Saturday, May 7, 2016

Winner Announcement... At Last! :-)


Okay!
   The birds are shining, the sun is singing, it’s a lovely day...!!!

  You know what?

    Scratch that.

           It’s actually evening; the rain (rare as it is here!) is spattering against the window... (I kind of love rain, always have. There’s a word for that, “pluviophile”. Did you know that? And “petrichor” is the after-rain-smell. Isn’t that just a beautiful sounding word?)
 Anyway!!!

 On this soft, rainy evening I find myself alone at my computer, consulting papers with scribblings and diagrams on them, and along with Bilbo I can say with a sigh;
 “I’ve put this off for far too long.”


 Though, I really couldn’t have given it the proper attention any earlier... and right now, I still feel a little exhausted-into-a-stupor, so you must overlook the lack of vim and vigor in this post!!!
(If you happen to notice any vim and vigor lacking, that is, of course.)

 All right!!!
  
  Down to brass tacks.

Once again,
 “Win'wing... 'win'wing is what b'wings us togev'ew to'w'day...”

 And we shall cut straight to the chase!!!
  I have to admit, if you find this slightly confusing, you are not alone. With so many prizes and therefore so many winners, it can be hard to keep straight.
 (Hence the papers with scribbled diagrams mentioned above! *wink* )

  But, with the help of the handy-dandy random number generator, here are the many winners of celebratory stuff!!!
  Each comment on each blog post in the tour was eligible to win a prize or prize package... and once a winner won, their other comments were eliminated and the next winner generated.

So, for the Blog Tour comments prizes the winners are...:

A prize package of,
Snow Leopard Luggage Tag & S.Leop. slim-line Wallet 
&
5 snowflake charms
&

 ...winner is LeAnne Douglas!!!

 then...

Hair Jewels (from seller)
  ...winner is Christine!!


Snow Leopard print (from seller)
 ...winner is Kelsey!




Snow Leopard photo download (emailed from seller)
...winner is  Claire B!!



2 Sets of:
6 Snowflake charms
Plus a dagger charm with each of those.
 (These mailed from us.)
  ... the two winners are... madelinejrose &  Skye!!!




  So... Congratulations, Ladies!!! You all made out like bandits! Wink Get with me soon as possible with your mailing addresses so I can get these things headed your way!


   Thanks to everyone who pitched in to make this happen, and special thanks to the sponsors and the bloggers!!! Wink

    Take care,
      Elizabeth

P.S. Because I'm crunched for time and don't have the energy to track down every winner here across the vast and frozen landscapes of the interwebs...  Upshot of this sentiment is: winners have to contact me.
 If they don't do so within a reasonable time, their prize falls forfeit.  And I can give it to somebody else, instead! (Who is easier to actually give it to!)


  Take care, and stay dry out there in that rain, fellow travelers!!!

 P.S. What do you think of the doodle my opening line mistake inspired? You see? You people are keeping me up later at night, even when you aren't here!!! *wink*
 
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Friday, April 29, 2016

Announcement Postponed!

Hey all you lovely peoples!!!
 We are here to announce today that the very Official Winner Announcement needs to be postponed due to the fact that I'm way in over my head with stuff and scheduling, and a sudden trip that can't be postponed... (business, business...!)

 Anyway, because you lovely readers deserve a fun and happy announcement party here on this blog, and because I am simply unable to create that for you today, I'll have to go all dramatic and mysterious on you and say "To be continued... at a later date."

 Like, a week. I'm thinking. (Because I'm going to be gone for 5 days, and then who can tell what condition I'll be in when I get back! Ack! Introvert alert is going off, here!!!)

   So... rest assured that the entries have been noted, the votes have been tallied, the winners have been selected with the handy dandy help of a Random Number Generator.... But you won't get to see them until at least a week has past.

 (Also, please be advised that several of the blogs who had volunteered to be part of the tour actually failed to go live on the day they were supposed to... in fact, haven't yet done so, and so of course none of you could leave comments there. Never you mind, those of you who did go about and leave lovely comments on all the blogs who really were participating in the tour... Your perseverance is noted! Thanks for showing such enthusiasm for the event! We appreciate YOU!!! )

  Anyway, that's probably partially my fault, since I failed to go back and remind (read: pester) all the blogs in advance, so it was left up to each one to be organized themselves.
 (Again, crazy pressured here, so that causes a lot of things to simply slide!!)

   And thirdly, thanks to all of you who have participated in any way in our Print Launch events... we really do super appreciate you all and wouldn't have the heart to do much of this without you.
 So thanks for being there.


   Take care, and think of me these next five days... (Good, happy, adventuring thoughts!!!)

    Elizabeth
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Friday, April 22, 2016

The Print Launch begins!!! *Duh-de-du-dummm!*

Okay!!!
  Wow, today is the last day before the Launch officially starts! And the FB party's tomorrow!!!

Ack! HOW did time go bay so fast?!!!


 Oh, well, never mind! We've been working hard with the PR team and we've got a lot of super fun things lined up... with the select help of some

  First things first...
 The Print Launch will be featured on these blogs through the week, and everyone who comments on those posts will be eligible for a selection of prizes and prize packages that will be announced back here on the 29th.

 Thanks so much for the lovely features, everyone!!!

Kelsey Bryant           22nd

Rachel Rossano         22nd
Claire M. Banschbach 22nd
Deborah O'Carroll      22nd
The Editor's Note          23rd
Hope Chapel Homeschool 23rd
The Splendor Falls       24th
Megan Lynn Glass         24th
Kathy Lorentz               24th
Faith Blum             25th

  There has been such a generous response for this and I feel very humbled and blessed by each and every one of the fantastic people behind it all!!! Thank you all so much!!!
   And there can be no doubt that I appreciate it all to the moon and back, and I hope they are all blessed in return for that which they have done!
  I am very grateful for all the help and support from all the sponsors and the authors participating in the Blog Tour and the FB party!!! 24th 23rd

  There's going to be a lot of fun prizes on both the FB party and the Blog Tour comments, so everybody join in on the fun!!! :-)
 Thanks again!
  Elizabeth (aka E. Kaiser Writes!)

Prize Package lists:
 FB Party...

 We've had a lot of wonderful sponsors want to share their products during this exciting launch event, which is just marvelous! Some of these will be shipping from us, others will be shipping from the seller, so be sure to check out what else they offer, because the lucky winner will have the opportunity to have additional purchases  combine shipping with their Prize!
All of these are really at great price points, so you can have some fun and indulgence that is very easy on the wallet!!! 
 (And for a several of these winners, they'll be receiving a wallet to be easy on! Wink )

Snow Leopard Luggage Tag & S.Leop. slim-line Wallet 
&
5 snowflake charms
&
Necklace Set


Snow Leopard Luggage Tag & S.Leop. slim-line Wallet 
&
5 snowflake charms
&
Bath Bomb (from seller)


Snow Leopard Luggage Tag & S.Leop. slim-line Wallet 
&
5 snowflake charms
&



Snow Leopard Luggage Tag & S.Leop. slim-line Wallet 
&
5 snowflake charms
&
S. Leopard Card (from seller) 

  Order of the other giveaways is not set in stone. :-)

             ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~      ~

Then for the Blog Tour comments prizes we have:

A prize package of,
Snow Leopard Luggage Tag & S.Leop. slim-line Wallet 
&
5 snowflake charms
&


 then...

Hair Jewels (from seller)

Snow Leopard print (from seller)

Snow Leopard photo download (emailed from seller)


2 Sets of:
6 Snowflake charms
Plus a dagger charm with each of those.
 (These mailed from us.)

  So... that's quite a line-up of loot that will be heading to someone's house very soon, and you have multiple chances to up the odds it's your house they head to! Wink Each comment on each blog post in the tour will be eligible to win a prize or prize package... so get around and get your mark down with all the participating bloggers!!! Wink

    Take care,
      Elizabeth

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Thursday, April 21, 2016

The Many Princes of Demargen

via Pinterest

 While combining elements from several tales, and several versions of those tales, one of the fun ones we definitely borrowed from the Disney version of the Snow Queen, (the recent film Frozen ) is the idea of a royal family with 13 princes. It was too juicy of a tidbit to leave on the table!

  As the "youngest of 13" our boy, tall, dark & handsome Hess of Demargen has a feeling of being "over shadowed" by his brother's achievements.

  But he has no idea that the twelve older than he once endured a harrowing brush with Fairyland, (the plot for the upcoming Twelve Dark Knights) when he was too young to be involved with their activities.
 They never talk about it, putting it resolutely behind them, and yet, there is a distinct feeling that Hess has "been the lucky one", to have missed that. And they "protect him" from knowing about their scare, and near doom; assuming that being ignorant is similar to being safe.

 In the end, that is never the case, and Hess himself feels the sting of unfriendly Fairyland when he is maliciously poisoned with the potion known as "Devil's Mirror"... beginning a journey that will harrow his soul, too.

 Coming from a family of five kids, but having a background of friends who had up to ten/eleven children, I really enjoyed getting to get my hands deep into the family dynamics of a sibling set that ranges over twenty years.

 Our own family had a wide range, so while the youngest was only #5, she was 5 when the eldest was 19, so the life experiences were very varied between them.
 She often felt "left out" of things, simply because she wasn't even born when things happened in the older kid's childhood memories. It took her until she was into her early twenties to feel like "she belonged" as part of the family... the she had "earned her place". (She is a sweet, thoughtful type who everybody loves, so no one else viewed her in that way at all! Only herself.)

   On the flip side, the eldest in our family felt like everybody younger than her had it "so much easier" and we all "abysmally failed to appreciate it."


 As the middle child I can unequivocally state that each end had it's advantages, but after struggling with my own place in the family for years I'm now extremely grateful for where the Lord put me! He knew exactly what lessons were important for me, and set me where I could get a good view!
 (Thankfully, I'm actually not too bad at learning from others mistakes, so that's convenient!)




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Wednesday, April 20, 2016

The Crown of Noran

 As an artist/writer I am very visual, so when I write a description of something in my books, I tend to have a mental picture of it very distinctly.

  But on the flip side of the coin, as an artist, bringing something like that to life is tough, because I'm my own worst critic!


 Since very few things make the transition from the written word into a visual representation; it just doesn't matter too much.
 But with this series we went ahead and did a lot of art work for it, and so I was able to bring to visual life many of the pieces I'd described in the books. This was a lot of fun, and also a challenge, because I wanted to make sure to "hit the nail on the head" perfectly!

  One of the major pieces that has a lot of importance in the culture of Noran, (but regrettably doesn't get a too much lengthy focus in the book!) is the Crown of Noran.

 This is more than just jewelery, of course, since it carries with it the weight of power and centuries of tradition. But I also wanted it to be uniquely beautiful, and not duplicating what is usually "Accepted Fashion" in crowns.

 As a jeweler and historian I have long been particularly intrigued by old-to-ancient examples of precious metal working... and crowns are a great example of that.

 But there was no historical crown style that fit my idea, and so I invented it completely.
  The back-story on this crown is unique, in that it was not made by mortal hands, but instead pulled from the very mountain's depths by the nearly-mythical Stone King as a symbol of the joining of the first royal couple and their right to rule.

 (Note on the Stone King: Although trolls are a staple in Norse legends, they are usually bad, and also linked with "dark magic" which I didn't like at all. So I took a slightly modified take on the idea by following Tolkien's example in his Ents -as opposed to the Greek tree-spirits of very heathen origin - and I made Stone Ents. Basically. The old ones speak slowly and are very wise, whereas the younger ones, at merely a couple hundred years old, are much more quick, and also foolish. I didn't invent a new name, but went with a generic "Stone Folk", since it seemed logical the people of the area would suffice with something simple.
 In the scene were Girta first meets them it is evident that she has heard of Ents, and likens these to that elusive people. The reader is thereby free to assume that the story loving Girta may indeed have read the tale of the One Ring somewhere in all her library of folklore.)

 The Stone King played the matchmaker in the long ago union that started Girta's line; and did an extremely quick job of it, since being non-mortal he has other abilities to call on then most hopeful matchmakers.

 Anyway, to form the crown I researched my "based on countries" of Norway and Sweden, and drew inspiration from their mineral resources. Since the new king of Noran is actually a captain from Svesser, the Stone King scattered pink stones representing Svesser in among the blue stones to represent Noran, - the new couple's henceforth home - and joined them all on Noran silver.

 I wanted a very organic feel for the silver as well as the gemstones. So it was clear from the first that the gems should be rough, uncut by jeweler's, but in perfect crystal shapes they come in.

 I was a little stumped for reference on the silver base until I came across an ingenious Etsy seller who casts precious metals in molds form from twigs she gathers. I nearly hyperventilated with joy as I stared at her earthy-inspired creations, and I really tried to reduplicate the look of her pieces with the strands of silver.
  In the end, the Crown of Noran is one of my favorite pieces of jewelry...
     If I could have one "prop" from the Thaw: books it would be that!





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Monday, April 18, 2016

DIY Wolf Fight

Pinterest
What about the wolf fight? I've heard that is uniquely realistic, and inspired from experience?

Yes! That one makes me laugh, because of the story behind it. I wrote that scene in Prince of Demargen where the timber wolves play a pivotal role and it was one of the most intense scenes for me to write, (among many, because with this story I just didn't include a scene unless it sucker-punched me a little some way or another.) But this wolf fight scene especially plays against the backdrop of some of childhood's integral fears: the night, the snow flurries, nobody can see: and then there's these wolves stalking the characters. In the back of these characters minds they fundamentally know that the pack is really after their horses, (in real life, wolves will go for horse meat above most other domestic animals) but these predators will take anybody they can get, of course. And the people aren't going to abandon their horses in mountain forest; so the one character rushes out to bring the fight to them, and ends up in a dagger-vs-fang fight. Knock down drag out, very rough and tumble as you might expect, going hand to hand with a wild animal.
 I wrote that as authentically as I could and then when I later received that piece back from my editor she commented that it felt so real. She said, and I quote: "Wow. This is so thrillingly scary. How did you imagine what a wolf fight would be like???!!"


 Check out Prince of Demargen's pinterest board for some scary wolf fight pictures!

 It'd been some time since I'd written the scene, and so I had to think about it for a moment. And then I just laughed, because I could link that the memory of writing that scene directly with the memory of a certain dog I had as a teen. He was a magnificent animal, I've rarely seen anything more athletic than he was. He was a Karelian Bear Dog, so for anyone who knows that breed they'll immediately understand. I raised him from a pup and worked hard to train him... he was incredibly smart but one of the most arrogant dogs I've ever experienced. He was just an "untamed spirit" kind of thing, and although he loved me, he didn't want to do what he didn't want to do. No matter how much I wanted him to do it!
 And worming him was something he flat out didn't want to participate in. I would literally have to wrestle him to the ground and fight with him physically until he finally surrendered enough to take his wormer and swallow it. After the first few times I left the wormer with a sibling, and got the wrestling fight over with first. He knew exactly what was about to happen so we'd roll all over the yard and he'd resist until he finally gave up. Then I'd get the wormer handed to me and then we'd have a few more struggles, and then I'd get him to swallow it.
 All the other dogs took it fine. They didn't like it, but it was just something you swallowed and then you were done with. But with him, it was always a point. Never ever just said "Okay, fine" from the get go. Always was a "I refuse!" tussle.
  This was an extremely exhausting process for me, and I always emerged totally played out... we came to respect each other deeply, that dog and I, for he knew that I would refuse to give up longer than he would and so I always got the 'last word in' so to speak.
 And I was really the only one he'd listen to, because I had proven to him that I wouldn't give up, and so in most other things he'd do what I said. I never underestimated him; he wasn't "obeying me"... he was just "siding with me".
  He was an amazing dog and an amazing experience, and I truly believe that any wolf would be fairly similar to what he presented. Possibly less athletic, 'cause that dog was super-powered and like a canine version of Spiderman. From what I've seen of wolves they are looser jointed, and so would be slightly less "quick twitch" muscle... but then dealing with a wild animal attacking would color the situation a little differently as well.
  But I think the situation, while fictional of course, is feasible: wolves attack by slash and run, they don't "close" with their prey (the way a bull dog is famous for, never letting go) So once you did close with them, they'd be pretty uncomfortable, and mostly trying to get some distance, while of course trying to slash with their fangs as they did it.
 If you were able to get their head unable to reach you well, then you could conceivably defeat a wolf with only a dagger... so long as you weren't worried about getting hurt yourself. You'd have to be all in, totally invested in the fight, or else you'd pull back and it'd surely escape you.
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