It’s getting colder, dropping below freezing, and staying in bed longer seems like an increasing good idea. It’s not. That soft warmth is a trap, intended to keep you prisoner—an addict to its embrace. Don’t fall for it. Don’t be like me.

 

Joking (or half-joking) aside, a sudden cold snap can make you feel incredibly lethargic. I’m not sure what brought it on, exactly, but I haven’t seen the sun in days. It’s either been too overcast to see more than the vague position of the sun or, like today, raining nonstop. It’s scary how a sudden change in weather can affect you. The only thing scarier will be my power bill now that I’ve turned on the heater. Wish me luck on that.

 

As far as a progress report goes, I’ve completed my revision on one of the side stories I wrote a while back. I won’t say who it’s about because that would ruin the surprise, but as I went through it a second time, I felt as though I was reading a fairy tale. I don’t know if it’s because the story lends itself to a fable-like reading naturally or if the style of writing I used to hide the identity of the main character made it feel that way, but that’s how I felt. In any case, My current plan is to release it for free on the website shortly after the book launches or maybe at the same time. I would really like to get the other side story revised, but it’s a much longer piece, and February is coming quickly.

 

Geez. I can’t believe February is so close. It feels like I’ve been working on getting this book sold forever, but as the time for release approaches, I’m growing more nervous. There’s still over two months to go, but it feels like tomorrow. However, today is today, which means there is work to be done!

 

Oh, hey! It’s been a while since I actually talked about the book itself, huh? I didn’t even mention Thanksgiving, but that’s okay. It’s used to be overlooked ;(

(I had originally written a happy little blog post that Bob Ross would have been proud of, but the internet ate it, so this is more-or-less a recreation of what I wrote the first time. If the flow sounds a bit off, that’s why.)

 

We return again to standard time, though I wonder why we still observe daylight savings time. I know that its original purpose was to help farmers, but is it still necessary in this day and age? Well, what do I know? It’s possible that many farmers still rely heavily on it. You won’t hear me complaining about it around this time of year. That extra hour helps me wake up more refreshed and ready to start the day. However, when spring rolls around, you’re likely to hear me start grumbling about it.

 

Halloween and my birthday have passed by in what seemed like the blink of an eye. I enjoyed watching a ton of scary stuff (and stuff that was meant to be scary, but was unintentionally hilarious), but the moment November arrived, I felt that it was time to move on. Now, I’m looking forward to getting the soft gingerbread cookies that only come out this time out year and … well, that’s about as festive as I’m feeling.

 

Thanksgiving will be spent with my family as normal, and Christmas is still nearly two months away, though you wouldn’t know it by the displays you see in the stores. Last Thanksgiving, my family was too afraid to try the curry I had made, but that was their loss. I was happy to take it home, eat what I could, and toss the rest into the freezer. This year, I think I’ll go with a pasta dish—I’m thinking ricotta cheese and spinach-stuff pasta shells covered with a tomato sauce. I doubt there will be many leftovers this time around.

 

…What was this blog supposed to be about again? Something about repeatedly saying, “Yeah, volume two is going fine. I’m still looking for an agent to help publish the first volume” or something like that?

 

Nah, that would be boring.

 

(And this time, I shall highlight and copy the blog post, just in case.)

“Ah, I can’t wait for the leaves to start changing colors … Wait … I’m surrounded by evergreens.” Oh, well.

 

The weather is finally starting to turn cold around here, and so the only problem is that my bed feels so much warmer in the mornings. I’m the type of person that doesn’t like to turn on the heater until I have to, but that breaking point is approaching quickly. With the weather ready to make a sudden drop tonight, I think my best bet is to prepare my poor wallet for those high bills that come with having an active heating system running.

 

… What? What do you mean you didn’t come here to read about the weather? I warned you I was going to be like this this month.

 

… Okay, fine. I guess I have a small bit of news in that I’ve started revising one of the side stories I had written previously. I know it was at the bottom of my priorities list, but I needed to refresh and editing is an entirely different beast than writing. Also, I like this particular short story for my use of metaphor, though I’ll admit I might have overdone it slightly. Still, it’s a fun reread (Wait. Can I say that if I’m the one who wrote it?). The only problem I’m seeing is that I specifically wrote this story keeping the main character’s identity a secret from the reader until the right time, so I can’t label it as “{Character}’s Side Story” because it’ll give away the reveal. Hmm … I’ll have to think it over.

 

Otherwise, everything is going to plan. Nothing new or interesting, really, so how about something festive? Let’s see … AHA!

 

Since I won’t be posting again until early November, I’ll leave you with something informative and fun: A Pumpkin Carving Tutorial!

IT’S OCTOBER!!! It’s time for the weather to start getting colder, pumpkins, spooky Halloween stuff, and (importantly) my birthday! Well, since my birthday is the day before Halloween, maybe I’m biased towards this particular holiday, but I love it. It’s the rare time of year where children (and some adults) can learn that it’s not only okay to be scared once in a while, but it can be fun, too.

 

Lately, I’ve enjoyed watching people play indie horror games, which are either surprisingly good or laughably bad. Both of those provide great entertainment. I’m not too good with horror games in general, so it’s easier for me to watch others play. I know. I know. I just said this is the time of year where it’s okay to be scared, but I tend to get TOO immersed in things and then have trouble sleeping at night. There’s something to be said for not pushing yourself, too, I guess…

 

Huh? OH! The book! That’s less fun to talk about because “everything is going smoothly, and there have been no changes of substances since last time” doesn’t really do much for anyone. I suppose I could also get you another cute video like last time, but it’s best if we make blog entries like that as rare as possible. So yeah, “progressing smoothly” blah blah blah “slowly updating history” blah blah blah. You get the idea.

 

You’ll hear from me again before Halloween and then once more soon afterwards, so expect a couple more posts like this before I focus on something else. Until then, enjoy the beginning of one of my favorite holidays, and go eat something with pumpkin, pumpkin spice, or gingerbread. Take care!

Can’t say much has changed since the last blog post aside from a massive hurricane coming through. Aside from a massive downpour, nothing really happened here, but if anyone happens to see this post within the next several months (and you have the means), think of doing what you can by donating to the Red Cross HERE. If you’re seeing this a little later, then, uh … I don’t know. Donate blood, don’t litter, and listen to others when they’re feeling down.

 

What the heck was this post about again? Oh! That’s right; I wanted to discuss my priorities moving forward. Yeah, this is going to be a boring post, so in consolation, I’ll post something good at the bottom for your patience. No, really. It’ll be super cute. I promise. Okay? You still with me? Alright.

 

So, ranking my priorities from most important to least important, it goes like this: working on volume two, working on the history of Gaia, revising side stories that are already finished, working on new side stories, finding an artist to replace placeholder images and make a map, detailing other aspects of the “GAIA” tab (religion, technology, etc.), polishing the website, and … um … everything else, I suppose. Anything regarding finding an agent is done on the weekends because it’s not particularly time-consuming, so it’s its own priority.

 

And that’s pretty much it. Unfortunately, this one is a bland update, but as promised, I will reward you with THIS CUTE THING!

September is here and autumn is right around the corner. It’ll be time to plant those root vegetables for the coming winter and take a breather from the summer heat (or at least that’s what’s SUPPOSED to happen).

 

Anyway, you may notice the “ABOUT” tab at the top has been replaced with a “GAIA” tab with eight drop-down sections: The Magi, Rosso Virus, Technology, Agriculture (and Food), Geography (and Regions), Politics, History, and Religion. That’s right, I’ve been putting it a fair amount of work on this section since the last time, but the pages are mostly empty right now. Currently, I’m working on a full history of Gaia, which, as you can imagine, takes a lot of time. I thought this would be the most important section to iron out first, as once I have the history set in stone, everything else will fall into place naturally. I’m not sure how long this will take to put together, so it’s entirely possible very little progress is made if I decide to focus more on writing volume two than decide what year certain political arrangements were made over a thousand years ago.

 

We won’t be speaking badly of my placeholder, uh… “art” that I made for each of the eight sections. Please admire them and tell me they look nice. I’ll hire an official artist to replace them sooner or later. I’m not in a major rush at this exact moment.

 

I’m also going to finally turn my focus to the revisions of the side stories I already have written, just to have them ready to be posted when the story becomes available for purchase. Unfortunately, this is just another thing that will divide my time, but I’d much rather have it done and ready to go when I need it.

 

I think that’s it for this update. It looks like I have several things to do, but that’s fine. If I get stuck on any particular area while writing volume two, I can switch over and work on something else until I figure out what I want to do. For a writer, I guess having too much to do is a good thing.

HAPPY 5TH ANNIVERSARY!!!

Yep! You read that right. Today marks the fifth anniversary of the day I started writing Magi of Gaia (back then, known as Welcome to Gaia) for fun… or at least the earliest recorded date I have on record. It’s possible I had made some notes before then, but the earliest definitive date I have on record is August 16th, 2014. So, even though the book isn’t officially released yet, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! I’m going to go have an ice cream.

 

Moving forward, I’ve decided what to do with the “About” page. It’s going to be converted into a “Gaia” page where I go over various details about Gaia’s realm, such as technology, agriculture, and food. It’ll be a project I work on over a long period of time, and I’ll need some additional art for it, but I’m looking forward to expanding on the world, especially with details that I may not be able to put in the book. Not only that, but I can add to them over time.

 

Final update for today: THE SAMPLE CHAPTERS ARE UP! You can download them in .docx and .pdf formats (.ePub refused to be uploaded for some reason). Check them out. I went with the first four chapters, so enjoy! Make sure to let me know what you think.

 

The next update will likely be going over what I’ve done with the new Gaia page and how far along it is. Aside from working on volume two, the new page will be my main focus.

 

For today, however, my main focus will be on celebrating this achievement. I hope to be celebrating with many more people a year from today. Please join me next August 16th!

August update? August update!

 

Magi of Gaia is not available for purchase yet, but it’s a good idea to get into the habit of writing in this blog periodically to go over updates. It can’t hurt, at least.

 

Speaking of the book, I’m proud to announce that it is ready for publishing, minus a copyright page. I’m holding off putting one in until the last minute because I feel a publisher may want to add in a few extra things as well. Either way, I could self-publish it today on Amazon if I wished to, but I know many publishers do not accept books that have already been put on the market. I’ve chosen February 1st, 2020 as the absolute latest I intend to wait before self-publishing, so look forward to that as a possible release date (though I hope to get it out much sooner).

 

Half a year, huh? Why do I feel like it’s as close as tomorrow?

 

Well, in regard to the time between now and then, I’m currently deciding on the length of the sample for the book. This has been on my mind a lot recently, and I can’t decide whether I want the first two chapters (roughly 12% of the book) or the first four chapters (roughly 20% of the book) to be the sample. Around 10% seems more like what a proper sample should be, but I feel that chapter four is a really strong, interesting chapter and will make others want to read the book more, so I’m leaning towards that. Of course, chapter two is pretty incredible on its own, but in terms of keeping readers wanting more… <<<Rambling

 

Lastly, I’m debating on what to do with the last page of this website. Right now, it’s marked as “About”, but I already have an “About The Author” part on the home page, so I should turn the “About” page into something else. The current idea I’m floating around is to make it into a page detailing the side characters in more detail, but with the Side Stories in the works, I don’t want to preemptively give too much away. Well, there’s no rush on it. I’ll continue to brainstorm a while longer. For now, it’ll have to remain an empty page.

 

Looks like that’s in for this update. I suppose I should aim to make one of these post around the beginning and middle of each month. It’s good to form habits early, right?

 

Thanks for taking the time to read it. I’ll post again in around two weeks (I hope).

I’ve written a few side stories for minor characters in the past and will be revising them over time and distributing them at some point. If you’re reading this, I’m making the assumption that you already know that Magi of Gaia is full of characters, and many of those characters won’t be able to have a proper spotlight shined on them. Each character has a rich/unique history that I’d love to share one day, and I feel it’s a disservice not to share it. I don’t want readers walking away from this series with ideas like “Priya’s just lazy” or “Hilja is weirdly obsessed with Morina”.

 

To give readers a better understanding of those characters, who they are, and why they are the way they are, I’ll be going back over previously-written side stories as well as writing brand new ones between books. How these side stories will be distributed is currently unknown, so I’ll be sure to update the blog and post on Twitter when it has been decided.

 

Oh! As a side note, the first fight scene for volume 2 is currently being reworked. It’s truly been the most difficult fight scene to write thus far because the focus isn’t on magic (ahem!) … or something like that. Sorry if you want to know more, but this is a spoiler-free zone!

It appears as though the site is up and running, but since the book isn’t even on sale yet, this blog post is rather preemptive. Still, it’s not necessarily a bad idea to have a blog post ready for anyone that comes to check it out.

 

So, uh… Hi. Thanks for visiting the blog. If (when it’s available) you’ve purchased a copy of Magi of Gaia, thanks for your support. If not, that’s fine, too. I welcome any support I’m given as a new author.

 

Since you’re here, allow me to go over the current progress of Magi of Gaia. Currently, book one is completed, but it undergoing copy editing. That will be done by the end of the week (I hope). Volume two is a work in progress, though the outline has been fully written, so progress should go smoothly. Cover art and inserts will be commissioned at the beginning of next year, if not sooner.

 

I’m currently considering hiring voice actors to create a sample audio book for the first couple of chapters of the story, but that type of thing doesn’t come cheap, unfortunately. It’s still something I wish to have done (and a full audio book would be even better), but for now, it’s just an idea on the back burner. If that project ever becomes a reality, I’ll post about it here and post the finished video to the YouTube channel.

 

Thanks for taking your time to read this and for your support moving forward! I deeply appreciate it.