Part Time Grue

Even though I do most of my reading on a phone these days - it's just always with me - I still adore and get some good use from this old Kobo Aura.  I probably don't use it in the manner Rakuten intended. The only way I read on this device is DRM free EPUBs loaded on the micro-SD card. The books are never synced online. My first exposure to mobile e-reading was on a Palm IIIe in 2000-2001. I distinctly remember having a copy of both The Art of War and a very poetic translation of the Dao De Jing. My recollection is they were PRC files loaded direct to the device using the old Palm Desktop software.  Since then, I've moved through a Sony Palm OS PDA, a Windows CE PDA, three Android phones, an Aluratek Libre e-reader, an iPad, and now an iPhone.  It seems obscene when I write that down. Four PDA/tablets, four phones, and two dedicated e-readers. Two of the Android phones are dead, one under warranty. The first and last were repurposed for side loaded indy games.  The i...

I wrote a huge post about the pandemic, socio-economic forces, and privilege but seriously, it's not worth your time or mine. More articulate people say it better. Instead, I should be writing the freaking book. Mostly editing lately although there are thorny plot issues that have to be resolved. So today, word counts only. Hedge Wizard 1: 122,882 Hedge Wizard 2: 74,793 Hedge Wizard 3: 31,575 Hedge Wizard 4/Crowbait 1: 63,886     + Nehleineh's Skein 2,662 Hedge Wizard 5/Crowbait 2: 35,539 Hedge Wizard 6/Crowbait 3: 65,848

The first draft of Hedge Wizard volume 1 sits at 101,759 words. I think about 2/3 of that is salvageable.

Current word counts for projects underway. Hedge Wizard 1 (2,065 words) This isn't an origin story. That would have to begin with Daefydt den Wroekuden's childhood.  And even then the circumstances go back generations through the foundations of the Concordat, the reign of the sorcerer-priest god-kings and the long, slow fall of the Last Imperium.  This is just the couple of years prior to Daefydt entering service with the Obsidian Citadel. Hedge Wizard 2 (58,379 words) Daefydt's first year or so in service to the Obsidian Citadel. Includes the expanded and revised version of the novella appearing in the It's A Living anthology plus one of the other novellas I wrote for the anthology but abandoned. Shadow Of The Chimera (31,575 words) This was the first novella begun for the anthology and takes place immediately before Slighted Tower 1 and a few years after Hedge Wizard 2. Nehleineh's Skein (1,860 words) A sudden idea I had a couple weeks ago about what Daefydt...