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Hello, all...

Mirror site seems to be up and running, Though Scribefire took a nose dive on me yesterday, so I'll be cut/pasting until I figure out what configuration setting I need to change. I'll be evaluating which blog system I prefer over the course of several weeks/months. In the meantime...

I'll be offline for a week starting tomorrow, short trip to visit Irma's dad in California, followed by a stay at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park to regrow some brain cells. I'm considering doing some writing during my down time, though images of Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" typing 'all work and no play makes jack a dull boy' over and over come to mind. We are going to take a history/ghost tour while we're there, just for grins. I'll definately write about that when I get back, sighting or no sighting.

Besides the relaxation, We'll probably do some snowshoeing while we're up there. It's been a very dry year here in Longmont, but the mountains are at or above average snowpack levels for this time of year. There's something pristine and inspiring about the mountains this time of year, in a large part because there are not very many other visitors up there on the weekdays. There'll be some D'oril inspirations found, I'm sure...

Anyway, look for more to come after next week, and keep those cards and letters (or comments and emails) coming. Clear skies,

Jim

Mirror, Mirror

     Mid January has come and gone, we've been having an unusually warm spell, reaching 70 the last couple of days.  I guess this will counter the unusually cold spell we had in December.  Looks like snow this weekend...  Maybe...

     I"m starting an experiment, a mirror blog site. This one is through wordpress, a bit more detailed than blogger in some ways.  For one, it will allow more detailed commentary from guests, and I'll be able to create multiple pages.  One thing I'm planning on is a page for each of my writing projects.  I'll use the page to write down plot lines and character notes in more detail, and hopefully get some comments on interest, and perhaps suggestions, as well as provide a reference source for me while I'm writing.  I'll also be able to "tag" my postings, something I'll explore in more detail as I figure the whole site out.  Finally,  Wordpress seems to be more capable of adding music files and/or photo's, with one of the extra pages, for example, I can post a bunch of photos from vacations, or what not.  If Wordpress seems as useful as it appears to me, perhaps I'll switch to it as primary, but mirroring right now won't be difficult because...

     I'm using a new Firefox attachment, called Scribefire.  This too is an experiment for me, it will allow me to write offline, then easily post to both blogs with three mouse clicks.  As I get better at using it, I'll be able to track my categories more easily as well.  I'll know it's working when this post gets online.

     The D'oril Wordsmith page is http://doriltales.wordpress.com/  .  Give it a try and drop me a comment here or there to let me know what you think.  I did make a couple of structural changes to the blogspot D'oriltales site, and added "Blogs I'm following" on the bottom of the page.  (This may move to the side bar after I evaluate it.)

     Clear skies,
     Jim

The workings of D'oril: Homeland Security

One of the major plotlines of the Doril tales has to do with the successful (so far) resistance of the K'tath of D'oril against the Empire of Tallux's expansion. The roots of that conflict are rather convoluted, and quite frankly, vary both depending on the "historical" era, and whose side youre listening to. For the most part, the k'tath are defensively oriented, having made no expansive moves towards anyone else, but they have, on occasion, taken offensive action to deal with a perceived threat. The empire, on the other hand, is openly expansionistic. D'oril is only one of their conflicts, at times not even that important one. But how is it that the compartively small k'tath culture has been able to withstand the huge empire for so long?

Early on in my writings, I identified the success of the k'tath as due to the single minded skill of their defenders, the kel and the foresightedness of their leaders, the Sen. In short, the Sen could to some small degree, predict what the empire (or other invaders) would do, and the Kel, given this good intel, act skillfully and forcefully to head off whatever the next problem might be. Of course, in order for there to be enjoyable stories, their actions would always smack of desperation, the chance of success right on the brink.

As I've deepened my background, I've recognized that in order for the stories to be believable, there would have to be mistakes made by kel and sen, nobody can be perfect. The Sen's prescience has to have limits, as does the kel's physical and tactical skills. Some of those mistakes or disasters have become the core of future stories.

At any rate, my early images of the kel as "super warriors" had to be tempered. Flaws were introduced, for example the concept that kel warriors, over time, become mentally worn out by the rigors of their constant vigilance on the frontier. Thus, the importance of the Krath came into play. Kel, normally very solitary folk, would after a time have to be reintegrated into the k'tath society by krath healing. Call it a stand down from duty, vacation, or mental health break. In essence, kel would return to the krath, exhausted and perhaps darkened by their experiences, and have to spend time with a krath empathic healer, perhaps weeks or months. This empathic healing became the third leg of the k'tath defense, the renewing of their defenders will and ability. This also is the core of one of my earliest saga outlines, Brandis' long journey apart from the K'tath, and his eventual redemption. It's something to work on, another day.....

More to come soon, including that promised blurb, progress reports, and... Who knows...

Clear skies,
Jim

New Year, New Hope

As always seems to be the case, the end of one year and the beginning of another tends to bring chaos into our lives. Nothing more than the usual holiday madness and holiday air traffic, loads of private jets heading to aspen and eagle airports for the holiday ski season. The ski country airports continue to run wild, but the holiday stuff has subsided...

With the new year, I've always had a tendency to look back, not just at the last year, but the many years past. There are always regrets, mostly the people I've lost touch with, or haven't talked with or written to for far too many months. Maybe I'll write about that, either fictionally, or memoir-style. But enough of that for now...

Imperfect Hope is sitting at the 66k word level. Mel White suggested that many first novels end up being around that level, but for the storyline I've plotted out, I've another 60-75k words to go, at least in rough first draft. From past experience, I know I'll knock off about 30% of my wordcount during my first rewrite. This is based on when I've rewritten short segments, though, never a full length novel, so I'm not certain that pattern will hold. I already have spotted portions that I want to expand upon. Am I writing a trilogy? That's one of the areas I'm exploring as I work on Imperfect Hope. If so, this is the middle of three.

Next time I write, I hope to blurb a new segment from Imperfect Hope. Let me know what you want to read about, in the mean time...

Clear skies,
Jim