Kenn Ghannon: Blog

I took a week off from writing. My real job heated up a bit and I just didn't have the strength at the end of the day to do any writing.

Part of my 'weakness' was because I was bogged down. After I finished the previous chapter, I started getting too focused on 'micro-time' - which is to say, I was describing everything which happened minute by minute. This story is not suited for play-by-play.

Unfortunately, there are things which need to happen to progress some plot points which make the most logical sense to be included at this point in time. Too many things, honestly, coming from too many directions. I hate when the story gets bogged down by minutiae - it starts reading like a technical guide instead of a story.

So, I scrapped the current chapter. Completely (the 'delete' key was my best buddy). I then tabled it for a week and pondered what I was trying to say here and started planning scenes out in my head.

Result: I've got the plan for the next two chapters! It hits all the points I need to - as well as a few I was worried about because I wasn't sure where the heck I was going to fit them in - and it doesn't get over-whelmed. Now if my brain-to-keyboard interface works the way it's supposed to ...

Thank you, muse!

What can I say about Runesward: Tome 2, chapter 8*? Nothing good, unfortunately. I had quite a build-up to it in chapters 6 and 7 and I'm having difficulties filling the emotional void with Chapter 8. No spoilers but - I feel as if I need something special here, something memorable and I can't seem to do it justice. I've written the opening 4 times now and I'm either unimpressed or just not happy with any of it. It's driven me to eat, for Deia's sake! (See what I did there?)

Some of you might not know, but as my life progressed, so did my stomach. It got to the point I was 90 pounds overweight. No health concerns, thankfully, my heart and blood pressure and sugar stayed good...but I was obese. I saw a picture of myself last summer and...it was not pleasant. You never truly see yourself until you see a surprise picture someone else took that you didn't know they took.

Now, I've been happy to say I was 'overweight' for the past decade or more. After seeing that picture, though, something had to give. That wasn't me. That was some fat dude masquerading as me.

I have an older cousin (4 years older) who was overweight as well - though nowhere near in my league. When I saw him over the summer, he was svelte. He'd dropped a ton of weight and was looking muscular. I asked him his secret...

...and thus, I started on the Keto lifestyle. It is NOT for everyone. Basically, you have to cut most everything that tastes good out of your life - except meat. The one saving grace to this diet is you can eat all the meat you want. All the butter, too. All the eggs (though I can't stand eggs, really). No breads. No pasta. Limited vegetables. No sugar (though, Monkfruit sweetener is your best pal here).

I committed to it in August. I lost 75 pounds by mid-December. I was off the diet for about 2 months and hovered consistently at a loss of 60-65 pounds (meaning I gained 10-15 back and kept it there). I started back on it after my work trip - but I fell off the wagon today, mostly because of this stupid chapter. I just can't crack it.

Anyway, just thought I'd update everyone.

*Chapter 8 in Tome 2 is, over-all, Chapter 37.

My work trip is concluded! As you can tell, I survived. It isn't that I don't like flying, it's how little control I have while in the air. Even when I'm a passenger in an automobile, I have a bit of anxiety. I know flying is statistically safer than driving - and I'm pretty sure that is a GREAT comfort to the people who die when a plane crashes. (Yes, I'm probably being a bit silly).

I'm working on 'Runesward - Tome 2: Callisto'. I didn't get as much time as I'd have liked during my trip but I did get some time. I've sent a few chapters off to my editors. One of them have shown I need to re-read the rules of ellipses. Evidently, you're supposed to have spaces surrounding the ellipses when they're used in the middle of a sentence and before the ellipses when you're ending the sentence with one. The grammar nazis are going to hate me - because I just used Word's 'Replace' functionality to replace every instance of '...' with ' ... ' - beginning, middle and ending - and re-posted the whole of 'Tome 1'. Not my finest hour but ... it's done and I'm not going back to re-correct everything. Word counted and I've used ellipses 525 times ... I'd like to spend my time writing in Tome 2 today. I may go back and fix it later, though.

Tome 2 is a little different than anything else I've ever attempted in that I've actually started a number of chapters AT THE SAME TIME. Instead of a partially finished story, I now have partially finished chapters. Sigh.

Runesward - Tome 1: Hasp is complete and in the books. It was a fun ride and I appreciate all of the time everyone took to write to me and comment on the story. Criticism and praise, I'm thankful for it all.

I'm working on Tome 2 - which is a much larger undertaking. New characters have to be introduced which means a bit more world building - and finding each character's particular voice. I've got to finish off some plotlines and start others. I think there's still plenty of meat on the bone.

I've marked Tome 1 as 'ended'; I don't know if that applies to 'Runesward' or just 'Tome 1' but I guess we'll see. Either way, it's ended until I can finish Tome 2. Wish me luck.

Runesward is entering the closing chapters of 'Tome 1: Hasp'. Although I didn't plan it this way, it's actually closing at the perfect time. Next week (Feb 10 through 17th), I'll be on the road for work so I wouldn't have been able to post anything anyway (or, at least, not as easily as I can from home).

This also means that my time this week will be limited as I try to clean things up for my week away. Being on the road plays havoc with work because I won't have the normal time to do my job. This means, in effect, that when I return on the 18th, I'll end up working twice as much just to catch up. (I do have teammates who will step in as necessary - but they're extremely busy, too, so inevitably we end up doing twice as much work when we return - it's not just me).

To that effect, I've spent today pre-processing the final 4 chapters for 'Runesward - Tome 1: Hasp' and have posted them to release on the normal schedule - one chapter each day. I actually agonized over this and considered just releasing them all on Monday - but the extra week or two will give me more time to work on 'Runesward - Tome 2: Callisto'. Unless I somehow manage to get A LOT done during my time on the road, it still won't be ready to post when I get back, but this is one less week of everyone not having something new from me in their browser (vanity, thy name is Kenn Ghannon).

So, if you e-mail me or comment on the story and I don't immediately respond, it is definitely NOT because I'm ignoring anyone. I'm just running far behind. As one of my favorite quotes says: 'I have been put on this earth to complete a specific number of things. Right now, I'm so far behind I will never die.' If only this were so (and, yes, I'm probably mis-quoting it).