Wherefore?

Yes, it has been three weeks since my last post. I've had things to do. Lots of things. Too many things.

I've been chipping away at a republication of Hollenguard: Book 1 as well as an omnibus edition of all three books in one package. I've settled, currently, on the three books existing within the omnibus in their entirety, epilogues and all, with "Book #" breaks between them. I have a separate file where I've integrated the epilogues into chapters so that the entire trilogy is one continuous story, but I seem to be the only person I talk to (yes I do talk to myself) that thinks it would be a good idea to publish it that way. If you have an opinion on this, I'd love to hear it.

I've been playing around in the early part of book 1 with some perspective shifts to combat what I perceive as one of the major issues that makes it read slow in the beginning. Getting the story out of Kamil's head allows me to do more showing rather than telling with an odd narrative monologue that doesn't really exist anywhere else in the entire trilogy. Oh, and I also fixed a niggle of mine about using Elysandria's nickname of Elys in the narrative. Now it is only in dialogue when characters address her as such. Sorry all you folks that appreciate my having reduced the name to something comprehensible. Say it with me: "EL-IH-SAN-DREE-YA"

Actually, I like it when people pronounce character's names differently that I imagine them. The correct way is how you say it in your head when you read it, just like their faces look just like how you imagine them. I remember getting a Dragonlance book as a child and thinking to myself as I looked at the cover, "That is not what he looks like at all!"

Besides, you should hear how I pronounce Cheyla's name. I bet I'm the only one that actually does so that way.

In other news, I've prototyped out a board game based on book 1. It may be unsurprising to all of you to know that I am a board game fanatic, and I've integrated some of my favorite mechanics into this thing. It's ready for playtesting, sitting here on my desk consisting of a rather tall stack of scribbled-on index cards and a bag of wooden cubes and plastic chits. All I need is a group to test it with, and the time to do it. I remember back when I had time for things...