Journey Through Taelis

Welcome to Kelsey's Notebook! Today I’m taking part in Sarah Holman’s Choose Your Own Story event. This is to celebrate the release of her latest book, Escape and Endurance. In this event, you get to pick the outcome of the story by making choices. A lot of different things can happen. What are you waiting for? Start your adventure by clicking the image below.

Andrew blinked and then sat up straight. What was he doing on the ground? He felt dizzy. Why was he dizzy?

He forced himself to stand, using a tree to steady himself. Something poked into his foot, and he saw that his boots had been removed. It was then he remembered! Thieves had attacked him and taken his horse and shoes. This would make things more difficult.

He looked around, and there didn’t seem to be any choice in the matter. Despite his aching head, he started walking.

He soon was faced with a choice. He looked at the two paths and decided to head…

Are you interested in reading about a knight, a tower, a princess, and a servant? Pick up a copy of Escape and Endurance! Haven’t read the other books in the Tales of Taelis series? Not to worry. Each book can stand alone.

About Sarah

Sarah Holman is a not-so-typical girl, a homeschool graduate, sister to six awesome siblings, and lives in the great state of Texas. If there’s anything adventuresome about her life, it’s because she serves a God with a destiny greater than anything she could have imagined. You can find out more about her at her website: www.thedestinyofone.com

You can join the Adventurers (her newsletter) by going here: http://eepurl.com/bitBIf

Carnival of the Animals

Some of you may know I’m a classical music nut. I love music in general, so I’m thrilled every summer to teach at a music day camp for kids. This year’s theme just so happened to fit in with the story I’m preparing for publication (a retelling of the fairy tale “The Bremen Town Musicians”) as it was Animals, specifically the “Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saëns. This lighthearted orchestral suite, written in 1886, is comprised of fourteen entertaining movements, each depicting a different animal taking part in a carnival. I’ve loved it since I was a kid, but teaching about it at the music camp was the first time I actually studied it.

If you haven’t heard this fun, fast-paced piece, give it a listen and let me know which movement is your favorite! Mine are 1) Aquarium (which sounds similar to the prologue from The Beauty and the Beast); 2) Fossils (that iconic xylophone piece that sounds like dancing bones); and 3) Swan (probably the most recognizable movement from the suite).

What music have you been listening to and loving recently?

Photos of Music Camp

Return . . . of Me and the 777 Writing Challenge

Hey, everyone! I hope your summer has been full of good times and free from heatstroke. Maybe you’re one of those fortunate individuals who live where summer is actually the weather highlight of the year. If so, make the most of it for me!

Like many of you, I’ve had a busy summer. Writing had to go on the back-burner in May, June, and July, but I’m finally back and feeling a bit of a fresh, north Atlantic wind in my sails. I’ve missed this blog. And with the advent of a new book, it’s time for an earnest return.

 Thank you to Deborah O’Carroll of The Road of a Writer for tagging me in the 777 Writing Challenge! She gave me the impetus to update you on my retelling of “The Bremen Town Musicians” and share a snippet.

For the update, the story is moving forward nicely, praise God. The tentative title is The Road to Bremen, and it’s topped out at about 19,000 words. Illustrations are being planned and I’m working on a next-to-final edit and formatting. November 2018 is my projected publication date, though it may slide into December. I’ll share more as I begin the publishing process.

And now for the snippet. Here are the rules for the 777 Challenge:

1. Open your WIP to the seventh page.

2. Scroll past the seventh line.

3. Copy the next seven paragraphs and paste them on your blog for THE WORLD to read.

4. Tag seven people. (I’m going to forgo this last one and tag whoever wants to do it.)

Photo Credit: Ivana Ebel

 “Those robbers have been terrorizing people for months. The forest must be where they live,” the flutist protested. “Now let’s go before . . . before . . .”

“Before we get stuck in the forest at nightfall!” the violinist chuckled.

And with that, they were off without so much as an Auf Wiedersehen.

Etzel was offended at first, but when the musicians struck up a tune down the road, his thoughts turned. Bremen musicians were paid well and in great demand? Why, he could eat all the hay in the field and more! He’d never have to carry a heavy load again! All he’d have to do was sing; he probably didn’t even need to sing very often if musicians were paid well.

He had a fine voice: loud, deep, and natural. It would drown out all the music humans could make with their meager voices and instruments. Their instruments had a nice, tinkling sound, but they were mere twitters compared to a donkey’s voice.

So why shouldn’t Etzel go to Bremen, too? He was condemned to death here at this thankless farm, so why not leave and become a musician? It certainly seemed his true calling, the more he thought about it; perhaps he ought to have become a musician long ago and not spent all his life in farm drudgery!

Turning away from the fence, he looked this way and that. On the other side of the pasture, the draft horses’ noses were planted in the grass, backs facing him. Herr Hofmann was probably inside the large clay-and-timber barn or the house behind, both under the same long, sweeping thatched roof. Etzel didn’t like how the empty black doorway gaped at him, but at least it showed no one was watching.

***

 What do you think will happen next?