Jan
27
27
Time for a minor update on latest goings on. The past few weeks have been a bit more than a little intense as I prepare for the upcoming application season. I say season because there are a decent list of schools including Simon Fraser University, Brookes University, and Drexel University. These various schools offer a variety of programs. My target degrees include an MFA in Publishing, in Creative Writing, and I believe online media. It has been seriously daunting. This is more than simply sitting on a computer, it is a major step in my future as a writer.
Let’s just say that it was a bit scary. I mean for years I’ve always wondered if my work was -good enough-. I mean this is kind of the thing that most artists face, right? Is our work good enough? Are we attracting the audience? Does that even matter? Why am I even asking myself these questions? So, all that aside, I believe the focus here is why did I start doing this in the first place.
I did it well because there is fun in seeing people enjoying your work. When I ran Ashenfold Cartel and saw people debating the fanon I had developed it was fantastic. To gain that level of interest means that all the thought I put in something that draws interest. The truth is though in a lot of ways I’ve been too hard on myself long enough, even after hearing people tell me in utter surprise many times.
So it was not at all strange that I was completely in a funk last week. Luckily I have seriously supportive friends, family, and even neighbors. Simply having an old schoolmate from back in Elementary asking to read a book was part of the last bit that is helping this all settle in. It was all too real, but I finally have a chance to take a silly hobby I’ve done for years, and make something of it.
Onto the updates!
Work on Walk Between Shadows will be picking up once the first round applications are completed this week. This means that hopefully by the end of this coming month the the serial will be ready for release. Much of the work left is related to cleaning up typos, grammar, misspellings, and storyline inconsistencies. So far initial reads by family, and close friends seem to say the novel is fast paced, and interesting. Which was kind of the aim behind the singular PoV in the book (that being the name character, Nyla Clarkson).
Meanwhile work on Arrow Child for now has sadly slowed as I am finding it difficult to find a copyeditor. The other issue will be paying for an actual cover. Money right now is not the most available, and so I am having to put certain thigns on hold till I can raise the funds. I am hoping in the next few months to raise said funds via my Patreon crowdfunding campaign (which I will be launching hopefully next month).
Work on new content however is -not- stopping, and this especially includes Land in the Stars. Possibly my biggest project to date, LiTS, will be slowly growing over time to reach its final focused release in a year or two. The entirety of this work is to establish not only an play-by-post game, but the format for a future RPG. That and the franchise in general is huge! Its the biggest one I have planned -currently-. Entire novels could be written that cover just parcels of the actions that exist in the Land in the Stars! In a way its just part of the magnum opus that is my Oak Cross meta-project.