The Aldersgate Cycle

Chapter Eighteen: Departure

This is the real Alderpod #20–forgive me if anyone accidentally ends up with doubles, but there was an issue with iTunes taking the song .mp3 rather than the podcast.

If anyone is having issues still, please let me know. Remember you can always find the entire archive at Alderpod.

This the .mp3 for Beyond the Veil, separate from the post before, which was causing issues in iTunes.

There is an ENTIRE chapter, not just a song. Apparently, iTunes chose the song portion and not the podcast as the “podcast”. This should fix it! Let me know if you have issues like I did!

Alderpod #20 – Chapter Eighteen: Departure

Wow, 20 episodes! So, in spite of my mention yesterday about taking forever with this I ended up with some time alone (in the quiet, mostly) to finish the song. It’s not perfect, but it definitely does what I wanted it to do (I hope!).

In spite of the fact I said there’s 10 chapters to go in the notes section, however, there are 12. Though this is Alderpod 20, it’s 2 chapters behind the final count. Which is 30. I can’t add, but that’s not news.

If you’d like to hear the .mp3 of the song alone, you can snag it here. The song is called Beyond the Veil.

Alderpod #20. Yeah, it’s kind of a big deal. It turns out that the episode has a full-blown song in it, with guitar and voice, so I’ve got to get that down before I set it free, and I want it to be good. So, knowing me, I’m going to spend an inordinate amount of time on it. Hopefully by “inordinate” just a few more days will be enough, so I can get it out the door; I’m itching to get the rest of the chapters out.

So, thanks for the patience and the awesomeness as always. I think I’m also going to release an .mp3 of the song itself, because the quality always dies when it comes to compression.

Anyway… yeah, that’s the status report this morning.

I’m supposed to be writing Queen of None right now, which is over 3/4 of the way there. I’ve just brought my heroine to the tipping point: the climax is the next two chapters, where everything she’s been planning and plotting is finally coming to fruition. Exciting, fun; I’ve never written as book so fast as this one (hoping that’s still a good thing).

So why was I up last night writing something else? Oh dear. Somewhere between making chili last night and tucking the kiddo in, some gears started moving. Since I finished The Aldersgate, those characters have been very polite in leaving me to Anna Pendragon and her family. But last night, they all crawled back out of the creative primordial ooze and started talking. Like, all of them.

So after a (mildly disappointing) episode of BSG, I sat down and opened up Scrivener, staring a totally new project. I tried one name, Googled, found a movie. Tried another, Googled, found it was another book series. Third time’s the charm: Ward of the Rose it is. I like the sonic play on “war of the Rose” and the fact that it has a kind of medieval tinge while using a word we associate with Victorian: ward.

With the name in place I started writing. Here we go again…

Like many publications, the Willows Magazine is struggling. From Ben’s blog Literacity:

Well, it’s 2009, and things haven’t gotten much easier at the offices of The Willows. While Jade did finish up the issue, it was several weeks late…and that isn’t the only problem.

For those of you who don’t know, I pay for 90% of The Willows out of my own pocket; always have. Some advertisers sweeten the deal now and then, and my supply costs are (somewhat) covered by subscribers, but by and large, I buy stories and new features as I can afford them, and feel they’re justified. And I’ve always been rewarded by your loyal readership; I have no complaints on that score.

But this year opens on a rather underfunded Willows, which means we’re going to have to print and ship as we are able to afford it. Some of you have already received your December issues, and let me go on record as saying I feel humiliated that the rest of you have not, when it is almost February. I can only express my profoundest frustration. (You can read more here)

To top it off, some subscribers are kinda being jerky about the whole situation. What folks often don’t realize is that many of these publications are labors of love, with very small staffs, who often work thankless hours in editing and production!

Aside from being personally invested (my short story “Dr. Adderson’s Lens” will be in a future publication) the Willows is a rare gem of a publication that really represents Victorian/gothic/steampunk aesthetic and literature. If kids are willing to shell out $100 bucks for a pair of goggles or a corset, I hardly think it’s a stretch to think a subscription/donation/advertisement to be that difficult.

If advertising your wares is your thing, consider that they’re offering 50% off all advertising as well! That’s a pretty impressive deal, considering their rates are a steal to begin with!

UPDATE: So, yeah. The Willows is no more. So, there we go. Read the comments below for an idea of what’s gone on. Sorry to those who have bought subscriptions/ad space, and have not been contacted. I’m not affiliated with the Willows; I only had a story accepted there, and it never was published. I apologize that I can’t be of any more help.

Alderpod #19 – Chapter Seventeen: Welcome

Huzzah! Another chapter done. Instead of putting my notes here, I decided to go ahead and babble a bit at the end of this one. So stay tuned at the end for ramblings and insight (hopefully…haha).

I’m also going to be releasing some bonus tracks in the next few weeks, where I profile the characters for you, talk about their inspiration, and how the approach has changed from book to book. Alderpod #20 is recorded and ready–I’ve only got to give it a last listen, and queue up the music. Now that the book is done it’s a bit easier to go. Hard to believe that I’m 2/3 through at this point.

Alderpod #18 – Chapter Sixteen: Tarnish

Back to the castle, and the doings of Sylvan and Ellinora (yes a chapter with two…two…TWO PoVs!). News of the dissolution of the Order of the Asp has arrived, and Libby is not happy. Meanwhile, Ellin meets the new Alderdaughters finally arrived from the Territories and beyond, and she even makes a little vialc-laced speech.

And even though Sylvan’s supposed to kill Ellin’s husband, it doesn’t quite turn out that way.

The music is all me, and again I’m turning to real instruments: i.e. my voice and my guitar. So, some harmonies, which I thought made sense considering all the gals in this particular chapter. I had a little trouble with this chapter, but after a ride this morning, and some editing, I’m happier. So, yay.

I’ve already recorded the next chapter, which picks back up with the Asp and Brick, and just have to add music.

And if I should a little more nasal than usual, don’t adjust your speakers. Lingering cold/allergies. Sometimes I just have to keep going, and hope you’ll forgive me!

I realize there’s been next to nothing here since the “end” of the book last week. I have a podcast, but I’m in that point of the editing where I’ve listened to it, and now I want to rewrite the whole fraking chapter.

This is not a good scenario.

So: a window into my brain right now. No, you don’t want to see it. I’m forcing myself to contine to write every day, and sometimes, that’s all I’ve got in me. My kid is sick again (OMGWTFBBQWTH!!?!?!?!?!?!) and I spent most of today wrangling him and/or decluttering the horror that is our house right now. Blog posting is not conducive, and unfortunately for you, writing in actual works of fiction takes precedence.

I tried to get Alderpod #18 together, but the forces conspired against me. In spite of the fact that my child naps every day of his life from 2-4, or therabouts, today was not that day. So my middle-of-the-day time was a big sucking vortex.

The pathetic culmination of my day? In spite of the fact I wrote somewhere around 3K (which I know I should be proud of, but honestly, the quality is so… meh… that it feels a lot less exciting), I gave up somewhere around 8:30pm and went and watched Picture Perfect on Hulu. Yes, I watched a romantic comedy with Jennifer Aniston and Jay Mohr (and Kevin Bacon, because he’s in every movie ever made). And throughout the entire film I kept thinking: “Wow, Jay Mohr is really freaky in this. His eyes are dead. This would be so much more awesome if the guy she pretended to be engaged to ended up a zombie!”

And I’m going to stop now, because I don’t have anything interesting to say at this point other than: sorry. I will try to suck less, and be more full of win…

Okay, more effective if I actually liked champagne.

But, at approximately 3:3opm, EST, here on a very chilly blustery day in North Carolina, I completed the second draft of The Aldersgate.

That’s thirty chapters and a hefty 161,000 words. (Like me, it could stand to lose some.)

I started The Aldersgate two years ago, and finished the first draft one year ago. This has been the single largest project I’ve ever undertaken, and certainly the longest book I’ve ever written. Of the original 100K in the first draft, I salvaged somewhere around 5K, and rewrote everything else.

There were days that I honestly never thought I’d get to this point; sincerest thanks to some of the most awesome readers/listeners/Tweeters out there, too.

So, yes. In the meantime, I’m going to finish another WIP that is single person, pure fantasy, and will hover around 90K when said and done. Then, well, of course, I have to work on the sequel!