INtrinSicliValud: Blog

Short and sweet this week. Got lotsa editing and hopefully mo’ bettah’ scribbling to do. What a hobby! The muses will not leave me alone.

I submitted Chapter 7 for posting this morning. Things continue to heat up between them as Jim and Mandy explore what is driving them closer. I know ya’ll are sick of hearing this, but I do love them both. Just like all my characters. And they are on an exceedingly long and winding path. Oh, and over-the-top as well, because I love that too. Sorry, not sorry. Ha, ha.

Elsewhere, the latest editing yard release is chugging along. After a fresh-eyed read, I ended up rounding out a bit character. So it has needed a bit o’ tweaking. Not to worry. I am hopeful you should start seeing its eight or so chapters appear weekly beginning next month. It’s a romance, but one of mine, so there will be…complications. Yeh, complications. Uh, huh.

I am on schedule and submitted Chapter 11 of “Aiden and the Ring,” wherein our young hero is still uncovering its powers and limitations, as well as his own. Chapter 12 looks good so far and will slip into final edits later today. However, Chapter 13 ended up getting split as it needed a lot more prose to work well.

Meanwhile, I am pushing forward on what started as a private “short” story for a follower that has turned into an epic saga. Have I said how much I love my characters…. With the client’s permission, that tale may see the light of day at some point, but it is still far from finished. And I am already nervous about the lack of ending to “The Immortal,” even though it has a bazillion already-scribbled chapters yet for you to read before we even get close to a conclusion.

Speaking of which, I am polishing the next installments of “The Immortal.” And when I say polishing, I actually mean more than doubling the size of the chapters since there is so much more detail and backstory to add as well as using mo’ betta wirdz. Fun, immense fun, but time-consuming and brain-twisting.

Finally, coming out of the rough draft deep-freezer and heading for the editing yards, I have four more complete tales. Since they are shorter than Aiden or Jim, my plan is to get ‘em scrubbed and release them a chapter per week as they come out of the yards. We shall see. The fates are as fickle as the muses.

This morning I submitted chapter 6 of “The Immortal” for posting. As Jim enjoys his newfound renewal, it’s his turn to discover how much Mandy likes to play. Oh, and vampires.

Which is key to this week’s blog post. Much of the prose in this chapter was added to provide readers a window into what I already understood. When I wrote this story just for my own consumption, such data existed only as mere sketches in a reference document.

Why is that important? I am, in essence, adding an external plot and conflict into this tale “on the fly.” Which requires building an outline so I know when/where/how to add appropriate underpinnings. At the same time, I must enhance my character development structures to ensure they are all tracking this newly added information, since it is now in much greater detail. It’s sort of like shoving a skeleton into an existing body.

So, we all should go from a fantastical MFFFFFFF+ harem piece with a hint of paranormality to one with a bit more depth and background. A bit. Not a massive opus on Jim’s background and revelations of his creation. At least I haven’t uncovered it myself just yet, so perhaps in the future. Also, be aware that even doing this “bit” requires quite a bit of weaving and adjusting of the existing prose.

All of which brings me to the critical part. Jim’s tale is one of many I am working, including a number of recent, and hence better written, ones that deserve to shine. And that takes time, of which there is a finite amount.

As such, I am removing my self-imposed requirement to post every Thursday from this day forward.

Now, hold on! Before you all unfollow and raise interwebz pitchforks, hear me out. Relieving me of the weekly requirement will enable me to uphold my promise to post only completed works, since I will have time to finish them. Furthermore, it will enable me to launch several stories that only require editing since I can focus on them without the pressure to produce every single Thursday. So, if this works the way I intend, you will see both greater and more-varied content, but at less stringently scheduled intervals.

As always, I value your feedback and we shall see how this works. It’s a journey.

Stay safe (have a designated driver) and let’s all party our way (6-feet apart and with masks) into hopefully a much better year.

I have submitted Chapter 10 of “Aiden and the Ring” for posting. As Aiden uncovers more of the ring’s capabilities and limitations, he begins to push back. Fun times ahead for all, except perhaps Gina. Stay tuned.

As a rookie writer, this has been an amazing ride. In sixteen weeks of contributing to the delinquency of all of us, I have posted over 1MB of prose. If I were to guess, there remains c.10MB in the wings, heading your way. Over the past several months, I have been organizing the back end processes to handle updating/editing/tracking of existing material. As well as, oh, you know actually scribing to generate new content. Digital spreadsheets and folders galore around here in the Writer’s Hut.

All of which means, since I have reached a comfortable tempo, when I return from holiday, I will update you with the results of my latest assessment and projected way forward.

As a reminder:

The next story post, Chapter 6 of “The Immortal,” will be on 13 January 2022.

Or Happy Holidays. In any event, stay warm and stay safe. All the very best, from my addled mind to yours.

Forgive me for submitting five entries into this year’s BSFSF Event that should go live on 25 December. What are they? Short…like 260 word-short stroke stories. 18 lines, including title, of no more than 70 characters. Get you hot and bothered? Dunno if it’s possible, but, hey, I tried my best. And it is all in good fun. Having to use tags spoiled the surprises, but they were incredibly challenging to write.

You should see Chapter 5 of “The Immortal” today as things really heat up. FYI, I am reading ahead into the mounds of upcoming chapters to pull more key data and front-load it a bit more. While I understood it when I wrote it for myself, you would be lost, so it’s taking some additional time to edit.

Chapter 10 of “Aiden and the Ring” is in final review and will go up next Thursday.

There will be NO post on 6 January 2022 as I will be away all week.

On the back-end of things, I have updated my profile with my brand spanking new, bare-bones Facebook page. It’s there as an alternate way of contacting me as well as…. Well, truthfully I have no idea. Drop me a line or message me if you have any suggestions on what you’d like to see hung on it.

Finally, based on some readers expressing a desire to support my work, I set up a Ko-Fi page. And then I took it down. At this point I’d rather not accept money for my work. I am fortunate enough not to need the income. I’d much prefer you use your hard-earned money to support a charity or provide for others in need. I write to share the enjoyment of my beloved characters with you. That won’t stop…because the muses won’t let me stop. Let me out! I’m blinking twice, here…. Not safe. 😊