Greetings.
I'm Ardyth Irene DeBruyn. I am named after the Princess Irene in "The Princess and the Goblin" and George McDonald is my authorial hero. If I can someday write as good as him, I could die happy. My first novel I attempted this, failed spectacularly to make something at all marketable (it started out as a "middle grade" novel and ended up over 100k, starring a 8 yr old wizard prince), but that did remind several critiquers of George McDonald at least. Sigh. I may drag it out now that I'm exploring faith in writing again. What I'm hoping is that now that I know how to write, I can figure out finally how to make that deeper meaning thing actually work.
However, my other goal is to win a Newberry in children's literature. I've been pursuing mainstream publication (with some close calls in agents which sadly have only ended in rejections) for the last three years. I'm published in a mainstream e-book market. My novel is "Chosen Sister."
The novel is not explicitly Christian, but does have a strong sense of morality, and I believe it's appropriate for Christian readers as long as magic does not equal satanic powers (I know some people are really strict on the no magic thing, which is fine if that's your belief, but personally I think it depends on the magic system in question when talking about fictional worlds). Magic is more a metaphor for creativity/imagination in this novel.
At the risk of sounding trollish (which isn't a bad thing when you like actual trolls...) I do note the "promotions" bit and so guilt-free also duly post the Novel Blurb:
When the Gold Wizard comes looking for the Child Warrior in Reina's village, it's no surprise he's only looking at the boys. However, when the wizard magically selects her younger brother as the warrior prophesied to defeat the Red Wizard, Reina has mixed feelings—jealousy and concern. Austyn is only six.
Allowed to accompany her brother, Reina soon finds they're in deeper trouble than she thought. The Gold Wizard's fake beard is ripped off by attacking harpies, revealing he's only seventeen, not to mention his magical demonstrations tend to go awry. Unfortunately, with the Red Wizard's harpies and snakewolves on their trail, finding a new (and better) wizard mentor is hardly an option. If anyone's going to find a way to track down the elusive Sword of Chivalry for Austyn and get him into the Red Wizard's castle to fulfill whatever the obscure prophecy insists must be done, it's got to be Reina.
Anyhoo... I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and working more on faith in my writing.
and I am a little yellow named person which means I'm one of the people who help run this site which is another reason I can be unreasonably happy. 
). 
I like the excerpt.
Nice to meet ya. Your novel sounds great! Keep writing 
