Summary on Sunday

I've decided to resurrect my blogs in 2020. I have a fair few.

On Fridays, you'll find new installments to the tale of Sean the Vampire and his love / hate relationship with Doctor Death as they try to rid the world of baddies. 

I started this adult fairytale back in 2010. Consistency is the key to getting things done. There a currently four episodes. There's blood and guts and all kinds of perversions, so be warned.

It's been years since I've read. Life can really get in the way of even the most basic of wants and needs. I hope to read an average of one book a week in 2020. You will find what I'm reading and what I think about the books over at Nessa's Reading Room. Two books down so far.

Editing is not my favorite thing. It's like real work. But I am doing final edits on Revena's Revenge (my daughter, Erika, is my accountability coach and cheering section.) I'm a quarter of the way done. I will be self-publishing when they are all done. For a taste of Revena's world, there's the blog, "What Would Revena Do?" (big thanks to my friend, Mike Keren, for the spectacular idea.) There will be posta there on certain Wednesdays about life in Medieval Bavaria. 

This coming Wednesday, we will see an example of scrying. Right now, you can see the book cover.

If you'd like to receive my monthly email, Nessa's News, sign up over there on the right. In it you will find practical magic spells, herbal lore, ancients crafts, and other things that will not be posted online.

Welcome, Sunshine

Revena lives in 10th century Bavaria. It's the first day of Spring. It's the start of the year. Cured meats and foods in brine and vinegar wearies her and her people. The people look forward to fresh fruits and vegetables and any meat that isn't tough and full of salt. They yearn for the light.

Ausṓs, the Queen of the Dawn, is the central figure of their celebrations. The Goddess represents the rebirth of the Sun and all new growth and motherhood. Her essence shows itself in the crocuses peeking through the brown Earth. Buds on the beech trees, the birth of lambs, and the mating of birds burst in unabashed joy.

On the last day of the last Winter full moon, they extinguish all fires, candles and lamps. When She stands high above, the land's people gather around a huge stack of dried wood and animal bones. The bonfire is lit, the blaze shooting into the dark sky, the tips of the flames reaching for the orb of night. Musicians from all castes bring out their instruments, playing lutes, bagpipes, cymbals, drums, tambourines, and harps. Rambunctious tunes fill the air. Everyone dances around the fire, lighting new torches to take home and restart the fires in their hearths.

The next day, each person rises before the Sun. They bathe in streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes, and wash off the dark and the specter death. They emerge from the waters, naked, reborn, face East, and rejoice as the light bursts above the horizon. Wrapping in warm blankets and running home, they don new linen or hemp cloth undergarments. These were sewn during the enclosed days. The men put on fresh tunics, braies, and long, fitted socks. Women dress in long, shapeless smocks with stockings. Revena wears a chemise of silk.

The Full Moon rests from her labors. The growing and maturing Sun warms the air. Winter is over. Spring has sprung. People spend most of the day out of doors.

Children start seeds in wickerwork to follow the sunshine around the castle grounds and build wattle fences around raised planting beds. These keep animals away from sprouting flowers, herbs, and vegetables.

The entire population works in gardens and fields, tilling and weeding. In the early evening, all the workers come into the baily for a celebration, gathering around stools, benches, and tables set outside.

Revena begins the festivities with the following incantation,

“We have survived the long, dark night,

Welcome back the warmth of light,

Spring has come, a time of rebirth,

The quickening of our Mother Earth.

The sowing season has begun,

With the advent of the rising sun.

We cherish new life and new beginnings,

Reassuring us of the love of the gods.”

Boiled eggs dyed with beets, onion skins, and red cabbage fill baskets on the tables. Given as gifts, they represent new life and potential. The egg pecking game breaks out to great laughter, winner takes all.

Platters of sweet buns with cinnamon and dried currants pass around the crowd. New butter and soft cheeses from the lactating animals top the breads.

Revena ends the day by giving out packets of seeds. Grains go to the farmers and flowers and vegetables to the women with home gardens. Exhausted children and their tired parents trudge home smiles on their faces. 

Keeping Warm in Revena's World

Revena lives in Castle House, built for battle and protection. It's made of the local Nagelfluh stone quarried from the glacial lakes created during various ice ages. A combination of limestone, sandstone, gneiss, amphibolite schist, dolerite and quartz, with a surface that looks like it's dotted with nail heads. It hardens upon contact with the air and resists deterioration, weathering and erosion. Buildings made with this material last for centuries and are perfect for resisting sieges and attacks.

Unfortunately, it makes for a cold and drafty living space, especially when located on a ridgeline surrounded by the rushing Salt River, fed by alpine snow melt, on the north and west and the High King mountain range (elevation 3,000 m) on the south and east. While the hilltop has been occupied for over 4,000 years by the time Revena was born in the year a.i. 883, (ab initio, from the beginning of the Principatus) the fortress was begun in a.i. 866, by her father, The Margrave.

To keep occupied and warm during the Winter months, Revena spends her time creating woolen clothing. She uses a technique, thousands of years old, called needle-binding or knotless-netting. Unlike knitting and crocheting which won't be invented for another 700 or 800 years, needle-binding is made using short lengths of yarn and one single-eyed, flat needle. This form of fabric making is used across the world. With this technique, Revena makes socks, mittens and scarves.

By layering clothing, indoors and on the rare occasions when she ventures out to get a bit of sun and to combat boredom, Revena keeps warm. She knows that covering feet, hands and head will prevent the chills and prevent cold weather ailments.

If you are interested in learning Nålebinding and working on a piece this month with me and Revena, here's a video tutorial to get you started.

Mittens, hat and scarf pictured above crocheted by vvk.

Let the Real Work Begin

It's been six months since I've looked at Revena's Revenge: not a pretty love story. That should be enough time to let it look fresh to me so I can do one more edit/rewrite.

There are a few areas I want to tweak and expand, things I didn't have time to do while I was preparing it for my Pitch Week in Vermont.

I will take the opportunity to review the story and characters for the eventual movement into book two of the Storm Sword Trilogy, The Bastards' Battle.

My deadline for finishing will be March 31, 2018.

I am also working on my synopsis for Revena's Revenge. This is hard work. My deadline for the second first draft (the first one was ok but too short) is Sunday, January 7, 2018. This deadline is so short because I've been putting it off for way too long.

Finally, I am writing a short, short PDF book in the What Would Revena Do? (WWRD?) series that will be a give-a-way to build my email list. It will be about the basic tools of magic that Revena would use and how to duplicate them in your own home. The deadline for this is January 31, 2018. 

Thank you to my friend, Mike Keren, author of FOUR FUNERALS, NO MARRIAGE, a funny memoir of love, care taking, and loss for the WWRD? idea.

Time to go write those deadlines on my calendar and then actually do some work.