Hello everyone!

This last week has generally been better.

This are beginning to calm down quite a lot. I think things are returning to normal again. I hope. So posts should start becoming cheerier as the weeks progress.

I found out when my Grandmas's funeral will be - in about a week and a half as of writing - so hopefully that will go smoothly. Family occasions are always fun, aren't they? I say that with a dose of sarcasm, saying that it'll be a funeral.

I think a few folks are starting  to come around to my way of thinking with everything. Whether I had wound myself up a lot about some stuff and began feeling very very bogged down by things could be a factor in this.

I think some of the people hadn't realised they were being, shall we say oblivious? Well, it's said now. I think I probably need to be more blunt with them, but it doesn't help when you're feeling how tough things are and are already bogged down with life and trying to play catch up with so much stuff. I think that's usually a sign I should slow down, but I'm meant to be working with a deadline with some of this stuff, which doesn't help. Thankfully, I think I've managed to move the deadline back a bit and hopefully things aren't going to be so hectic.

So, things are cooling down and I am able to start getting back into a rut with stuff. I think the chaos of changing my sleep pattern so drastically hadn't helped with that. Maybe I should have allowed more time to settle down after that, I'm unsure. Hopefully the last few things will sort themselves out.

Struth, I really dislike winter. Lots of things seem to go wrong and plain just get in the way.

Anyway, I'm beginning to feel like I can actually settle back into work properly without things getting too much.

On some tangent though, the Kickstarter for New Edge Sword &Sorcery, I think I mentioned it last week, but that was fulfilled and is well on its way to completion. I'm looking forward to the first issue coming out in August as Michael Moorcock of Elric of Melnibone fame has agreed to do a story for them. The trial issue can still be bought here. Or if you live in American, from here.

New Edge Sword & Sorcery issue 0
getting ready for issues 1 and 2

Onto writing. I've put a few of the 'not fantasy' stories to one side and returned to my original plan to get another novella sorted so that it can be released alongside one that's already on its way to publication.

Perhaps later today or early tomorrow, I'll have to choose between a ghoul dwarf story, a faery and undead story, and an elf in Hollow Earth story. So if you have any preferences as to which you'd like to see first, please let me know.

Then once its released, I'll get on getting on with other stories. I definitely want to get some ghost stories sorted by early into the new year, but they might well be short stories and I have a couple already half ready, depending on how much I need to re-write them. I'd still like two or three more done along side them.

The wartime village slasher thing I'm not sure what to do with. there was talk of doing it in the style of diary entries, so that could become a social media thing with regular, short entries. I may even get someone else involved with that too.

I'd also like to get the '80s style Corpse Breeches and bogman thing done. That's a story I've been mulling over for a while. But that's on the back burner too until I've got some fantasy stories out. Once I've got the next fantasy novella started, I want to get that and its partially completed companion piece released as soon as I can manage it.

There isn't much to say in regards to wargaming. Plans for things are still ongoing, but I've been struggling withthe whole writing thing, which has gotten in the way.

Oakbound Studio still has it's Kickstarter up for another six days - as of writing - and if you like the idea of having numerous oldhammer orcs, then take a look. There's a regiment builder and weapons options and you can even get a bulk order in. As of writing, they've been doing well and have added a siege tower and a Deep Troll as add-ons. They're also on their way to having an armoured giant as an add-on too. Its a good way to get a oldhammer, warhammer army, in metal for a reasonable price - warlords and wizards sold separately.

Hobgoblins of the Black Waste
a Kickstarter by Oakbound Studio for The Woods
or any self respecting Oldhammer Orc player,

Of course, there is still the option to get a batch for their The Woods skirmish game as hobgoblins, the rules for which will be in a supplement that will be released towards the end of April.

Oakbound Studio is a game I've found delightful and I'm not sure why it's not already become more popular. They were at Salute this year and they managed to get a Scenario into Miniature Wargames magazine, which I got a copy of.

A The Woods scenario in an article
for Miniature Wargames Magazine
Watch out for those Leprechauns

If you'd like to visit Oakbound Studio and take a look for yourself, click here. They also have a gamer's facebook group too.

That's pretty much it for this week. I'm hoping that things will get better from here. Once I feel overloaded, I realise I have difficulty fully expressing things and breaking down how I feel. I think I need to work on that, perhaps not letting things get so bad. I try, but it doesn't always work and sometimes, folks aren't always forthcoming with help.

Anyway, now its time for a usual ending slot. I've had a lovely mug of coffee and a refreshing mug of tea while writing this. And I was listening to something that I'd been waiting to restart for a few months now. A channel I watch called Sorcererdave had taken a break of many months from his Oblivion playthrough and he recently restarted it. So, I'd watched the latest episode. I found it greatly reassuring for a variety of reasons. If that is your thing and would like to watch from the start, here is the playlist.

All that is left for me to say is that I wish you all good health and hopefully next week, I'll have a bit more good news to share and things will have fallen into productivity once again. Farewell everyone!

 Hello everyone!

Well, that was a good writing week. I'm really quite pleased with progress so far. To be honest, I had planned on making a post on Monday, but to be honest, I'd lost track of time. So, here we go.

I still feel a bit awkward about how life had got in the way before with writing and to be honest, I'm not really sure how to think about it, it still feels a bit of a weird two or three weeks having to divert my attention so whole-heartedly.

But needless to say, I'm back writing and have managed to dedicate much of every day over the last nine days to writing, though I did have to start the novella over again, which is a shame.

Looking back, I wasn't too happy about the way that the original draft was going, so starting again was probably for the best. The previous draft had taken three weeks to get half way through - about ten thousand words - and though its looking to be a shorter story than expected, not by much but after nine days, I'm at the same word count and I think the first draft could total around seventeen thousand words.

I seem to be averaging about one thousand one hundred words a day. Its not much, but its manageable for me. I think I could have the rest of the story finished by next Tuesday. Its the day after I normally do a blog post, but I may hold off on the next post until then so that I can fully update folks on things and plans. I think I know what I'll be doing next, but I'll wait until then to write about it.

Anyway, you may be asking what this novella is about. Well, in short, its about an elf barbarian called Gwaeloch Irisgarth who gets employed by a wizard apprentice called Yasmina Bruhns - who is actually based on a friend who gave me permission to do so - to help find her mistress, a fully qualified wizard who lives deep in an ancient forest that covers a vast area. They think the wizard had gone after something called the Royal Star, and on the way, they get involved with evil satyrs and also find a ruined elven city, dead for centuries, filled with the undead. And things culminate there.

Its a story that I've been trying to get my head around for a few months and its been a bit difficult. I've not really been used to writing something so long and its been hard planning to get the level of content suitable for a story two or three times the length of what I'm used to. To be honest, its wound me up quite a lot on occasion and I had originally planned to have this ready for publication with another novella by Christmas and that hasn't happened. Its sort of something that's really got to me, even if I don't always like to admit it.

Its one of those things, sometimes and for some reasons that I'm not sure I fully understand, I sometimes have great anxiety over projects. I think it stems from a time when I was basically anorexic and a workoholic and had to give up writing for a while to recover. I even ended up in hospital a couple of times with a suspected heart attack.

I think some of my anxiety around trying to get fully back into writing is down to that. If anyone has any tips to help, that would be great as I do feel that I still pressurize myself with it a lot and I want to get passed that. I keep remembering the days where I used to be able to do seventeen thousand words a day - a word count I've only heard of Michael Moorcock rivalling when he was on cocaine.

I realise that's not practical in the slightest, but improving my daily word count would be great too. I'd sort of like to average about four to five thousand words a day, but at best, I manage half that and it sort of feels a bit disappointing. Anyway, if anyone has any times about that too - improving word count, please let me know.

Anyway, that's enough from me. To be honest, I can't really think of anything else that's particularly bloggable at this time, other than me ordering an all female dwarf Blood Bowl team, but that's still to arrive. I still want to get the main box set to learn the game. I miss it. I may even do a write up of some games or some videos or something once that's sorted.

All Female Dwarf Blood Bowl Team

With that all out of the way and with part of that getting a lot deeper than I thought it would, I just want to wish everyone good health and prosperity.

Bye bye everyone!