M is for Mulligatawny

It's halfway through the month and halfway through the alphabet, so I guess it's appropriate that I find out about this A to Z challenge and get started, since I only halfway know what I'm doing anyway.

I have talked about the naming of my dragons before, and how it all started with the movie The Glass Slipper and the fairy godmother and her pickle-relish. Jambalaya was the first word to present itself as a perfect dragon name, and then came Mulligatawny. At first it wasn't intentional that they were food words (in particular soups), but as the cast of characters grew and I needed more dragon names for the other kids' dragons, sticking with food just seemed easier. There are simply too many cool and fun words to say in the world, and it actually is easier to pick one when you limit your options. Instead of fishing out of ALL the nouns and adjectives and whatnot in the ocean, I toss my net in the relatively smaller lake of 'exotic' food (I can pretty much guarantee that I will never name a dragon Hamburger or Milk). Once I decided to stick with food, it seemed natural to keep naming the boys' dragons after soups and name the girls' dragons after desserts or sweet stuff (Sassafras is another awesome word to say). And I'm really hoping that when I get through with this round of editing (the goal is by this summer!) and start sending it off to agents that they won't think it's too kitschy.

There is no hidden meaning to Jambalaya and Mulligatawny. They are just fun words to say, and since these dragons represent whatever children might imagine a dragon to be, they seemed prefect. (Mulligatawny is camo-colored because my son loves camo. How cool would it be to have a dragon that looked like camo?)

Day two

I am destined to sleep through this conference, I can tell. It's even later than it was last night and I almost slept through one of the lectures today. Honestly. It's hard being this pathetic. But I am, so this has to be quick.

Our assignment from yesterday was coming up with a one sentence pitch. Here goes.

Three siblings discover they are the lost heirs of a magical land.

Done before, yes, I know. But it's something, and something I haven't had before. I'm working on the paragraph pitch, and will hopefully have that tomorrow (later today). Also tomorrow (later today) I will be getting feedback on my prologue and first chapter. My nerves are jangling, to say the least. I am anticipating comments on prologues in general, and names (Liosalfar and probably Hiraeth). I intend to stick to my guns, siting Lloyd Alexander as the president for funky words in middle grade, and also Welsh.

In other 'news' Dave Wolverton's presentation was wonderful. However, I don't have enough brain cells awake right now to say how or why. Except that I will probably also be siting him too. I want that British contract too.