K.E. Skedgell

I have been working on my novel that I have long titled (subject to change, of course) Draculești, which has the meaning of "house" or "family of the dragon/devil", for quite some time. In the last few years I have been rewriting the novel from the previous draft, because quite frankly, it was dreadful. I've been using this story as practice to learn to write, and so far I can see how I have improved. It is one reason why it is taking me so long to finish it. Another reason I just need to sit down and write it. Order Of The Dragon My infatuation with 15th century Eastern Europe and the historical people of the era started way back when I was thirteen or fourteen, when I had first discovered my love of vampires, thanks to a friend of mine. Playing the Castlevania games on the Nintendo also contributed to my curiosity of the vampire/Dracula lore, and, if that weren't geeky enough, I started making crappily drawn and even more crappily written Captain...

A s you can see, I changed the template on my blog. Well, those of you that have seen how it looked before, anyway. Still trying to figure out how I want this thing to look. In my opinion, I like the looks of this template better than the previous one. Kind of fits my mood and personality as well as the mood of the novel I'm writing. But I don't like how it's set up. It is missing a few things that as of right now I'm not sure I can add or not, like the buttons at the bottom of my posts for Facebook, Twitter and all that for people to connect to. I suppose they aren't that big of a deal. For now. I do think it is easier to read than before. Anyway, I'll probably get tired of this one too after a while and change it up again. I'm like that, I guess. I like to see something different.

L ately work has been busy. I work at a hotel in what I sometimes refer to as "the dungeon", which is really the laundry room. Yes, I'm a laundress. Exciting stuff! I had been a housekeeper previously, but I got offered to take over laundry duties when the previous laundress quit. I prefer being in there with my "water and fire dragons"--er, I mean the washers and dryers. I don't have to clean up people's nasty messes, only their dirty laundry. With the end of the Memorial Day weekend, I suppose summer is underway, and summer is always busy, and I sure have been busy. Eight hours, five days a week of constantly sorting, washing, drying, and folding hundreds of pieces of towels, sheets, duvets, blankets, pillow cases, and so forth, almost non-stop with but twenty minutes to eat lunch. I could take thirty, but the laundry backs up so fast with me being the only one in there that I just rather get on with it. And by the end of the day, I am exhausted. ...

T here are some scenes which practically write themselves; without much effort the words just flow from your mind through your fingertips upon the keyboard and onto the screen. Or if you're one that prefers pen/pencil to paper, it seems your lousy, slow hand just can't write fast enough with your mind. Then there are those scenes which you sit and stare at the screen, trying to figure out for minutes or even hours on how to start the darn thing. You see it in your mind, yet you just can't seem to get on with it. And once you do finally get going, the going is sluggish and you just want the damn thing to be done. Yup, I've had those, and they can be pretty difficult. However, they're not the scenes of which this post is about. No. The scene in which I'm about to embark is one that'll be emotionally difficult because of the subject of which it encompasses. Suicide. The subject itself can be touchy to talk about . For some people, they believe those wh...

"Music is the only source of energy that I have known in my life that gives humans a chance to be instantly transformed into spirit." - David Darling, Composer/Cellist L istening to certain genres of music can make one feel one way or another. Lately I've gone back to listening to classical and new age music, the music that when I was younger inspired much of my writing and art, and in particular the music of David Darling and Ludovico Einaudi . The music is very soothing, calming, especially Darling's, and I play it with the volume low in the background while I write. For the past few years I had never been able to write with music playing, and music with singing was definitely out of the question, for it distracted me. But finding the right artists for me has helped inspire me to write more than without. And it's not just writing, it's when I draw as well that music is helpful in getting my artistic juices flowing, and if I were any kind of ...

I've been contemplating starting a blog for some time, and now I have finally decided to take the plunge. The purpose of this blog is to share with you my thoughts and musings of my writings, and I may occasionally slip in pieces of my life here or there. I am currently working on a Historical Fantasy novel series set in the time of Vlad the Impaler in Eastern Europe in what is now predominately Hungary and Romania. The story begins when Vlad the Impaler (Dracula) escapes his brother Radu's assault upon his castle above the Argeș River, his son in tow, through a secret passageway into the mountain of which his castle stood to the river a mile away. Only, when they prepare to ride off on horses that were waiting for he and his party, Vlad's horse shies from the noise of cannon fire and bucks off his son, losing him in the reeds, and leaves him behind. From there the story continues with Vlad's son, whose name is also Vlad, and we join him on his journey through ...