Lania's Tree

Lania's Tree

Here's an extract from Narentan Tumults 2.0, "Earthbow" 

plus its "Lania's Tree" picture-puzzle named after the Young One character, Lania*

This small Earthbow extract introduces the picture-puzzle. Or the other way around.

"Lania, what does Harone mean by the ways of the Wildfolk?"

"Better to ask what do the Young Ones mean by the ways of the Wildfolk...

"So tell me what've I got to learn. And... How long's it going to take? I guess time's kind'a short, with Cenoc and the Stones and all.

The Young One shook her head. "Impatience will just slow you!"

The Outworlder groaned. "You sound like Harone.

Lania studied the expression on his face, She smiled."He's a wise man for an Elder. Perceptive anyway."

Struggling to sit back up, she asked, "Would you like your first lesson now?"

Sandy gasped, "Hey, wait! You don't need to... All right, let me help you then."

Lania shook her head. "Nothing too strenuous. Don't worry. Here..."

She grasped Sandy's hand and placed its palm to the teintree trunk against which she was leaning.

"You must learn to feel as the plants and trees do. To sense them growing, their delight in rain and good earth and the sun upon their leaves. The pleasure and challenge of unfurling a tightly curled leaf. The gentle touch of the footfall of bee or ant or butterfly upon stem or flower. The opening of your branches like arms to gather in your foster children: bird and squirrel, ragos and stoah."

I recommend you enlarge the "Lania's Tree" thumbnail below as much as you're able.

"Lania's Tree" is a picture-puzzle which will eventually appear in "Earthbow", 2nd edition. The tree's shape was inspired by a 30+ year old newspaper clipping celebrating the oldest tree ... somewhere.

How many 'creatures' can you find? Don't look to me for an answer! I have no idea how many there are. Someone new to us may not be new to Lania's Tree. You or I may once have known them from some other tale but have forgotten even the tale itself years ago. They come back to remind us of our memories. Once in a while a bored walkabout slips away from its tale and settles on Lania's Tree for a nap. Those are the most challenging to find and the easiest to forget between visits. I'm sure that I've forgotten many residents that I've forgotten.  Lania's Tree has a bit of a sense of humor that way.

Lania paused to smile down at the stoah. Khiva wrapped her tail about the Young One's wrist and pulled her hand back down for more patting.

"Then, too, you must learn how the bokhorn and stag delight in their gracefulness and speed, and how..."

Khiva yawned and added,  "...how stoahs don't like people who are slippery-slidy and who call stoahs 'what's' instead of 'who's'. 

                                          ---an extract from "Earthbow" (part 2 of 5 parts)

What I Wrote When

Before the 'really almost completed, really' Marooned (Narenta Tumults #1.5) and 

before my (published) Tree House Tales collection of short works, I wrote a 120,000+ word fantasy saga titled, Earthbow (Narenta Tumults #2.0) which is currently out-of-print.

* Fania from "Marooned" is not the same person as Lania from Earthbow. This is just a coincidence--the novels were written decades apart.

Tis The Season To Be Typing

I posted "Tis The Season To Be Typing" just over six years ago at  "YA Authors You've Never Heard Of"
While I no longer contribute to that blog, I concede the blog's name still fits--at least for this former contributor. Speaking of which, any links below no longer work since both Seabird and Earthbow are currently out of print.

Tis the Season To Be Typing, December 20, 2010

Reader beware! I’m throwing this together out of nothing. I’ve been otherwise occupied by a broken ankle, when I should have been prepping this blog entry.

I’m definitely a Christmassy kind of person. Years ago, I would make Christmas tree ornaments each year for friends and people I worked with. Since I had so many to make, I always began the process in mid-summer. And to get in the mood, I would play Christmas carols while I worked. I used headphones to listen, so that people didn’t think I was entirely out of my gourd.

Long after I stopped making holiday decorations—up until right now—I’ve never given up the whole mood that goes with the holidays. I love watching “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and learning—once again—how Santa got both the name Kris Kringle and Santa Claus, what made the reindeer fly, why Santa has a beard, why the toys were put into the stockings, and so on. And I love what I consider the best song in the special, “Put One Foot in Front of the Other”. Any child that is starting to not believe in Santa Claus should be good for one more year after watching that special.

I also love watching “A Christmas Carol” (the one starring Alistair Sim!), my absolute favorite Christmas film. To say nothing of “White Christmas”, “A Christmas Story”, Miracle on 34^th Street” and most recently “Elf”. Oh, I can’t forget “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “Frosty the Snowman”. 

I never get tired of Christmas carols and rarely get peeved or impatient by long lines in stores—except maybe the food store, but that one is a year-round vexation.

This year, Christmas activities are being outweighed by work (writing) activities since I’m housebound over the holidays. Not that people aren’t visiting or sending me cards—and I appreciate them! But normally, I would be out at church functions including Advent services and the yearly Christmas Cantata. And of course I would be standing in line, silently singing along to carols while I waited—if I could get to the stores.

Instead, I’m writing—and writing more than the average teddy bear. My “Earthbow” (http://bit.ly/b9vDW1 ) was published this year. Immediately afterward, Dave at Gryphonwood asked me what was up next.* Well, it’s like this, I told him: the next up is a three volume story currently with the umbrella title of “The Gryphon and the Basilisk”. I wrote the first draft of it back in the early 80’s and the first draft was written in longhand. Over the years, I’ve hired typists to type up sections of the manuscript, and later also keyed in other sections to WORD files. Now I’m on the third volume and face eight very long chapters that I have only in the original longhand—approximately one hundred seventy (500-600 word) pages of story that need to be converted to WORD.

This Christmas really is Tis the Season To Be Typing.

When I started working on this phase of the project, I was less than enamored with it. I still am. And then I got thinking about a Christmas many years ago—just over 50 so far as I can remember. One Christmas, I asked for a typewriter for my gift. We didn’t have much money but my parents were able to find a refurbished manual typewriter to give me. (There were no electric typewriters back then.)

Very, very late Christmas Eve—or maybe closer to Christmas morning—I slipped out of my bedroom and into the living room, to see if there was a typewriter waiting for me. There was! I was so excited! I ran my fingers over the keys and finally took a shot at hitting one of them. The typewriter—as typewriters did in those days—made a loud click. Freaking for fear I’d awakened someone, I rushed back to my bedroom. And acted all surprised a few hours later.

I learned the basics of typing and soon was turning in all my school assignments typed—even some of my math homework. (Try typing multiplication and division problems and see what ‘fun’ that was.)

A short time after this, I began typing my first written story. It involved time travel and I was the heroine, working for the government on a project to go back in time and fill in bits of historical detail missing from records. That may sound dull but it was an adventure story, since my partner (a very cute boy) and I were always getting into trouble. I showed the first part to my parents. I don’t actually remember their reaction but I do remember that they were generally supportive of any project that I did.

I also worked on a pastiche--essentially fanfic---of many different horse stories I had read. My teacher found out about the latter and asked me to read snippets from it during home room. I can’t imagine what the rest of the kids thought! I still feel sorry for them because this story really wasn’t very good.  ("No Plot, No Problem"? Really, ChrisB?)

Those two attempts at writing were my last efforts until 1979 when I was in my early thirties and tackled “Seabird” (http://bit.ly/bKBQ7x ) and “Earthbow” (http://bit.ly/b9vDW1 ) two years later. Oddly enough, I wrote these and their sequel “The Gryphon and the Basilisk” in longhand, even though I had an electric typewriter by then. One reason I did this was that I could write anywhere I thought of an idea or a new passage, even at work. 

(Laptops were still a fig newton of the amalgamation.) 

Over fifty years after first typing in the living room at Christmas, I’m keying in parts of the G&B manuscript** in the living room over the holidays. The circle is complete.

A Blessed Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year!

Sherry Thompson

* National Novel Writing Month was approaching, so I actually settled on what would become "Marooned". 

Re the debut of "Marooned" my computer is working again! I lost several weeks of revisions but nothing of importance. Well, except my train of thought. Darn thing! It's been going walkabout a lot recently.

** I've yet to finish "The Gryphon and the Basilisk" but I'm getting closer. Speaking of G&B, I used two scenes from the trilogy/quadrilogy in lieu of a Christmas card this year, "Yule on Narenta". Please contact me via email if you would like to read it. Restrictions and spoilers may apply.  (KhivasMommy@gmail.com)

This is the final scene of a greeting card snitched from the  jacquielawson.com  site--which you have absolutely got to go visit! Now would be good!

You get what you settle for

"You get what you settle for. Anonymous"

A person I don't know in an online writer's group I'd rather not name used those words to kick off a new discussion. So far it hasn't been much of a discussion. A fellow member posted a short response about a day ago. And then I arrived.

I do my best to be upbeat on this blog, on Facebook and other social media. When at all possible I do so in person as well. I'm about to make an exception.

Why? 

I hope that the response I posted on that writer's group discussion this morning answers the question. If it doesn't,  I invite you to leave a comment below or write me directly at: 

ScrollChamberPress@gmail.com ScrollChamberPress@gmail.com .

"You Get What You Settle For"

"May I offer a counter-example? I'm 68. I began writing fantasy novels in 1979--beginning with Seabird and Earthbow. By the 1980's, after input and many revisions, I began submitting Seabird to both literary agents & publishers. Back then, we mailed out the whole manuscript and waited for months for a response. 

I used the "waiting months" 

1. continuing to write new material and revise old material, and 

2. attending conferences whenever I was able in search of a literary agent or a publisher. I made connections with one of each but, in both cases, I had to terminate the contract during the following year. The agent did nothing at all during that time. The publisher & I split amicably over "creative differences".

In time, publishers requested electronic submissions and I was happy to comply. By then I was a members of three writing groups. David Wood, a longtime friend and new owner of the start-up indie Gryphonwood, published both Seabird (2008) and Earthbow (2010).* Two short stories were published in anthologies. 

I was still attending conferences, now in an effort to make industry connections, including marketing my books to dealers. None of this worked. Not one effort that I made paid off so, thanks partially to my health, I stopped attending conferences about five years ago. In other words, I "gave up" on conferences after twenty-five years and after spending more thousands of dollars than I even want to think about.

In spite of the positive reviews garnered by both Seabird & Earthbow, neither novel has ever sold well. What do I mean by this? Setting aside my own purchases to use as gifts, Seabird (PB, ebook and audio recording versions combined) has sold less than 20 copies a year on the average since 2008. Earthbow volume 1 (PB & ebook) less than 10 a year and Earthbow volume 2 less than that.

I have had two blogs. I began one of them in 2007 and stopped adding to it last year. I've posted 63 entries to this second blog since last summer. This blog focuses on Imagination, Inspiration & Creativity. I'm active on Facebook, keep my LinkedIn page up to date, belong to Goodreads and Library Thing plus an assortment of industry-related email and professional groups.

Through the years, I've never stopped writing, which means in my case that I have a "backlog" of five more novels totaling some 600,000 words which are not published--and which look likely to remain unpublished.

Or, as I might have written in one sentence, I've never settled. I may be about to do so. Am I getting what I settled for? **

Sherry Thompson, author of Seabird, Earthbow, Tree House Tales, etc. 

p.s. Please forgive any typos. I wrote this in haste and spurred by strong emotion.

13 hours ago

(The footnotes below were added for this blog entry)

* Between 20 & 25 years after I began my search for a publisher.

** Or, to put it another way, if I've refused to settle for over 35 years now, why must I feel like I'm settling now when in fact I seem to have no alternative? 

If no matter what I do results in little or no sales for my work but I keep on trying to sell my books and publish more of them, doesn't this fit the modern definition of insanity?  "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

~~~~~

If you would like to learn more about my decades of experience as a fantasy author, I invite you to follow the three links given below! In spite of the fact that I wrote it, I think you'll find the account very interesting.  ;-D

Warning. Keven Newsome set aside three blocks of the New Author's Fellowship's "Special Guest" column to accommodate my account. Anything less than that would not have told my story. I'm grateful that Keven recognized this right from the beginning. Also be advised that my article for the New Author's Fellowship was written in late 2010, not long after the second half of Earthbow saw print. And two years before I had no choice but to resign from our local writers group, Written Remains Writers Guild.

The New Author’s Fellowship, Special Guest – Sherry Thompson

Posted by Keven Newsome on December 31, 2010 in Author's Journey, Guest Blogs

https://newauthors.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/special-guest-sherry-thompson/1/

https://newauthors.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/special-guest-sherry-thompson/2/

https://newauthors.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/special-guest-sherry-thompson/3/

Follow this link to see the entry for Keven's novel, Winter. While you're there, try to count all of the pretty Amazon review stars!

Tree House Tales collection, due out before Christmas!

    
                                                                       NEW!
                                          Send email to The Daily Scroll or to The Scroll Chamber Press
                                                                      scrollchamberpress@gmail.com

Tree House Tales has been "Forthcoming!" for the last six months but now the actual publication date is fast approaching! Unless something goes seriously amok, THT's premiere will be well before Christmas.

I've posted the latest version of the THT table of contents below...
1.  To give potential readers some advance information about the collection.
2.  To fish for deperately needed help in vetting the manuscript before publication, especially the stories. THT is the first work I've ever written without editorial advice. The situation concerns me greatly. Please scroll to the bottom of this entry for more about how you can help. Thanks!

The THT table of contents below was last revised Oct 30 2014
It is wildly inaccurate.

My Dec 16 blog entry, "Thinking Outside the Box" has the revised  Table of Contents  
Or go to Amazon's entry for Tree House Tales

Title Page                                                           2

Thumbnails of my artwork will be scattered throughout the book.

I'll provides replicas of the originals on a still-to-be-determined website. 

Table of Contents                                                                                    4

FANTASY, MOSTLY                                                                                  6

“Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.” -- Jules de Gaultier

I Need A Horse                                                           7      humorous, fantasy, flash

A Sailor’s Tale                                                            8      fantasy, modern mythology/folktale

Sisyphus                                                                    10      suspense/horror   PG-17

Circles                                                                       13      SF, humor

A Garden Mosaic                                                      16      poetry

Daisy & the Paper-Mice                                    17     mystery or suspense, from a cat's POV

The Windowed Door                                                 20     light fantasy

Luckiest Hunter Ever                                                 21     

  Story Outline. Story-Telling Suggestions.                                                       oral fantasy designed for narrator & children

The Dragon’s Tail Tale                                              23     tall tail fantasy

No Substitutions                                                         27     fantasy flash fiction

Winter’s Season                                                         29     fantasy (pseudo-mythology)

The Queen of the Tor Shee                                        40      poem

Shadow Harper                                                           41     story based on European tradition

The Pumpkin Smasher                                               44      humorous modern day fantasy

Gajit’s Research Expedition                                      50      SF, humor

Dingle    Finish the story challenge.                                                  57     fantasy, invitation for readers to finish the story

The Last Battle (novelette)                                         58     fantasy, written for the PG 17 reader 

REALITY, WHATEVER THAT IS                                                            74

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." --Philip K Dick

Preteens, Horses, and Aliens                                      75     memoir

Baffled By The Green Door                                       78     memoir

Fandom 101                                                                82     memoir

Tis The Season To Be Typing                                    88        (omit?)

A Fannish Internet Sub-Creation of a

     Hyperdimensional Pocket  Universe                      89    SFish humor co-created by Babylon 5 fans        

Sherry’s Cake is Major Hit at Coffee Hour!    

  Film at 11!                                                                 92     memoir                               

EgoBoogling                                                               94      humor

Rainstorm Coming                                                      97      poetry

Hurricane Hazel                                                          98     memoir

Between Worlds (poem)                                           101      poetry

CATSIZ AND OTHER CRITTERS                                                            103

Catzis   (with cat illos)                                               104     memoir, cat-related humor

Squirrelsiz                                                                  105     memoir

Crabsiz                                                                       106     memoir

Readerziz                                                                   107     humor

More Catziz                                                               108     cat-related humor

Fairieziz: The Smashed Fairy Song Cycle                110     Faerie-related humor; PG-13?

niDgRhEtAmMaSre                                                                                      112

Hexa-Lyrica                                                                    113     dream

Dream, With Joey                                                           115     dream

A Micro Dream                                                               117     dream

A Dream With Bowling                                                  118     dream, PG-13 humor      

Dream Fragments: The Pagoda Secret, Diving Dream  120     dream,

A Dream With KB & Then Without Her               122    dream, PG-13 suspense

Two of Cara’s Dreams From “Seabird”                          123    dream

Dreams & Writing; How To Remember Your Dreams  124     essay/advice re dreams

 The Witch’s ORIGINAL Gingerbread House (art)        125     sample artwork thumbnail

Selected Quotations                                                         126

                  

~~~~~

EXTRACTS FROM FOUR NARENTAN  NOVELS                                    127

Seabird, Narenta #1

Extract 1, The “teaser” inside front cover                                     128

Extract 2, The Shrine

Someone had placed a seabird-shaped plaque at the very top of the

wall. Its black surface had tiny glittery bits scattered on it, possibly to

represent stars. Cara blinked. The raised panel receded, becoming a bit

of night sky glimpsed through a window cut into the wall.

She blinked again but she couldn’t trick her eyes into seeing a raised

panel. Patches and slender bars of sunlight brightened the dim interior,

their sources the five windows in the remaining walls. A dozen

half-formed questions welled up. The solemn serenity of that night

view quelled them all.                                                                                     

Extract 3, Stowaway                                                                      131

Earthbow, Narenta #2                                                        

A tiny extract from THT’s long “Coris plot thread”:        

 “If you would be so good.’

Cenoc answered. ‘Certainly. The wound still pains you?’

The keep-master nodded.‘The third row. Its handles are of ebony.’

Cenoc rose and turned to the screens.

Pressing his back against the cabinet, Coris grasped

his sword hilt & braced himself to attack.”

The Gryphon & the Basilisk, Narenta #3

Extract 1                                                                                       140

Hextor Nigragr, shadow lord, sorcerer and once viceroy of Narenta, waited for his dread

master to leave the room before arising. When the door was closed, he stood slowly and

gathered his black cape about him with silent hands. He was not yet used to wielding his

body again and the movements were slightly awkward.                            

                                                Extract #2                                    141                                                                                                         Extract #3                                    144

Marooned, Narenta #1.5  (forthcoming!)

Extract 1,  Chapter One, 1st Scene

Chaotic memories of fire, howling or screaming and fierce wind

were replaced in a breath by cool dim blue and a gentle tug

she couldn’t identify.                                                                      145

Extract 2,  Chapter Two, 1st Scene  

"…carefully,” warned a hushed male voice. “Don’t wake…”

Memory was still reminding her that her sword was gone, but instinct had already won that race by several seconds. She sprang up dagger in hand, before the man could finish his instructions.

Two shadowy shapes leaped back. Steel rang on either side. Striking toward the closest target on her right, she felt the tip of the dagger catch slightly on a rib then slide cleanly past the obstacle. Rough cloth and blood touched her hand, as the hilt pressed against the man’s body. The ensuing scream was still building as she pulled the dagger free and spun toward her other attacker. Metal flashed in the golden moonlight, and she tilted away from the deadly arc. She kicked out sideways and felt the sting of her foot striking mail.                                                                                    147          

Afterword

How I Write, or Smidge of Plot, Glob of Characterization:         149       essay

Examples: Khiva the Stoah; Bert-and-Marsha-from-Hoboken    150

The End                                                                                          151

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tree House Tales cover design to date

The final version will have patches of wrinkled paper randomly stuck to the interior wood of the treehouse. Each scrap will provide hints about THT's contents.

THT is the first work I've ever written without editorial advice. The situation terrifies me.
You can help by volunteering to read advance copies of 2-3 stories and offering your impressions.
I'm not soliciting book reports much less formal editorial reviews.
However, I do need a little more than "Great!", Awful!", or "Eh".
If you respond with something like "Take this out of the collection while you can!", please give me a reason.
In exchange I'll do my best to send free PB copies of THT to any cobbler's elf who helped me in a substantial way.
If you're interested, please write to me at KhivasMommy@gmail.com with the Subject "cobbler's elf".

Thanks!

Maybe I Don’t Have Writer’s Block

EVIDENCE

(1)

Fragments from Scribblings entries re 

Earthbow or The Gryphon & The Basilisk (2009)

"I am currently supposed to be reading: two manuscripts belonging to fellow writers, assorted extracts also from fellow writers, Earthbow for additional typos to be corrected, my family memoir manuscript to see if it's ready for querying agents, a number of books I've started over the last few months but never finished, friends' blog entries & assorted emails from various lists. I have been awake for approximately five hours and the only reading tasks I've done have been reading and stowing emails, writing my previous blog entry about this past Monday and beginning this one.

"So that means I've been busy with other important stuff, right? Not entirely. I put the crock pot in to soak with hot water and detergent and its temp turned to warm a while back but I haven't cleaned it out yet. I had a bit of a ragged prayer session. I had breakfast--2 cups of coffee & some slightly stale bran with cranberry granola cereal. And I've played with two pesky cats more than two cats actually deserve."

-----  Scribblings, Feb 5 2009

~~~~~

"Once I get my act together--it's only after 2 p.m. Sunday, I hope to spend the day continuing editing more of "Earthbow". I still have hopes --diminished hopes--of completing the edit of the first half of the manuscript before the end of the month. Three days. It would be a lock if I hadn't discovered that additional passages of the manuscript were missing from the printed and carefully bound master copy of Earthbow. For some reason, Coris scenes keep slipping through a literary black hole. Arrgghh!"

-----  Scribblings, March 29th, 2009

~~~~~

"I found two more sections of my "Earthbow" manuscript that were missing from the WORD documents on the computer. Rather first I discovered that something was suspiciously missing here and that something was suspiciously lacking there. THEN, I spent a while looking through WORD files on the desktop. Then I gave up and delved into print-outs from the early 2000's. Then I went back to the typewritten manuscript version and finally found a total of nearly -40- pages that were missing in those two locations. (That's 40 pages, double-spaced so it isn't quite as bad as it sounds.)

I was so glad to find those sections, I can't even begin to express my relief. One involved a battle that I most definitely didn't not want to recreate. The other was the second half of a scene from the antagonists' POV plus the first half of the following scene from the protagonists' POV. Do not ask me how it is possible to have lost such an odd combo of pages."

-----  Scribblings April 12th, 2009   “Things Always Come in Two’s … except when they don’t”

(2)

Emails Sent During National Novel Writing Month 2005

From:  SherryT

Date:  2005/11/07 Mon PM 02:18:16 EST

Subject: A Surprise re Gryphon & Basilisk

"I’ve been rummaging through manuscript fragments, trying to find the first two volumes of the Gryphon and the Basilisk, because I needed the name of a town. Rummaging, because the two volumes were typed--not keyed in on a computer or word processor--so I have no computer files for them.

"Once I found the correct boxes with the G&B manuscripts and got the name I needed, I poked around through some of the loose stuff in the bottom of the box. I confess I was trying to delay getting back to NaNo-speed-writing G&B volume 3.

"Anyway, I ran into a submission for a UD writing class. It was the original Chapter One of the original Volume One of The Gryphon and the Basilisk--dated September 1982. 

"I thought that I began Seabird* in the early 80's but this pushes it all back a bit. There's no way I wrote Seabird -and- Earthbow between Jan 1 1980 and Sept 1982.  I must have started writing the books in the late seventies. No wonder I get so utterly weary of trying to get Seabird published. Yeah, I've only tried for a total of maybe 4 years – a couple years back in the 80's and the rest over the last few years. Still, it seems like I've been doing this my whole life.

* I actually wrote Seabird between 1979 & 1980

"That's all for the moment.

"SherryT

"p.s. Can I -scan in- chapters from G&B volumes 1 and 2 and use the results toward my NaNo count?   ;)  

       No?  ...grumble...

~~~~~

Found old G&B discs!

Email to writer-friends

Date: 11/26/2005

"No one asked me the "traditional Thanksgiving question" and I actually had an answer this year.

"I'm thankful for finding a couple discs of data I didn't know existed.

"As some of you have heard (repeatedly now), I wrote Seabird, the first draft of its sequel i.e. Earthbow, and 2/3 of The Gryphon & the Basilisk (sequel to Earthbow) without stopping between them. The G&B sequel was also supposed to be one volume but--as I was writing things down--I realized it was more likely to end up as three books.  I got to the end of the G&B vol.2 manuscript the better part of twenty years ago. And stopped.

"During this National Novel Writing Month, I'm writing as much of G&B vol.3 as I can squeeze in during the time allotted.

"Even before this NaNo, I was sure that The Gryphon & the Basilisk volume 1 existed only in a typed hard copy and that volume 2 existed only in hand-written sheets. For years I've kept one copy each of volumes 1&2 in my freezer to protect them. (The hard copies don't fit in my tiny fire-proof lockbox and my bank perversely refuses to have safe deposit boxes.)

"I’ve been inputting stray files into my new computer today--the better to lose NaNoWriMo. When I finished inputting what I knew I had in the container, I checked the discs in my lock box to see if anything on them needed up-loading. Mixed in with the other discs was one labeled G&B vols 1&2 !  It seems that back in 2002, I scanned in all the typed sheets of volume 1 and I transcribed almost all of the chapters of volume 2.

" I have no memory of having done this but I’m -very- grateful!"

~~~~~

Maybe I did write The Gryphon and the Basilisk volume 3 but dropped the disc into the cookie jar along with the sugar cookies! Phew!

If only I could find my cookie jar...