Way Walkers

So, to get my brain back to work, I’ve been updating WW:U1&2. The biggest new additions will be the expansion of the MC to now play as male, female, trans male, tans female, gender fluid or gender neutral. It might not seem like a big change, but as it affects pretty much every scene that has yr angel or the MCs pronouns in it, it’s been taking me a bit. I’ve also been fixing up some grammar and capitalization issues to match the novels, as well as adding in a few additional *choice options here and there. I’m still debating adding another classroom scene or two to WW:U1, but as far as WW:U2, you all are getting an entirely brand new scene, dealing with picking out an outfit for the dance.

Here’s the sneak peek so far:

Of course, after all this you find yourself elbow deep in your closet, all your clothes brought from home strewn about the floor, bed, and chairs, and uncertain if you have anything to wear to such a dance.

*if (target != “none”) and (date = “solo”)

Though you’ve still some time to deem if you’re going to go it alone, you decided to see if you have options ready, just in case.

“I’ve got five sets of the regular school uniform,” you say to ${angel}, pushing aside the beige pantsuits to one side of the closet, the hangers making a little scrapping noise as they slide along the bar. “The one ‘dress’ uniform, which is the same as the others, except for this heavier, braided gold trim, and then there’s all my clothes from home.” Peering at where they lay across the room, you tap your finger on your chin, pondering.

*if nationality = “Aralim”

Most Aralim clothing is very plain, made of sturdy materials and built for comfort and practicality. Good enough for lounging around in during your non-class time, only one outfit could be considered ‘fancy’, and it’s a hand-me-down from an older sibling that is least six years out of style and the same beige color as your regular uniforms.

*goto just_dont_know_outfit

*if nationality = “Nor’wah”

Most Nor’wah fashion is made for warmth and ease of movement, heavy wools to keep out wetness and preserve body heat. While some of the lighter shirts and leggings are good enough for lounging around in during your non-class time, only one outfit could be considered ‘fancy’. It’s the traditional outfit of your pack, used for high-holidays and heavy in embroidery detailing your family’s hunting and fighting exploits– perhaps not the best choice for this type of gala, though you’d never think twice about wearing it to big gatherings back home.

*goto just_dont_know_outfit

*if nationality = “Lubreean”

Most Lubreean clothing is very light and airy, loose, silky materials meant to combat the heat of the south and dry quickly during the rainy season. Since coming to Tar’citadel, you’ve been wearing them in layers, the cold getting to you even indoors most days. The single piece you have that could be considered ‘fancy’ is a hand-me-down from an older sibling that is least six years out of style and you’ll likely freeze to death even in a room full of people. (Or at least be fairly uncomfortable for the duration.)

*goto just_dont_know_outfit

*else

Most human clothing from the Tazu Nation mimics the fashions worn by Tazu themselves, loose, draping things meant to be removed quickly in order for the shapeshifting Tazu to turn into their tyrn forms. (Or made of Tazu leather, which would shift with them, but humans of course do not wear such things; rather you have a lot of belts and accessories made from slaga leather.) Lacking sleeves and overall cut rather short, you’ve been using most of your wardrobe in conjunction with your school uniform to combat the cold of Tar’citadel, which seems to get to you even indoors. The single piece you have that could be considered ‘fancy’ is a hand-me-down from an older sibling that is least six years out of style and you’ll likely freeze to death even in a room full of people. (Or at least be fairly uncomfortable for the duration.)

*goto just_dont_know_outfit

*label just_dont_know_outfit

Hands on your hips, you sigh. “I just don’t know if what I have is good enough, ${angel}.”

[i]”Does what you wear really matter so much?”[/i] ${ahe} inquires. Fluttering down, ${ahe} flits across the room like a hummingbird, alighting briefly to examine each of your outfits before stopping to hover inside the closet. [i]”Your friends see you every day as you are. I thought clothing is for protection and expression, yes? Are you trying to express something different than normal?”[/i]

From here you will have choices as to what you’re trying to express, and then who you want to go to for help getting a new outfit, and then multiple choices on what, exactly you’re going to wear to the ball. And fear not, all this is not in vain; the right outfit could just boost yr date’s opinion of you, or cause some other interesting side effects. 😉

I will release this update as soon as i’m done the pair of games, so *hopefully* by summer’s end. 🙂

For those of you keeping track on Facebook and the like, I got really sick the end of March, the week before NaNo, and while this wasn’t a big detractor in me wanting to write and get work done, it left me with a really, really bad cough. A cough that decided to be so deep and dry and awful that it threw out my back on April first. (April fools to me…yay. -_-) Anyways, that ensuing injury left me in black-out levels of agony (seriously, i lost consciousness from pain– i do not recommend the experience) and flat on my back for over an additional week after having been sick with a fever for the previous week. I missed work, lost a ton of money between that and doctors bills and meds, and was forced to resign from my second job doing Internet-y stuffs.  I’m still in physical therapy and really have only now in the last week been able to really start moving around for any long period of time without pain/exhaustion taking me out for several hours. And of course this all means i didn’t even come close to finishing my goals for NaNoWrMo, indeed, this is the first month since doing NaNo that I’ve failed quite so spectacularly.  So, yeah….April sucked.

But April is over, and i’m kissing it goodnight. I’m doing… stuff. Mostly with WW:U and WW:U2, edits and changes and things i’ve been thinking about for years but never did. No promises, no set goals, just me and a keyboard and work that needs doing. I still need to finish one last scene in the third Tazu Saga book, but i’ve been stuck on that since July, so yeah.

I’m here, i’m working, and i’m doing my best to do right by all of us.

~j. leigh

I’ve had a rough month. Got very sick the end of March, then injured my back so i’ve been bedridden for about two weeks, and now, getting sick again. *sigh* Anyways,  because of all of this, my NaNo plans are pretty much out the window, so i thought i’d give you guys a little teaser of what *was* done. I’m still plugging along, just not at the pace i wanted. *sigh*  Anyways, enjoy!

This is a scene from the birthday party, specifically if you are part of the theater club:

“Oh,” you say with a start, bringing out the next card and reading it. “Some help I beg, to turn this tide, perhaps, perhaps from my faithful Guide!”

*page_break

Semryu flounces onto the stage.

Dressed as a Guide in a long, oversized set of pale blue robes he’s absolutely drowning in, with a set of gigantic gossamer wings bedecked in sequins affixed to his back and a halo complete with rhinestone ‘beams’ of light flaring out from it away from his head, he looks completely ridiculous. There’s a wave of giggling throughout the room as he strikes a pose, hands on his hips and chin pointed up toward Kess.

“Fear not!” he bellows, not sounding the least bit guide-like and more Semryu being boastful. “Your love-Guide has appeared! I’ll tell you what to say so she’ll get all flustered and fall madly in love. But not so in love she falls off the balcony.”

“That’s not the line!” Kess hisses in a whisper across the stage at him.

So, the theme for Camp Nano this time around isn’t a word count but rather “finish the Tazu Saga third book at all costs” and then “attack WW:U3 with a vengeance”. Wish me luck and all that, at this point i make no promises to no one and just hope for the best. >.<

That being said, current word count for Tazu #3 is 161,934 words and WW:U3 is sitting at a whopping 123,131 (counting code) and i’d say it’s about 1/3 done. For comparison’s sake, the first WW:U was about 115k, and number two was closer to 130k if i remember correctly. My goal at the end of the month is to have *most* of the currently mapped out scenes done– of which there are 17, of which only 4 are ‘done’.  If i can get that number up to about 10 done and seven unfinished, i can then FINALLY get into the heavy-duty structuring of what will be the rise into the climaxes, and then finally, plotting out the ruddy climax scenes. If i can get there, i can officially claim to be halfway done the silly thing. It’s a big baby, always has been, and i’m doing the best i can.

Also, at some point i am planning to spelunk back into WW:U1 &2 to make a few larger editing changes, the primary of which will be more gender options than to be male/female, as well as clean up a few glaring plot holes with some basic tweeks. My goal is to release that update before WW:U3 hits but it’s a long ways off so we’ll see.

Anyways, that’s the plan, so in the meanwhile, enjoy my first snapchat.

~j. leigh

August was when i last wrote a blog post, and sadly, i don’t have a lot to update, as it’s been a really rough fall into winter. I wont go into the depths of it, but as my loyal fans know i don’t deal too great with stress and there’s been a lot of it over here in the US of A. Top it off with a death in the family back in July, and missing that person terribly over the holiday season, and i’ve just been kinda hibernating.

But the hibernation isn’t without some progress. As some of you will remember, i did manage to throw another 40k words into WW:U3 back in November, and while it’s still no where near done, its a step in the right direction. my real issue has been book three of the Tazu saga where i hit a plot hole wall going about 100 miles an hour back in August and hadn’t been able to slip past it to save may life. FINALLY, now, i think i’ve got the solution, so it’s just going to take me a few good sessions to write it all out. No idea how long that will take. XD Still, i’m making this promise– when Tazu 3 is done i’m picking up WW:U3 again and not stopping until that’s done. really. Promise.

I just might have to move houses in the interim. >_<

Friends and followers! Way Walkers: Tangled Paths has been entered in the prestigious COVER WARS. It shall compete in battle for the title of best cover and a chance to be featured on their page as a winner! It’s competition is mighty, so please, i call upon you all to stop by and vote for the glory that is Walkers! it costs nothing to do so, no sign ups or memberships and you can vote once a day all week– so lets see if we can win this thing. 😉

If we do win, perhaps i’ll even post up a teaser from the next book or CoG. 😀

http://authorshout.com/cover-wars/

I’m doing a bit better these days, now that i’m taking my yearly break from art classes. I’ve signed up for NaNo’s July camp and had a good start so far. I’m not focusing on word count so much as just getting the third Tazu book DONE. Really, i’ve been working on parts of it since 2011, it’s over due, lol. Thanks so much to everyone who has been supporting me through this very long series of events: friends family and my gloriously patient publishers RAP and CoG. really, it means the world to me.

Anyways, plugging along. See you on the flip side, hopefully with a finished book.

j. leigh

Not going to lie, it’s been very hard lately. i really can’t go deep into details, but let’s just say i’ve had more bad days than good. I’ve had to get another part time job in order to make ends meet, and while i do enjoy the job, the schedule cuts very deeply into my writing time. I’m tired. My brain is fuzzy from waking up early and going to bed late. I’m trying to write, but the times are few and far between.

Firstly, big thank you to everyone who supported the release of Way Walkers: Broken City! It was an awesome feeling to see my second book out there, and i’m super excited to see all my first reviews have been positive. Thank you! Keep reviewing! 🙂

So, in the wake of broken City’s release, i had had set myself the goal of being done the next one at or around that time, and of course, i’m not done. At all. This leaves me not 100% but perhaps 90% sure i’m going to end up splitting the current third book in the Tazu Saga into two books. I’m choosing to do this because #1 the first portion of this book, which had originally been the middle section of the original sequel, reads exactly like that– the middle of a book. And that’s not good enough. It needs fixing in order to tell the best possible story, and i honestly feel it will be better served by lengthening than shortening the narrative. i want to give the readers what they want– the proper growth of Jathen’s story, centered upon his training and him discovering that aspect of himself, as well as fully exploring the many ramifications of Dodbyen, and of him finding answers to certain questions. The #2 reason i’m doing this is the later half of this book is already around 70k words and well, it, too, is just not done yet. And #3, the total word count for both sections is 153k, and because i have a smaller publisher (which is just the best, btw) we don’t have the resources to print a book above 170k words.

So, i am faced with the choice of cutting it back and only telling the minimum of the tale or, splitting it and having the freedom to tell the correct story. Kinda a no brainier on some levels.

The only down side of this is that what is now the third book needs a major overhaul in plot and pacing. But, it needed this weather i split the book or not, so by splitting it i’ve a bit more wiggle room to fix it. (about 20-40k worth of words if i so choose.)

This does of course mean it will take me longer to finish it, and i am, honestly sorry. Not just for my fans, but also for my poor brain, which originally thought the whole Tazu Saga was going to be a trilogy at most. (and seriously, huge thank u to my publisher for making the call not to put ‘trilogy’ on the cover of the first one. i’d have gone insane long ago otherwise.) I’ve officially been working on parts of this ‘third’ book since 2012 and i’m exhausted.  But i’m plugging along, too.

Anyways the plan at the moment is to throw both sections at my best alpha reader for a week, take a breath, and then go back in. Since it’s a NaNo month, i might poke around in WWU3 a little bit and see what i can get done there before heading back into Tazu-Land, but no promises, as i also have craft fair season early this year with two full weekends at a ren faire and a butt-load of inventory to make for it.

So, just bare with me, and i promise it will not only eventually all get done, but it will also be good.  😉

~J. Leigh