REP: Blog

When you step into it like I did in Chapter 2 of The Footlocker, you have to fix it. I was so busy focusing on the story's timeline that I forgot the timeline of the computer industry did not match what I had written.

In my timeline, Hans invested in software companies before his death in 1967. However the software industry did not start until after his death. I considered changing the timeline but that would created major problems. So I found an alternative approach.

For those of you who have read Chapter 2, I have posted my updated chapter. I changed two paragraphs to have Elsa make the investments in software companies after Hans' death. Everything remains essentially the same except for a minor edit that another reader pointed out to me.

I want to thank everyone that pointed out my mistake so it could be corrected.

Some good and bad news.

The bad news is, I've had a bout of writer's block and it has delayed progress on Opening Earth 3.

The good news is, I overcame the block by working on The Footlocker, and I finished that story. I just finished submitting the Introduction and Chapter 1 of the story for posting, so it should be available in a couple of hours. If your find any grammatical errors in the story, please notify me so I can correct them.

REP

Good day to all. Some good news and some bad news; I let you figure out which is which.

My production rate has dropped over the past year due to several personal reasons. I haven't quit writing, and I have several serial stories my readers want me to continue. My current sequence for developing the next parts of the stories is indicated below:

1. Opening Earth 3 - in-progress, maybe 70% complete. Not sure where I want to interrupt Doug's saga, but hope to post by the end of the year. There will likely be a part 4.

2. Time Scope 3 - After OE3. Development time is probably 8-12 months at my current rate of writing.

3. Sauce for the Gander 2 - After TS3. Development time is probably 8-12 months at my current rate of writing. The rest of Carl's story may be relatively short, 4-6 chapters, but hopefully interesting.

I estimate the above at close to 3 years of writing. However, I may work on the following if I need a break:

A. The Ark 3 - This is a maybe and primarily depends on my determining how to continue the story in an interesting way. If I write TA3 it will be after Sauce 2.

B. Chocolateen-Ancient Abilities - These are 4 stories with overlapping characters. I am thinking of merging the 4 stories into a single story, and deleting the standalone stories. If I merge the stories, I will integrate the scenes in an appropriate order. I will also add new content. I will probably intermingle the development of the new story in parallel with completing 1-3 above, when I need a break from development of 1-3.

C. I also have a couple of new stories that seem to be close to completion. Depending on circumstances, I may complete and post those stories (i.e., Caveman Courtship, The Footlocker, and The Pink Monkey Chronicles). I have no idea when I will work on these stories, but I may do so between 1-3 above.

I will turn 73 later this year and over the past year, I have noticed a decline in my health. Please be warned that if that decline continues, I may not be able to complete the above. We will just have to wait and see.

In my earlier post, I said Sam's Hopping had 6 chapters. It actually has 7 chapters. Chapter 6 posted today, and next Tuesday's post will be the final chapter.

Opening Earth 3 is about 240 pages of draft scenes. About a third of those pages need to be reworked. Hopefully it will be ready for a fall posting.

Earlier this month I updated several chapters of The Ark Part 2. Today, one of my readers let me know that there was a directory at the end of Chapter 17. When I checked, I found that somehow I have pasted part of a Master file over about a page of the chapter.

I replaced the deleted text and the chapter looks okay now. If you read the corrupted chapter, you may want to reread that part of Chapter 17.