from.

Right now, I'm audiobooking a great one, Ghengis, The Birth of an Empire, by Conn Iggulden. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a sucker for a good historical fiction, and I just love this story about the one guy (after Alexander the Great) who kicked butt, took names, and dared anyone to say anything about it. I just found out that this writer also wrote about another of my historical weaknesses, the Roman Republic, so I can't wait to get my self wrapped around those books too.

Okay, so it's 1:45am over here and I really should be taking my big behind to bed. Good night all!