Forwards Towards Words
It's been a busy few weeks! My next short story is beta ready, and I have submitted it to a writers' website for critique. I'm looking forward to the feedback, maybe some final edits, and finding a place to share that story.
I've been keeping up with the scrawls in the last two weeks too. There are three new scrawls available that are part of Into Namarhel - Part III, and three new scrawls that are part of Fragments.
Into Namarhel is now close to its conclusion, so spoiler warning! To read Into Namarhel from the beginning, start with No Way Back.
Into Namarhel - Part III
Fragments
Many a Thing
Last week I went on a lovely holiday to Andorra. We learned to ski, battled with gravity, met some great people, and ate a lot of good food. Unfortunately I let things fall behind a little here on the old weblog.
I've done some catching up this week. I've written two new parts for Into Namarhel: Act III, and have three other parts that I uploaded before I went on holiday, but never mentioned here in the blog. These are in order:
I've got four new scrawls that are part of the Fragments section as well. These are:
I'm still two scrawls behind, but these will follow soon!
Still Catching Up
Four new scrawls this week, continuing Into Namarhel - Act III. I'm two scrawls behind now.
- 1. Blood Ties
- 2. The Onset
- 3. The Splintered Crown
- 4. Absence
To read Into Namarhel from the beginning, start with No Way Back.
Catching Up
It's been a busy two weeks. Unfortunately the scrawls have fallen a bit behind, but I'm catching up. The last scrawl I posted was on Monday, February 21st. Today, I've added what should have been added on Wednesday the 23rd, and Friday the 25th.
- Monday (Feb 21) - Upon the Distant Horizon
- Wednesday (Feb 23) - A Difference of Opinion
- Friday (Feb 25) - What Lies in Dreams
The others will follow soon!
To read Into Namarhel from the beginning, start with No Way Back.
Into Namarhel - Act III
This weeks marks the beginning of the end! Into Namarhel - Act III is the last act of this particular series, and it's been a long time coming. Here are this week's updates:
- Monday - Heralds
- Wednesday - Places Once Been
- Friday - Frayed Around the Edges
To read Into Namarhel from the beginning, start with No Way Back.
Letters and Spaces
Three more scrawls for this week.
- Monday - Annotation 5
- Wednesday - Inheritance
- Friday - The Simulacrum
Next week, I think I might start up Into Namarhel - Act III, the final act.
A Few Fragments
Three new scrawls for this week:
- Monday - The Descent
- Wednesday - In a Quiet Room
- Friday - The Remnants
Statistics and Writing History
Today, I finally finished a short story I started writing what feels like 5 years ago. I was digging through my archives, trying to figure out exactly when I'd started it, but all I had was February 16, 2020, the day I finished my first rough draft.
Then, by chance, I found the Writing History feature of Scrivener. It showed me the exact day I started the story, and even my total writing days, and average words per day.
The short story, tentatively titled The Whispers, took a total of 88 writing days to find its complete form, with an average of 406 words written per writing day. That's 35,728 words written for a short story that's ended up around 5,100 words long. It also took a ridiculous 890 actual days to complete, from the first writing day, to the last. 2 years, 5 months, and 6 days.
Over two years of not writing the story. Sure, I did other things in that time, but I need to learn a little more self discipline going forward, for writing short stories. Thankfully, I think the scrawls have helped a lot with that, and I haven't gone more than 2 days without writing since August 9, 2021, apart for 1 week where I took a holiday abroad.
Let the writing adventure continue.
Stream of Consciousness
Before I start on Into Namarhel - Act III, I'll be writing and sharing other fragments. They are a bit aimless sometimes, simple stream of consciousness pieces, but I have a few new goals I've set for myself this year. One of them is to write twelve short stories. It's an ambitious goal, considering how long it typically takes me to write a single short story, but I like a challenge. In any case, here are this week's scrawls. Maybe I'll turn some of them into short stories.
- Monday - Within Reach
- Wednesday - The Sunken Stone
- Friday - River of Thought
The Curtain Falls
This week marks the end of Into Namarhel - Act II.
- Monday - In a Forest of Mountains
- Wednesday - Stilled
- Friday - The Whispers
To read Into Namarhel from the beginning, start with No Way Back.