Filk Friday: Battle Dawn (and ROW 80 Round review)

Yes, I have another filk song to share today. Battle Dawn is sung from the perspective of Queen Selenay just before the battle with Ancar's men at the end of Arrow's Fall by Mercedes Lackey. I won't say much more than that because I think you should read the Arrows trilogy. Arrows and Mage Storms are my two favorite sets of stories within the Valdemar setting. And Lackey, in collaboration with several talented people, created several collections of music to accompany her world. Some are songs the characters actually know in the stories like Dark and Stormy Night and Sun and Shadow, while others like Battle Dawn and Trio are sung from their perspectives though not in the stories themselves.



While I'm re-listening to this, I'm thinking I may have to parody it for my current WIP. I can imagine Rhona singing a variation of this song at some point after the mid-point crisis which I have tentatively already planned out. "For Lycurgus and my dear twin, I swear that you will pay!" Muahahahahahaha!

ROW 80 end of round review:
I think I'd give myself about a C for sticking with my goals. Until this last couple weeks, I was great on reading new books (to me), so about an A, maybe A- there.

Writing 100+ words every day, meh. I didn't keep up every day, though most weeks, I did have an average of that many. And I did write some every week, which is better than during the previous round. Many of the days I didn't end up posting like I'd meant to were because I wanted to get my writing done first and then ran out of brain power for blogging. S'okay. Story comes first, even though I felt like I was letting you down anyway.

Exercise was the real kicker. Surely ten minutes every day couldn't have been too hard. But I don't like doing my favorite form of exercise when anyone but my son can see me do it. I'm not bad at dancing, just self-conscious outside of a class setting. And I just never got out the stretch bands or free weights instead like I'd intended. But when I did dance, I did it for more than just 10 minutes, more like 20-30 minutes. I will probably adjust my exercise goal for the next round to so many minutes a week instead of a day. I did get a half-mile walk in this morning just by taking the kid down to the bus stop.

My husband and I joined the local Y yesterday, so hopefully, that will help us both get more fit. Plus my husband is doing sword fighting with the SCA group here. He's going to try two-handed, since he can't shake the fencing style he learned in college which isn't compatible with SCA rules. They're also trying to talk me into fencing, but I want to get him geared up first before trying to get stuff for me. He's already got part of what he needs. In the meantime, I'll be working on my cardio.

Have a great weekend!

The upcoming release of Elemental

One of my good friends Emily White will be releasing her debut novel, Elemental, on May 1, published by Spencer Hill Press. I'm very excited to see how her story has evolved, since I've only read some of the early drafts back when her MC had a different name. ;D If I can actually come up with any intelligent sounding questions, I hope to have her visit for an interview sometime before the release date. (Talking to her is easy, but interviewing in general is not. For me anyway.)

But this week, the trailer for her book is out, and I am proud to share it with all of you.

From the press release:

Just because Ella can burn someone to the ground with her mind doesn't mean she should. 
But she wants to.

For ten years--ever since she was a small child--Ella has been held prisoner. Now that she has escaped, she needs answers. Who is she? Why was she taken? And who is the boy with the beautiful green eyes who haunts her memories? Is Ella the prophesied Destructor... or will she be the one who's destroyed?

Filk Friday: The Truth About Ninjas

SJ Tucker is a hoot. One of my friends had sent me a link a while back to her video "Playing D&D," and I loved it. (featured on a previous Filk Friday) This one is a live performance rather than a music video format, but her energy and charm is just as strong. Here's her song "The Truth About Ninjas." Enjoy!