Tag: Christian fantasy

Benk and the Ugly Princess

Light Messages Publishing Company has accepted my 3rd book in the Montaland Series–Benk and the Ugly Princess! I am very happy and look forward to sharing it.

Here’s an excerpt:

Princess Pearlrope Diamonde Primrose peered intently into the bathroom mirror. There was a Welcome to Spring Reception in the courtyard that morning, and she wanted to make sure she looked right.   

Picking up a bottle, she squeezed a drop of pus onto the end of a stick and dabbed it close to her nose. There—it was in place but it would ooze down her cheek unless—quickly she squirted red liquid from another bottle over the pus. It dried instantly, holding the pus on her cheek but letting a little dribble from the top. A perfect blotch!

            “One of my best,” she said with satisfaction, studying it from all angles in the obliging mirror. 

Perfectionist? Coward?

I told people I was going to get Benk and the Ugly Princess out in the summer and it is now the end of September.  I have worked and worked and am still working on the manuscript.  Errors, words used too often, things to leave out, things to say better—the process of editing just goes on and on.  I could spend 3 more years editing my story, but there’s a time to stop and let it go.

I don’t know whether I have been a perfectionist or simply a coward.  I write my stories to share—there’s no doubt in my mind about that, but on the other hand, once a beloved story goes out, it’s exposed and I’m vulnerable.  What I have to remind myself is that I am also blessed.  It’s so much fun to imagine a story and put it into words.  The creativity is deeply satisfying and I feel a partnership with God, the ultimate creator, who makes light sparkle on wet leaves until they look like little stars in a green sky.  Me, a partner with Him?  Ridiculous.  And yet it’s happened and has been the joy of my life.

So I’m going to wrap up my editing and put this new story out.