This is for Connecticut

I can't put into words how big of a tragedy this is. The massacre at the Colorado theater is still fresh for many of us, as are the shootings at the mall in Washington and elsewhere. Those events were just as tragic as this one without a single doubt. But for me, this tragedy hit home the hardest, as I teach the age group specifically targeted at today's shootings at the daycare where I work in Austin, TX. If a single one of these children I've grown to love over the past few months were to ever be harmed in any fashion, I'd be almost as traumatized as the parents themselves.

For ten hours a day I teach two year old boys and girls colors, numbers, read to them, play with them, and try not to rip my hair out in the process. For ten hours a day I make arts and crafts with after school kids, building caves out of cardboard and helping them with their homework. For ten hours a day, I interact with a many number of coworkers, all of whom I know very personally and consider family. If I lost any of my family to a tragedy as senseless, cruel, and horrifying as this...I don't think I'd ever be the same person. I couldn't be.

Which is why today I hugged "my" kids a little longer before they left for home. Which is why I asked a few coworkers out for coffee on Sunday. Which is why I decided to write a post for my blog. It sounds cheesy, maybe, but this tragedy more than the rest opened my eyes to what could one day be taken from me and honestly, I was terrified.

I refuse to go into politics or write the name of that horrible gunman in this post, as neither of these things have any precedent over those children and faculty who are dead. Their deaths deserve moments of reflection, and that is simply all I want this post to be about.

For those affected personally by this terrible tragedy, my hearts and prayers go out to you.

Sending love from the heart of Texas,
Lily A.

Don't You (forget about me)

Simple Minds said it best.
And truthfully, I haven't forgotten you fans out there. I'm diligently writing, don't worry. The sequel to Caged Bird, titled Taking Flight, is 2/3 of the way finished. Seriously, the conclusion is all I have left, followed by some much needed edits. Seems simple now, but I know better. =)
CB took me 3-4 months to write. TF is getting close to that number, but at least I'm finishing the story - unlike other stories that I cringe to get reminder emails about!
So, please be patient. I haven't forgotten about you. I'm just trying to deliver a full story instead of waiting months (ahem, years) between installments.
I'll keep you guys posted!
Xo,
LA

Tidbits

Why the classics can still inspire is because their words are timeless.

On Batshit Crazy Muses and Poetry

Occasionally, you find something on Tumblr that makes your Muse go batshit crazy with happiness and gives you fuel to write 10+ pages in two days.

For me, it was one of Pablo Neruda's love poems. So without further ado...

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.

Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.

Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day

I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,

your hands the color of a savage harvest,

hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,

I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,

the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,

I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I paced around hungry, sniffing the twilight,

hunting for you, for your hot heart,

like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

Pablo Neruda

Translated by Stephen Tapscott

"Caged Bird" Extras and Whatnot

With most stories I write, I usually have extras or "behind-the-scenes" tidbits to help me stay on track with the story and also to put a clear image in my head of my characters, setting, et cetera, et cetera. "Caged Bird" did not deviate from my usual modus operandi, so I have a playlist and a small "behind the name" thingy that I thought you guys might be interested in taking a peek at.
Or not.
Anyway, without further ado...

Caged Bird Playlist

Cayde's playlist

1. Whispers in the Dark by Mumford & Sons

2. Sleeping At the Wheel by Matchbox Twenty  

3. Blank Maps by Cold Specks

4. Into the Grey by Everest

5. Ride This Feeling by Kate Miller-Heidke

6. 5678! by Butterfly Boucher

7. Scream by Usher

8. Let Yourself Go by Green Day 

9. When a Heart Breaks by Ben Rector

10. Diamonds by Rihanna

Abram's playlist

1. Hey Man, Nice Shot by Filter

2. No Reflection by Marilyn Manson

3. Beast of Burden by The Rolling Stones

4. Dazed and Confused by Led Zeppelin

5. Sweet Lady Luck by Whitesnake

6. Fire Woman by The Cult

7. Wish by Nine Inch Nails

8. Come As You Are by Nirvana

9. Deus Culpa + Con clavi con Dio by Ghost (hint: inspiration behind band's imagery FYI)

10. Lie by Black Light Burns

Behind the Name

...of We The Shepherds

It was an interesting picture, to be honest. Here was this random guy dressed in priest’s robes and a duster, surrounded by five other guys dressed as executioners; the sound of what could possibly be a satanic call-to-arms reverberating between the walls of The Offering. And all he does is simply smile at me and raise the microphone to lips smeared with red paint and lead the masses into a familiar but odd prayer. - from "Caged Bird"

 Okay. The key words here are "familiar but odd prayer", just in case the yellow highlighter didn't tip you off. And here is the prayer:

"And Shepherds we shall be

For thee, my Lord, for thee.

Power hath descended forth from Thy hand

Our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands.

So we shall flow a river forth to Thee

And teeming with souls shall it ever be.

In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti." - from "The Boondock Saints"

Twisted guy, twisted music, twisted name. And it all makes sense now, doesn't it?


Anyway, these are just a few extras I had stashed away on my hard drive. I have more, which I'll post once I have them all together.

Have a great weekend everyone!
-LA

P.S.: All songs go straight to YouTube videos which may or may not be available in your country. If *any* of the songs are to your liking PLEASE LEGALLY DOWNLOAD/BUY THEM FROM THE ARTISTS. Can't stress that shit enough. Stop pirating and pay for the tunes, yo.
P.S.S: I'm not responsible for how stupid the music videos can be. Blame the artists and their lack of creative direction. (Whatever works for you, works for me.)

Caged Bird, Pt. 3

Just a reminder, this story was meant to be a standalone and read entirely in one sitting. Because of it's 20K word length, I thought subjecting everyone to read it all on one long blog post would be something akin to torture on the eyeballs. Thus, I broke it down into three parts for easier reading. Like the other two parts, this one follows exactly where the other left off, and as it is the final piece of the story, I hope it meets everyone's expectations.
As always, this is entirely a work of fiction. Any resemblance of people, places, and/or events is entirely coincidental.

Caged Bird

Caged Bird -- Pt. 2

As stated in my previous post, "Caged Bird" is one continuous story. Part 2 picks up immediately where Part 1 left off. Comments and feedback are very much welcome.
As always, this is a work of fiction. Any similarity to people, events, and places are entirely coincidental.
Enjoy!

Caged Bird, Pt. 2

Long Time No See

...and that whole chestnut.

Sorry about my being M.I.A., guys. New job has me pooped M-F and weekends have been reserved for outside activities, meaning I haven't been on the computer in, like, weeks. Yikes! Anyway, I've been getting emails the past few weeks...okay, okay MONTHS, asking me what in the hell happened to so and so, and what about those chapters you promised to post?

Well, good things come to those who wait. I've FINALLY got my shizz together enough to post the first chapter of my new story, which I've re-titled "Caged Bird" for reasons you guys will probably pick up on throughout the story.

A bit of info before we begin: "Caged Bird" is intended to be one story, but I thought perhaps because of the length of it, I should break it down for easier reading and whatnot. I'll probably post it to Literotica in one go eventually, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Another tidbit of info: one of the protagonists is named CAYDE. Her name is pronounced "CAY-dee", not "CADE". Just an FYI. Finally, the story is not fully edited, so if there are inconsistencies, feel free to make a comment below the post and let me know. If you do this, please refer to the EXACT LINE if you can, because counting paragraphs etc., is a tedious chore for someone with as little patience as me. =)

As always, this is a work of fiction, similar characters, places or situations are completely coincidental.
Copyrighted by LilithArchivist.

Caged Bird

Updatey things

So, remember me saying that I would have "CTS" posted to Literotica on 17 Aug?

Yeeeeeaaa...well, thanks to my boss who is faintly reminiscent to this guy:

...that's not going to happen.

Also, my editor that I normally use is by and large unavailable for the immediate future, meaning I don't have a spare set of eyes to look over my work before I can post to Lit and being the wishy-washy kind of gal I am, I need a second opinion before I can post.

So, I have an ultimatum happenin' here.

I'm going to find a new editor and have CTS posted by NEXT Friday, the 24th of August, but if that DOESN'T happen, I'm going to post CTS in weekly increments to this blog for all you lovely people to read. I'll have more details soon, so check back either here or my Twitter account (@LilithArchivist) for up-to-date deets.

Sorry for the delay guys,
L.A.

Where in the world is Lilith Archivist?

Just a quick update for any of you who are interested:

• I've just recently finished a standalone story and submitted it to my editor for future pub on Literotica. It's *tentatively* titled "Chasing the Sun" and barring any other unforeseen circumstances, it should be up in a week or less. I'll tweet the info as soon as I have it.
• Next in queue is Wonderland. I can't put this story off any longer and I really don't have any reason to. I have plans of pulling it after the final chapter goes up, possibly for publication, I don't know. I have so much more I want to add to it but I don't think everyone will be patient enough for me to complete it. Anywho, that's in the works.
• And finally, The Coffee Shop. Seriously, we have two chapters left guys. I can do this.

All other things I have planned for publication to Lit is under my "Coming Soon" tab. Most - if not all - of these stories are standalones. I'm putting off chapter-by-chapter stuff until I actually have a fully functioning story. I've seriously learned my lesson by being a pantser.

Catch ya on the flipside,

L.A.

The Pacific Garbage Patch

Every family has their talks over the dinner table, mine is no different. Our topics have ranged anywhere from local gossip to things we've heard or seen in the news. This week the Olympics have been the obvious conversation starter, the Chick-fil-a protest and its Appreciation Day were among others. But today at lunch, my sister brought up a topic that, embarrassingly, until today I had no idea existed:

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Aurora, You're In My Prayers

We've all heard the news by now. Newspapers and the online media have been perpetuating this event over and over again until there is no action that hasn't been placed under scrutiny. The photo of the red-haired, blank-faced shooter has been shown everyday on the news since it was taken. Interviews both by phone and on camera have been made available for anyone and everyone to watch. It's because of all these things that I've waited to post any of my thoughts or musings on the matter. But even with the delay in the post, I assure you, I still have just as many questions and just as much anger and shock as I did the moment I saw the events unfold on the news.

I was up at eight in the morning and I didn't leave my television until two in the afternoon. I watched Chief Oates' news conference (both of them, actually), I flipped back and forth between CNN and Fox News (CNN gets info faster, but the female host was absolutely awful so it was hard to watch for very long), desperate to know all the details on the survivors and the condition of the psychotic grad student who had caused all this evil.

I won't go back through the facts in this post or rehash my feelings on this terrible event - there isn't a reason to and in all honesty, my feelings don't really matter at this point. What does matter is that the city of Aurora and the families devastated by this tragedy overcome this and that they remain in our thoughts and prayers.  I have no doubt that this community will come together and grow stronger as time passes, but support from all across this great nation - and the world for that matter - will only help the healing more so.

God bless,
L.A.

To All My Lovelies

Sorry for the blog/posting/updating neglect, but life’s been a beetch.

* Doggie had a stroke. (She's recovered now, but loss of bladder control, endless pacing, and a million other little things have convinced me that "recovered" is another way of saying "not dead yet.")

* My cousin had a baby. (I have babysat said baby and I am now certain I will NEVER have babies.)

* I moved my sister. (TWICE. And from one end of the state to the other. In case you haven't looked at a map of Texas lately, that's a whole lot of state to cover!)

* I lost my job. (I have a new one, thankfully, but the pay is shit, pardon my language.)

* I moved back in with my parents. [(See above.)Enough said on that one, I believe.]

So, as you see, life has been busy and oh so very stressful. The good news is that I’ve written the outline for both of my stories. Aaaaand I may or may not have started another that’s waiting in my editor's inbox for her perusal. ;)

Once I have the all-clear to post a sneaky-peeky, I will.

Stay tuned!
-Lily

Talon vs Thatcher

Recently, there has been a bit of a debate on who Tempest should have ended up with. The arguments on Lit were interesting: “Talon is like the husband away at war. By being with Thatcher she was betraying him! This is how it should be!” or “Talon and Tempest’s mating is like an arranged marriage.” (I am totally paraphrasing most of this, but I got the gist of the two sides, I’m sure.) It tickled me pink to see the debate and those torn between the two, and it feeds my soul to know that I caused it all. *insert evil cackle here*

So, let me admit something: I am totally one hundred percent Team Thatcher. He is flawed. He can be harsh, and odd, and just a little irritating at times. He lies, but everyone lies, and sometimes it’s hard to see what side he’s really on. He’s not tall, dark and handsome – he’s not even all that pretty. But he’s good and real and determined to do the right thing, even if people hate him for it. But let’s not cut Talon short, ‘kay? Talon has been asleep for over two-thousand years. He’s had no time to mature or develop. He’s been thrust into a completely foreign world than the one he grew up in. He’s the last of the Ancients, and his sworn enemy is taking over the world with little resistance. His allies fear him, and the only people he can depend upon are his human mate and Thatcher, a Raspan-Hybrid who just so happens to be the son of the Raspan hell-bent on decimating the human race.

Also, let me put it this way: if I had made Thatcher and Tempest a couple, the story would not have played out like it needed to. For awhile, I tried to write the story with Thatch and Temp as the romantic main couple, but things just fell apart. Talon became an unnecessary third wheel – and a broody, irritating one at that! – and the story wasn’t the same. But with Tempest and Talon a couple, it leaves Thatcher to go off and do the dirty, gritty things that at heart he truly loves doing – and besides, he’s got a war to end. He couldn’t save the world if he was rolling the furs with Tempest, hmm? ;)

Food for thought,

L.A.

On Punks and Idea-Snatchers.

The title says it all. This post regards "idea snatchers" and those irritating little punks around the web who think it is ever-so-clever to steal the ideas, hard work, and words of another person and post it under their own name. What's even worse is that many of these people are demanding money for work they never did!

Now, let me say this first: so far as I know, no one has stolen my stories. Part of me is thankful for that, but trust me I also feel like 'what the F is my work not good enough?' It's a conundrum, I swear it. But back to what I was saying -- no one has stolen my stories, published them under an alias, and received any funds. BUT, I DO see stories on Literotica and other publishing sites around the web where various writers have taken my ideas and have used them to come up with their own twist.

So secondly, I'm not at all trying to say that I'm the only person in the world who was written a story about gargoyles, species warfare, or girls falling in love with "monsters". I'm also not the only person to write about people who've met in a coffee shop, fell in love, but realized they had some issues to work out. Please, I'm not *that* vain as to believe crap like that. But that's not to say that I haven't noticed a number of nonhuman stories where it walks like my gargoyle, it looks like my gargoyle, but is called a vampire/incubus/whatever; or that my idea of separating a name with a ' to divide given name and clan name is being slapped around like a loveless child (click link, go to "On Names" if you're curious as to what I mean). Also, so many people are getting banged in a coffee shop now and suddenly finding themselves with a long-haired, green-eyed, bad boy with redeeming qualities but gosh so many issues trying to claim the beautiful ice queen protagonist as his own.

Come on people. Get your own ideas and BACK THE FUCK OFF MINE.

That is all.
-L.A.

(P.S.: You heifers KNOW who you are. And I'll be watching. VERY, VERY CLOSELY.)

Return to Wonderland.

So.

Wonderland Ch. 14 has made it to Lit.

While internally I am doing jumping jacks and cartwheels and dancing with myself like Billy Idol told me to, I am also kinda nauseated. (O.o)

I haven't written/posted anything for awhile, for many, many reasons that I'm pretty sure no one cares about,  so to have posted something after so long it's kind of like the very first time I ever submitted anything to Lit:
I'm so excited that I can't eat anything, I can't sleep, I'm freaking out that I thought posting was a good idea...in short, I'm something short of a mental breakdown.

Yea, it get's THAT serious.

Anyway, RELIEVE me of my torture by reading the chapter. Vote on it. Comment on the chapter's faults and it's highs. Tell me what you want more of via feedback. My neurotic brain will appreciate it.

Take the roundabout link tour here: links, glorious links!

XO,
L.A.

NEWSNEWSNEWS!!!

Quick update:

I just submitted "Wonderland" Chapter 14: "And the Gargoyle wins." to Literotica!!!

Expect to see it live in a few days!

Thanks to kitten2010 for editing this chapter for me -- you are a godsend!!

You guys let me know what you think, okay?

XO,

L.A.

Some kind of abstraction.

This guy:

We have something in common, besides returning a lot of videotapes.

Wonderland Ch 14

I'm horrible, I know. Making all of you poor souls wait for months while I got my act together must've been a pain. So, naturally, I posted a teaser...over on the other blog. ;^)
Go HERE.
XO,
Lily