How long?

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Believe it or not, I’ve been blogging for a little over 13 years. This post you are reading will be my 1,404th post! Can you believe it? Still, I’ve begun to wonder if I should thin out or delete some posts. Especially those older ones.

In the early years, I was writing mostly about dragons of myth and legend from around the world, with little jokes and such thrown in. After about 7 years of that, I felt like I was wearing out the topic. So I switched over to general news about my writing projects and related activities. During this time I’ve never been concerned about monetizing the blog. Building community and making a few sales, sure. In fact, I even published a collection called Wyrmflight. The e-book is still available, if any of this is intriguing to you. But I wouldn’t lose any income by deleting those earlier posts.

For myself, I know that I judge online sources based on how old they are. Information that’s more than two years old seems questionable to me. Even though some of my posts are evergreen, and continually get hits, I do wonder about the relevance of many posts from 10 or more years ago.

Is anyone aware of a standard practice as far as how long blog posts should stay up? I would love to hear your insights.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Always

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A foggy sunrise over a peaceful sea. Text reads, "Nothing is always one way or another. Always is an illusion. It is a lie the powerful tell -- to themselves and to the world. It saves them from admitting that their way has not always been, and that one day their cruelty will have an answer. Deby Fredericks, Dancer in the Grove of Ghosts"

This is a passage from Dancer in the Grove of Ghosts, the second novella in my Minstrels of Skaythe series. I’ve found myself reflecting on these words in the context of current affairs.

“It has always been this way” is the lie our leaders attempt to tell us. They don’t want us to resist the many harmful changes that are being forced upon us. They want us to give up in despair and accept their domination. Whether they base this claim on biology or the Bible, it is still a lie.

From the outset, our nation has been changing. We have incorporated many, though often by ugly means. Those who live in the United States have always fought for our rights. Even those who weren’t directly affected have witnessed the cruelty of our supposed leaders. We have stood up with compassion and courage for the rights of others. First for blacks and later for women, later still for other minority groups and for gays and lesbians.

The overwhelming majority of Americans are willing and able to coexist peacefully with all our fellow citizens. We don’t want to go backward into a mythical “wild west” where might made right. We want to keep changing and growing.

Because you know what they say: if you aren’t growing, you are dying. And I do not want our nation to die.

If what I’m saying here resonates with you, I hope you’ll take a look at Dancer in the Grove of Ghosts and even the whole Minstrels of Skaythe series.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Woman at Work, March 2025

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What’s Happening? Last week, eight of my fourteen special-ed students received awards, either for academic growth or improved effort. It might not sound like much, but it really made me feel I’m making a difference for the kids.

What I’m Working On. The fourth draft of The Agency. The word count was up to 18,500 before I began. It’s going well.

What’s Next? One more editing pass on Cleodora, Book 2: Willow Lake. As soon as I finish with The Agency, I need to start the publishing process for real.

Where I’ll be. Nothing’s planned right now, except for keeping my butt in the chair.

Fun and Games. I’m doing another run of Dragon Age: Veilguard and keeping up on things in my Animal Crossing village. My current reads are my brother’s poetry book, Brute Entropy, a graphic novel anthology I supported on Kickstarter called Sidequests, and Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny.

The days are getting longer, and I’m looking forward to spring.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Writing in Dark Times

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The RadCon SF convention went very well for me. I brought two tubs of books for my table and came home with one. But the “Writing in Dark Times” panel was the best part of the weekend.

I had expected two others to join me on the panel, but I ended up going it alone. It snowed all day Friday, and I suspect the other writers couldn’t make it over the mountain passes. So I ended up inviting the audience to share their thoughts and ideas. That’s part of what made the panel such a success.

First, I explained that when I suggested the panel in September, I was thinking more of “AI” and book bannings and how the largest publishers seem focused on shareholder profits much more than any literary merits. But then the election happened.

We talked about how we are feeling now that Project 2025 is being imposed on us. Not only the ill-advised mass firings, but nationwide censorship of disfavored terms like DEI and attempted erasure of trans citizens from reality.

Talk moved on to protecting ourselves from the potential of threats, harassment and legal actions for our writing and art. We talked about using pseudonyms and removing direct contact information from our online presence. Not only to make it more difficult for trolls to find us, but to allow us space to review comments at our own pace.

We talked about activist burnout, and how important it is to pace ourselves. Project 2025’s aim is to overwhelm us so that we can’t respond. And anyway, nobody can do everything at once. We have to choose the issues to focus on. One small action a day is better than having massive tantrums that embarrass us later.

All through this, the audience had a chance to talk about their particular craft or art. We discussed how, sadly, there may be people around us who dismiss our art and try to make us stop creating. They might be overtly Republican supporters, or they might just consider the arts something childish to be put aside in favor of “real work.” I emphasized how our arts make us complete human beings. We can’t let anyone else stop us from finding peace and relaxation even at these times.

The last part, I invited the audience to share if they have any plans to write or craft something in response to the crashing of our democracy. Almost everyone did, in some way. (Also there was a large fighting demo right outside that kept interrupting us with their cheering, and I said, “They agree with us!”)

That was Saturday afternoon. All through the rest of the event, people kept coming to my book table and saying how inspired they were by that panel. Some new poems, letters to the editor, and even costumes might come of it.

Like I said, “Writing in Dark Times” was the best part of the weekend.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Teaser: Acorn Canyon

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I’m traveling to a convention this weekend, but I can’t leave you empty-handed. (Empty blogged?) So here’s a teaser from my most recent release, Acorn Canyon (Cleodora Book 1)

A young girl in blue and green robes holds a staff with a glowing orb on the top. Beside her is a spirit beast like a bobcat, with a green mane. Oak trees surround them. Text reads "A spirited girl. Cleodora book 1, Acorn Canyon. Cozy fantasy. Girl power. Nature spirits. Mysterious magic. Found family.

There was a presence. Sharp, with harsh angles. Cleodora whispered a warning. “Mother, something’s here.”
With sly humor Navaire replied, “A lot of things are here.”
Why would adults never believe her? Irritated, Cleodora looked around. She scanned the canyon side and up into the huge oak trees. Her gaze swept through the thick foliage, where so many leaves overlapped. The sense of warning didn’t fade.
She tilted her head to search higher. There! In the branches that swept down directly over them, she saw… What was it? Another kind of spirit, not at all transparent. It looked a bit like a bobcat, but with six legs ending in big paws and two tails that were longer than they should be. But something was wrong with it. The fur was streaked with pale gray instead of a spirit’s rosy hues, and it was all straggly and crumpled. And the eyes… Two of them were jet black, while the center one was reddish and swollen. Cleodora felt cold under its lightless gaze. Tufted ears tilted back, and the spirit showed needle-like fangs in a nasty hiss.
Without thinking, she reached over to grip Navaire’s arm. Her voice trembled. “What kind of spirit is that?”

Interested? Acorn Canyon is available in ebook or paperback through Books2Read.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Psychotic Delusion

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No, not the Republican administration!

This is something I’m coming across recently that puzzles and annoys me. As a reader, I’m presented with a character and story, but in a late plot twist, it is revealed that the character is actually experiencing a psychotic break with reality. It goes beyond the “unreliable narrator” some authors like to use.

Example 1: In the video game Veilguard (Dragon Age 4), your character is second-in-command to a beloved character from the previous games. Early on, that character gets stabbed in the chest. Your character is also kayoed, and you wake up in the infirmary with the other character in the bed next to yours. Your character is quickly up and about, and you proceed through the plot, frequently checking in with your chief. But near the end, it turns out that character has been dead the whole time. Your character has been hallucinating those conversations.

Example 2: In the video game Dredge, you are a fisherman working for a mysterious collector who has you fetching arcane artifacts from around the map. You also uncover clues to why there are eldritch monsters and mutant fish infesting the region. But in the end, it turns out the collector… is you! With a delusion of some kind, you have “forgotten” what you did in the past.

Both my examples are video games, rather than other storytelling forms. Maybe this is a fashion in video games? Whatever, it really burns my biscuits. The game writers had to engage in a lot of deception to hide this information from the player. For example, in Veilguard, the other characters should have been talking about memorials, informing the fallen hero’s family, and other evidence of grief. Ignoring that cheapened the characters for me. Maybe the writers think the shock of the revelation makes the deception worth while, but for me as a player, I lost confidence in the writers.

So this technique of deluding characters would be something I don’t recommend my fellow writers to do.

Woman at Work, February 2025

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What’s Happening? I’m in the thick of it, preparing for RadCon (see below) and my next publication. It’s a good way to stay busy.

What I’m Working On. The third draft of The Agency is well under way. I’ve currently revised up to 4000 words of a projected 15,000. Smooth going so far.

What’s Next? I’ve approved the cover image for Cleodora, Book 1: Willow Lake. As soon as the artist delivers the image, I can start on layouts. Probably not until after RadCon, though.

Where I’ll be. Speaking of RadCon, it’s in two weeks. I’m making a list and checking it twice of all the things I need for my artist alley table. I’m also keeping an eye on their schedule. They accepted some of my panel ideas and I look forward to speaking on those topics.

Fun and Games. Right now I’m playing a game called Dredge, where I’m a fisherman in a New England village. There’s some atmospheric horror as I start fishing up weirder and weirder things. So far I’ve enjoyed it.

Watching the news every day is giving me lots of ideas for The Agency. Maybe that’s all I’ll say about it this time.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Third Draft

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I’ve started on it! And immediately had to stop because my main character was having a panic attack.

Although I usually tell my stories straight, I was considering having a more flippant, sarcastic tone for The Agency. Government agencies always seem to have some level of absurdity in their workings. Perhaps being sarcastic about it would soften the harsher edges of the situation.

As fun as that would be, the character’s panic attack is telling me that I can go deeper emotionally. That’s something I love to see.

When I start out writing a story, the most obvious character motives and plot twists are the ones that pop up first. That’s fine for a beginning, but a really great story can’t be so obvious. It’s the element of surprise that makes the story shine. With successive drafts, I can explore alternatives. Those different takes and extra layers of meaning are what make a story memorable.

So I’m going with a more dramatic tone for The Agency. I can use it to develop more of the character’s back story. I can always sprinkle in bits of sarcasm if the tale becomes too heavy.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Dimensional Nexus

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I did complete my latest novelette, which ended up +/- 13,200 words. It’s tentatively called The Agency. I’m not sold on this title, as it maybe sounds like a legal thriller rather than a fantasy. But I’m going with it for now.

In my last post I mentioned that I’m working on creating something unique. So the Agency is a multiversal nexus, connecting fourteen different Realms who all have magic rather than science. Multiverse stories are popular these days, so why not?

The idea is that the Realms share knowledge and community to uplift each other. (At least, until one of the Realms decides it is superior and tries to use the Agency for conquest.) Instead of the Agency having one kind of magic, each Realm will bring its own special flavor. There will be humans, elves and goblins, with their own styles of dress and magic. I like this because it gives me options to treat different situations in a variety of ways.

Of course, this also means I have to come up with the names and basic identities for all of these Realms. Which will be a lot of work, but also fun, and I’ve been focused on that this week.

Something else I’m pondering is whether I want to have some of the Realms be the settings of my other novels, novellas and novelettes. For instance, Tenebira (Cleodora duology) and Skaythe (Minstrels series) could be some of the Realms. This might spare me some world building, as I can draw on what I already created. The Agency is governed by a council of delegates who would come from these other stories.

But, I don’t know. That might be a bit too self-referential. And not that I’m well enough known that newer readers would get the self-references. But, I suppose I could always put in an index with links to the stories in question.

What do you think? Should I boldly self-reference in The Agency?

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.

Characters

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Too many characters, or not enough? I do still hope to finish my novelette before the end of the weekend, but I’ve already identified a couple of issues that I need to work on in the next draft. One of them is the supporting cast.

Initially I started with one main character and two assistant characters. In the first draft, I thought a large organization should have more than just one person resisting, so I gave my main character two equal peers. However, with two peers, I found I had less need of the two assistants. But because it’s an organization, I want to represent all levels. So I’m wrestling with how many characters I really need to have and how to best use them.

In addition, this is supposed to be a magical bureaucracy, yet there is very little detail about how they do their magic and what the source for it is. For that matter, there isn’t much on the physical appearance and atmosphere of the Department. This is really important in fantasy, to have something unique and interesting in the magic. Sparkling, if you will.

So those are two of the factors I’m trying to work my way through as I move toward the next draft.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my blog, Wyrmflight, or follow me on Bluesky, Facebook or Pinterest.