I had a busy day. Not only was I implementing all those edits I’d been collecting over the week for TG, JJ1 and JJ2, but I also decided to actually make use of my word processor’s custom dictionary (a practice I fell out of because I got tired of starting the process all over again every time I had to migrate to a new machine). In this process, I caught some typos that would’ve slipped past me otherwise, not just in the three stories above but also in CeleKing1-3, EM1-3 and NagaTen. Just dealing with the Cross Arc was enough to keep me occupied for the time being, but I’ll deal with the other Arcs in the near future.

While I was doing that, I made a significant change. Well, it’s significant behind the scenes but only required one or two changes in the stories themselves. You see, back when I was writing CeleKing3, I decided that it would be simplest to use the year of adoption for the designation of Imperial weapons, i.e. the P777 was adopted in NE 777. However, CeleKing3 originally took place in NE 723. Yes, I could’ve just changed the designations of all the Imperial weapons, but instead I decided to shift the whole series one hundred years into the future. This might seem like a drastic step, but it actually made sense with the wider lore of the Cross Arc. You notice how there’s no mention of the Hybrids in the CeleKing series? Well, if I set the series after NagaTen (NE 745) and EM3 (NE 767), you can imagine a very good reason for that. Since there’s no mention of Hybrids in even later storied like JJ2 (NE 968) and TG (NE 1032), it starts to paint a bit of a picture. That being said, instead of changing a few weapon names in a couple chapters of CeleKing3, I had to go into the peripheral materials and change all the citations in the encyclopedia, timeline, genealogies, etc. Most of it was just applying a 100-year adjustment to the dates. I didn’t add any new members to the Imperial Family, though. Now the Yuanguang Emperor reigns for a whopping 167 years, but with juvenation therapy, it’s not all that wild. He dies at the age of 266, but Wuzong (who Yasuko killed in CeleKing2) was still rather peppy at 231 (though Erdi’s juvenation therapy had improved by then, so that makes a difference). Another significant change is that Princess Anmei (wife of the Yuanguang Emperor’s brother) wasn’t killed during the purge of the Sun Faction but instead in an assassination attempt on the future Emperor Wude. (She still gets posthumously honored as Empress Bian when Wude takes the throne, and it prompted me to add a whole thing where Wude’s successor Wuzheng was the son of a concubine and all the mess that led to. Fun times.)

I think I may start doing sweeps in the Space and Tellus Arcs and see what that brings up. I’ll then try to gear myself to focusing on TWH next week. Hopefully there won’t be any more head trauma cramping my style. Stay tuned.

As noted in the previous post, I’ve been kept rather busy of late, and while I may not have been able to sit down and focus on story progress, I have managed to continue my scans through EM3 and then NagaTen. I then had to implement all the changes across EM2, EM3 and NagaTen. (Remember that I have to apply the changes to the original manuscript, the offline HTML backup, and the online version.) Loads of fun.

And of course amidst all this, I have work at work and my resident office productivity specialist at home interfering with me getting to dedicate time to actual writing. Still, it is what it is and at least I’m not left entirely empty-handed, as editing is an important part of the writing process, even if it’s edits done to stories that have been posted for months or even years. Anyway, we’ll see what I can accomplish over the weekend. Stay tuned.

I put the finishing touches on the epilogue of NagaTen before posting and now it’s done. At 41,441 words, it’s the shortest story I’ve written thus far and will probably warrant an expansion in the future. So, unless my count is off, that makes 23 books completed so far. Not too shabby if I say so myself.

I was also doing some work in the peripheral materials for WttW, which will feed into my work on RttW and such. As far as going forward with RttW as NagaTen’s follow-up is concerned, I already have more than enough written to give me a good head-start, but I need to stick to my pledge to get things properly plotted out beforehand. Work to be done. Anyway, I guess that’s it for now. Stay tuned.

Once again, I made a little progress on the Epilogue of NagaTen before passing out. Man, what a slog it’s been and I still have a bit left to go. I’ll have to get it done before posting the update. Stay tuned.

All I did Wednesday was make a few adjustments to the RttW stuff I wrote the day before and jot down notes about Byzantine currency… for reasons. I didn’t figure that quite warrant its own post. Anyway, I followed it up with making some progress on the epilogue of NagaTen, but I yet again passed out before finishing. Now I’m starting to get dangerously close to the deadline. I’ll feel silly if I couldn’t finish a matter of several paragraphs with week’s time, even if work has become busier as we wind things down or the calendar year. Stay turned.

I once again just inched my way through a paragraph of the epilogue of NagaTen before consciousness decided to take its leave of me. It really is dragging things out, isn’t it?

That would be the end of it, but earlier in the day, I found myself having a rather light workday and I was gripped by a sudden surge of inspiration. You see, I’m considering Return to the World as the follow-up to NagaTen and I dang near did the whole week’s quota adding to Chapters 8 and 9. I’d almost forgotten what it feels like for the words to flow so freely. I could get used to it, but the artistic temperament isn’t nearly obliging. Anyway, you can probably expect more to come on that front. Stay tuned.

So, when I finally got around to writing, I’m already on shaky ground as I work on a precious single paragraph of the epilogue of NagaTen, trying to correct an abundance of typos as my consciousness began to flicker out… only to later discover I’d pressed the Enter key long enough to add 70 pages to the manuscript. If only that was content, I wouldn’t have to worry about the wordcount.

Anyway, there’s not that much I need to write, but I do need to actually get it done. Here’s to getting more done next time. Stay tuned.

Bouncing back from my cold, I found myself swamped at work and too exhausted by the time I got home to focus on writing. With it having gotten colder, my trick of taking short naps on the floor for a quick recharge isn’t such a great option. Anyway, enough with excuses. I did manage to do some writing on the epilogue of NagaTen after I got the update posted, but I’m stuck on the clincher to finish it. I’ll have to keep thinking about it while perhaps going back and trying to get some work done on EM3. Stay tuned.

More progress on the epilogue of NagaTen. I’m so close to the end, I think I’ll go ahead and finish it even as I switch over to EM3. Stay tuned.

I made a little more progress on the epilogue of NagaTen. I was having to do some supporting research, so that was taking up writing time and so I ended up a bit under quota and definitely didn’t touch on my stretch goals. Still, progress is progress. I’ll see what I can do to add to that a bit more before switching over. Stay tuned.