Oh boy, oh boy.

Hello.

Hi.

Wow.

So this is a private blog for now.  Someday, maybe, I’ll publish this as a kind of stream of consciousness into a writer’s insane mind.  For now, it’s where I can put my thoughts down concerning Mason & Co.  Everything is titled that right now.  The Pinterest board for this, the folder in my Documents, how I explain it to anyone, and really, it’s not fair, but it is.  There are four main characters, but he’s the big one.  He’s the one I keep dreaming about.

Okay.  There are, right now, five novels.  Novel one: Miriam, water element.  Novel two: Leila, earth element.  Novel three: Mason, fire element.  Novel four: Lukas, air element.  Novel five: Mason & Co.  I was driving down the highway home from work the other day when I realized that Mason was the third novel, not the first, and now I’m writing them out of order, and realistically, I’ll probably continue to because my mind is saying Mason, Miriam, Lukas, Leila.  I know that’s because I haven’t found a way to connect with Leila yet, but I will.

I guess I should start at the beginning?  Jack and I had this writing blog, Writers of the Mark, funny play on words there for any LOTR fans, and most of the time, I was lazy and would post old poems/short stories or just write really fast poems to stick up online.  However, very occasionally, I would actually write a short story over the week and post it on the day I was actually supposed to.  It started with Miriam.  I don’t know what the hell I thought I was doing with that story, or where it was going.  All I knew was that there was a young girl (then Marian) who was attracted to the sea, her mother was a faerie, her father was an incubus (the dream stealing kind), and, at the end of the story, she would kill her mother and surrender to the ocean.  I didn’t realize until the end that her mother was a faerie or that Miriam was a kelpie.  I thought that was the end of it.  Then, I wrote Leila’s story.  She was attracted to a copse of birch trees near her house.  Without warning, three names popped up–Marian, Lukas, and Mason.  She talked about knowing them as a young girl, growing up with them, and how she’d heard that Marian had thrown herself into the sea, Lukas had survived a terrible plane crash, and Mason was a drug addict (I didn’t know what drug it was yet).  She had this friend, Amar, that I figured out at the end.  He was part of a race of people called the Undying that helped people like her.  I still didn’t know about the faeries part, let alone the elementals part.  At the end of the story, Amar takes Leila to Zinoviya, a secret city built as a sanctuary for mythical creatures.  Oh!  Miriam was a kelpie, and Leila was a dryad.  By now, I knew something bigger was at play, so when I began Lukas’s story, I had some idea of where I was going.  I knew he was a halcyon from the get-go, I knew Nila was his Undying counterpart, and I was starting to piece together the overarching story here.  Humans versus mythical creatures.  In Lukas’s story, he has trouble breathing, is constantly overheating, and sees visions of Mason strung out.  Turns out air and fire go well together.  WAIT, WHAT.  I had finally figured out the elements part, but still not the faeries.  At the end of Lukas’s story, he sees a vision of Mason asking for help before Mason flips his palm over, and it reads 10/6.  Ten over six, mad as a hatter, I know where you are, Lukas says, or something of that ilk.  Nila doesn’t understand, Lukas says, You should read more! and something happened–Madhouse.  Mason’s story unfolded in three seconds flat.  He was addicted to tea, he owned a teashop called Madhouse, and he was a faery that controlled fire.

That’s where it ended.

I went on my merry way, Jack told me he wanted a novel (as always), I turned back to fanfiction, and life continued on.  Eventually, around September, I started writing the infamous Ronan novels again.  He’s been with me for 11 years, since I was 13, and I’ve never written a novel that didn’t include him, or Irizedd.  Last week, I wrote the first chapter for Mason.  It just happened.

Okay, realistically, I wrote 604 words, freaked out and sent it to Erin to read, reached out to Matt to ask him if he’d read a different novel to edit, told Jack I was having a mental breakdown, and kept writing.  Right now, I’m on chapter four, I know it’s a YA urban fantasy, I have 14 chapters planned, and I just asked someone brand new if they would read it.  So, Jack and Erin are reading it right now, editing while I write, Matt is going to content edit the entire thing, and then I’m handing it off to a few select readers, so here’s your warning that I’ll be asking eventually.

So here I am.  I bought a new tarot deck because Maggie’s was Ronan’s.  That wasn’t really why, I love the Wild Unknown deck and have wanted it for a while, but I also knew that any reading I had to do for Mason had to be done with the Wild Unknown deck.  The first reading I did, I drew for past, present, future, and asked, “Where do I begin?”  I was presented with the two of cups, the ten of swords, and the high priestess.  I mean.  Really?

For non-tarot readers: the two of cups, as the past card, tells me about a budding relationship Mason had, one that was beautiful and romantic and everything he needed at that time.  Translation: Lukas.  They’re on again/off again in Mason’s novel, and eventually might become on permanently, but we’ll see.  The high priestess, as the future card, talks about intuition and a higher form of knowledge.  It literally says in the book, embrace the shadows.  So Mason is finally in control of his power and ready to take on the world.  The ten of swords, as the present card, well fuck.  It tells me that Mason is at his lowest point, but the only way out is up.  Okay.  I’m ready to begin.

Since that reading, I’ve bought three books–The Ancient Art of Faery Magick by D.J. Conway, A Witch’s Guide to Faery Folk by Edain McCoy, and A Field Guide to Fantastical Beasts by Olento Salaperainen.  I’ve been researching other modern faery tales, looking for more on faery lore, and desperately looking for anything to do with the Wild Hunt (more on that later).  I’ve created a Mason playlist, and even stuck one or two songs in a Lukas and Miriam playlist the other night.  I’m drinking tea right now, and this is probably a form of procrastination because I have chapter four open, and I’ve just been avoiding it all night.  I can’t believe this is happening.  I hope it keeps happening.

Thank you, universe.