Over the last three weeks, Blood Crystal has been touring a round of fabulous blogs. Today, we arrive at the final stop.
Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.
Isn’t it strange how, when we are waiting, time seems to stop moving. It’s almost as though we are caught in amber, caught between the moments, as though time itself has been freezed-framed and whatever we are waiting for will never arrive (or is that just me?). The temptation is to give up.
And then, in a pivotal instant, there is the knock of the door, the arrival of a friend, the opportunity we’d hoped for.
Patience is rewarded.
As a writer, we want it all to happen from finishing writing the book, to publishing it, to gaining thousands of readers – but at each step of the journey we find ourselves waiting and in need of patience and persistence.
As a reader, with a great book we enjoy the journey – both inpatient to get to the end and, at the same time, never wanting it to end. Then we can’t wait for the sequel 🙂
At one point in the Blood Crystal, the twins Delvina and Retza head off on a treacherous journey to find help from Zadeki and his kin. They face a number of different challenges due the extreme terrain and their own unfamiliarity with the ‘outside’. At one point they run out of food and it seems they will never reach their goal.
Delvina placed the last of their dried mushroom and slithers of smoked cave fish into Retza’s mug and poured some of the steaming melt water over it. Saliva flooded her mouth at the tantalising smell. She offered the mug to her twin, giving him her own share in mute apology. If there was a source of food in the barren wilderness, neither she nor Retza had been able to find it. He gulped down the broth and then thrust the cup into her hands, half full.
She shook her head. ‘It’s yours.’
‘We both need to be strong.’
Once she swallowed the delicious mouthful, she stood and gathered her gear. Retza groaned and did the same. Ducking her head, she stepped out into the soft grey light that seemed to linger as the sun dipped down behind the jagged skyline. Retza stumped in front of her and took the lead and the full force of the buffeting wind for this shift. She clutched the copy of the instructions the old Scrybe had written out for her. A soft sorrow welled up and brought tears to her eyes. It was hopeless, beyond crazy. Perhaps they should go back.
Is their patience and persistence rewarded? You’ll have to read Blood Crystal to find out.
Last question for the Scavenger Hunt. What is Delvina and Retza’s final meal as their food runs out during their journey?
Scavenger Hunt
Blood Crystal Scavenger Hunt will run throughout the Blood Crystal Blog Tour. Each blog will have a reflection or memory related to themes within Blood Crystal and a related question. The first person to answer all NINE questions right will win a $50 Amazon voucher. The runner up will receive copies of both Heart of the Mountain and the sequel Blood Crystal.
Please give your answers in the comments below.
Here are the Questions with links to the different blogs to find the clues.
Blog 1 Jeanette O’Hagan Writes: Where do Glow Worms live and what kind of animal are they?
Blog 2 The Vince Review: What mineral used to be mined in the Adelaide Hills town of Callington?
Blog 3 Lynne Stringer: What do the agents need more than Sarah?
Blog 4 Cindy Tomamichel: What is Trajan’s secret fear?
Blog 5 The Write Flourish: What is the name of that underground location which Nola toured?
Blog 6 David Rawlings Author: Who has to go on a perilous journey in Blood Crystal?
Blog 7 Adele Jones Author: What is the name of the mine associated with the pollution of Dee River
Blog 8 Adam Collings: The formations that hang down from the ceiling of a cave, are they stalactites, or stalagmites?
Blog 9 Jeanette O’Hagan Writes (here): What is Delvina and Retza’s final meal as their food runs out during their journey?
I’m looking forward to seeing your answers.
Comment Winners
Announcing the winners who commented on the different stops on the way. Thank you for everyone who took time to stop by, read and leave a comment. I loved reading through the different comments and found it hard to choose.
One person deserves a grand-prize as she give thoughtful and interesting answers on every single blog. Way to go Nola Passmore.
So without more ado, I’ll detail the winners of a copy of Heart of the Mountain. (If you’ve already have a copy, you can nominate a friend to receive a copy or nominate one of my other e-books instead – The Herbalist’s Daughter, Lakwi’s Lament or Blood Crystal).
Winners:
Overall winner – Nola Passmore for the most comments – always interesting and entertaining 🙂
Blog stop 1 – this was so hard to choose, but I loved Susan Preston’s answer.
Blog stop 2 – Adam Collings
Blog stop 3 – Badger
Blog stop 4 – Paula Vince
Blog stop 5 – Sally Poyzer
Blog stop 6 – Adele Jones
Blog stop 7 – Linsey Painter (also receives her choice of a book in the Blaine Colton trilogy from Adele Jones)
Blog stop 8 – some great answers & hard to choose, but as others have already received a prize, Christine Dillon (also receives a copy of Lynessa’s Curse by Adam Collings).
Honourable mentions to Lynne Stringer and Cindy Tomamichel 🙂
And a big thanks to my wonderful blog hosts – Paula Vince, Lynne Stringer, Cindy Tomamichel, Nola Passmore, David Rawlings, Adele Jones and Adam Collings. Please, check out their blogs for some great content 🙂
Until Next Week
I’ll announce the Scavenger Hunt winners next Friday – so you still time to enter, but remember the first two to get the all the correct answers wins.
Jeanette
