Hello everyone!

First up, a couple of bits that I've received. First is an RPG book from a Kickstarter that I backed. Its called Fixers from the Floorboards and is by Robert Turk and is published by Wicked Clever. This is a link to their website and the book should be available there in time if you are tempted.

Its a really sweet looking little RPG book, with the premise being that you are pixies looking after a building, whether it is a house or something bigger, like a hotel. It puts me in mind of The Borrowers, if you've ever read the book or watched the film or TV version.

Once I've looked through it properly, like with a few other books, I'll do a better review. But in short, it seemed to rekindle some of my childhood, remembering by being put in mind of The Borrowers.

Fixers from the Floorboards
by Robert Turk,
published by Wicked Clever

I also managed to receive my copy of The Averoigne Chronicles, which is the collected Averoigne works of Clark Ashton Smith. It's the whole lot of the original stories. I'm still working my way through a very solid collection of Averoigne pastiches by Pickman's Press that has some very cool stories in, with its mix of Lovecraftian and Gothic. Again, I'll try to review those once I've finished too.

The Averoigne Chronicles,
by Clark Ashton Smith,
published by Hippcampus Press

Outside of that, myself and a friend have talked about doing a podcast. We need a better talk about it as we've only really spit balled stuff at the moment, but we'll probably be talking about some history - Dark Age of the Saxon and Viking flavour mainly - and some other periods too. We'll also probably be talking about war games and the like as well, like RPG/TTRPG games and other sundry tabletop miniatures games that we like.

That's also spun off into us planning on starting a wargaming YouTube channel that I'll most likely primarily run. There are a few games I'd like to play, like The Woods, Bloodbowl and 6th edition Warhammer Fantasy. I think there are some historical games that my friend would like to play as well, but I'll keep folks updated on that as time goes by. But I can always film warband and army showcase stuff once I've finished, though I am only a 'tabletop ready' quality painter.

Onto what I've been up to with my writing.

To be honest, I've had a bit of a time of it this last couple of weeks. I've not managed to sit down and blast through quite as much as I would have liked. That's actually bothered me quite a bit to be honest.

I'm not too sure how to rectify things at the moment and if anyone has any ideas, they'd be welcome.

November is usually the month of NaNoWriMo and a lot of folks can be found, busting their way through many a manuscript, bumping out word counts that would make '70s Michael Moorcock jealous. There are a few things in the month that get in the way for me and I find them quite disruptive. they seem to be things that I can't move or change, so I'm stuck having to deal with them instead of joining in and getting the support and achievement of being a NaNoWriMo participant. Whether I feel like I've been left behind by it all because of those disruptive commitments, I can't quite tell. It seems to happen most years, which is a shame. I think I'm almost depressed because of it, and its hard to shake it off, that I've sort of let myself down by having my time disrupted in such a way, which is disruptive in itself.

Part of the problem could be that its now Winter and there is the build up to Christmas now, which is always very good at stealing away your attention. I'm not sure what to do about it really.

What hasn't helped is that I was most of the way through a fantasy novella, one that is perhaps going to be one of my longest pieces of work so far. I feel like I've ground to a halt with it and I need to revivify my motivation with it, with a number of other stories too. I'd done the Anglo-Saxon setting research to help with this, but it hasn't really worked.

I feel bogged down by it all and just want to return to blasting through stories and i'm finding it difficult to do so, which is just exasperating.

I think another factor in all this, the way I'm considering my writing as a whole is that, what I'd originally planned was to bust through about 170,000 words worth of novellas and short stories, to get all the first drafts done, then work on the re-writes, then all the edits, then getting them beta-read, and so on, all progressing.

The problem I'm finding with all that now is that it's going to be at least a year and a half's work before I have anything to show for my efforts. And that's if everything goes quickly. Perhaps I've hit on something with part of that and soon I'll explain why. 

I'm about half way through doing the first drafts and I'm already bogged down.

I think because I've decided to take the long way about getting a long of stories done is that I don't have the relief and accomplishment of fully completing a story and having it published, I've waylaid that by choice. Where I could have a short story fully edited in a couple of weeks, or a novella done in a month, and out there for the world to see, I'm not going to get that for nearly two years.

I'm a bit unsure how to proceed. Maybe I've already answered myself, that I should just concentrate on one story and get it edited up and sent out there. But is that wise? Is that the way to go?

I'm unsure. If you have read this far and have any advice, it'd be appreciated.

All the best, and stay warm.

Hello all!

I woke up today to find that I had had a new book delivered. It's called Backwoods Witchcraft by Jake Richards. I got my copy from Blackwells, but Amazon has it as well. Blackwells of Oxford is a curiosity in it which is almost next door to the Bodleian Museum and seems like a curiosity in itself and I'm impressed by its service and website. I even got a bookmark with my order, which is nice. But I was mainly going to talk briefly about Backwoods Witchcraft.

Backwoods Witchcraft mainly talks about the folk magic from the Appalachian Mountains, which seems to have preserved many old European practises as well as practises from Voodoo and Hoodoo because of its secluded settlements. The author, Jake Richards is very knowledgeable on the subject as he comes from one of those communities and has grown up with these practises. I'm still to delve into it properly, but there is a curious section about the use of the bible and the role of Christianity in the area - which the book is quite complimentary about so would accommodate any Christian Witches or any wanting to incorporate Christian entities into their craft.

Backwoods Witchcraft by Jake Richards

I picked this volume up for two main reasons. The first is that I wanted to look into some of the practises that had arrived in the Americas from Europe. As the communities were secluded, they seem to have been bypassed by some of the witch hunts that plagued Europe and much of New England or The South, so many practises and a mentality that was present at the time of the colonisation of America, before even the English Civil War could very well be present. It would be curious to explore some clues into it at least.

The second reason to get this book was because a friend of mine had received a copy as a gift and had recommended it. She is covering it chapter by chapter on her YouTube Channel called Jenn The Taxidermy Witch ifer. She has covered the introduction, and has, as of today, completed reading the second chapter of eleven.

Apart from this, today sort of feels like its been a bit of a none starter. I helped a bit with moderating a new tarot Youtuber page on facebook and also, a Viking Folklore channel I'm involved with called Northworthy Sagas and Stories uploaded an unboxing video and I had something to do with its promotion. Here it is:

The host of Northworthy Sagas and Stories also wanted to restart a gamer channel on a site called Mixer. He has a good concept - a Viking plays Viking games - which is curious and he would be able to tell historical anecdotes while playing and answer questions, as he is planning of playing the games while in period dress. I think its a cool concept. Unfortunately, I'm still a little unsure what I'm doing with the main site.

Other than that, I'm behind on writing up the article on the first Aicme of the Ogham Runes (batch of five). And that's somewhat irritated me, even though other things have been happening. I have also been planning a short story that I'm eager to start, but I have a feeling that it's going to be a little while before I start. I'd much prefer to have a fair stretch of time to devote to it and I think it could be roughly a week before that happens. I also think it could take a bit of time to organise the information about the Aicme of the Ogham Runes into something I would like to put up on here. I'm probably going to need to spread out properly as my Book of Shadows is quite large and I'm probably going to need other note taking things about me.

That also reminds me, could some pictures of my Book of Shadows be of interest? I made it by hand.

Anyway, let me know and until next time, may your sleep soothe your soul and may you wake refreshed.

Hello all!

I had a slow day today and I wish I could say that I got more done. Its been so warm that I've been so drained and still feel that, even at 2am, that I haven't woken up properly.

But it's been pleasant. I was down by the river earlier, on my way home and was entertained to witness a raven chase off a hoard of ducks who had the audacity to nest on dry land. Those damn water birds! Coming and dominating dry land! It tickled me that a raven could be such an arse.

Other than that, I've been watching some Carolyn Emerick. Particularly a talk she recently did on Animism. She does curious talks about the history of paganism and paganism in the modern age.

I also managed to order a couple of new books and found myself getting quite emotional for past and lost moments while ordering them. I may cover it more as time goes on. But anyway, these should be quite curious books. Both are by Philip K Dick. I managed to get his The Divine Invasion (second in the Valis Trilogy, I have the others) and also his Exegesis which has been collected into one volume quite recently. Both were heavily influenced by some very strange and very personal events that happened To Philip K Dick in 1974. I have an urge to try and clitique them at some point, but it may be some time before I do so.

I did get some reading done today. There is a book I've been particularly enjoying since I started. It's called Brunt Boggart by David Greygoose. I know little about the author, but anyone who has reviews by Alan Moore, John Reppion, Kevin Crossley-Holland and Emily Portman must be good. It's a collection of interconnected folktales, written in a very narrate-able style. The common factor is that the tales lead a boy found in the woods on a journey to find his mother. I'm not far in but I can well imagine that these tales could be read in front of any mead hall audience of mixed members.

A Tapestry of Tales: Brunt Boggart by David Greygoose

Today, I found that a YouTube Channel called Madwitch that I follow is a big fan of books by Tylluan Penry of the Wolfenhowle Press and is a lover of her own YouTube channel as well. She makes some lovely and well researched books on numerous pagan and witchcraft topics.

Otherwise, I've been trying to help set up a Facebook group for small time Tarot Youtubers. If you are one, please visit.

I also mustn't forget that today saw Northworthy Sagas upload a new folktale for Folklore Thursday. I hope you enjoy it:

I haven't managed to do much in the way of writing up the first five Ogham Runes yet. I have an idea of how I will go about it. I have a feeling that could take a few days to do properly. I want to condense the information down properly so that I portray them properly and so that it can be part of a decent 'how to cast Ogham Runes' page that can be added to in stages. I would also need to give a brief history of the Ogham Runes as well. I wouldn't be doing them justice if I didn't put them in context. I'm really enjoying learning about them.

That is today's news. Not much, but things are progressing. I would like to leave you on a curious quote I found by WB Yeats which I found today:

"I believe in the practise and philosophy of what we have agreed to call magic, in what I must call the evocation of spirits, though I do not know what they are, in the power of creating magical illusions, in the visions of truth in the depths of the mind when the eyes are closed; and I believe in three doctrines, which have, as I think, been handed down from early times, and been the foundations of nearly all magical practises. These doctrines are: 1) That the borders of our minds are ever shifting, and that many minds can flow into one another, as it were, and create a single mind, a single energy. 2) That the borders of our memories are as shifting, and that our memories are a part of one great memory, the memory of Nature herself. 3) That this great mind and great memory can be evoked by symbols."

WB Yeats