NaNo2006: Salamanca - Main Character Descriptions

Lady Clarabelle Leigh Tremayne

She is the only child of the widowed Earl of Deysbrooke.
Having been motherless since the age of 6, when the countess died in childbirth after several miscarriages, she adores her father and he in turn dotes on her.She is a happy and social lady with many friends, and many hobbies. She is not afraid to speak her mind and quite independent. And most of all she thinks the best of everyone and will do anything within her power to help a friend in need.
The earldom and belonging estates are entailed away to a distant cousin, but the majority of the Earls possessions and wealth is not entailed away and will fall to Clarabelle when her father passes away.This is one of the main reasons why Clarabelle is married before she has even experienced a season. Her father indulges in a little matchmaking with some old friends of the family and an arrangement is made between her and the 3rd son of the Marquess of Rawdenstall, Captain Lord Ashley "Ash" Lyvedon.
Though the march is initially arranged without either party meeting each other, it all works out for the best as they fall in love within moments of meeting each other.The engagement period is set for a suitable amount of time, the end of the summer so that Clarabelle can experience a London season. However the ongoing war disrupts these plans, when Ash's regiment is ordered to the peninsular, and the couple marries in haste before his departure.
It will be 4 year before they see each other again, and by then Ash is a completely different man to the one Clara fell in love with. But can she make him confide in her so she can help him or will his defensiveness and cold demeanour drive the two of them apart?

Captain Lord Ashley "Ash" Rodrick Lyvedon

He is the 3rd son of the Marquess of Rawdenstall and captain of the 14th Light Dragoons.
Ash has never thought much about getting married, he enjoys being in the army and being his own man. But when his parents suggest a match between him and the daughter of a family friend he does not object. He knows he must marry some time and as he does not really have the inclination or disposition to go traipsing around balls and parties for a wife he is more than happy for his parents to make this choice for him.
Of course when he meets his future wife he thanks God for his luck, for she is really his soul mate and true love ,and it would have been a disaster if his parents had made the wrong choice.Somewhat unconventionally their courtship does not start until after they are engaged, but as they have been given a nice long engagement period to settle in and get to know each other this is perfect for them.
This all changes though when Ash regiment is ordered to the peninsular and he must leave Clara at home. he is torn between his first love Clara and his second love the army, but Clara knows how long he has waited for this opportunity and gives him her blessing to go.In the Peninsular he sees things to terrible to mention, both in an out of battle. He distinguishes himself by saving a fellow campaign and is promoted (was lieutenant, now captain), but more and more he longs home to Clara and away form the atrocities of the war.
At he battle of Salamanca he is injured, and when recovered enough is sent home to England. This should have been the solution to his problems except he cannot reconcile the gruesomeness and horrors he has experiences with the beauty and purity he sees in Clara. He shuts himself away from her, for he now thinks he is not worthy of her and he thinks he will damaged her as he is damaged himself.To shut out the pain and horrors he starts drinking heavily and isolates himself completely.
Will he realise that Clara can be his saviour before they are totally estranged or will he fade away from everything he once loved and cared for?

Last years NaNo

I thought I should tell you about my 2006 NaNo experience, it would be an excellent lead-in to this year, don't you think?
As you can see from my icon, I was a winner in 2006. My end word count was 53507, however I very nearly did not get it validated due to stupid PC trouble. This year however I have anticipated it all and we're getting internet on Wednesday, 10 weeks before NaNo starts (well you can never be to organisted).
BTW if you want to add me as buddy on NaNoWriMo my username is LXandraS :)
My story was called Salamanca, and was mainly set just after the battle of Salamanca in 1812.
It is a Regncy Romance where the couple met and feel madly in love just before the MMC went off to war, several years later he is sent back to England, injured both in both and spirit.

I'm gonna post the two main character descriptions, f0r a better explaination of the story. It is still unfinished, in fact I haven't touched it since 30/11/06. However I've started looking over iyt recently and adding to it :) Once it is finished it will be posted but i cannot say how long that will be till.

11 WEEKS TO GO!!!

Ok, so I'm not usually completely mad, starting 11 week count downs, but I wanted to give myself plenty of time for planning this year. This blog is gonna be my wrimo life raft, I'm gonna put up useful links, background info, counters etc.
I figure that if i start almost 3 months early at least my blog will be ready for me once November comes around.
I'm not thinking story right now, I'm just thinking planning.
This blog will not be updated very regularly until be get to September, but from November 1st it will be daily. I might even do a weekly podcast, but that depends on how much I get done from now til then.

I won't publish the NaNo story here, it will be more updates and summaries, but with a link to my actual website (when it's up and running, another project I have 11 weeks to finish)

Until then though please come back and read and comment, it's always good to know you're not alone.