It has been a while since I posted a real update (as I mentioned in a previous post, I was hospitalized for some time, and my health is still not fully recovered), so I wanted to let my fans know a little of what is happening with my work!
First of all, it is Word Count Wednesday, so here is the word count on my latest project, "Burning Spirits": approximately 5719 words. For those of you who follow "Tales From Midhgardhur" on Channillo, that story just became available TODAY. It was a hard one to write, truth be told, because it was based on my own family history and lore in large part, and it is not exactly a happy story, so i kept pausing as I was writing and editing it to ask myself, "Do I really want to tell this story?" In a way, it is the most personal thing I have written to date, and that made it very difficult to finish. But it is finished and posted. "Burning Spirits" deals with four generations of a family on a remote farmstead inhabited by a wight they call Tomtagumi ("Tomti-man"), a version of the Scandinavian tomte of more recent folklore (the art above shows a disgruntled tomte from traditional folklore stealing a farmer's hay). Tomtagumi watches over the family for generations, but cannot really prevent the family's demons (the cursed gift of berserkergang, abusive relationships, and alcoholism - in the form of addiction to a kind of spirits called brennivin, "burnt wine") from taking a terrible toll on the family.
The month of October is nearing its end, which means the beginning of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is only a few days away. I won NaNoWriMo the last couple of years (completing The Saga of Asa Oathkeeper in 2014 and my as-yet-unpublished novel Ormsbani in 2015), and I even did Camp NaNoWriMo in the summer of 2016 (when I finished my novella, The Tale of Halfdanur the Black). I had intended to write another novel this November - I had begun research, and was preparing a general outline, etc. But then I got sick, and ended up in the hospital. And I still have a 2 year old and a 2 month old that I care for. So, I talked it over with my wife, and i agreed to skip NaNoWriMo this year, both for my sake and the sake of my family. It was not an easy decision, but I have to be realistic about what I can do, given the circumstances. Fear not, I'll be writing the next novel eventually. I'm just going to wait until my health improves a bit.
Well, that about wraps it up for the moment. I am about a month behind on my schedule for "Tales From Midhgardhur," but I hope I can catch up, while I am busy not writing my next novel! Until next time . . .
Happy Reading! Skál!
~ Colin Anders Brodd
