Mark Gander: Blog

Well, internet was in and out, best way of putting it. I haven't forgotten about my other stuff, many of which I wish to resume and soon. Unfortunately, bad internet and ADHD, autism, current events, etc. can lead to many new crazy plot bunnies. Not to mention that I sometimes take older story ideas down paths that I avoided in the past. I went down one road before, and then I went back to take other one in the fork.

I particularly want to continue a lot of my inactive stories now that my brain has some fresh inspiration. I'll hope for the best results from that. I'd pray, too, but I'm not really a praying man these days. It's kind of hard to believe in a God who allows this present world to exist in its current form.

If God exists, he's something of a deadbeat dad.

This doesn't mean that I have forgotten my other stories, either under this pen name or my other ones (Severusmax, Col. Jack Harrison, and Fan Fiction Man). It simply means that it's my temporary focus, as I work on connecting the story arc of Adam Clarke and company with that of the Lawgiver, Mark Schumacher, and his own family and tribe in Haven.

I hope that this clears things up for the present. I won't be taking on any new story projects at the moment, due to this laser focus on this particular serial.

Thank you for your patience and readership.

I didn't have internet for much of the week, and didn't wish to work on stories where I couldn't access them to remember where I left off, so I went with my Muse and wrote a brand new story, High Priest of Baal.

This doesn't mean that I have forgotten or intend to abandon any of my older stories. My continuation of "That Cupid Masque" is a recent example of that. I have a lot more to write on that one, among others.

In any case, some good came of the internet outage, which was very odd as to its timing. It was Thanksgiving week, after all. Incidentally, Audrey is inspired by a real bank teller, but I won't say who, where, and when in my life.

Yes, yes, as you can see, my Muse awoke and I've been actively writing out some work, especially in the Bite Me! story.

While I'm not finished yet with this campy vampy story, there is light at the end of that tunnel and hopefully not an oncoming train. I fully intend to work on other languishing tales as I get inspired to catch up with them.

I might even reboot some old faves here or there as needed, but time will tell. I do have more story idea, but for now, I'm trying to post on my old ones first. I don't want to spread myself too thin.

Feedback is always encouraged, as long as it isn't ad hominem invective and is constructive. Thank you for your patience.

Also, I hope that your Memorial Day was well-observed. I'm loathe to say, "Happy Memorial Day," because to me, it's a sad and solemn holiday, not a joyous one. It is still one worthy of observance in any case.

I decided to move back the dates, so I resubmitted certain chapters, just so that it's plausible that babies are starting to be born. Otherwise, that's a bit of a long gestation.

My apologies about any confusion about the dates. Also, as you can see, I changed my original plans of separating the Clarke story into different stories, preferring to keep it in the same, longer serial instead. It's just a lot simpler and makes it easier to reference earlier information to keep the narrative consistent with itself.