If you haven’t been following me on Twitter the last couple of days, I’m really ramping up my revision of The Price of Mercy.

This was taken a while ago, but I forgot to snap a newer pic of my revisions this noon, so I went trawling through my archives.  Some time after I took this, I gave up on marking up my hard copy and decided to go straight into rewrite mode.  What that means is that I am literally recopying my hard draft, adding new things and fixing old things as the need arises.

When I started this revision, I’d chopped my book in half.  That left me with a starting page count of ~154.  The latest page count is 295, which means that I’ve done a heck of a lot of rewriting since I started this project!  I still have a heck of a lot more to do, though, and I’m beginning to wonder if a fourth book won’t end up being necessary.  Of course, if that’s the case, then I’ll start worrying that I won’t have enough material to fill a fourth book…

Being a writer is to be an anxious, nervous wreck about 90% of the time.

Despite that, I wouldn’t trade my writing time for all the peace of mind in the world.  I love writing.  And one day, I hope the world will love my flights of fancy as much as I do.

What’s that?  You want a snippet?  Well, all right then.  This scene starts with an argument between the king (first speaker) and queen.

“I will not be beaten by a mere boy.”

“He has beaten you, husband,” she said, sighing sadly.  “But he’s no longer a boy.  You can’t keep him locked up forever as if he were.”

“Oh, I can’t?  Watch me.”  He glowered at his wife as she turned to leave.  “Enya!”

“Do not presume to tell me what to do.  I take orders from no one.  Not even you.  Don’t do it again.”

She glared at him in response, biting back a thousand bitter replies, and stalked out of the room.  She marched through the palace to her son’s quarters, caring little that it was late.  If she was awake, then he would be, too.

“Stand aside, if you know what’s good for you,” she ordered as she approached the room.  The guards jumped away from the door, startled.  At least someone listens to me, she thought as she tried the door.

It was locked.  “Open it.”

“Yes, your Majesty.  One moment,” the guard to her right said, fumbling through his pockets for the key.

The man’s hands shook so badly that he dropped the small silver key, but Enya snatched it before it hit the ground.  “Give me that.  I’ll do it myself.”

The queen unlocked the door and crossed the room, where she found Zandoor and Lipei asleep in bed.  “Wake up, both of you!”

“Mother?”  The prince sat bolt upright as Lipei clutched the bedclothes to her chest.  “What are you doing here?”

“Was she worth it, son?” Enya asked, ignoring his question.

“Absolutely,” he said, his expression hardening.  “She will always be worth it.  And I would marry her again, if given the choice.”

“Well, I hope you two are happy then, because you’ve ruined us all.”

“Oh, stop it, Mother.  We haven’t ruined anything.”

The queen laughed.  It was a cold, mirthless laugh that echoed through the chamber and sent chills up Lipei’s spine.  But Zandoor just rolled his eyes.

“You have no idea the trouble you’ve caused,” she continued.  “Thanks to you, your father is going to lose everything.  You mark my words, Zandoor, no good will come from this marriage.”

“The only thing Father’s lost is Lord Grek’s fortune.  I’d hardly call that losing everything.”

“Oh, you have no idea.  He’s ready to declare war on the clergy thanks to you!  This kingdom will tear itself apart, and it will be all your fault.”

Zandoor threw off the blanket and leaped to his feet.  “It will not.  Father would have gone after the clergy regardless of whom I married, and you know it, so that can’t be what this is all about.  As for the kingdom ripping iself apart, it already is, and it didn’t take my getting married for it to happen.”

Thoughts?  Share ’em below! 🙂

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