The Moonstone: Excerpts and Demo Video of Designing the Cover

This week, I made it past 50,000 words in my novel The Moonstone. This is a HUGE milestone, because it means that I am a NaNoWriMo winner. Cue the next question: "So what does that entitle you to?" Bragging rights, mostly, but also the right to wear a cool winner's T-shirt and to get a few free goodies, including a certificate validating my accomplishment. Since this is my first NaNoWriMo, and I joined last-minute on a whim, I am pretty excited that I have made it this far.

So, in celebration, here are some of my favorite excerpts from the story and a behind-the-scenes peek at how I designed the cover.

I put the cover together using GIMP, which is a free program similar to Photoshop. 

Excerpt 1

Fiasa placed her hands over her eyes and drew in several shuddering breaths. At last, she lifted her head from the stone and grasped Katryl’s wrist.

“I know you can do this,” she said. “I trust you.”

Katryl’s mouth twisted. “Then you have more trust than I do. I am not certain I trust myself.”

Fiasa smiled weakly. “You sound like my brother.”
​
Katryl lifted an eyebrow. “Woe betide the day I bear any resemblance to your brother.”
​
This time Fiasa laughed outright, even through her chattering teeth.

Excerpt 2

“We should go.”

“No.” Edric shook his head. “We should stay put for the moment. We will not be able to exit this building without being seen.”

“But they may come here.”

“Undoubtedly, they will come here.”

Katryl opened her mouth, then shut it again, regarding Edric with pursed lips and narrowed eyes.

“What? No questions?” Edric taunted.

Katryl shook her head.

“Good. So tell me, what is my plan?”

“I have not the faintest idea,” Katryl answered icily. “But I have learned enough of you to know that the plan will become apparent in time, and that if you needed my assistance, you would explain my part in it.”

“Hmm. Is that trust I detect? From the most skeptical maid of my acquaintance?”

“You are still the most confusing and strange man I know.”
​
Edric only grinned the wider. 

Excerpt 3

They passed through Carvallin, avoiding the crowded marketplace where the housewives bickered and the sellers announced the benefits of their wares and traveling instead along a narrow side street. Katryl noted a man who leaned against the stone wall of a building. When he noticed the travelers, he pushed against the wall and approached with a broad grin.

“Good afternoon, sir!” he said to Edric. “I notice that your lady mother seems tired. Can I be of ser…”

“You can shut your mouth and disappear,” Edric snapped. “You and your thieving companion who is about to get three feet of steel through his belly.”

The man’s face drained of color and he nearly skipped backward. Someone moved like a shadow on the other side of the horse, opposite Katryl, and Edric picked up a stone and whirled, his wrist snapping once. Someone cried out and panicked footsteps retreated into the shadows. When Edric turned back, the first man was gone.

“Thieving rats.” The Septeru man glowered as he tugged the horse forward once more.

After a few minutes, a low, smothered snicker startled Katryl from her jumbled thoughts. Edric glanced back at her and a quick grin flashed behind his beard.
​
“That would-be thief,” he said, smirking. “I caught him fairly on the backside. Every time he attempts to sit in this next week, I bet he will remember me.”