So, I managed to hit 85 on Geralin and am working my way through the various dungeons while trying to make sense of the greater story in Cataclysm. I’m also playing through the Goblin and Worgen starter zones looking for tidbits to use from them.
I anticipate beginning working on Part IV this weekend and starting posting it the first week of the year. However, I will be in the US from the 18th to the 28th so my writing may be delayed a bit. I’m hoping to get the rest of the Cast of Characters page done in the meantime and I’m going to get the progress bar fixed once and for all.
At any rate, I just wanted to give you a little update in case you were wondering where I vanished.
And now, back to work.
Productive me is Productive
I’ve been slacking on updates here recently because, well, I’ve been busy writing. I’m now solidly 30% through The Unexiled and I’m working up the intro to Part IV of Alayne’s Story. I had to go back and redo some of the intro since my guesses as to how the Shattering would happen were off a bit. At any rate, I’m confident that once I’ve leveled Geralin to 85 and run the dungeons a couple of times, I should be able to start posting Part IV. I’m currently targeting late January for that.
And, The Unexiled. After a lot of thought, I’ve decided not to continue sending it out. Firstly, there’s just too big a chance that someone would pass it on. I’ve been speaking with people in the publishing industry and it seems that publishers are really, really, really not keen on the idea of anyone other than the author, the agent, and themselves having copies of the files laying about. Secondly, while I love the feedback…it’s not exactly critical or useful. Yeah, I know you like the story. But what do you like? What do you dislike? What seems weak? What do you think I could do better? What should be removed?
I’ve spoken with some other writers and it seems that it’s rarely productive to ask for volunteer readers or to ask friends to review something unless you know that one of them is a professional creative copy-editor.
Still, I’m working on The Unexiled and am really hoping to get it finished up by this summer so I can try to shop it around to various agents. I’ll put the progress bar back up in a while (I’m working on redoing the graphics for it) but, for now, just know that I am working on it with the goal of getting it published.
And now, back to writing.
Part III Posted!
I’ve just finished the latest revisions to Part III and gotten them loaded in Issuu and uploaded to this site. You can read them here.
I only lightly edited most of Part III though I did take the opportunity to rewrite the intro chapters since I was very unhappy with how they turned out.
Now, I just need to work on the last tweaks I wanted to make to this site and get some more work done on The Unexiled.
Part III Coming Soon!
I just finished editing (very lightly) Part III of Alayne’s Story. I will be converting the files and getting them ready to be published in the next couple of days. I’ve also gotten my copy of The Shattering which I’ll be reading and using to adapt the first bits of Part IV.
I’m also going to get cracking on The Unexiled now that I have a lull between projects so I should be putting that status bar back up soon.
Anyhow, that’s all for now. I’m about to finish downloading the WoW patch and then I’ve got another ICC 10 heroic mode raid tonight.
Moving In
Well, we moved to the new place over the weekend.
And now I remember why I hate moving. My body hurts in places I’d forgotten I had. I have cardboard burns on my hands from unpacking boxes. We finally got the place looking more like a dwelling and less like a disaster area yesterday. My room is set up and we’ve only got about four or five boxes left to unpack. We still have oodles of bubble-wrap and cardboard cluttering up the entry way (which we will hopefully be hauling down tonight so I can sweep the place). Still, at least now we can move through the apartment without too many problems and it is, for the most part, somewhat presentable. We still need to unpack a few things (as mentioned) and get our pictures hung up on the walls. I need to order a mattress pad from Ikea because my couchbed is rock-solid. We’ll be getting Internet at the apartment late this week.
And, we have bookshelves. Lots and lots of bookshelves.
I’m going to wind up going through them and setting up a system so we can actually FIND our books now. Raf’s going to have to take all the French language books into his room. Once we’ve done that and at least seen exactly how much space we have left, I’ll probably set up a small non-fiction section using the Dewey Decimal system and then break the rest down into alpha-by-author (screw genre because we’d be there until the cows came home with that).
Also, my commute has been cut down to a quarter of what it was. Honestly, by the time I get half-way dozed off, it’s time to get off the bus and walk into the office. It’s great. Raf’s commute is roughly the same, I think (we’ll find out today). And, wonder of wonders, we have a washing machine and drier that works (mostly). We’ve still got to get a few of the settings tweaked but we will be able to do laundry the right way instead of the “cram as much in there because we’re going to have to hang it up to dry for a week before we can wear it” way.
The kitchen is nice and mostly organized though I need to wash all of the dishes since they were packed. That’ll be something I do over the course of the next few weeks. The bathroom has a plug so I can dry my hair without having to use a shadowboxing method to see what I’m doing.
Anyhow, I’m looking forward to my long weekend this week so we can finish the few last things that need to be done and I can spend all my time reading Towers of Midnight once it gets here.
Part II Polish: Complete!
I’ve just finished the revisions to Part II of Alayne’s Story and gotten them uploaded. You can see the current draft over on this page.
As you can see, I added a new chapter earlier in the story. I also did a significant bit of reworking the early stages of Part II to make them a little less “bubble-gum and high school” and a little more “these are adults we’re talking about.” The rest of the story did not change too much aside from fixing spelling and grammatical errors.
And now, I’m taking a brief break before I get cracking on Part III!
More Content!
I’m still hard at work on editing Part II (I just finished chapter fourteen tonight) but I have decided to add the Challenges Sheets I had for Parts I, II, and III up here so you all could see some of the more difficult things I set for myself in addition to the normal outline.
Whenever I start on a new part of Alayne’s Story, I generally come up with two draft sheets. The first is generally the main outline of the points I want to cover, the events I want to have happen, the order and reason for them, and then any additional characters I’m considering adding or expanding upon. The second sheet is my Challenges Sheet. This is not part of the outline per se but is instead some additional twists I’d like to fit into the story if I can work them out. Sometimes, they make it in and even wind up becoming a core part of the story. Other times, I figure it’s too troublesome, too unlikely, or just too different from the tone I want to set and I decide not to bother with it.
Anyhow, now you can see some of the weirder ideas I’ve had. And, no, I’m not putting up the Part IV Challenge Sheet yet because 1) it’s not ready and 2) it would be spoiler-laden.
Revamp Phase Two: Complete!
I’ve not been slacking. 🙂 I’ve just completed the second phase of the revamp of this site. As you can see, I’ve cleaned up the parchment a bit to make posts easier to read. I’ve also completely updated the Cast of Characters section though I still have a few more things to finish in there (namely Jez’ral and Mir’el’s pages + a few other “staple characters” to add to the roster).
And, something you’ve all been wanting to see…I’ve finished the first polish on Part I. It’s up and can be viewed in Issuu or downloaded chapter-by-chapter in .pdf. I’ve cleaned up the formatting a lot in this revision, rewritten a few things, and made the flow better overall. So, take a look and tell me what you think!
Phase three should be over soon but I will be in the midst of moving and may be unable to upload the new files and images until after that’s done and I’ve gotten the Internet up at the new place. Until then, enjoy the revised Part I of Alayne’s Story and be patient while I get to work on Part II.
Latest Chapters Added
I’ve just uploaded the latest chapters (in .pdf format) to the site. I’ve also updated the full story PDF file.
In the next couple of weeks, I’ll be revamping the Cast page, adding the edited drafts, and possibly adding a few other things to the website. So, keep checking back!
Did you notice?
So, I finally implemented (most of) the new design for this place. I’m still working on a few other things and there will be further changes. But, the hardest part is over.
And, yes, I’ve been working on editing Alayne’s Story. I’ll be adding another progress meter soon so you can track my efforts on that.
Anyhow, that’s all for now. Better get back to work. 😉