I have several works in progress, Aztlán Portal, Darkness Falls, and American Soldier, and a few other less developed projects, that I fiddle with when I have writer's block with my other stories.
I really appreciate the Feedback and Constructive Criticisms I have received for what I have posted here. While I had a significant amount of the first parts of the story written, and had some assistance from an editor; my corrections were self edited.
I was quite confident, however, Sharp-Eyed Readers quickly disabused me of That! Through the Feedback and Constructive Criticism, I believe I have improved as a Writer. My stories certainly have.
One of the consequences of that is that I have spent less time writing new chapters, and more time re-writing what I have posted already, and chapter I had thought were ready to be posted. I had expected to be posting new chapters of Darkness Falls by last week. Then I got some emails listing errors in previous chapters, combined with things I have learned from Aztlán Portal.
American Soldier: From Utah to Bavaria has suffered most with a second significant re-write. Upon reflection, it was necessary to make a better story.
I was a History Major at the University, and read extensively. I also have an interest in languages, and like to incorporate foreign languages, dialects, and regional inflections into my stories. (I have been told by some, Too Much). While I still likely do it more than some would like, I have tried to tone it down, to provide some "flavor" without overwhelming the stories.
Most of my stories are primarily about War, and other conflicts. I also try to provide some context to the stories by including other events that occurred historically, and events and situations that influence the characters.
One reason I went back and re-edited all of my previously posted chapters is I had a computer crash a couple of months ago. I had (mostly) current backups of what I was writing. However, I lost the plethora of foreign languages I had loaded on my previous laptop. I now have French, German, Latin, and Spanish loaded, and have gone back to replace accent marks/inflections (several emails questioned why some chapters had them, and others did not).
I have also been busy assisting some friends. Two who also post on here. One of them is currently in an "Assisted Living" Facility, and going Nuts without his laptop, and lack of internet access. I dropped off a box of books several months ago, and provide a smaller number of books every few weeks. I am not allowed to see him, or even enter the facility. I drop off the books, and some other care packages where some other deliveries are made. He has to call using a landline!
Another friend had an accident on the 4th of July, Not fireworks related, and that also effected my schedule and writing time.
Aztlán Portal will remain my Priority; with a new chapter each week. Darkness Falls has had significant editing, and I should be posting a new chapter soon (trying for one every other week). American Soldier is on the back burner, until I am comfortable with my 2 main stories.
Thank you again for the Feedback and Constructive Criticisms.