LAST CHAPTER Chapter 30: Get Out Alive

Chapter 30

Get Out Alive

Wow.  I don’t know where to begin because I don’t think any of us were expecting for the end of Cursed with Power to come so soon.  After all of the buildup for chapter 30 I honestly thought I was going to post something saying a specific date it was being uploading.  Well, dearest readers, you got better.  The LAST CHAPTER is finally uploaded.  No more emailing me complaints; look at the bookJ

I understand it took me months to upload this chapter.  The reasoning for that is because I was trying to add in everything else before posting the ending chapter.  I’m at the point where I’m editing and revising like my life depends on it, so I finally have the ending here for you.  Know what that means?  Hello official summary to New Life.  Ladies, please contain your enthusiasm, haha.

**This post is also on the Magicians series blog.  If it sounds familiar then you probably read it there.  I have posted on here for those of you who aren't following both blogs.**

Finally it is time for me to talk about chapter 30, and yes I should tell you know that this post won't be short and sweet because I think we all can agree that this is a big deal.  (From the amount of emails I received, it seems this is all you have been waiting for.  Hey, I'm not going to complain.)

While one would think I wouldn't be able to say much about the chapter because it is the ending chapter, there actually is quite a lot I can say.  I know in the past I have said other chapters were challenging, but determining what the final end to the madness would be was rather interesting to say the least.  (Interesting?  Ummm, right...)

Anyways, here's an excerpt from chapter 30 which was uploaded last night but I never got the change to blog about.  Sorry everybody.  At least I'm only a day late with the update.  And now what you've been waiting for...

Excerpt:

The man, whose name I had no recollection of, continued to hold onto my frail body.  Soon I would be limp, and moments after that I would be dead.  I tried to think back to my sister and… What was his name?  My mind was shutting off my thoughts, as if they would cause more damage.  Perhaps it seemed logical in thought, but I needed something to hold onto; somebody to continue breathing for.  Staring and resisting the urge to give up, I listened to a noise above the water.  Someone spoke, but their words were muffled by the water filling my ears.

Welcome to your conclusion. I thought to myself.  A conclusion… The only thing I could hope for now and the only end I expected.  My body was prepared to give up, but it was a faint heartbeat that kept me alive.

The ending of this book isn't at all the end of this blog or the series for that matter.  There is New Life and the other books that follow after Cursed with Power, and each of them return to Celestria's account of events.  Even though I'll be doing edits and revisions for Cursed with Power now, there is much more I have to think about, plan out, and prepare for.  I'll be giving presentations in a few months about Cursed with Power and in addition I need to start thinking about New Life while querying agents.  During these times when I receive rejections I will need something to keep me going.  In the past I always was confused on how that would work, but now I am certain that so long as I am writing something I can find the motivation.  (If that makes any sense.)

During the time I've been working with Cursed with Power, I feel like I have made several connections with Celestria.  At first I worried I would never be able to feel any kind of closeness with her, but I definitely do now.  Working out Celestria and Alaire's relationship has been... Well, it had its ups and downs --and by that I mean for the two of them, not me.  And while originally I thought I wouldn't hate anybody except for Aldemund, I discovered that Aldemund I can deal with.  It's Japhet who drove me absolutely insane when he entered into the book.

Being at the point where revisions are essential, you would think I wouldn't have much to look forward to.  Again, though, I can start planning out what happens next while working out edits.  There have been numerous ideas filling my head (and four journals) during these ten --soon to be eleven by tomorrow-- months, and it will be challenge to figure out if and where they can fit in.  

I am just as excited as you about New Life, but in the mean time you'll have to believe me when I say I am doing everything I can to share Cursed with Power with the rest of the world.

For those of you who enjoyed Cursed with power and you're uncertain with how you'll feel about the sequel, I am here to reassure you that the main story of the series does not change in New Life.  I know everyone has been wondering what will happen in book 2 and etc., etc. but honestly so long as you come along for the journey I'm certain you'll find a character to love, a place to be interested in, and a joke or two to laugh at.  (I can't believe some people say Léal is funny, but hey I'm not going to question it.)

There are a lot of new exciting posts coming your way, and I'll keep you updated on progress with CWP.  In the mean time, there's that official summary for New life that you have been waiting for --some more than others-- and that I will also post before anyone starts a riot.

Once again, this is only the beginning of a very long journey.  Enjoy the last chapter.  

COMING NEXT: NEW LIFE (!!!!!!) 

Read all 30 chapters of Cursed with Power.  Now complete and readable on inkpop.  (Link here)

And don't forget...  The official summary of New Life is coming up on the Magicians blog.  Be sure to stop on by and find out what is happening in the sequel! (summary will be available on this blog later tonight)

Be there for the magic: www.themagiciansseries.blogspot.com

New Life *PREMIER/TEASER YOU SHOULD READ ASAP*

At last the premier for New Life has arrived.  Whether you have read Cursed with Power or no, you will want to read this.  Why?  Simply because this is a sneak peak into what's to come when New Life comes around.  

New Life is the second book in the Magicians series.  It is the sequel to Cursed with Power.  This is a premier --more popularly known as a "teaser"-- to what the book will be like; it will NOT give away anything that happened in Cursed with Power.  This scene is only a rough draft of what will be in the book, but for your sake and so you will not be bored I decided to type up one of the most mysterious and interesting scenes.  I expect feedback from any of you who read this.  Love it?  Hate it?  Want me to talk more about my ideas for New Life or the future of the Magicians series in general?  Leave it all in your COMMENT.

(PLEASE NOTE: New Life will not be public on inkpop until Cursed with Power is finished.)

What you've been waiting for....  and now thus starts the teaser....

Looking at his grave, I was not able to push away the memories that came back to me.  I could not forget what had happened and how he had ended up dead and I had remained alive.  It seemed as if he was standing right beside me whilst I kept my focus on his gravestone; my mind wondered back to that time.  That miserable day so many years ago that felt like it had occurred yesterday…

¯¯¯

            I came home from another long day out in the fields.  My hands were sore and there were several blisters that covered them.  I dragged my feet into my room and began searching for a change of clothes.  As I found a gray tunic lying on the floor, I heard the door open.  I turned my head, but I did not leave my room because I figured it was Da.  The door slammed shut; Da was not one to do such a thing when he entered the house, even on his bad days.

            “Da?” I called out.  I considered the tunic I was holding and then threw it onto the floor again.  The floor boards creaked and my stomach flipped; something did not seem right.

            I walked out of my room and looked into the large room where we had the dinning table.  One chair had been pushed into the table, thus having moved the table to the right.  Mud tracks went through the house, and it was then that I knew nothing was right.  It had not rained for three days and Da had been staying inside due to having come down with a fever.  He only went outside when he had no one else to ask to go; I was his only child and Ma had left us when I had been a baby.

            By following the tracks that went through the house I was led to my Da’s room.  His room was at the far end of the house, but the tracks stopped at the closed door.  I put my hand out to the door.  I froze and reconsidered.  What if someone was inside Da’s room?  What would I do?  I turned around and looked at the cabinet only several inches away from me.  I gritted my teeth as I forced the cabinet opened and pulled out the dagger Da had kept hidden there. 

            With the dagger clenched in my left hand, I opened the door with my right hand.  The moment I entered the room I dropped the dagger.  Inside were three people in black cloaks.  They stood to the side of Da’s bed; all of their physical appearances were covered by their cloaks and hoods.  A knife with a black handle lay on Da’s chest… the rest of him was covered in red.  Water filled my eyes as I realized what had happened, though the knife was entirely clean and I could not make sense of how these strangers had killed Da.

            “How dare thou do this to my Da!” I screamed as tears ran down my face.  I bent down to retrieve the dagger, but when I was standing once more there was only one cloaked person remaining.

            “Do not worry, Mr. Irvine, thee and thy father will be reunited when thou are older.” He said in a husky voice.  Then, after mumbling a word to himself, he disappeared.  I looked around the room to see where his accomplices had gone, but none of them were in plain sight.

            I was thirteen years old and my Da had just been murdered… in front of my very eyes for no apparent reason that I knew of yet…

¯¯¯

Ooh, it's something new...!

I know it's shocking to hear there's a new cover for Cursed with Power when I loved the one before this, but somebody offered to make a new one and I wasn't going to turn them down on it.  Besides, I think this one adds some mystery into the cover and we all know how appropriate that is for this book.

Like it?  Love it?  Hate it?  Don't care?
This is the cover that I'll now be using for the book, thus why changes have been made to the book's page and to the place on this blog where I am promoting the book.

Later on today when you visit the blog....
New Life's premier will be *hopefully* posted up. This premier will NOT give away anything that happened in Cursed with Power, so do not worry that you won't be able to read it because you actually can. 
I do not know what will be in the premier yet or what it will be like, but what I'm working towards is coming up with something that will let you see into the book and get excited about it.  Even if you haven't read Cursed with Power, I am hoping the post and promotion for the book will get you interested and make you curious.

Just remember, though, you may have to wait a while before you can set your curiosity to ease because New Life is after Cursed with Power and thus it won't be written until I finish with Cursed with Power.
And I even put this all in blue color text because not only is it my favorite color, but I generally associate the MC in New Life with the color blue.  Why?  Shhh, that's a secret!  Just kidding, but I shall not be answering that just yet for you.


Other stuff to bring up....
I feel like putting this in purple just for the heck of it, so sorry if I'm having a bit too much fun with changing font color at the moment.  It's just something different to do and I'm hoping the different color will make you totally interested in what this long post is about.  Lol, did it work?


I've been getting a lot of comments on Cursed with Power.  (Who's excited?! I AM!) The comments that have really surprised me is apparently a lot of girls who are reading the book are saying, "I love Leal's character".  (Sorry for not entering in the accent, but I do not feel like pulling up Word just so I can copy and paste so please forgive me.)  Not even kidding, one fan said her favorite character from a book on inkpop is Leal from Cursed with Power, and I was shocked.  Of all the characters in all the books, she picked Leal!  *screams in excitement* *dies* It's seriously that amazing.
A fan said about Leal...
I totally picture Le`al hot! Yes, he isheisheisheis!!!!! 


So yes, that was definitely interesting for me and it was also great to hear because I love hearing from fans and readers what they have enjoyed that is in my book.  I've always really liked working with Leal's character just because I find him to have a humorous manner about himself and everything in general, but I thought that was just me.  I'm not saying I don't like Celestria's character, but when it comes to who is my favorite character in Cursed with Power that I've been working with... I'd say it would have to be Leal.  Apparently my fans agree with that... (It's a small world after all.)


Cursed with Power is at 573 in ranking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who ever saw that coming?  I certainly did not; after five months it's finally in the 600s.  So how many more months until I get into the top five....  I think it's going to be a lot.  <-----As you can tell I've really calculated this all out. *sarcasm*
Ohhhhh well, I'm still really HAPPY about where this book is getting.


Let's talk about researching/writing/editing....
While I'm ranting on about whoknowswhat I thought I might as well lightly touch on the subject of everything I'm doing with my book.
Researching is going.... all right.  I still have yet to find a historian --or historians-to perhaps help me out a bit more.
Writing and editing.... is going GOOD.  I'm really writing away and I love posting up the new material now because of where my book has been going.  Every time I have something new everybody who really follows my book gets into it and says "I'll go check it out".

New Life *coming soon*

 While yes there are some matters that I have to attend to, it's not as if I have completely thrown all my writing aside and said I've had enough with it.  Since writing is my passion I could never do that, but I am aware it's been a while since I've posted about something to do with one of my projects or etc.
Well everybody, I still want to post up the teaser/premier of New Life, book 2 in the Magicians series.  I know some of you will read it if I post it up and honestly I need to hear your opinions on it. Sometimes I cannot find the motivation to write again until someone gives me positive feedback and encouragement.  Hence why I'll post it on here at *hopefully* the end of the month.

New Life.... the book you've been wondering about is almost going to premier here on the blog.  Who's the creepy guy in the picture supposed to represent?  Find out soon.  What's this book about?  Wait for the premier post.

Will you read this book?! None of us will know until you read a little about it yourself and decide on your own.

*I promise the premier for this book will NOT give away anything that happened in Cursed with Power for those of you who hate to have a book ruined before you read it.*

A new page

I took down the chapter index page for Cursed with Power and instead put up a news page.  Whenever I do anything with Cursed with Power I'll announce it there as well on the direct posts on the blog.

In case I didn't say this already, this year I'm pretty sure I'm going to be spending the whole year researching for Cursed with Power so the story can be written more accurately and so it can be at the point where it can be considered for publication.  So even though I probably am going to do that, meaning that chapters 1-3 will stay mostly the same but 4 and so on are changing entirely, I promise that the premier/teaser for New Life will be posted during the last week of September.

New Life Are you excited?!  You should be, and soon enough you'll find out why!
Coming very soon I'm posting a survey.  Please take the time to fill it out?

Knock knock. Anyone home?

I know it seems like I haven't blogged in forever, however I assure you all that it wasn't actually all that long.  I've just been busy with school and work and everything in between.
Upcoming fun stuff and etc:
September 13th ---I go to a writer's meeting!  I'm excited, but now debating on whether to bring The Magic of Light with me or Cursed with Power.  It's a very hard decision.
September 20th ---Innocent & Young will be published in the Teen Inkst Magazine.  Whoaaa!  Make sure you check it out on that date.  I'll be posting the link for you.
Last week of September ---The premier/teaser of New Life.  Read it and you'll be commenting saying you want more (or so I hope, lol)

What's been going on in my world:

• Marriah from IP is helping edit Cursed with Power.  She is currently reading over the prologue.
• I will soon begin helping Tessa edit her book.
• I just realized it's September.  Whoa, new post coming up!
• I'm writing an article for newspaper on Iraq and the war being "over".  I will be posting it on here because I feel a lot of people have been poorly informed about it.
• School has been... crazy but good at the same time.

That's really all I can think of for now...  Wow, I thought I had more to say.

The "ending" is here.... sort of

Today I've "finished" Cursed with Power.  I am putting finished and ending in quotes because the book has a lot of editing it needs to go through.  I am not even posting the "end" I have right now because it is this book out of all the books in the Magicians series that depends on how popular the others get.  If people don't read the end of this book and say, "Oh my gosh I want more. Please write the next book ASAP" we all know that will mean I've really screwed up.
I'm not sure exactly when I'll have the ending up, but you can read what I do have up on IP for now.  You can also read the book on Writer's Cafe by clicking here, but please note that you must be a member to do so.

And now you're wondering what's next right?  For me, editing.  For you, a premier of....

The premier of New Life, the second book in the Magicians series, will be coming in September!


I still have yet to determine a date.  I'll let you know when I actually do know.  Obviously I am not starting this book for a while, seeing as I have to at least get to a point where I feel confident enough to post the final chapters of Cursed with Power.  Plus now that I'm going back to school and I have work I have no idea when I will have free time.  When I do start it it's going to take me some time to get to 10,000 words.

Read Cursed with Power and catch up on what you've read.  Details about the ending are not going to posted here on the blog and when I post that the final chapters are up I'm simply going to say that and nothing more.
Yes, I am still currently writing Cursed with Power.  It needs a lot of editing --we've all been there--and more editing.  I'll keep you updated as always.

New Life has its new cover!

Here's the new cover for New Life that thatcinderellastory made.  The summary to the story is still not public, however, because I haven't even started the book.

Hope you like the new cover.  STRONGER's new cover will be up later or tomorrow; not really sure which.
Maybe I'll let you guys in on the summary a little later, but that probably won't be until after I finished Cursed with Power.  Sorry I didn't get chapter 18 up today; I promise I'll try to force myself into finishing it tomorrow.

More new covers!

Some new covers are coming soon once again from wonderful people on IP who actually know how to make covers, unlike me.
Coming up....

• In The Sky Was a Dove (short story)
• STRONGER (book)
• New Life (book)

The covers for these books will be posted up on the blog once they have been made, so be sure to check back in so you can let me know what you think of them.

Innocent & Young should soon be in the magazine, but again I do not know an exact date as of right now.

Anyways, I'm excited about the new covers!  And in case I didn't mention it early Cursed with Power is in the 700s! 

Maybe chapter 18 today????

I feel as if I have been saying I'll finish chapter 18 for days upon days upon days --though in truth that is not the case-- but I do assure you I mean to finish and upload it when I am able to.  I am still behind with book swaps and I'm trying to catch up with comments, PMs, and everything else in between.
Besides that, I'm just trying to make sure that I don't make chapter 18 happen all too soon.  That doesn't make sense.  Um, what I'm trying to say is that events that happen in chapter 18 are essential to the story and I have to write them the correct way.

About other projects.... I am to have the cover of New Life soon up once it is finished.  I do not know exactly will that will be, but I am hoping soon.  Curtis, who did the cover for Cursed with Power, is also making the cover for New Life so expect something great.
A new cover for Certain Fate is being made by my friend, Gabby, who also made the cover for Dark Romance.  Unfortunately I do not know when she will make the cover, since she actually draws the covers instead of using a program.  She has a life like everybody else, so when she draws the cover and scans it over to me I'll let you know and of course post about it.
Innocent & Young should eventually be in the Teen Inkst magazine one of these lovely days.... Again, something else I also do not know the date of.

Innocent & Young NEW AMAZING COVER

The new cover I mentioned for Innocent & Young is here at last.  This fantastic cover was made by BURN on IP and she deserves all the credit.
This cover I have just updated onto the short story format of the book and you will be able to see it on the book format of it as well once I actually start the book... Possibly for Nano?  Eh, I'm still considering.

Later I hope to come back and share with you a new cover for Everblue.  And yes, a new cover for New Life is also expected to be coming soon thanks to the wonderful, talented artists on IP.
How do you like the new cover???

I personally love it.  I'm also thinking of remodeling the sides of the blog a bit to make it more... I don't know centralized around writing and my projects?  We'll see about that later.  For now I have to try and write chapter 18 up while I still can.

New story covers!!!

I wanted to stop in to let you guys know that new story covers will be coming for my short story Innocent & Young and for my book The Magic of Light.
The new cover for New Life will not be up until Curtis from IP can do that; he did the new cover for Cursed with Power and thus I'd prefer he do the new cover for the sequel.

I'll be sure to show you the new covers when I have them.
And... Haven't read Cursed with Power yet?  Read more about it here and then go read the story.

Cursed with Power... writing more

Today I am writing more for Cursed with Power.  I think that for those of you who are reading it or have a least been keeping up with the posts I blog about it you will find that there is much more awaiting both you and Celestria in this story.
What happens next is what you're not going to expect... much less believe!
Just while matters are seemingly starting to go well for Celestria she finds out there is much more to come her way.  Unfortunately it is not at all good.  New characters come to enter into the story and Celestria goes to seek out an old foe.
Can she survive through it?
I ask this question but I know that you are asking exactly what she has to worry about surviving.  Well, my fellow followers and viewers, I cannot give that away to you.  However, I will let you know that I have outlined the ending of the book and as I said in an early post this ending is just the right ending to lead you into New Life.
As eager as I may be to write out the ending of the book there is still more Celestria has to tell you about.  Her journey is far from being over.
Haven't read it yet?
If you haven't read this book yet I am not exactly the right person to be saying you should read it --seeing as I'm bias--but you should definitely consider taking a glance at the summary if nothing else to get some ideas of your own on the book.
Read it here.Review it. Leave a comment. Add it.

Check in again later today on the blog to hear about chapter 14, which I'm in the process of writing right now.  Let's all hope I'll stay focused and force myself to write and finish more than one chapter.

News update

Sadly it does not look like I'll have chapter 13 of Cursed with Power finished this evening because I've been reviewing the whole book and I was also preparing myself for once I start working on New Life.
Of course by doing that I did manage to get myself somewhat distracted because for a while I was debating over two different summaries for New Life.  At last, though, I was successful in deciding which one I liked best that would keep the interest of my readers.

And though this is not for sure... I think I may be writing Innocent & Young for Nanowrimo.  Again, it's not set in stone yet though, so there may still be a chance I change my mind come November.  For me it's a really big deal because as I've said I want to pick a book that I will follow and write my heart out to through the 30 days of the contest.

New Life

I've prepared myself on IP for when I get to writing New Life.  For those of you who are just dying to know what this book is about I'll tell you a little bit.  However, the full summary of the book I shall not be posting until I finish Cursed with Power.  I feel if I tell you the full summary now I'll be giving away too much, though the summary of this book really doesn't give away a lot.

New Life
Book 2 of the Magicians series


Sentence summary: Léal changed his looks because he wanted to; he was forced to change his life because he had to.

Nano 2010

I knew that Nano --more properly aka NaNoWriMo--was right around the corner, but when I got an email from the Nano staff today I realized it is coming really soon!  (Yeah, a lot of mixed reactions going on right now, isn't there)?
I've always loved sharing with people what my Nano selection is, and now since I have a blog I can tell all of you, my wonderful, followers, about my selection.
Hopefully this post won't bore you, but if it does please feel free to bore me just as much with your own post like this.

STRONGER is the story that takes a new lead on your typical damsel-in-distress.  Actually, it focuses on the idea of a princess being trained to not become a damsel-in-distress.  If you already think you are interested in this story, you might want to read on.  I'm going to give you the summary next.

To the public view Jocelyn was just a princess.  However, her family knew that she was not "just" an ordinary kind of princess.  She had been trained, and she had been trained well to defend herself.  She was the only heir left to the throne.

"You need to learn this, Jocelyn.  My lady, there won't be much time." Kerrich said.

"I know.  Adela already told me --Dalmas is sending someone to kill me.  I am ready now." Jocelyn said as Kerrich placed the long, thin dagger in her hand.

"There's no telling what they are going to do, dearest Jocelyn.  You are going to have to be careful.  You will have to be brave; do not fail us." He said, almost whispering.  Jocelyn could see that his checks were already getting wet.

"I shall be strong.  I shall not die." Jocelyn promised.

***

Jocelyn heard the door creak open.  She grabbed the dagger that she had placed  on her nightstand, but she remained lying in her bed.  A figure came over to where her bed was.  Its hand came down, holding a shining object, and Jocelyn screamed.  Then the knife went into skin...

The book is going to be an adventure/action/fantasy/mystery/romance kind of novel.  (Whoa, lots of genres there)!  I guess what really inspired me to think of this story was because in pretty much all stories that focus on princesses, the princess always gets kidnapped and then waits for someone to come and save her.  I am not saying anything is wrong with those kind of stories  because I love them as much as the next person.  All I am saying is that here I will try a new tactic.  A new angle.

I chose this story back in May of this year, and so hopefully I will end up staying with this as my Nano selection.  I did have another story I was considering, but I think it would be less of an adventure for myself to write.

Last year I began Nano with a story called Legendary Mordred.  It was going great until I forgot to save the first chapter and the second chapter overwrote it.  Oh, I can't tell you what a mess that was!  I would love to try and write that story again, but I do not believe this year I will attempt to because remembering the good parts I did write for that story is not going to suddenly come to me. 

The book I ended up writing last year was A Shimmering Moon which I can tell you in honesty was not really that good.  First off, it sucked because I did not know what the ending was going to be.  I did not even know half the time what was going to happen next in the chapters themselves.  There were really only two characters I get deeply focused on and both of them were rather... plain?  Boring?  Which explains why I did not make it to 50,000 words with that novel.

Of course, I suppose if I finish Cursed with Power I could write New Life for Nano, but I doubt that is going to happen.  Besides, then I would be getting into the second book of the Magicians series without even having finished the first book correctly and so forth.  (I know no one else will mind, but it will bother me).

Take my advice and write a story you will stay interested in!