Friday's Inspirational Quote of the Day
"I've never met a person…in whom I could not see possibilities. I don't care how much a man may consider himself a failure, I believe in him, for he can change the thing that is wrong in his life anytime he is prepared and ready to do it. Whenever he develops the desire, he can take away from his life the thing that is defeating it. The capacity for reformation and change lies within."
— Preston Bradley

Fantasy Author Sandy Lender wishes you a successful, empowered day!
Keep reading for more of today's posts, including the interactive Word of the Day for all you visiting writers.
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: inspirational quote, quote of the day, fantasy author, Sandy Lender, dragon, possibilities, reformation, Preston Bradley

Charlotte Anne's Departure from Arcana

Or...a scene that wasn't included in Choices Meant for Gods

In honor of upcoming Bear Awareness Weak and Fantasy Author Sandy Lender's involvement with Internet Voices Radio this Sunday night, this writing exercise from a past writers' meeting celebrates bear habitat -- or the Rochest Forest in the southeast of Onweald, which you can read about in the fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods.

Charlotte Anne shivered, settling her nerves and reflexes as the waves of nausea passed. She had to find a way to bring her bouts of morning sickness under control before she got back to her family’s farm. She wasn’t ready to face her father. She wasn’t ready to tell him why she’d been sent home from the school in Arcana.

“I’m not ready to tell him about you,” she told her stomach.

As if drawn to her voice, every shadow in the Rochest Forest now turned its attention on the girl. She winced as if they’d touched her.

But she was sensible. Even if dark spaces glowered at her here, angered at the way she’d defiled this place of seclusion, she knew that the morning suns shone back in the clearing where she’d left her traveling companions. Surely daylight lit the sky beyond the canopy above, and creatures like demons or trolls only came out at night.

“We have nothing to fear from the forest in the day,” she whispered, stroking her stomach slowly, lovingly, as if she’d already figured out how to be a mother.

She thought she had nothing to fear from the wispy shadows that wavered like faeries’ wings across the rustling leaf litter and rocks. Nothing to fear from the breeze that brushed across her like fingers lifting her hair, like a goddess hissing a warning in her ear. And it did feel like a warning.

She froze in place, kneeling on the dirt like a condemned man waiting...waiting…waiting for the sound of a snap as a twig broke beneath a boot. The ring of metal as a sword left its scabbard.

She jumped to her feet. And when she spun to face whatever beast had come up on her, the heel of her slipper met the puddle of her sickness. Her balance faltered. She would have screamed out if not for the shock in her throat. She hit the ground with a thud that jarred her teeth, and she imagined the baby within her started to cry.

“No noise,” the man hissed. He was suddenly around her, strong arms confining and bulging muscles binding. The sword blade felt both hot and cold against her neck, but it didn’t bite into the flesh as she expected. Yet his hand gripping and ripping her hair to hold back her head hurt like lightning bolts.

“Your death is supposed to look like an accident,” he said. “But I’ll make it as painless as I can.”

She gulped. “My baby…”

“Sorry, Little Girl.”

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, fantasy novel, fantasy author, Sandy Lender, internet voices radio, bear awareness week, rochest forest, dragon

Friday, May 9, 2008
Word of the Day
Unremitting (adjective) -- incessant; persistent; not ever giving up in persistence; never slackening effort (remit is from Latin meaning "to give back" or "to send")

Word in a Sentence: In the fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods, Nigel's unremitting advances finally convince Chariss that he's infatuated with her.

Your turn! Have you any clever sentences for us today? (Fantasy Author Sandy Lender's unremitting requests for audience participation encourage visitors to share. He he he.)

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: word of the day, Choices Meant for Gods, fantasy novel, fantasy author, Sandy Lender, unremitting, dragon

Thursday's Inspirational Quote of the Day
"He that rides his hobby gently must always give way to him that rides his hobby hard."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fantasy Author Sandy Lender wishes you a day worth living!
This one looks familiar for good reason. A friend needed the reminder. :) Keep reading for today's radio announcement, contest reminder and interactive Word of the Day.
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: inspirational quote, quote of the day, fantasy author, Sandy Lender, dragon, Ralph Waldo Emerson

Internet Voices Radio Hosts Sandy Lender Sunday Night

Or...The Dragon goes on the air again

"Are you Bear Aware? Mother's Day is also the start of National Bear Awareness Week...and why not? Bears are great mothers, too! This May 11, from 9 to 11 p.m. Eastern, authors Carrie Masek, Sandy Lender, Cynthia Eden, Angie Fox, Lise Fuller (and perhaps a surprise guest) join Rowena Cherry to promote awareness of bears and any other large, scary, hairy (or otherwise) creatures that inhabit the woods...or our romantic imaginations."

If you've followed along at Today the Dragon Wins, you know that the fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods includes plenty of scary monsters that crept from my imagination--ryfel, edras, The Dragon Julette herself. Maybe tomorrow I'll re-post the deleted scene of poor Charlotte Anne in the Rochest Forest... Many a legend from the days of old began deep in the forests where our forefathers dared not venture for fear of the unknown. Sunday night, we authors of the paranormal and speculative fiction in general can creep you out a little further with hints and whispers of scenes we've created with that "unknown." Tune in to PIVR online to hear what we've got in store for you.

Here are the instructions to listen in: http://www.internetvoicesradio.com/

I'll be reading an excerpt or two from Choices Meant for Gods. You can follow along if you have your own copy. Download the eBook now at http://www.archebooks.com/BookIDX/Indexes/Fantasy/CMG/CMGDesc.htm. Or sprint to the nearest Barnes & Noble to see if it's still on the shelf.

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, fantasy novel, internet voices radio, rowena cherry, bear awareness, Mother's Day, carrie masek, sandy lender, cynthia eden, angie fox, lise fuller, dragon, internet radio

Don't Forget to Enter the CMFG Contest

Or...Tell us who Chariss gets saddled with

In the fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods, who is Chariss chosen to protect?

If you've found the answer at this blog, at Nigel's blog (http://sandylender.blogspot.com/), at http://www.authorisland.com/, at my publisher's site (http://www.archebooks.com/), or in the book itself, you could win the fabulous basket o' goodies pictured above this Memorial Day. Just e-mail your answer to authorisland at yahoo dot com with your name and snail mail address by May 31 when the host of Author Island, the lovely DeNita Tuttle, will draw a winner!

If you need to read the book, you can get the eBook for only $3.99 at http://www.archebooks.com/BookIDX/Indexes/Fantasy/CMG/CMGDesc.htm.

Good luck!

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, fantasy novel, contest announcement, author island, DeNita Tuttle, Chariss

Thursday, May 8, 2008
Word of the Day
Operose (adjective) -- complex; laborious; involving much labor or lots of steps (from Latin meaning "work")

Word in a Sentence: In the fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods, Chariss must take on the operose task of protecting The Master Rothahn, an arrogant, difficult deity who is accustomed to having His way in whatever He elects to do.

Your turn! This is not the arduous task you might think; give us a creative sentence with today's vocabulary word! It's fun!

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, word of the day, fantasy novel, operose, dragon

Wednesday's Inspirational Quote of the Day
"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."
— Mark Twain

Fantasy Author Sandy Lender wishes you a fabulous, uplifted day!
Keep reading for today's book announcement and scroll to find Monday's most-cool contest announcement!
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: inspirational quote, quote of the day, fantasy author, Sandy Lender, dragon, ambition, Mark Twain

Book II Announcement
Or...The Dragon releases the name

Fantasy writers know, there's an old legend that you should never reveal your true name to anyone. For once an enemy (or anyone else, for that matter) learns it, he can use it in a spell to capture you, force you into your true form, and vanquish you. It's bad news all around.

Today, I throw caution to the wind and announce publicly the name of Book II of the Choices trilogy.

Choices Meant for Kings

Ooooooo. Ahhhhhhh.
It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? I wanted to call it Choices Meant for Ring-givers, because I'm such a fiend when it comes to that Old English, Anglo-Saxon way of the world, but, alas, how DO you go about getting everyone to agree on capitalization there? And would the population in general "get it"? No.

So Choices Meant for Kings it is. Wish I could give you a release date. But we'll know that the day before it happens. Rest assured, it'll be sometime this summer. Late summer. We could make it a contest. In fact, I'll chat with DeNita over at Author Island about that contest idea...

Leave a comment and let me know what you think!
"Some days, I just want the dragon to eat a couple kings."
Tags: fantasy trilogy, Choices Meant for Kings

Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Word of the Day
Esoteric (adjective) -- not familiar to everyone; understood by a select group; intended for a small group (from Greek meaning "within")

Word in a Sentence: In the fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods, the Elder Edda holds esoteric ramblings of mad prophets that Chariss and the god she's been chosen to protect must comb for clues to their future.

Your turn! What creative sentence can you come up with to help us understand our word better today? It's a nice one...

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: word of the day, Choices Meant for Gods, fantasy novel, Elder Edda, esoteric, dragon