With 15 days to go on our little experiment and deep in the insanity that is December there's a lot going on. Presents to purchase, projects to work on; oh, and a novel to edit!

I've made my first pass and my team is now hard at work fixing my typos and telling me what doesn't make any sense. In the mean time, I thought I could share a bit more of what we're working on and a bio for Jennifer Steinhurst, my editor.

First, a selection from the novel. Spoiler Alert! If you are avoiding spoilers, skip down to Jen's bio.

Our heroine has arrived safely in Mithe and made some new friends; but more adventures await:

The road wove on to the south and a small path split off, barely noticeable if you weren't looking for it. Orla was teased from her thoughts when Darragh veered from the road to the thin path. She looked doubtfully to him; but he ignored her and walked to the tree line.

They wound through tall, old trees for a few brief moments and then the woods gave way to a wide clearing. Darragh stepped to the side and paused to read Orla's face as she took in the open space. At the far end of the clearing the valley terminated into a rock wall. Here a facade had been cut the entire length of the clearing, directly into the cliff's face.

At either end stood great sentinels, statues of men as tall as the trees. They were armored, but instead of swords or spears they held staffs with ornately carved tops. Behind them was a recessed entryway, with pillars cut to look like trees and mimic the forest around them. After a moment Darragh continued and Orla followed, anxious for more details.

Beyond the tree line the foot path turned to a wide avenue spread with white gravel and bordered by sculptures of unfamiliar animals. Beyond the statues, the clearing gave way to gardens and a well kept lawn. In a garden many different herbs were growing, some familiar to her and some not. Orla could identify simple remedy herbs like ginger and rosemary, used for nausea and upset stomach. It seemed odd to her that the garden of wizards would have such simple cures.

The garden and entrance were buzzing with activity. The youngest, no more than twelve or thirteen years, were weeding the garden under the supervision of their elders. A few in their later teens were reading on low benches books without names on the covers and others wrote in journals.

At the end of the avenue, the grass and gardens terminated at a cavernous entry way. Cut directly into the stone of the cliff, every bit was decorated with beautiful carvings. The pillars were all detailed to represent the bark of the surrounding trees. Orla craned her head to follow the pillars up to the ceiling with her eyes. At the tops of each pillar, branches were carved into a stone canopy.

Where the branches came together fire bowls hung down on chains for extra light. The bottom of the bowls were painted with birds, moths, and dragonflies. Benches, carved from the same stone, broke the entrance into sections. In one group of benches some students were showing off, conjuring fire, water, ice or smoke in their hands.

One young man noticed Orla watching and spun water from his hands. He made the water dance in a great spout. He twirled his fingers and it snaked above his head and twisted back in on itself in a fluid braid. He was watching her instead of paying attention to his great conjure and didn't notice when one of his mates came behind with a blast of wind. The water spout froze instantly and then shattered down in a hail storm of ice chips.

The presence of so many young wizards eased Orla's greatest fears, though she still had reservations. The pillared arches gave way to a massive entrance with large carved wooden doors. They stood open and seemed too large to be moved by human force alone. Carved into the left door a male wizard held fire in his hand, the right a female with water. Around them every kind of creature to be imagined was carved with the wizards standing over them all.

Phew! Exciting. Now, for a bit more about our team. Here's a bio and a snapshot of our editor Jennifer Steinhurst

This is some text!Jennifer Steinhurst grew up in a small town in the middle of nowhere Vermont, which was the driving force behind her creativeness even from her early days. That, and a healthy love of the written word, which landed her a job with the bookseller giant Borders Group, Inc, where she worked for close to a decade. Jennifer is now working full time for a fund raising non-profit and moonlights as a copy editor and budding novelist, participating in her first NaNoWriMo contest in 2009. Working on the project that has become this book has helped her use her powers of grammar for good and she is looking forward to working on future books with the author.

Thanks again for all your help and support. With 15 days to go please share this project so we can finish strong. Happy Holidays.