The Outsider: Blog

Not sure why that showed up on the update page. It's only tagged "Chapter 23" in the source file...

Update: Fixed by Laz...

I have been able to reestablish a cushion of new chapters in the posting queue once again. There are currently four new chapters waiting to be posted.

I will be setting my posting queue to submit chapters every Tuesday and Friday; pre-scheduled chapters are released to the moderators sometime after 8:00 pm on those days. It is my hope this will become the new, permanent schedule. I will update if that's no longer manageable.

Chapter 12 posted this evening, the first new chapter in a month. Chapter 13 is being written as I indicated yesterday, and will hopefully post at the end of next week.

Chapter 12 will be easy to follow to those who read the original story as I posted it at the end of January and beginning of February. But I do encourage everyone who has not read the improved versions of those chapters to read the Intro through Chapter 11 again. There are new scenes and deeper exploration of the characters in the updates; this new material may be mentioned in future chapters now that it's part of the story. No, there won't be a quiz later...

After a whirlwind month of learning how to write I have reposted a new and improved version of the story to date, from the Introduction to Chapter 11. Chapter 12 is in the hands of my editor; I shall submit that chapter as soon as he is able to return it. Chapter 13 is being written now.

Who is this mystery person? The editor who has been generous with his time, advice, insight and patience? He is none other than Graybyrd, the creator of the "Masi'shen" universe and a man who has forgotten more about writing than I will likely ever know. A month ago he was kind enough to reach out to a new author, someone who was writing a story he saw potential in. When I didn't bite his head off for offering advice, a dialogue began; that dialogue led to an offer to be my editor, which I jumped at.

I strongly encourage you to restart the story from the Introduction now that it has been reposted, as the chapters and the character development have been much expanded. Gaps in the timeline are filled in and the story flows much easier. There are over one hundred kilobytes of new material.

My original posting schedule of every other day now seems ambitious. For now, as I break new ground with Jeff, I believe a post a week seems reasonable, maybe twice a week. This schedule is subject to the pressures of home and office and the resulting amount of time I will have to write. I do have a plan for Jeff, it just has to make it into a text file.

Thank you very much to the readers who have reached out to offer encouragement, who have bookmarked this story and taken the time to vote for it.

On with the show!

It is said that men plan and the gods laugh.

While I continue to make progress on the rewrite of "A Charmed Life," the opportunities to work on the story are shorter and less frequent than I had originally hoped they would be. I am more like the tortoise than the hare in the race to the finish.

I am still working on the story, never fear. I have scenes mapped out in my head for Jeff, I just have to get him there. A familiar refrain at many of the jobs I've worked over the years has been "it'll just be another two weeks..." I'm hoping to have the story restarted by then.