I love to see how fellow writers use their notebooks. So I thought I’d share random pages from my own notebook. I plan to post a new spread every Wednesday. I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves. 
I thought I’d start with weekly check-ins as a way to keep track of my progress towards my goals.
I’ve been researching for a new project. It’s a trilogy based on Swedish folklore. At the moment I’m gathering as much info as I can about the subject. Next up is world-building and character development.
My goal is to publish Wild Magic on December 1st. So far I’ve revised almost 60% of the draft.
I’m consciously trying to watch more documentaries. I think it’s a great way to fill the mind with all kind of random tidbits that can be used when creating stories.
This week I’ve watched:
Yay me! Yesterday I reached the end of the first draft of my current wip. I’m so pleased with myself. 
At the moment it comes in just under 20’000 words but I reckon that when finished it will be closer to 30’000. Maybe.
Besides writing I’ve been playing around in a software called Poser. I’ve been creating a model of my main character. She’s not finished yet but it’s getting there.
I’m a Royal Lickerer. I love to lick things, and I’m good at it. I come from a long line of great licking dwarfs, and I work at the castle nonetheless. My work description includes lots of good stuff, like checking the King’s food for poison, making sure the gold is real gold and forecasting the weather. Unfortunately, my work also includes helping the castle witch.
I peek through the large door frame into the witch’s laboratory. She’s standing with her back towards me, bent over a big brown book surrounded with pouches and bottles filled with dragon claws, fairy hair and midsummer dew. Then I see it, the big juicy, shiny red apple sitting there waiting to be licked by me. Ooooh, what a treat this will be.
“Don’t lick anything, or I’ll turn you into a frog.” This is her usual way of greeting me ever since the incident that momentarily left me with tentacles and no tongue. The King had been mighty unhappy with both of us, but it was none of my fault. I’m almost positive about that.
She turns around, and with her crooked index finger, she points towards a stone. My heart sinks, it isn’t the apple.
I give her a stern look, trying my best to look assertive. I reach up for the stone, give it a good lick, and let the flavours roll over my tongue.
“Young stone, from the mountains. I would say some acidic sand with a hint of volcano ash… and… tarragon?”
The witch waves her hand as if she wants me to continue. There is nothing left to taste, I shrug, and put down the stone.
With a sigh she turns to her book, flipping pages while mumbling. I look at the apple and drool. I lean forward trying to get close enough for a sneak lick. I extend my tongue towards the apple.
“Stuuuuupid dwarf.” She shrieks. I flinch and my tongue misses the apple. Instead it hits the bottle next to it. The bottle tastes sweet like honey, not bad for a foreign metal, not bad at all. It also has a nice but surprising warming effect on my tongue that spreads throughout my body.
“My ears feel funny.”
“I told you to not lick anything.”
“You shouldn’t leave things on the table then, should you?” I stroke my beard, as I always do when I need courage.
I stare at the apple, willing it to come to me. I concentrate really hard, so hard that my ears points towards the apple. My ears do what?
“You’ve turned me into a fairy,” I yell. “Fairies are terrible lickerers.”
“Well, the whole of you won’t, probably, be a fairy. After all, there is quite a lot of you and you only took a teeny tiny lick.”
“I can’t have fairy ears. I can’t. There is no such thing as a fairy-dwarf, there just isn’t. You better tell me it’s reversible or I’ll do something. I swear I’ll do something.” I can’t let the other dwarfs see me with fairy ears. The jokes would never stop. Someone might try to taste them. I have to come up with a plan. I rub my small pointy nose. My small pointy what?
“And now my nose? You better get this sorted pretty quick or… or…”
“Be careful with your temper, or you’ll escalate the fairy transformation!”
“Chaaaaaaaange me back.” I wail, stomping my feet on the ground.
“Looks like we’re out of spider veins, I’ll have to improvise.” She carefully measures out a few ingredients into a small bowl, and stirs them into a thick paste.
“And you are sure it will work?”
“Well, sure… I think so. Yes.”
“And if not?”
“Hmmm…” She studies her big book again. “If not, it will complete the current transformation.”
Neither of my choices sounds good to me. You can only revert so many spells. What if I end up like a fairy all together? Oh, the humiliation. Maybe there is another way out of this? Quick thinking isn’t my strong part, but sometimes even my brain strikes gold.
I balance on my toes and lean towards the apple. I open my mouth. My tongue is only a few inches away, and I can already feel the shiny texture of the apple.
“Rana sylvatica mutari.” Her voice is loud and sharp, and she points her finger at me. A jolt runs through my body. I feel my body change, not only in size but in shape.
“Ribbit,” I croak with a smile on my face. I won’t be a fairy after all. Ok, I won’t be a Royal Lickerer either but so what? Instead I will have the most incredible tongue, and be the world’s best lickerer.
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One Lucky Lick
Copyright © 2011 by Tanja Gustavsson
