Rachel Starr Thomson

Tonight, I wrote the first 15 pages of The Advent — and this time, it’s for real. The outline is making a huge difference, and while these 15 pages will be edited and revised, they’re not going to be scrapped so that I can start all over again.  The thing about stories, it seems, is that they need somewhere to go. I’m really happy to be starting this one on its way.

My goal is 40-50 pages by the end of this week. Let’s see if I can hit it :).

I just finished the working outline for The Advent! I am really excited about the way the book has shaped up. Of course, “finished” is a funny word — in this case, the outline will continue to be “working” until the book is actually written. I do have some ideas to tweak and two plot lines to tie up, but I think I may wait and see how they flow once the book is actually being written.

The best thing about this announcement is that I’d written “Finish Advent outline” as a goal for this week, but I didn’t think it was going to happen. I just got to cross it off the list, making myself feel mighty productive. And now, with an actual plan in place, writing can commence.

See you on the other side!

P.S. Wondering what in the world I’m talking about? Download a free copy of Worlds Unseen, the first book in The Seventh World Trilogy, which will finish up in December 2010 with the publication of The Advent. Or you can purchase Worlds Unseen or Burning Light at these links or from any major online retailer.

The wind had a secret.

All across the Seventh World it blew, whispering, shouting, singing its wild way in the far northern mountains and fjords; it danced the new-growing leaves and flowered boughs in Galce and the vineyards of Italya. It whistled through hollows and secret places in the Eastern Lands and skipped across the tops of white waves to the Isles of Bryllan. There it soared over the craggy Highlands, swirled in the meadows of Midland and the valleys of Cryneth, played with the chimney smoke in old Londren.

The earth listened and rose to meet the wind’s blowing. Every blade of grass, every wildflower, every soaring eagle filled with the secret and trembled with it.

High above the wind’s place of singing, the stars over the Seventh World heard the blowing of a far-off hunting horn and shone the brighter at the sound.

The earth quivered as the wind’s words filled it and begged for release.

They may not yet know . . .

. . . it is a secret still . . .

keep it.

(From Chapter 1 of The Advent, Book 3 of the Seventh World Trilogy, work in progress)