I want to make a work of art
To come across as smart
I have word goals
I have tongue coals

Ideas burn cerebrally
Come alive incrementally

Burning midnight oil
I slave and I toil
Write in waking hours
Dream of novels in my sleep
But these dreams though sweet
Will not eternity for me keep

You see if I slave for years
Write for decades
Or sing for ages
All I've done is nothing

Even though I made this a fiction post, it's more like an explanation of a few of the stories I'm writing at the moment. I have two chapters of a story called "The Duke of Dreven" up before this post, and in the story, it talks about some locations, cities, towns, what have you, that might confuse some readers. One of these places is Dreven itself. I wanted to take this opportunity to explain a rather ambitious undertaking I have started.

Removed for magazine entry... I’m keeping my fingers crossed!!
-Damaris Ann

Midst the tossing and turning of a restless night,
Imagination takes up glorious flight;
Probing for a rhyming pattern new and unique
Or for word choice that our generation will seek.
New stories to give to people both young and old,
Strategic sentences or curious words bold.
Tales of peaceful love or tempestuous passion,
Tripping lyrics of envy or sweet compassion.
A blank space of desert so barren and dreary,
Or mountainous heights to climb; broken, and weary.
A soul full of color but buried deep in dust;

Note: I was planning on writing something like this before James started posting his recent posts. I hope it encourages you in your writing!
--------
Fellow writers,

Love is patient, love is kind,
It is not a word, not a mime.
Love is not a feeling, big, or small,
It's something more, if I recall.
There is no greater love than this:
What?! To die? Not give a kiss?
T'was with a kiss Christ was betrayed,
Soon before He His true love displayed.
It was on a cross that my Lord died,
T'was His love for me that pierced His side.
God sent down His only Son,
And He the victory has won.
The dove was the sign sent from above;
The sacrifice was His destiny of love.

But you, you
You are the hole in my chest
The missing piece to my puzzle
The coffee in my mug
The rhythm in my step
The crack in my world.

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ EITHER GREATER LOVE OR A STRONG FAITH THEN DONT READ THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE. :D

Just like that. After seven-and-a-half years, eight drafts, countless revisions, and a title change, my first novel is now published and available.
Finally--finally!--after all these years, it's 100\% complete and out there on the market for real.

*WARNING* Some mature thematic content. There is mention of drugs and other forms of abuse, which is obviously not put in a positive light. It's a pretty dark storyline, but the story itself is not particularly dark, if that makes sense.