Vanquished: Blog

Hi, everyone,

First off, I'm sorry. Over the last year or two it's been really hard for me to write my unfinished stories. I don't exactly know why, but it's a fact, and I feel bad about the readers who are disappointed by it. I'm still trying, I promise.

I not only had trouble writing those, but found it hard to start anything new as well. So I decided to go with a weird, unusual premise for me. My new story, Feet in the mind, is nothing special: no complicated plot, no character backstories, no especially deep or penetrating psychological insights... It's just a silly premise, what if feet were telepathic, making its own way with two simple characters.

Maybe that's the reason why I found so much easier to write it.

I'd like to think this is my writing urge coming back, but honestly, I don't know. I hope I can do better.

And if you enjoy Feet in the mind (it is still in the posting queue right now) that's at least something.

Hi everyone,

So sorry about... well... everything.

I could give you a bunch of explanations and excuses, but the fact is, it has taken me unreasonably long to continue my stories, and I really am sorry about that.

That said, I'm glad to announce I have just put chapter 21 of Two Diaries in the posting queue.

Hopefully, you like it.

Regards, and keep safe.

Hi, everyone,

I've a few messages asking me about progress, especially on Two Diaries. I may as well post here so everyone knows what's happening.

I was on holidays for quite a while, from the 30th of July until the 22nd of August. During that time I was engaged in practical, um, research, yeah, that's how you call it... So, yeah, I couldn't write while doing naughty things.

Later on I took a few more days off to meet with relatives.

So I haven't had the chance to write in quite a while now. I very much hope this situation will change. I am back home and will be trying to complete the next chapter of Diaries, but it will still take me a while to get back to things.

I'm sorry I've left the story without updates for such a long time. I myself miss finding out what Fiona and her little Mandy are getting up to, especially now that things are getting rather heated.

Thank you for your trust and patience, and I hope I won't have to call upon it for much longer.

Hi, everyone,

This week my story Two Diaries got its 10000 read. It may be a pretty arbitrary threshold, but I'm still happy about it. I started posting this in January, so it's about 2500 hits per month, though of course the audience has been growing and isn't exactly linear.

I want to thank everyone who sent me comments or feedback. It's been helpful and very encouraging. Even--or perhaps especially--when it's critical. There are things I've realised about my characters because readers pointed them out.

My hope is that I'll be able to continue posting weekly, but I'm not sure. I'm still working on chapter 18 today and I don't know if I'll finish it in time. I may have to go to a fortnightly schedule for a bit. This is a tricky part of the story and not as closely plotted as some of what came before or will happen in the future, and it takes me longer to get it written to a standard I'm happy with.

Anyway, I hope people are having fun with our domineering Fiona, and her adorable little Mandy. I sure am.

I've been posting very regularly. Every week something has come out, sometimes several things. Particularly, Two Diaries, which is the longest thing I've ever written, and is 134k words long so far without the interlude.

I should be posting chapter 17 tomorrow evening. I have a little more than 24 hours to finish it.

I'm not convinced I will.

So far, I have 2000 words written. There are at least 6k more left. And I am finding it unusually difficult to get them down.

I haven't lost enthusiasm for the story, sense of direction, or anything like that. I am simply... tired.

So, with apologies to anyone who was hoping for that, I'm afraid I may well not be able to make this week's deadline. I'm going to try, but it is going to be very difficult.

I don't want to post a chapter that is half-written. If I can't make it this time... sorry. I will try to do better. Fiona looks at me with a disappointed face, but Amanda understands.

Sometimes, all you can do is all you can do.

Big thanks to all the readers who've been enjoying Diaries, and most especially to those who've commented or contacted me about it. I'll try not to leave you without a chapter for long.

--V