Aldrea Alien's Blog, page 32
June 18, 2018
Well… that escalated…
So, in my last I post, we’d a very damp kitchen floor, courtesy of a cracked pipe. It’s been slow going with the insurance. I’ve not had much to do with insurers (beyond one car crash that wasn’t my fault and I mean literally, the guy hit my stationary car at 100km) so I was assuming the timeframe was normal.
When were sent an update email, I was thrilled. Finally, we’ll get some traction and be walking on a new floor without any disturbing bouncing or rises. We’re fully prepared to deal with painting or whatever it takes to get back to normal. I’m not liking being uncertain how much of my under sink cabinet space I can reclaim knowing it’ll only have to be removed once they start.
Then I read this little gem…
The vinyl on the kitchen floor contains asbestos.
Yes, the floor I have walked on since 2001 contains that terror of the building materials. We’ve spoken of tearing the stuff up in the past because it’s in such a terrible state. Kinda glad we hadn’t gotten around to doing that.
It gets better. Or rather… scarier. Our laundry and dining room have the same stuff. Although the former has very little left thanks to a certain blond dog when he was puppy. But there’s also a possibility that our textured walls and ceiling also have it. We’ve cut holes in those walls (the ceiling, too) and nailed hooks into it. We don’t know if it’s anywhere other than the floor. I do, however, know the stuff under my chair is shattered and flaking…
What fun.
June 6, 2018
Ground to a halt
This month’s 20k goal was going strong, I’d managed to hit 2700 in the first four days despite having taken one of those days off…
Then last Monday happened.
If you’ve not seen the video on my Facebook page, a leak revealed itself in our kitchen. Found the first signs at about 2:30am that morning. Spent the rest of the day poking holes in walls to discover the source. The leak may be fixed thanks to my partner, but the damage remains. As of now, we’re not sure as to the costs, but it may involve the whole kitchen as the floor’s pretty sodden and the whole bench under the sink is beyond saving.
In all, it’s not exactly conducive to writing. I’ve halved my goal this month, for the moment. I may have to nix the rest of the month completely if it turns out we have to find temporary accommodation.
May 28, 2018
Angels Everywhere!
[image error]I’m so excited to announce that a trio of angelic boxed sets that I’m involved with are now up for pre-order! They’re currently for a special discounted price that will be increasing in June, so make sure you grab your copy now!
Bonus Collection of 7 Short Stories (may not be free on Amazon until June)
Angels & Magic 11 Full Length Novels (Golden Dawn is in this one!)
Wings & Wonder 4 Full Length Novels (new and exclusive stories)
May 27, 2018
Ten chapters down! Forty more to go…
This should’ve taken me far sooner than it did, but I blame that on me bouncing between two chapters, but… Chapter ten of To Target the Heart is finally complete! Well, the first draft version of it, but yay!
In terms of overall word count, we’ve reached 74k. So… I’m not speeding along, but I am moving and that’s always a good thing, yeah? A lot of that is sitting in a mess of a bit n’ pieces file that I really need to sort out, but eh…
Learnt a few new things about my boys over that time. Some useful, (Hamish hates blue, especially when compared to his eye colour) others, not so much (apparently, men in Minamist are circumcised as a rite of adulthood. Not sure what I’m going to do with that information, but… uh… thanks, Dar? I… guess?)
I’ve a new home screen on my phone, too…
(sorry Dylan, you and Track can still haunt my dining room wall though)
[image error]Darshan vris Mhanek of the Udynea Empire by Eveline.
May 18, 2018
So Many Updates…
It’s been a while since I’ve done an update post. Most of that is because I’ve been splitting my time between writing and playing God of War (with the writing coming first, you understand, playtime is only for later). A portion of my absence is also due to a cold and my daughter’s birthday. She’s twelve now.
We’ve a new kitty. My daughter spent over a year proving that she could handle the responsibility of a kitten.
To Target the Heart hasn’t been shirking in climbing its word count goals. At the moment, I’m sitting on chapter ten and writing both that and eleven at the same time. There’s around 67,000 words right now, with most of it in the first eleven chapters. I’m very chuffed about that.
I’ve settled on a soft word count total of 225k. That’s about 4500 words per chapter… so roughly how In Pain and Blood‘s chapters laid out, just with fewer of them… at the moment, anyway. I know better, especially where there’s still a few things to flesh out.
I also had a little interview published the other day.
I’m currently set to have a cover image started in June, which will mean I’ll be spending months sitting on the cover image for ages, but I think I understand his process a little better now and I have the ability (thanks to In Pain and Blood) so I’m not waiting.
[image error]Have I mentioned I’ve a hardback of In Pain and Blood? I feel like I have, just maybe not here. It’s slightly bigger than the paperback due to it also having the novella extra, An Unexpected Gift. It’s on preorder at the moment. (You know what’s weird? B&N has the hardback, but not the paperback even though they were both set up through ingramspark.)
My local library was moved to a temporary location a few months back due to the building being deemed not earthquake safe. The new space is limited, but I learnt that they’re keeping the popular books there. That includes Dark One’s Mistress! Like wow!
I’ve also learnt that they are accepting new books, so yay for being able to put the IPaB hardback in!
Finally, I’ve a new lock screen on my phone (sorry Track)…
[image error]Prince Hamish of Tirglas by Eveline.
April 30, 2018
And I completed #campnanowrimo!
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Here we are, at the end of April. I’ve been mostly keeping above my daily goals since the halfway mark, which is amazing given that I’m writing at night after wrangling a sick daughter (who, naturally, lovingly spread it around). But I made it. Overshot 20k on the 29th to be exact.
I’m currently perched on chapter eight. Which sucks a little, because it means I’ve several big chapters that I can’t just break into two. But this is also the first sex scene. And it starts with the right person, no less.
I’ve not too many surprises happening during this half of April. Mostly a few minor ones pertaining to Hamish’s family. His sister, Nora, has officially been in more scenes than their older brother, Gordon, which I should’ve expected, given her closeness with the trade negotiations. That’ll change once the boys leave Mullhind to visit a Tirglasian spellster cloister. But his mother’s turning into even more of a pain than I’d originally planned. Worse still, everyone is taking her draconian response to a minor act in stride. Well… apart from Darshan, but that’s sort of the point.
Darshan has turned out to be far less cocky than I imagined, at least in private. I mean, I knew he’d a romantic side hidden beneath that cold shell he’s shown the Udynean court, I just didn’t expect him to be giving Tracker a run for his money there.
April 15, 2018
#campnanowrimo The Halfway Point
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So we’re halfway through April. Last time I participated in a Camp Nanowrimo, I struggled a bit to meet my goals, which weren’t as large as my current 20k, but I was also writing near the end of the story. I’m on chapter five at the moment (Tavern brawl!) and it’s still only been two days storywise. Two days! And already Darshan’s all set to see if Hamish’s is dtf. Hehehe.
It’s a little easier this time with a new-ish storyline. To Target the Heart is shaping up to be a far more surprising tale than I’d originally banked on. Slightly longer but, so far, not as wildly as In Pain and Blood was. Perhaps a 100k less. That might change as I flesh out the latter half, but that’s a time for another month.
And, with bits of Tirglas and Udynea are still being formed, some of the stuff is only starting to knit together as I write it. This month alone, I’ve had revelations such as…
Nora, Hamish’s older sister, having such a love of books and a knack for trade and numbers. I did wonder where her husband had vanished to for a bit and he was mysteriously absent from my story, turns out he died.
Gordon, Hamish’s brother. Whilst I knew he was supportive of his brother, I never actually intended him to become Hamish’s wingman, but hey…
Udynea having a lot of gods and goddess isn’t a surprise (they sort of absorb knew deities into their pantheon whenever they conquered), but it didn’t occur to me that one of them was a group of women who served the High Mother (who is the old Domian Great Mother) and wandered around topless, raising orphans who generally wound up in the priesthood. Until Hamish singled them out.
I certainly didn’t know about Daama, Darshan and Anjali’s elven slave wetnurse/nanny who was gifted to them (along with several others) upon their birth. I also thought she might be meeker, but no… she’s a no-nonsense woman that’s rather forgotten her charges are in their thirties and, technically, her owners (not that the twins wouldn’t do anything for their ‘Ma).
The most surprising has been how relatively even the narration has been between the two princes. I thought, what with it being set in Tirglas, that Hamish might garner more scenes there, but no Darshan is simply too delightful to have patiently waiting for his turn.
No doubt there’ll be other surprises popping up as I continue.
April 9, 2018
Not-so-linear…
Part of the reason I don’t actually put a series number on the Spellster Series is due to the novels, the main ones at least, being stand alones. People should be able to read them in any order they choose, even if that order is likely to be the publication one.
But sorting out the chronological order is a little trickier as most of them happen more-or-less at the same time. The only story I can say without a doubt comes first chronologically, is Burning Beneath the Sun.
Technically, by moving my focus onto To Target the Heart after In Pain and Blood, I’m going both backwards and forwards at the same time. Overall, having To Target the Heart begin a few months before In Pain and Blood doesn’t matter because the two novels are set in different kingdoms with different characters.
What gets really tricky is how both Through Smoke and Fire and Spectre of the Golden Voice intwine with To Target the Heart. And there’s a Main Character from Extinguishing the Sun who may or may not make a brief appearance at the end of To Target the Heart, but his story happens (yup, you guessed it) at the same time. Basically, To Target the Heart is the centre stone and the others branch off it at certain points.
Start throwing in the short stories and novellas… whoo boy!
First is Willow, always will be, unless I write a story set way back then.
Then there’s Burning Beneath the Sun.
To Target the Heart starts well after the events in BBtS.
Extinguishing the Sun quite likely starts here somewhere.
Down the Path of Shadows has nothing to tie it to anywhere, so it could be anytime.
Rock-a-bye fits here, I believe.
Mapmaker likely does, too.
Spectre of the Golden Voice is happening at the same time.
Through Smoke and Fire begins after some events in TTtH.
Events in TSaF lead to a very minor detail happening within the beginning of In Pain and Blood, so guess which of the main novels is actually last in the chain? Haha!
Of course, And the World Crumbled also happens during the events of IPaB.
Finally, there’s An Unexpected Gift. Third in the series to be complete, last in the queue. Ha!
I’m so gonna have to make sure I don’t contradict myself on past happenings already mentioned.
March 31, 2018
#campnanowrimo Begin!
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In 2016, I participated in both of the Camp National Novel Writing Months as well as the main Nanowrimo to help me plough through the remainder of In Pain and Blood. I took last year off to focus on editing as well as writing An Unexpected Gift and Dark One’s Bride (the latter of which then got shoved to the back as To Target the Heart muscled its way in).
This year, I’m jumping into Camp Nanowrimo with To Target the Heart. There’s already 35k and I plan to add another 20k to it this month. Hopefully, that’ll mean the first quarter gets done and I can springboard off that so it won’t take me the two years it did to finish writing In Pain and Blood. I’d cross my fingers, but that’d make it hard to type.
An Unexpected Gift is live!
Back before I was really even finished with In Pain and Blood, I kept getting pieces of story that happened after the main novel, but which also didn’t fit into the novel. I still get odd bits here and there, but nothing pulls as strongly as An Unexpected Gift did.
An Unexpected Gift is 21k extra to In Pain and Blood. It’s set a few weeks after the main novel’s epilogue and will have spoilers as well as a high chance of vagueness in detail for those who haven’t read In Pain and Blood. It is not a standalone.
