Not that anyone cares, but I thought I'd go on a little tangent about the changes being made in CB as I edit/rewrite it.

Names!
Practically everyone has gotten a name change! Yay...? I'm starting to confuse myself, actually. It will be a pain to stop calling people by their old names and switch to the new ones. Since the beginning of the writing, these are the name changes:
Cynan --> Robyn, Cedrin's dad
Aroni --> Evelyn, Cedrin's mom (thank God for that change)
Daere --> Beast (Alaith had too many names)
Ryn --> Marc, Alaith's brother (too many names that had "ren," "rin," and "ryn" in them)
Mabli --> Tarian (family disliked Mabli, and it isn't necessarily pleasant sounding anyway)

No more flower hunts!
Originally, in search for word count and for something that Ced could do, I had him find a book about flowers and go exploring the gardens. This was a good excuse to get him into the gardens, where he and Alaith could hang out together. My sister flew into tirades upon reading those scenes, and the flower hunts have been happily replaced with a more manly pastime: Sword fighting with a suit of armor. Little does Cedrin know that this practice is gearing him up for the climax...

An admittedly 10x more awesome Garan/Cedrin conflict in the city!
My dad had worked out some significant changes in the plot, and the scene reads SO much better now. There is much suspense and sweat on Cedrin's part. Also: Cedrin actually does something fairly clever to cover his tracks.

Looking for a new title, still. I want to rename it before I send it out to the last batch of editors.

On another note, the bloodsugar went over 300 today. Mom didn't make me go back to the ER... but our Endo friend is probably going to say we should. My pancreas is still functioning, to some extent, because the bloodsugar does go down. But it isn't good. I need to call my new Rheum. doctor to see if I can get off these drugs any faster. I'm really sick of all this.

I was complaining about something health related to mom today, and she said, "Let's check your bloodsugar!" So we did.

It was 280. Anything over 150 is considered too high for normal people.

Mom called Laura's old Endo, who told her to take me to the ER. So we went to the ER. The whole time there I just shut out the possibility of me having diabetes. I figured that if it turned out to be diabetes, I would have enough time to cry and freak out then.

We went through the ER process. Three or four hours later, I was released from the hospital. The ER doctor thinks that some of my Rheum. medicine has pushed my bloodsugar high. My bloodwork came back clean, except for the bloodsugar--but that did go down. I'm supposed to watch it closely and have a follow-up soon.

So no diabetes for now, at least. I'm praying really hard it won't turn out that way.

So far, winter break has been very nice. A couple of days ago, I went out with my brother and sister and one cousin, and got several shots that are quite beautiful (you have to scroll a bit for them). I still need to get some of Brooke, but as she doesn't get out of school until the sun is almost gone, we haven't gotten to do them yet.

I have been working every day on CB. It's nice to have my family here, so I can pick their brains about parts I'm unsure of. Last night I spent a lot of time completely rewriting the scene where Cedrin stumbles onto Garan's plot. I also added a brief scene with Ced and Berwyn (captain of one of the ships that gets lost). This is not good because I should be cutting more than writing, but it was necessary for the plot. My goal for today is to cut enough that I can combine two of the earlier chapters... but I have a hard time figuring out what scenes to cut.

The good news is: We have a Christmas tree! All of our stuff is in storage, so we got a real tree, and a few ornaments. We also bought very small, ornament stockings to act in place of our traditional ones. Yay for Christmas in the middle of moving...!

So, I just got back from Disney's newest princess flick: The Princess and the Frog. I thought that since I am writing my own version of Frog Prince, I ought to write a little review.

Okay, it ended up being a summary followed by a review. Spoilers ahead!

( Look, I'm sorry. I'd really like to help you, but I do not kiss frogs. )

( The Actual Review )

Also, there was a Toy Story 3 preview before the movie. IT LOOKS HILARIOUS.

So a few of you might be aware that back in November, I commissioned Lora Innes (author/illustrator of one of my favorite webcomics, The Dreamer). I commissioned her to draw Cedrin in his ball attire from the climax. She just sent me the digital copy, and I have been pretty much squealing for the past ten minutes. See for yourself! (click for larger image)
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! HE IS SO HANDSOME. I'm getting the hard copy in the mail soon. I cannot wait! It will go up on my wall in my dorm and I will squeal at it every day!

(Next, I really want to commission Clap-san to do Adria.)