Well, when last I updated Word Count Wednesday, I was working on "The Gorgonades Shipwreck," and I was up against some serious editing challenges. For example, the story was for a contest with a 2500 word count limit, and I was at 3524 words and counting. Final word count of the first draft was close to 5000 words, and I needed to cut it down to less than half of that!
I am happy to report that with some help from my wonderful wife, Tanya, I accomplished the mission! I was stuck for a long time at about 2600, having cut out a couple of sub-plots, several major characters, and some scenes I really loved. At that point, I was so burned out from re-reading the same words over and over, and hacking away at my manuscript, that I really needed a fresh set of eyes (thanks again, Tanya!). But the thing I love about editing for a word count goal like that is how tight the writing becomes after a while. Redundancy is pared away, fat is trimmed, and you're left with a far leaner, heavier-hitting story. I was really happy with the way it turned out, and finally clocked in at about 2460 words!
So, the story is finished, and submitted to SIA for their "Mythic March" story contest (started in March, but deadline is April 30th, 2019, with winners to be announced in early May). I also posted "The Gorgonades Shipwreck" to Tales From Midhgardhur on Channillo (you can read it there now, if you're a subscriber!), and added it to the manuscript for the forthcoming Tales From Midhgardhur, Volume III.
Yes, the manuscript for Volume III is finally complete! I had to wrestle a bit with the new system on Amazon for submitting books (I used to do it in Create Space, now defunct, and then have Kindle Direct Publishing, or KDP, base the ebook on that version. Now I had to fight with KDP's new system a bit, and it involved deleting the table of contents from the ebook version, but I got it done!). Both paperback and Kindle versions of Volume III are under review and should be released soon, I hope!
Also, speaking of Tales From Midhgardhur on Channillo, the series was understandably listed as "Postponed" since my lack of a computer meant I couldn't update it regularly from November until now. I wrote to the fine folks at Channillo and asked them to put the series back on "Ongoing" status, which they have done, so I'm back on the map! I'm very glad to say my readership is growing again - thanks to all my new subscribers! "The Gorgonades Shipwreck" is available there now, and I finally posted a long-term project there for May 1st ("Wolf's Head," first in a series called "Runestones of Rys" intended for a zine that never happened - I'm still going to do the series, anyway!). And while I am working on other projects, I want to make sure Tales never becomes inactive for long, I'm finally posting "The Tale of Halfdanur the Black" (June) and "The Tale of Ingjaldur the Mad" (July) there too (previously only available in the collections Tales From Midhgardhur, Volume I and Tales From Midhgardhur, Volume II, respectively). So, current and upcoming schedule so far:
April - "The Gorgonades Shipwreck" - available now!
May - "Wolf's Head" (Runestones of Rys, Part 1) - available May 1st
June - "The Tale of Halfdanur the Black" - available June 1st
July - "The Tale of Ingjaldur the Mad" - available July 1st
I'm still trying to get back in the habit of writing every single day, and hope to start thrashing out some stories that have been languishing for far too long!
One last thought - what great fantasy (besides mine!) are you reading right now? I'm always reading when I can! Right now, I'm loving Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. It's African-inspired fantasy (rather than European) and it is definitely unlike anything I have ever read before! I'm not very far in, but I would recommend it! I hope i finish it before Tad Williams' Empire of Grass (the new Osten Ard book!) comes out next month - I have it pre-ordered from Amazon!
Happy Reading! Skál!
~ Colin Anders Brodd
