The Mid Year and Juggling

Photo licensed from Depositphotos

It's already July. Wow.

I'm astounded at how fast time is flying past this year. I thought it was time for me to do a check in on my writing goals I set back in January. How did I do? Some I accomplished and some I won't. I'm not displeased, however. Rolling with the punches is the best way to stay on track the best I can with my scattered brain.

Writing goal #1: releasing a new social media story. 

Status: Checked off and it's still running though I took a break from it for a while. No Return is live on IG and Patreon every Sunday.

Writing goal #2: launching the webnovel Kagerou.

Status: The novel is being rewritten and edited. I'm still on track to begin releasing it sometime later this year.

Writing goal #3: Finally completing and publishing book 1 of Märchenverse.

Status: Most likely won't happen this year. I had too much of a delay earlier this year. I have made progress on books 1-3 however. I haven't yet started draft 2 of book 1 but I have started to line things up that need fixing or adding. Book 2 is slowly pushing its way out the chrysalis to show me the new form it will take during the rewrite. Book 3 has almost completely replotted itself and just needs more work on the middle section before I can start it again from scratch to have a much more horrifically terrifying story that it was before. Wish me luck. I am NOT a horror writer...

Writing goal #4: Attending my first 20booksto50k conference in November.

Status: Car decided it wanted to use up all my available funds so, alas, I must postpone this until 2023. I shall attend virtually and still take days off of work to focus on that, however.

And why all the huge delays and postponements this year? 

That all comes down to my one non-writing goal: to land a full-time job. 

I did it!! Back in January I finally received an offer to start a full-time job at *drumroll* a library! Yes, that was the job I was hinting at in the previous post. I'm now a Library Assistant who gets to hide in the central library's basement doing cataloguing. It's fantastic and right up my alley, but it did require a move and a complete halt on the writing front for months while I unpacked and got settled into my new job and city. So, now that my brain has had time to adjust, I'm finally getting back into the groove for writing. 

First up on the writing schedule? Finish Kagerou and get that ready and waiting in the wings to start. July marks the running of Camp NaNoWriMo and I'm hoping to use that to motivate me enough to accomplish at least half the rewrite.

Second, back to Märchenverse and try to get as much of that done as quickly as possible so I'm prepared for any other road blocks that may pop up.

While you are waiting, I would suggest popping over to my patreon. I recently finished updating the patreon library and I've started posting occasional book reviews. I'm hoping to post a little more consistently over there with new content. But, writing comes first before updating here or on patreon so please forgive me for inconsistency. 

Happy 4th of July and enjoy your holiday weekend!

Photo licensed from Depositphotos

Patreon Exclusive: The Twelve Part 7

 "Thompson found that it opened into a rough natural passageway in the rock which led downward and to the northwest. His tracker isn’t working that far down in the rock because we didn’t equip him with a powerful enough one to penetrate that deep, but he used his suit’s software to create a rough map."

 

Part 7 marks the halfway point! I've finally got the rest laid out and ready to post and it will be a total of 14 parts or chapters that will run until the end of April. I hope you are all buckled in because the roller-coaster picks up in speed from here on!

Have you figured out which fairy tale inspired this story yet?

Subscribe here for the password: https://www.patreon.com/join/386517

Then read here: https://www.annamittower.com/the-twelve

Tune in next Monday to read more!

 

 

Patreon Exclusive: The Twelve Part 6

"Instead of meeting two days later, Brig. Gen. Brantley was rudely jerked awake by a priority message alarm in the middle of the night. He groggily hit the button to activate a voice only channel and barked, “What is it?” "

 

At last! Answers to the mystery! But that just leads to more questions in this next part of "The Twelve". Comment below with where you think this story is heading.

I've been working on a new sci-fi short story this week (the one that was supposed to be posted as this month's story in Speculative Scribblings), but it's still not quite done as I ended up with no time for it. Instead, I celebrated a week of birthday stuff, work, and a full on burnt, two day fudge disaster of a birthday dessert. It has been a week, let me tell you. I'm ready to get back to normal this week (and finally make a successful chocolate dessert to feast on!)

Subscribe here for the password: https://www.patreon.com/join/386517

Then read here: https://www.annamittower.com/the-twelve

Tune in next Monday to read more!

 

 

 

Patreon Exclusive: The Twelve Part 5

“Sir, as I said before, I have no solid facts to present, but I did decide to...go off the beaten path so to speak and search for any similar happenings in the past. Of course, I found absolutely zero similar events in the history of our military or the GU, however, I did find something curious in the history of this planet."

Welcome to March with Part 5 of The Twelve! Finally, there's a breakthrough, or rather, a clue, in the case. 

 

Subscribe here for the password: https://www.patreon.com/join/386517

Then read here: https://www.annamittower.com/the-twelve

Tune in next Monday to read more!

Patreon Exclusive: The Twelve Parts 3 & 4

“You fell asleep?” Brantley tried to keep the amusement out of his voice.

“Yes, sir. I tried my hardest to stay awake, though. I can walk quiet when I want to so I patrolled around the barrack checking each room every half hour. But about two hours after lights out, my memory just goes blank and next thing I knew I was sitting in a chair at the front door with sunlight hitting me square in the eye."

The final two parts for February are up in one go! (Mostly because I ran out of time to post part 3 on schedule). The plot continues to thicken as it baffles the poor brigadier general. Will he be able to line up all the puzzle pieces that keep drowning him?

Subscribe here for the password: https://www.patreon.com/join/386517

Then read here: https://www.annamittower.com/the-twelve

Tune in next Monday to read more!

 

 

Patreon Exclusive: The Twelve Part 2

"08:30 arrived with a rushing swiftness that left the commander gasping. Or maybe it was only that his dread hastened the speed at which his doom approached. At precisely 08:25, the staff officer manning the front desk informed him that Lieutenant Colonel Kelly had arrived, but the Brigadier General ordered that no one be allowed in till the actual meeting time. Brantley used the last five minutes of peace to organize both his thoughts and his desk. His staff officer had conveniently supplied his office with enough chairs for all the participants so they could keep this private versus using one of the meeting rooms."

 

This story is continuing to lengthen as I tweak it a little bit more. Current estimate is 12 parts! So that means the story should continue releasing till the end of April. Just for my lovely patrons~

Have you guessed yet what fairy tale this is based on?

 

Subscribe here for the password: https://www.patreon.com/join/386517

Then read here: https://www.annamittower.com/the-twelve

Tune in next Monday to read more!

 

 

Speculative Scribblings: The Twelve Part 1 (teaser)

 "A baleful red light solemnly blinking on his datapad greeted Brigadier General Brantley when he returned to his desk. He lowered himself into his chair with a sigh. Yet another report urgently demanding his attention. Would he ever catch a break? No, he quickly answered himself, not on a base this new."

 

Photo by Mandy Naleli on Unsplash

I hope you all enjoyed the teaser! This is just part one of a much longer story which I'll be releasing in my patron library over the next few months. Subscribe on Patreon to find out the truth behind the weird and odd happenings that are plaguing the soldiers of barrack 9! Part 2 goes live on February 8th.

And, you'll be happy to note that this story marks the launch of a short story/novellette series! All are stand alones which translate or are inspired by fairy tales! Guess below which fairy tale you think this one is based on. It's my favorite fairy tale so I had to pick that one to start off with. 

Read on my website: annamittower.com/speculative-scribblings-vol-2

Tapas: tapas.io/series/Anthology-of-Speculative-Scribblings

Wattpad: wattpad.com/story/210249011-anthology-of-speculative-scribblings

Webnovel: webnovel.com/book/anthology-of-speculative-scribblings_15781132206046605

Again, if you like my novel, please consider supporting me on Patreon!

Become a Patron!

If you want to discuss my works with other
readers, head on over to my discord server. https://discord.gg/mK3GENd

 

Anthology of Speculative Scribblings: Aloft

"Purple clouds colored the light as the blue balloon soared through them. The man flying the balloon could only watch with wonder as they floated past. He’d heard that the upper levels of the sky contained a rainbow of clouds that changed color depending on the weather, but, until now, no one had been able to prove it. However, he would change that and stay aloft for as long as his balloon would carry him. 

For days on end, he drifted along the air currents, not really paying attention to where he was going, but instead following the colors. He saw every color of the rainbow aside from one: yellow. He hadn’t been able to find any rumors or stories of what would cause yellow clouds, only that it was dangerous. But, he lived for danger."

Photo by Dzmitry Tselabionak on Unsplash

Sorry for the late posting for this month's story! My family was in town so I had to prioritize them over posting. However, the story was up on my website on time so in the future, if releases are late, please check on my website first to see if it's been posted there! Fun fact, but normally it gets released a few hours earlier on the website before I get around to posting it on here.

This story is closely tied to the picture this time as I picked the picture for a flash fiction challenge this past month. So I hope you enjoyed it, because I had fun writing it! I've written a lot over the past month (4 whole stories!) but most of them will be added to the patron library instead of being published in full on here. So please support me on Patreon so you can read them when they are released!

Read on my website: https://illoria.wixsite.com/annamittower/anthology-of-speculative-scribbles

Tapas: https://tapas.io/episode/1846231

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/930077598-anthology-of-speculative-scribblings-aloft

Webnovel: https://www.webnovel.com/book/anthology-of-speculative-scribblings_15781132206046605/aloft_47369071464860283

Again, if you like my novel, please consider supporting me on Patreon!

Become a Patron!

If you want to discuss my works with other readers, head on over to my discord server. https://discord.gg/mK3GENd