I am still working on this. New updates are coming in the near future. Explanation for the delay will likewise be forthcoming.

Okay, new update for Thorn Tree is finally up. I will be more regular about this from here on out. Promise. Got some good stuff coming.

So I got invited out by some friends tonight, and the update will be pushed back again. Sorry. It will be up this weekend at some point. I promise.

Yeah, I know. I shot my biweekly update sched all to hell in no time. I'm bad. Spank me.

Problem is, writer's block doesn't follow a schedule, and when I get blocked on a project like this that I a) update regularly and b) try to keep ahead of so regular updates can continue, I tend to just stop updating so I don't fall behind/have to scramble to get caught up later. I'd rather stay static and stay ahead.

That said, I'm finally writing again, working my way around the problem I've been having, and I'm feeling like it's moving forward again, which is good. The issue I had was that my new character has an important flashback sequence at the beginning of Chapter Four (you'll see it in a few weeks, don't worry), and I kept running up against a wall with it. I tried a few different approaches to it and they all took too much time to tell, or felt flat and lifeless, or just plain felt wrong. It took me four attempts before I finally got into a draft I liked, and I'm getting back up to speed on writing it. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the results.

The other reason this has been taking so long is that I'm trying new things here, pushing the envelope of my writing a little, going very much outside what I consider "normal" for me in order to write this project in general, and these chapters in particular. My feeling is that if I get them right it'll set the tone for a lot of what comes after, so I'm being very careful with what I'm doing. It's hard work but it's worth it, and I'm hoping it helps me grow as a writer.

The new update will be hitting Thorn Tree tomorrow night, so I can have something up before the holiday. After that I should be back on a regular schedule. The next 3-4 chapters are mapped out, they just need to be written. Things should be a lot smoother from here on out. :)

As you can see from the icon here, we have a winner in the "Pick Catherine's Icon" Poll. There was also a good runner-up, which I can use if need be, and I have a couple of other icons I have in reserve if need be, so I'm set. Thanks to everyone who voted and who's still reading, or who just started reading, and please stay with me; the real big stuff is yet to come.

Speaking of which, the new update has gone live, so head on over to thorntreegarden and check it out. This is the start of a fairly long bit, two chapters at least, and it's the first indication we have of the kind of character Catherine is. It also introduces one Jaleel Steadman, a minor character at the moment who will have some major things to do later on in the story.

Laters!

JBW

If you've been following Thorn Tree In the Garden, you know I've been experimenting with using LJ icons to represent the characters and/or situations taking place in the posts.

One character I've been stuck on an icon for is Catherine, my angel, who figures prominently in the story, especially in the upcoming chapter. I've been looking through pictures, a lot of them, and none have really satisfied me.

I've finally come up with ten I like--Stef helped me find a couple, and the rest I found on my own. I'd like to narrow it down further, but if it was left up to me I'd dither about it for days.

This is where you come in. Behind the cut is a poll featuring the ten images, and buttons for rating each one on a 5-point scale. Please help me out by completing the poll; the winner (or winners, if there's a tie) will become Catherine's icon).

Thanks!

( I looked over yonder, and what did I see? )

I made some cosmetic changes to the main page at thorntreegarden this morning--the cats had me up early, I was online, and had the time, so what the hell, why not. :)

I'm pretty pleased with the results. The page has a more stylized look & feel to it, and it's much easier to navigate. I added an "about the author" blurb in the right-hand sidebar, as well as the "sensitive readers" disclaimer I've been going on about. This I felt was particularly important in the wake of what happened recently with LJ suspending and/or deleting several journals and communites, quite a few unnecessarily. Thorn Tree has no content like the suspended or deleted accounts, and AFAIK will not have such content (unless I feel compelled to address that subject matter, and then I will do so sensitively and intelligently--or I hope I will, anyway). That said, there are a lot of overly sensitive types out there who love whining about silly crap instead of taking responsibility for themselves and their lives; putting up the disclaimer gives these types every opportunity to click the BACK button or otherwise navigate the heck away from the page.

That's it. Busy today meeting up with friends in Manhattan. New post should go up Tuesday latest. Ciao for now.

The DSL came back up, so I'm taking advantage of it while I can. New writing on thorntreegarden. Go. Read. Enjoy. I had fun with this one. I hope you do too.

I have finally gotten a jump on the next chapter and am making progress again. I'm writing during my commute, which seems to be a good space for me for some reason--whether it's because I think well with chaos going on around me or because I can tune the chaos out by writing, I don't know, but it works.

Meantime, our internet issues (*crosses fingers*) seem to have been fixed, and I managed to get my computer back online as well. I hope to get back to a regular update schedule, either weekly or bi-weekly, soon. Like today soon. I have the last part of the current chapter to post and that will hopefully happen tonight. There's just some polishing to get done and putting my HTML tags in place.

I think you'll like this next bit. It introduces Hailey's mother, and there's some fun character business I got to do with them. I'm really enjoying how they play off one another.

The next segment is going to be a bit of a gear-shift, even in comparison to what's gone before. We're going to learn a little more about the kind of world these characters occupy, and I'm finally establishing a time-setting for the serial, which I haven't done as yet. Bad of me, I know . . . but I wanted to keep things fluid in that respect until I was sure where (and when I was going with all this. :)

***

In other news, yesterday at my in-laws' I was going through some old boxes and found a 3.5 disk which I believe has a goodly chunk of my old writings stored on it--including the first draft of the novel I've been struggling with for the last two years. So what did I do? I put it aside--and then promptly forgot about it and packed it away again. Duh. :-/ Oh well, at least I know where the damn thing is now.

New post is up at Thorn Tree, and another will follow next week now that I'm back on something resembling a regular schedule. Next up: we meet Hailey's mom!

Okay, the new post is up. Unfortunately my disclaimer/greeting doesn't seem to want to stay, as I thought it would, at the top of the page. I'll have to think of something else, I guess.

Anyway, enjoy the new segment.

. . . on your Friends' Page, but the Thorn Tree post that just went up is the easiest way of explaining to potential newcomers where to find the beginning of the story, and to put up the disclaimer I've been dancing around for the last week or so.

New post tonight. I swear.

I got held up by a late train and an errand that wore me out pretty severely last night, so I wasn't able to get anything done besides dinner. The good news is I'm halfway done with the new update, and I should finish it tonight barring unusual circumstances.

JBW

I'm starting work on the new update tonight, but don't know if I'll finish it in time to post tonight. If not tonight, then tomorrow night. Next week is looking busy -- for obvious reasons, heh -- but I'm going to try for early in the week, Monday or Tuesday if I can manage it.

So -- I posted about this before, but I wanted to ask again, as my previous post received an underwhelming lack of response. ;)

Given that prior and upcoming posts at thorntreegarden will have a certain amount of profanity and/or violence in them, should I post a disclaimer for those of a sensitive nature? I've been considering this and I'm still conflicted about it.

What say you?

And the new post has finally gone up. After this things should be back to abnormal around here. Even the wedding shouldn't throw a kink into things at this point, as I plan to work around it.

Anyway, enjoy!

JBW

Okay, personal business having been taken care of, I will now be free to post the next segment of Thorn Tree tonight, barring earthquakes hurricanes, the reemergence of 'N'Sync as a force in popular entertainment, or other natural disasters.

There will be no update tonight--or if there is one, it will be very late. Possibly tomorrow morning.

Something came up. My apologies.

I finally got my internet issues squared away, so new Thorn Tree updates will be forthcoming. I will shoot for two this week and next--not promising anything but we'll see. I'll update about the updates here soon.

JBW

I am not online at home yet. For full details on this ond other recent goings-on, please check out the _xenogenesis blog, or followthis link: http://users.livejournal.com/_xenogenesis/2007/03/28/ -- because I'll be damned if I write all that out again.

Back soon. I swear.