Good news! The Zafiil rewrite is done! And as I expected, it’s so large it’s going to need to be published in two volumes, each of which will be about the size of Even the Wingless, which… was not a small book. I feel scooped out. I finished this novel (I thought) in 1996, tried to sell it, got nowhere, went on to write two decades’ worth of canon that assumed it existed… then decided to unearth it, edited the first 40% of it, discovered the last 60% was no longer consistent with published work, trashed that 60% and rewrote it from scratch. Which gets us to this moment right now, when this second draft? Rewrite? Is complete.
Editing it isn’t going to be the work of a week, the way it usually is. I’m guessing I’ll need at least two or three, because everything needs doublechecking, from the meta-universal (“did I refer to this personage in a published novel and if so did I get the reference right”) to the copy-editorial (“should all the words be mid-capitalized because some of them are? Should it be MindFire because it’s WisdomDancer?”). I’ll have a long list of things I want to check before I think of handing it over to first readers, and there are entire sections where I left chunks out of the manuscript because I wanted to maintain momentum (“what season is it? Oh who cares, don’t talk about where they are at all, I can add that later”).
This is one of those stories that’s going to grow as I edit it.
My plan is to leave it for a few weeks, and return fresh in mid-April/late April, with the goal of publishing both volumes in late May. That’s your warning if you want to first-read. If you’ve been reading along with my updates when I was still posting them, some of the draft will be the same, but as I said, the story’s going to grow, so the second time around it might be different. (Thank you for those first comments though, I've already incorporated them! Invaluable, as always.)
As exhausted as I am, I am so glad I did this, and not just because it restores and makes available to readers an important piece of the Peltedverse’s historical context. Zafiil was the very first novel I finished as a “grown-up”, as College Me considered herself even when she was still in her teens. And it was an incredibly ambitious project for someone that age. Rescuing it from the dusty recesses of my hard drive was an opportunity to have a conversation with that younger, more idealistic me, and realize she’s still in here, along with all the Mes I’ve become since. I can’t wait to share her story with you.
But! I have got to let this one rest. Like bread, it needs to proof while I do something else. And I have no idea what that something else is, yet! I still plan to do the unicorn kickstarter in summer, but I don’t want to pre-write for that… the fun of those campaigns is that you don’t know if the bonus stories are going to be written! If they’re already written and I’m dangling them out of reach, waiting for the money to arrive, I feel like I’ve stopped being the heroine and become the villain of the piece. XD So I don’t want to work on that.
I’ll probably shake out my project list and see what feels like a good fit for my mood. I don’t particularly want to do a Peltedverse book yet, but I’ve got some non-PV partials waiting (Coracle 2, GameLit Standalone), and an unfinished Jokka story that I could finish up… which reminds me that there are three Jokka stories not yet in a collection, so maybe I could do a couple more of those stories and make a sequel to Clays Beneath the Skies? Not sure I’m in a Jokka place, though. I definitely want to try to add to/tidy up the wiki, though, because that’s relaxing work that will help with editing later.
I guess what I’m saying is that the next few weeks will be ‘take it as it comes’. Then I’ll dive into Zafiil edits, and hopefully come out of it in late May with two hefty new books for your enjoyment. That'll give me four books published this year so far (Discover and Preserve, Good Company, and these two volumes), and since my goal was six this year I'm in good shape.
This was a huge project that was eating up a lot of writing cycles, and I’m really excited. Or I will be when I’m not so ready to flop!
Or at least, I intend it to be relaxing. Hopefully it delivers.
4:22 minutes
Materials:
- Pen: Moonman Starry Glass dip pen, Mars: https://www.jetpens.com/Moonman-Starry-Sky-Glass-Dip-Pen-Mars/pd/31536
- Paper: Strathmore Writing Series 500, lined: https://www.jetpens.com/Strathmore-500-Series-Writing-Pad-8.5-x-11-Lined-50-Sheets/pd/15322
- Ink: Robert Oster, Rose Gilt Tynte: https://www.jetpens.com/Robert-Oster-Rose-Gilt-Tynte-Fountain-Pen-Ink-Shake-N-Shimmy-50-ml-Bottle/pd/25170
In which I talk about the paper, the paint, and the experience of oils versus gouache. Fun stuff, will do more.
Thank you Locals supporters! Your contribution to my art war chest here is what's powering these experiments and videos. For now I'm keeping them public but I may start doing some subscriber-only videos if you all are interested.💖
Thanks for your comments yesterday on the business post... all very provocative, in a good way. I'll try to respond to all of them today.
Some Alysha misc now, since I'm gearing up for the results of the Kickstarter!
Petrov is giving away coupon codes for every book in the Alysha series (and has some leftover coupons for Marda and the business book). You can pick those up here (and please do! The books are bought already, someone should use them!) https://twitter.com/PetrovNeutrino/status/1457344535843987461
Our own @JudasComplex sent along a sample of the Faith in the Service audiobook, which I've attached for your delight! I... haven't had a chance to listen to it. Don't ask me about my past week and a half or so. Putting it here will guarantee I get to it.
After hearing the amused comments during the livestream, I went ahead and added all the ship type illustrations I have inked from the 90s to the wiki. Glory in the rampant adorableness of their anthropomorphic stylings! See those ...
A little comedy today, at least in the link. Transcript follows.
Hi, all. Welcome to this episode of The Jaguar’s Heart.
A while back I was introduced to a comedy sketch about Cuban coffee by a Mexican comedian, Gabriel Iglesias. ( The sketch begins with him greeting all his fellow Latinos and then backing up to say ‘but we’re all different, aren’t we’ which is a segue into a demonstration of how different Hispanics speak Spanish.
It is hilarious. First, because I am a Spanish speaker and a linguistics hobbyist, and his portrayal of various accents resonated with my experiences in trying to make sense of them myself… Not always easy, since from culture to culture, slang and accent are often totally different (and sometimes grammar! Spaniards use a grammatical construct that has died out in many other Spanish-speaking countries, the plural “you.”)
I also loved it because the Cuban coffee part is real. I grew up with Cubans. I know how we are....
One of the most common things I hear (and say) right now is "the asymmetry is the story." Here's one about how none of us are innocent of the sins we hate in others.
Hi, all. Welcome to this week’s episode of The Jaguar’s Heart.
It’s been weeks since the Baen’s Bar incident and I’m still thinking about it... because the longer I do, the more I feel, overwhelmingly, that it’s obvious that the problem is deeper than “this forum was saying stuff that offended us.” We have to back up to the glaring fact that people on opposite sides no longer consider each other human. Nothing I say will matter because the people disagreeing with me don’t think I’m human. They have denied my humanity; they have not bothered to listen to my beliefs, or have fake-listened to them in that way that people do when they’re so ready to prove you wrong that they’re only using your speech to provide talking points for their own ideas.
We have forgotten how to listen.
Increasingly, we have also ...
We’re just about at the midpoint of 2025, so I thought today would be a good day to do a Jaguar check-in! What a weird year it’s been. Very busy, family-wise, with lots of both good and challenging changes; I am using up a lot of time on that, but how is that news? You know how it goes.
My current major project is finishing up the second Jokka collection and mailing all the Kickstarter prizes. That should be wrapped up next month sometime, when we start the Red Honey serialization. I tell you, it’s a wild to be scanning old sketchbooks, only to find sketches of the Red Honey characters from the 2000s! This story has been on the backburner a long time! I also unearthed a lot of sketches from the development of the jokka.org website, which I used the wayback machine to archive (as much as possible). I’m thinking of restoring some amount of it to my current website, which is my other major project right now: my website. I feel like ...
I want to do these badge designs for things like shirts, acrylic pins, and the quiz! What design do you like? There are four "head and bust" styles and two "full body" styles.
As you all know (she says), we’ve reached the end of our last serial, Live, Love, Level, and I’ve been dragging my heels about what to do next… mostly because it’s hard for me to write more than one story at a time and if a serial goes on long enough, I’ll inevitably be working on another project. But I had a brainstorm when the Kickstarter got us every stretch goal except the Red Honey novella, which some of you have been waiting for, for decades. That story’s already 5000 words toward an expected 1,5000 (I know, I know) and the Kickstarter has definitively proved that the Jokka still have fans who want more stories.
SO! Our next serial will be Red Honey, the story of how the Jokka moved out of the nomadic age into the age of settlements. Some of you might remember the seeds of that evolution in Kediil’s second adventure, “New Stories.” And Roika and Keshul talked briefly about the first Jokku settlement during Pearl, hinting that there was some drama involved. Well, there is, ...
KICKSTARTER KICKSTARTER GO GO GO
The Jokka kickstarter launches Thursday! And runs for 12 days, so if you want any of the original art (or one of the few “get yourself drawn as one of the Jokka” slots), go sign up to be notified of launch!
ON THE HORIZON: A LOT MORE ART
Scott Adams is fond of saying that you either want something, or you decide. That if you’re in the ‘I want’ phase, you don’t actually take steps; things only start happening when you have decided they’re going to happen. And I, ariisen, have finally decided I’m sick of not scanning and archiving my sketchbooks and turning them into stuff you can enjoy, like art books and prints and wiki images! I’ve already done Sketchbooks 1-10, and I’ve made a start on the next set of ten.
My plan is to run a Kickstarter for the first art book in a month or two (so if you’re a fan of my art more than my writing, your campaign is coming!) and use that as the proof-of-concept for the process for the remaining 200 or so… see where the issues are, streamline where I can, order proofs of the art book and decide what paper I like and what kinds of covers are economically feasible. I’ve timed myself and it takes about two hours to scan one sketchbook, if I stand there and do nothing but turn pages. I don’t think I can make that part go by faster, but I might be able to do something about the post-processing phase. Let the experimentation begin!
While I’m doing that, I’ll be posting some of the scans here! These posts will be separate from Back in Time Tuesday, which is for finished artwork dug out of the closet from whatever time period I feel like sharing. This means the Patreon will be getting EVEN MORE ART.
I’m debating right now whether the art sharing will be my “serial” until I’m ready to serialize new fiction. Someone also suggested writing wiki/worldbuilding entries as serial content, which might be fun. But I’m still only wanting to do those things—I definitely haven’t decided. Until then, there definitely will be an art explosion. I’ve montaged some things up there as demonstration of what you have to look forward to!
If you are a lurker, now’s a good time to decide whether you want to subscribe to contribute to my coffee fund. I do, in fact, literally drink a cup of coffee while trapped in my laundry room, turning pages and leaning on the drier! Or if you’re a paying subscriber, consider buying me a monthly coffee if you’re currently in the ‘tossing the jaguar a buck’ club. My coffee capsules are closer to $2 after shipping. XD
We’re all overloaded and looking for moments of beauty and cheer and inspiration in our days. A lot of this older artwork is silly, or delightful, or cartoonical, and I think it might be just what we need.
Seriously, check out happy bee guy there. What even was that. Lol.😂
Anyway, I'm doing the things! Jokka! Art! Fun! Forth!
