Yes, yes. Snippet Saturday was yesterday. And it will be next Saturday, too. It’s just a day to encourage you to share your writing with the group. And is certainly not an obligation; you can share snippets on any day you want, or never.

Did anybody end up sharing a snippet yesterday? I honestly don’t know. I spent most of the day at the hospital, so I didn’t get a chance to copy/paste some text over here into the blogosphere from any of the WIPs I’ve been working on.

December’s fickle like that; snowy days can feel just like those rainy days in March where you’re looking for something to do– and writing is just the ticket. Or, on other days, December can be HECTIC like none other. Just looking at the results so far for this NPI can tell you as much.

Stuff is happening all around us. We have obligations that we tend to make good on because ‘it’s the holidays’. We appease grandmothers, we shop for presents, we deal with the unexpected….

I’m glad this NPI has three days of reprieve or I’d be out already. Thanks for sticking this out with me, everyone.

Here’s a snippet I’d like to share:

The halls of the Aydomarian Royal Palace, their walls so thickly decorated one couldn’t take a pace without admiring a work of art, echoed with the dull, surging sounds of inevitability. Each passing face, be they servant or noble, had fear in their smiles. It was not hard to see. And the grandiose windows, if the gold-weaved drapes happened to be drawn, revealed glimpses of the outside world where a serpentine mob lay in wait, crying for King Rezzik, for retribution, for blood. It then occurred to him his smile was likely the only real one in the palace.

“Ah, there you are, Lord Redmond,” said one of the elder servants with a bow. He was dressed in a black robe with gold-trimmed sleeves. “Giver Greggor is anxious to meet with you. This way, please.”

Making our work presentable; that’s editing in-a-nutshell, right? But editing our work for ourselves in the privacy of our own home versus editing something we’re about to share with other people are two different things, right?

I don’t know about your experiences, but I’ve found that before I post a snippet or let someone read my work, my brain goes into ‘overdrive editor mode’, where I try my best to finalize what I’ve written.

This is a great skill to develop– because, someday, some of us will likely be asked to commit our words to the permanence of paper. Scary thought, eh?

Anyway, I’d very much enjoy reading what all of you have been up to.