Tag Archives: site news

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Things in the Works

So I have been rather quiet of late. It’s been hard sometimes even just to keep up with posting prompts, and I went through a rough patch writing wise.

I did manage my 50,000 words for NanoWrimo this past year. That story has, unfortunately, been shelved pending edits. It led me to a couple of others that are still in progress, though.

I’m cautiously optimistic about my progress on the sequel to Forgotten Legacy, currently titled In the Wreckage. Carson and Mackenna have a new car to work on, a new mystery, and have made a few new friends (Smith) and (Sennet) to help them with the mystery.

I’m going to post something with their new friends. They’re a fun addition to things, and I’m looking forward to when Carson’s brothers and these two interact.

I’ll also be trying again to catch up the lists for the prompts I’ve posted. I’m also hoping to get to where I’m posting a new serialized novel. I have one in mind. I just don’t know if it will be feasible. I’d also like to finish one of my album challenges. I’ll be looking at them again, too.

I have had a lot of health issues this past fall and winter. I’m still working my way back from that.

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Yet Another State of the Kabobbles

I keep meaning to update the website, and then I get bogged down by health issues and the other logistics of the updates I want to do falling through. I’ve been meaning to release something else as a serial for a while now, but I’m missing a few things for that.

I’ve gone through several attempts at fixing the cover for Whim to release it in paperback, but it hasn’t worked yet. It looks fine until it comes back from the printer. When it does… there’s always some annoying flaw that I can’t stand, mostly owing to the spine not getting aligned right no matter how much space we give it according to their guidelines.

It’s been an ordeal, and I think I actually threw the last copy of the book across the room I was so mad.

I haven’t touched it in months as I don’t know that there’s any way to make what I want and what the printer gives me align at all.

In the meantime, my migraines have taken a turn for the worse and now come accompanied by painful earaches. This is especially bad in the cold and means I can’t go outside or even sit around the house at times without having them covered, they’re just too sensitive.

So I am working on managing that as best I can, but the ear pain can be debilitating enough to keep me from leaving the house or moving out of bed even more so than the migraines were before. I don’t drive with them, and sometimes I just want to curl up in a ball and cry.

I have been working on writing when I can, but it’s been a few false starts and not much progress.

I’m still hoping to do a cover and get a serial running.

I’ve also been hard at work on a semi-self-improvement project… I’m trying to reshape the space I’m in to better help manage things, and I’ll probably talk more about that later.

I just figured it was about time for one of those “no, I’m not dead” messages, though if anyone’s been keeping up with the prompts I do on tumblr, they know I’m not. I just haven’t managed anything else lately, and for that, I apologize.

I will hopefully be up to more, especially if the weather gets nicer.

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Things in the Works

I suppose it’s too soon to tell, but along with coming home from vacation with a cold and a migraine, I did come back with a renewed dedication to getting some stuff in order for publishing more stories and fixing other files.

I mean, I’ve been saying for years there’s an updated look for the site we were going to do.

We’ve changed at least two covers that need to be fixed, and at least one other is in progress.

Today some progress was made, and if things go well, there will be another book in print officially, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself in saying stuff.

Also, I am hoping or maybe just debating starting up a new serial.

And if the migraine ever lets up, maybe I can get back to the Kabobbles Sing Along Album Challenge.

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The Goal Here Is Writing

And admittedly, that’s been difficult of late. There’s a lot of stress, a lot of sickness, and considerable setbacks in the form of a disastrous Nano (yes, there is 50,000 words. No, they are not good) and some other hiccups that aren’t really things I want to discuss.

I have things I need to work on as a person, but as a writer, I’ve decided to try something… simpler. I have frequently bemoaned not knowing what to do, needing someone else to prompt me (and getting silence) and not knowing what else to do to get writing again.

Well, through some trial and error that was actually somewhat painful, I have almost made tumblr workable as a way to get constant daily prompts. I found quite a few people who have blogs with prompts, and there are a lot of them that are fascinating (others are quite scary) and it’s my hope to start posting little prompted bits to Kabobble’s Choice like I used to.

Today the sum total of my accomplishments was to fill out some OTP questionaires about a story I’m not sure I’m writing, so I didn’t get much done, but right now I have a plan. I was thinking about posting the questionaire and answering it for various stories, but that seemed a little silly, but I still might someday. Some of them I think are kind of fun and might interest some people, or maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

And, of course, I am open to people passing along any prompts they might have or suggestions for questionaires and pairings to see for them. Or just stories or worlds people want me to talk about. I love talking stories.

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It’s Nano Time

We haven’t done Nano in a while. For years there, it was our staple, and we did Camp Wrimo in April, too, but that has been some time as well.

With all the struggles we have had in getting things going again, it seemed like a good time to try it again.

For anyone unfamiliar with what Nano is, it is the National Novel Writing Month. Your goal is to write 50,000 words of a novel in a month. I did it from 2009 to 2012, and I did succeed each time. The second nano I did became Just a Whim. A few other novels not yet released are also nano projects.

This time I plan on doing what I did with the last nano, posting each day’s progress (or nearest complete scene) as I go along.

I admit, I have a bit of a wacky mashup in mind this time, but I enjoyed its inspiration so much I hope it will go well in this version.

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Current State of the Kabobble

Where are we at?

Honestly, we’re not sure we know.

Back home now from vacation, working to take steps to increase production and distribution of the books. We have another one off in the proofing process, and more waiting in the wings, though that will take time.

For people who have been looking for a print version of past releases, it should be exciting to note that those are among the priority projects we’re working on these days (one of them is the proof I mentioned before) and they will be available as soon as they’re ready.

Some need more work than others, including some cover revisions, which are either started, completed, or yet to be agreed upon, but we are working toward fixing them all.

Other things that we want to do, as I may have mentioned before, include improving the website with a whole new look, the release of serials in both formats, updates to some current epubs, and new serial publication. Things are still settling down after the trip, so time will be needed, but progress is being made and we are doing all we can to get things back on track after the long absence.

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And We’re Back

We cannot deny that we have been absent, nor can we say that it was always with good reason. Many things factored into a silence from us that has only now been able to be broken.

It is our hope that things will be more stable in the future and no long absences will occur again, but due to the unforeseen nature of life, we make no guarantees.

Still, now that we are back, things are in the works. One book has gotten to a printed proof, and once the formatting is perfected on it, it will be released both in print and as an ebook. This story was a serial on the site, though it now has an updated cover and a new title.

Past visitors may recall seeing us giving updates about the site being in testing and a new design. That is still coming, though it was delayed, and hopefully we will have that soon.

Also, we do plan on returning to posting serial fiction again. The last few slated serials were incomplete at the time of posting, and that did create some problems, leading to one never materializing and another being pulled. The next serial should be a completed work, but it’s not quite ready to go up yet.

The Facebook page has been resurrected again, and it should stay up this time, though with Facebook, it’s hard to be sure as they threatened to pull it due to activity mere hours after we posted to say it was back online.

Things are in the works, and while we do not have confirmed release dates yet, there will be new things to enjoy soon. Thank you for your patience, and we hope you enjoy your reading.

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Writing Is Grieving

Writing has long been my preferred coping mechanism. People who wonder at my output shouldn’t necessarily do so. I have a long standing habit of using writing to cope with life or escape it, and while I’m told it’s not really normal to write when one is grieving, that it should be impossible, I’m not that way.

I’ve been writing. I need to try and write again. I won’t speak to the quality of it, and I’m not sure I’d share it, yet I find myself needing to do something to that effect. That is… I’ve lost my way again, and I don’t know how to keep the writing going.

Arthur is gone. That hurts so much I swear I would just shut down and cease to function myself (he was my symbiote, my other half, I am NOT okay with him gone) and the only way I know of coping with this sort of emotional duress is writing.

I may need help with that, though. My ideal thing would be to send fic bits to someone and have them tell me what they thought, but even just having some direction would be okay. Prompts, suggestions, stories someone wants to see more of, anything. Make me finish a challenge or do a bingo card. Something. Maybe I can do it for someone else because doing it just for myself isn’t working.

Arthur would be here, now, snuggling next to me and trying to block my keyboard, trying to make me feel better. He’s not here. I need something else, something that helps fill the gaping hole where he was… or just something to make me forget it’s there for a few minutes.

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On Updates and Prompts

So there has been a lot of silence around here and none of the promised things have appeared. I don’t think I can really go into detail about most of that, but I will give a short explanation. We’ve been dealing with some legal issues that mean a temporary suspension of publishing and posting.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I can put new fic up right now. I want to, desperately, but circumstances are preventing that just now.

I will try and do something for the more neutral sides of the website, but no promises there.

If you would like to see more fic, I would love to share it or even just talk about it with someone, though that would have to take place off-site. Let me know, and I will try and get fic to you. Email is my preferred method, but I’d try other ways if someone was interested.

Also, if anyone would like to pass along prompts, I’d be willing to give them a shot. I’d have to send the responses through email most likely, but I welcome the opportunity to write and share that with anyone willing to read it.

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Upcoming Things Again

I know I keep saying that there is a new serial coming.

I’m not lying. There is one. I’m just trying to avoid the problems that plagued the last one, and so I’m taking a few steps to keep that from happening. The serial cover has been finished, I’m going back and forth about the title, and I’m halfway through what should be the first chapter. That means I’ll have some updates ready in the wings when I get started posting it.

Also, I’ve decided to enact the first of what I hope may be many Kabobbles Sing Along Album Challenges.

I will be explaining what that means soon, but as I was having a technical issue with the site, this is also a test post to make sure everything is working again. I need to get this looking right, so apologies for any duplicate posts.