And we walk back to the house together.
On the road we are greeted
By my princess. She is bouncing on her toes
And drags us both along further inland.
She speaks so fast I struggle
To understand her accented words,
But I think she wants to show us flowers?
It would be good to see flowers again. ^_^
It is too early in the year for flowers.
It should be too early in the year for flowers.
But there they are,
Right in front of us.
They are not blooming yet,
Not truly, but they will soon.
Perhaps tomorrow?
My princess does not know,
Neither do my prince or I
And none of us wants to run off
To ask one of the elders for their wisdom.
So we stand among the flowers,
The three of us in a circle,
With the sun setting behind the mountains.
It is too lovely a moment
To spend standing still,
So I pull them both into a dance.
Startled, they both laugh,
But they dance with me.
We are awkward, the three of us,
But none of us cares.
It is a beautiful evening
And I am happy. ^_^
Acknowledgements
I always thought that acknowledgements would get easier to write the more often that I do them, but as it turns out they seem to get harder instead. There are always so many people to think of, after all, and I end up worrying that I’ll manage to forget people.
Many thanks go, first of all, to everyone who read and commented on Sea Foam and Silence when it started as a webserial back in 2015. I shared it for (and with) all of you and thank you so much for your enthusiasm and encouragement! My thanks also for your understanding when the serial went on a half-year long hiatus and sticking with it. Seriously, you lot are amazing and I love you all! <3
My thanks also go to all of my friends who’ve had to put up with my alternating “ZOMG! Progress!” and “OMG! Why, characters?!” commentary on the writing. You always act graciously and sweet whenever I’m tearing my hair out over having to rethink the plot again. Oh, for the life of a plotter. (Except probably not. I think I’d add nailbiting to my writing process because I’d spend all of the story waiting for them to derail everything. Again.)
Especial thanks go to Elizabeth Barrette, whose web presence and poetry fishbowls continue to inspire me to push myself and my writing into areas and places it might not otherwise go, and to M.C.A. Hogarth, who is just inspiring, period, and whose art tweets and blog posts on LJ always make me want to do something creative right now. You inspire me to be the best writer I can be every day and to work ceaselessly on becoming even better.
I owe so much to Anonymous, who wishes to remain anonymous and does not read poetry. The fact that Anonymous lets me waffle at them anyway and somehow manages to deal with the worst of my Imposter Syndrome with grace and kindness means the world to me.
Of course, I also owe Sea Foam and Silence to alee_grrl, whose prompt of a poetic retelling of The Little Mermaid lies at the very heart of this verse novel because there was so much more to explore in that poem. (And there still is! We know nothing about that baker’s boy or what Maris made of cutlery the first time she encountered it — spoiler: she handles it better than a certain other red-headed mermaid — or what she’ll make of hunting. Etc.) Alee_grrl, without you this serial would not exist and the world would be deprived of the little mermaid who thinks nothing of adding emoticons to her poetry.
Huh. Maybe these things do get easier the more you write them. It’s just getting started that’s the trouble.
In any case, at the risk of repeating myself too often: a huge thank you to all my readers, and to you specifically for buying and reading this verse novel. Thank you for trusting me to give you an enjoyable and magical read. I hope you’ve enjoyed the experience!
About the Author
Lynn O’Connacht has an MA in English literature and creative writing, but wouldn’t call herself an authority on either. She currently resides on the European continent and her idiom and spelling are, despite her best efforts, geographically confused, poor things. Her tastes are equally eclectic, though fantasy will always be her first love. She has been chasing stories one way or another since she was old enough to follow a narrative.
Connect with Lynn online:
http://www.leoconnacht.com
http://twitter.com/lynnoconnacht
Thank you for reading!
Books by Lynn
Courage Is the Price
Feather by Feather and Other Stories
The Passage of Pearl
A Promise Broken
Sea Foam and Silence
Tales of the Little Engine
Copyright 2016 © Lynn E. O’Connacht. All rights reserved.
Cover design by Lynn E. O’Connacht.
Cover art by evgeny varlamov from shutterstock.com.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
This file is licensed for private individual entertainment only. The book contained herein constitutes a copyrighted work and may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into an information retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (electrical, mechanical, photographic, audio recording, or otherwise) for any reason (excepting the uses permitted to the licensee by copyright law under terms of fair use) without the specific written permission of the author.
Please report errors to Lynn E. O’Connacht at [email protected] so that they can be corrected in future versions. She would also love to hear comments!
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