I stepped out of the car, and stared at the house. Once, it had been painted a bright yellow and kept in top shape. Now, the paint was flaking, and the roof was in need of repair. I shook off the bitterness that filled me. You had no choice but selling it to cover the back taxes, I reminded myself. I opened the car door, and stepped outside.

Solange looked around and shook her head.
“ What a dump,” she murmurred.

Irritation flared, but I squashed it. She was right, the house was a dump. I opened the gate, and hid a wince when the paint left a grey trace. I rubbed it against my thigh, and swallowed a growl when it stubbornly clung to my palm.

Yesterday in the war room I asked if  it was believable if Mages were called Mancers in the US and Witches/Wizards in the UK.   It was prompted by a thought that the pixies had to come from somewere, and maybe Magi CIS and the Brownie Liason was set in the same world.

The answer I got from the war room people, was Yes.   And something clicked in my brain, starting a lot of thoughts tumbling around in my mind.

A lot of it is things that will never show in any of the stories, like how the differences occurred ( Clans vs not clans), the stability of magic etc.

But, I look forward to spending the weekend doing research and writing a lot of notes. :).

I posted the old opening last week, so I thought I would post the new opening this week. I promise I will not post a third version next week! 😀

The sound of the phone made me look up from the report I was reading. I stretched out a hand and picked up the reciever.
“ Magi CIS, Di Luca speaking.”
“ I want to tell you about a Pixie Dust delivery,” a hoarse voice whispered.
A shiver crept down my spine. Pixie Dust was nasty stuff. It was addictive, and made you very pliant. I picked up a pen.
“ When?”
“ Tomorrow.”
“Where?”
“ Somewere around Cedar Springs.”
I swallowed a curse. Cedar Springs was a muggy hell hole, filled with good ol’ southern gentlemen, who didn’t like Mancers.
“ Who?”
“ Oh hell no. You have do something.”
The click told me the tipster had hung up. Slowly, I put down the phone. I glanced at McRae’s office, but he wasn’t back from were ever he and Solange had run off to.
I shrugged, might as well do the basic paperwork. I opened up the form we used to fill in anonymous tips in. It didn’t take me long to fill in the scant information.
I stared at it for a moment. Something told me that this was just the beginning on a long investigation. I pushed away the thought, and picked up the report. After making a rookie mistake of mixing up the victim and the unsub, I always read it thrice. I flinched, sometimes I could almost feel the blisters after McRae’s dressing down. That day, I had been certain my career was over before it even started.

I outlined the first 5 scenes of the Sorcerer , and then I decided to start writing. When I started writing, the words that I typed was in first, not third like the old version. I considered it, and decded that it felt right to tell it in first. And, the opening is SO much better now. It is more organic, for starters. That isn’t the only change. I read the opening scene of the Raven Mocker, and was reminded of how much I love that story. In fact, I have changed my mind about self publishing the Magi CIS stories, I want to make an attempt to find a publisher first. Why? Because I think they are good enough to sell to a publisher. It might be that I am wrong, but I wont know that until I have tried. 🙂

Yesterday, my laptop suddenly froze. I cursed, turned it off and went to make dinner.  When I turned it on after dinner, I discovered that it was beeping. Not loud, and not all the time but occasionally, it beeps.   In fact, it sounds like an EKG machine..Yeah…  I don’t like that at all :P.  But the laptop is working, so I can live with it. For now.   Until I get a job, or it is my birthday.