This is from a text message my wife just sent me. It’s a reminder that God’s plan doesn’t work on our time table. And just because it’s not happening when we want doesn’t mean that it won’t happen at all. It’s a good reminder. Especially for me. Especially now.
I’m sorry about last week. I completely spaced on doing this on Easter. That and considering my “Cryptic Thing” occurred on the Friday before…well, I had a lot going on. At the moment, I’m still inside what I’ve come to call “The Third Gate” (borrowed from Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, which is fantastic. Go read it. As soon as your done reading this). I entered the Third Gate on Friday, the last step in my “Cryptic Thing.” It’s been a week and I haven’t heard anything. That’s okay. Especially considering the paragraph above. But still, this has been one of the hardest and nerve-wracking weeks of my life.
So I still need prayers. A lot of them. That I would succeed in the Third Gate. Where I would be able to pass through it victorious. I’m praying at least four times a day about it. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything so bad in my life. Well…that’s not entirely true.
You see, if I get this…if I succeed in the Third Gate…it will be the third greatest miracle in my life. The first is finding a wife who somehow puts up with me. The second is having two beautiful healthy baby girls (even if they are a pain in the rear occasionally). This would be the third.
And I want it. Badly.
It’s my desperate dream.
So please pray for me. Pray that I would not lose my mind in the waiting. And pray for my success in this…even if it’s just so I stop being so darn cryptic about the whole thing!
The OC Inklings
Some interesting things have happened in the last few weeks for the Inklings. We’ve done very well and added two new members to the critique group. Totally thrilled about that. Seriously. There also have been rumblings of change. Some people are discontent with how some things are going. The most encouraging part though is that all of them have been praising me for my leadership of the group. That means a lot. I know that a critique group is a hard thing and I know that my job is part organizer, part cheerleader. I have to keep spirits high, otherwise the thing will fall apart. And so far, it’s going well.
And that leads me to my next part…
My Current Writing Project
The Cryptic Thing is now entirely out of my hands. It’s wholly in God’s hands. I can’t do a thing about it. So that leaves me with needing something to do…and in truth, I’ve been neglecting my writing. My imagination has been howling for a while now. And I’ve decided what I’m going to do next. It was influenced a lot by the Inklings, where I realized that my stories weren’t up to snuff to submit to the group. The first thing they ever saw was my most polished piece of prose I’ve ever written. It was editing like 20 times. Probably close to publishable. And while I don’t want that for everything, I don’t want to throw the critiques with oddities like strange spacing, formatting, spelling and grammar and obvious plot holes.
So…I’ve decided to head back to Stormhaven.
Drat. I had this really cool cast photo I wanted to post here, but I can’t seem to find it. Mhr.
Anyway, Stormhaven was originally inspired by “The Wotch” and “El Goonish Shive.” In fact, it was going to be a webcomic done by Laura and I. I would be the author, she would be artist. It’s a spinoff on some of my other stories I’ve posted in other places too (and yes, I’m being vague on purpose).
Here’s a tagline for you…
“When a prank at a Normal Community College goes horribly wrong, Daniel Makkus Junior finds himself somewhere he never expected: in a town filled with non-magical people. Despite being the son of a high ranking member of the Society Circle, he’s expelled from the Magus Academy and sent to an apprenticeship under retired Warlock Jeremy Rogers in the seaside town of Stormhaven. But there’s a catch: something is stirring within Stormhaven, the beginnings of an ancient power forgotten by all but the oldest of the Society of Sorcerers. An ancient power that has only one goal…the destruction of the Society that had bound it millennia ago.”
In some ways, it’s the reverse of the Harry Potter series. A kid raised in magical society is thrown out and forced to learn to live with the rest of the human race.
I had started rewriting it last year, but ended up shelving the project for another Taylin story shortly before NaNoWriMo. And at the moment, “What Lies Beyond Steam and Magic” needs to sit on the virtual shelf for a bit. I need to give myself a break.
I’m probably going to target this series as young adult…but I’ve always liked the idea and thought it had a ton of potential as an ongoing series. And now, it’s time to get a real second draft together. I’m excited about it. 🙂
In Closing
That’s it for now folks. Wow, a writing post in my writing blog. Shocking! Just please send me your continued prayers about the Third Gate…that I would be successful. But you know what? We haven’t done a PMV in a while. So I found a new high-energy one I REALLY liked. So enjoy!
Okay folks…
Good luck and have fun!
-rks
-rks 