[RBSUM] - Yeah, I'm falling behind

... on the schedule. I know I know, I'll make it up to you somehow.
But today's post is not about making those excuses but rather giving the reason. I'm feeling sick as of lately (and I didn't sleep too well last night) so getting even the few things edited today was a no-go. My minds going on a rampage and concentrating seems next to impossible. Not that this would particularly get on my nerves or make me feel "sick" in any way or form, it's actually the other way round. Concerning my personal life... not so much with what I'd like to call "work".
I'm just blabbering about pointless stuff most of the time, which is especially funny and a bit stressful if three people want to talk to me at the same time about totally different things... as if that wouldn't be hard enough clear-minded.
So that's the hard life of Marc Winter, aspiring author for you... but for real ... I'm kinda under the weather right now and I didn't get much done because of 683 Marc's somewhere up there, each roaring his head into a different direction, all pulling on different strings. I did manage to get over to editing a few pages of Bloodstained Shadows and will continue on with that, once I feel better again I'm sure the pace will also pick up... deadlline's pretty much the 10th of february for me so I'll aim for that... should not be too much of a problem all in all. The most strain part is without doubt part II: Memories of the Twilight, and I'm about halfway through that already... part III and IV will be quite fun I think. I'm really looking forward to those.
But for as of right now I'll better get myself to sleep so I'll hopefully feel a lot fitter by tomorrow already.

As always, thanks for listening to my whining, good night or 'good day' to each of you,
Marc... always with the sickness

[RBSUM] - Happy New Year ... again!

I know, I know. I'm repeating myself. Quite frankly I'm well aware of that, be sure about that.
Nevertheless... Happy New Year everybody!
I'm pretty sure a lot of you out there will already know, but for those who didn't: Today's the Chinese new year, so they'll be celebrating this now for the next 15(!) days - party on! But more importantly - it's a year of the dragon. And as a dragon myself this means for me not only that I'm turning 24 in September, but yeah a few other things as well.
Especially as the past has shown to me, rabbit-years (in this most recent case: the major part of 2011) are usually filled by quite the bunch of negative events, only to be followed by the highly prosperous dragon-year.

Right about now, directly after stating this, I'm sure a few, maybe even a lot of you are thinking "to hell with these superstitions" and I'd just like to say that I don't necessarily believe in them either.
Yet what I do believe in are two other things.
First of which being human willpower. You have to really want something to be able to achieve it and this strong willpower will be able to create paths for you that you never would have imagined to exist. Your own imaginations sets the limits to your success!
And the other one, directly relating to number one - if you really believe in something, are talking yourself into it... it's gonna become true.
Really... it's the way all sorts of horoscopes work. Usually they are vaguely written enough so that almost everything would fit the prediction and it's never gonna be wrong. A lot of people see that as something bad... but truth be told - it's more about what you make of it than the actual wording of one little scrap of text. If you believe in the horoscope and wanted for it to turn into reality and the usual stuff kicks in... well... it worked out, didn't it? For you and the person who wrote the whatever.
Of course I understand that this point of view isn't for a lot of people and I'm okay with that. I'm not even trying to argue. Only thing I'm saying is: this one's mine and I like it if it works out (and hey..., it did for me so far.)

But enough about all the controversial aspects of this new year (and I didn't even mention that aliens are apparently going to kill us all by the end of the year just because the CYCLICAL calender of the Mayan doesn't switch into its next cycle but rather tells us all to go die in a fire, err by water... yeah right) let's make the best of it, no matter which calendar you are following. It's gonna be a busy year, I already know that much.
I already said it before, but I just like the sound of it:
Let's shoot for the stars and even manage to get there, because: why the hell not?

On a side note - first part of Bloodstained Shadows is done with the re-editing. And Scarlet Dawn is now 11 pages with roughly 8.000 words longer. And I didn't even change a thing concerning the actual story, as it will be left untouched, just as mentioned. Next up is part two - Memories of the Twilight. I'll probably start on that as soon as this blog post goes live.
I'd also like to point you guys to -> over here <- where you will find a 4.400 (4.800?) long short concerning the same topic. Again... just read it as fantasy if you're not into the WoW business, believe me, it's worth it - and leave a review if you'd be so kind.

As always, thank you very much for your attention.
Marc, Dovahkiin by general norms of speaking

[SUM] - Wolves again

Yes I know it's Friday and I know it's not time for stuff like this and that I'm ignoring the time table I set up by myself... Well actually, that's the good part about it... it's MINE... so I can alter it.

Anyways.. hear me out on this one, as mentioned a couple of times already. I've been doing a lot of re-editing currently to keep me busy whilst waiting for all the wonderful responses to my queries - if I get any...
And so it came to be that something a bit out of the way attracted my attention and here I am now writing my blog post. Well, not exactly... something's still missing in the line-up. But where's the fun with going all into dry details if can just give you ... THIS:

*insert link here*

Once you've clicked on it, you will find yourself on fan fiction.net right at the start of my latest upload (happened today) - the one-shot short The Howl of Blood. It's a mere 4.400 words long. Again it is a World of Warcraft FanFiction ... yes it is, BUT just read it as fantasy? please? can you do me this favor? It's not too heavy on any story driven fact you'd have to know to get it.
But ... to be on the safe side: rated M for mature.

There you go... I guess you can consider it a Storytime all in all though not within the blog post itself.
Feel free to check it out, it's not too long after all and leave me a review over there if you think I deserve a good one... or well... a bad one too I guess. Those pesky review can be posted even without an account - yays for anonymity!

As always, thanks for reading.
Marc - actively starving at the moment

P.S.: Oh and btw... I'm not sure how fanfiction.net is counting the words, but they say the story is about 4.800 words long... Not much of a diffence in my eyes but yeah.

[SUM] - Yeah this time it definitely isn't Sunday anymore anywhere

But let's make the best of it and call Sunday's one a ninja-update. That would surely be most suiting its appearance.

In other news, I finally managed to put up two pics of Mauzi III, the little princess that declared my mom's house her new kingdom, which now governs with a plushy paw of cuteness and way too much energy.
Concerning the writing stuff I should be actually talking about: I right in the middle of editing Bloodstained Shadows, just as mentioned last time and frankly I'm quite positive on the fact that it will take me a while to get down with it. It's basically a complete overhaul, updating the story-telling mechanics from version 1.0 to 3.5. Which, it turns out, also adds quite a bit of length. I'm not even done with the first part of it ("book"?) and it already grew by about 3.000 words, only by taking my time re-reading it and killing off some of the repetition in the phrases... I also already removed the Eredrun glossary in the end for reading comfort. It's a neat little thingamajig to have when you hold it in your hands as an actual printed book, but online? Well... not so much. So people who were hating me for this choice in layout will no longer have a reason to ... well, hate me that much.
The whole thing will go up on fanfiction.net as soon as it's done and no, I won't be posting it as a separate story. It will take the place of the old one.
I'll get you updated on all that good stuff once it's done and all uploaded. Any reviews, ratings are appreciated, whether of the old version (over here) or the new one (ETA: ??)

Also... tomorrow is blackout day! Go interwebs companies against SOPA! Stop that bill from ever being discussed ever again.

And to end today's post with something completely off topic: I finally got my passport! That means I'd actually be allowed to enter the US. Wouldn't it be swell if there were a reason for that to be of importance?

Anyways... as always thanks for reading, enjoy your week and we'll see each other Friday - I hope.
Marc, dreaming crazy stuff involving the storyline of Crisis 2 and lightsabers (please don't sue me for using the word Mr. Lucas)

[ST] - The Bamboo Labyrinth - Part 7: Depth

Well, hello there ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to the most recent installment of The Bamboo Labyrinth - the short I've been working on for quite a while now. The core memory, that the text is all about, has finally been discovered, though the meaning of the title still remains somewhat hidden, only hinted upon up until now.
In today's slightly shorter excerpt we will delve into the core of it once again, uncovering a bit more of what lies beyond the curtain of the chosen mind. What shall we discover? Find out below!

For first-time readers, as always - I advise you to start reading from the very beginning.

[ST] - The Bamboo Labyrinth - Part 1: Introduction


Enjoy!


*~*

The silence around us seemed to hold everything in place, pristine and clean we found ourselves prepared to overcome eons of time. But it quickly became clear to me again how my mind was only fooling with at the time. Though the real reason why I snapped out of this mesmerized state was her doing.

It sounds so clumsy that it’s stupid, but that is just reality unfolds before you.
She lost her balance. 
Threatening to just keel over on the spot, I hurried over to her, hardly managing to catch her or even break her fall. Luckily she wasn’t hurt at all, stammered something about being used to hitting the ground all of a sudden. And so this moment became also the first one I can remember, when I felt like a complete full-blown idiot. How could I imagine that she actually was speaking the truth? It didn’t dawn on me till a little bit later that I heard her speak. How she, without any hesitation, broke apart the picture in my mind of her being just a beautiful, yet completely silent and thus cold statue.
In any way, for that moment, I would have sworn that she was trying to be sarcastic, but as it turns out there was a little bit more behind this, for her abundant, sentence.
It’s hard to understand if you look at it from a perfectly healthy point of view, but those things you see as normal aren’t for everybody. A somewhat sad and harsh truth life holds behind curtains of lead. But don’t try to waste any of your precious time thinking about it too much, for just as it seems that the number of these curtains is to be growing to an endless amount, so you will see that there are even far more people standing behind those. The rabbit hole is infinite and just like that it overwhelms you.

A few things in her body just didn’t work out that well she put a simple truth in simple words, her balance being one of the more troublesome. How dangerous this would be for her life was something she didn’t want to think about and I didn’t question her on that. Eventually everybody goes, so why cut the time we have until then with pointlessly thinking about the moment when it’s all too late?

*~*


As a heads up for all readers, this little series will be continuing for maybe one or two more weeks before it finally comes to a close. You will know  when this happens. ("Geez man, it's finally over, man...")


For a few more bloggish parts of today's post:
I'm actively starting to re-edit and polish my semy-old fanfiction "Blood-stained Shadows - Chronicles of a Lost Soul" as well as "Sleeptalking".
Yes you read it right, Sleeptalking... I'm not only talking about it, I'm doing it. And yes... again...
I'm still not fully happy with it.
Concerning my fanfict. The most common question should probably be the "why" looming around almost any corner in the artificial labyrinth that is the human mind. Well... it just felt right to do so(and I've got a plan *hint hint*). Aside from that, I've been meaning to clean out a lot of the more ... well... idiotic mistakes that sneak into such a manuscript despite all the correcting.
Best example, also labelling me as illiterate -- throne and thrown. Yes you hear the difference when speaking them out loud, but no you don't really hear it when only saying it in your mind. And I only recently (with Loner's Peak and Sleeptalking edit n°X) I've converted to reading everything out loud; much to the entertainment of my surrounding... hearing the same sentence 3 to 4 times, only one word changing per reading.
And whatever you just thought - it's actually is kinda fun.

As always, thanks for reading. Check back on Sunday for yet another pointless update on the weekend. I really need to get some content for that.
Marc, re-re-re-re-re-editing more stuff

P.S.: Kittehs finally going up - two pictures of Mauzi III, heir to a legacy.

[SUM] - In the middle of somewhere

Heyhooo ladies and gents.

Here I am hoping you've been having a good day so far as I take my short rest from creativity and gathering favor in the name of the Empire whilst standing idly in Kaas City in the background.
So, I am rupturing my connection to the force - or rather the connection of the force to Beni James Honeypaw - because I made a promise to give you a short preview of 'Fool's Flight' this Tuesday...
Well guess what - here it comes.
And, oh wait, it gets even better... I said something about putting up an excerpt from the prologue, didn't I? So, yeah - I changed my opinion on that. But instead you will get to read the whole(!) first Interval!
For those wondering - an "interval" will be somewhat of the equivalent to what you'd normally simply call "chapter".

But enough of my usual ramblings - enjoy the first interval of the second part of my little series piloted by Loner's Peak - which will most likely be called the 'Omnivore' series.


*~*

Interval 01

...

*Beep*

...

*~*

As always, thanks for reading.
Come back Friday for the next part of the Bamboo Labyrinth. It's getting closer to its end.
Marc, bowing in the name of Emperor Beni James Palpatine

[RBS] - It's Sunday somewhere...

Well, most certainly yes... and that's all I wanted to state for this update... good bye again.



...

What? You still here? Shouldn't you be sleeping or something? Ah well... might as well tell you that I just got home from visiting friends, playing a game of 'Let's hunt down Dracula' as we don't have any chance of killing him at all because he's from a time when vampires were still dangerous and cool and not solely sparkly. But enough hate for the strange vampires for one uh, night.
I probably should give in to the strange feeling of wanting to sleep for a change and collapse on my bed for now. Tomorrow will be another fun day of sending queries and likewise entertaining stuff.

Anyhow, enjoy the rest of your (not-so-much)Sunday and have a hopefully, great start into the new week coming up. See ya Tuesday with some actual updates and not only me talking about... well, nothing. I might even think about posting something small from the prologue of 'Fool's Flight' - sounds good? Hoped as much.


As always, thanks for reading.
Marc, apparently Mina Harker and Lord Godalming at the same time.

[ST] - The Bamboo Labyrinth - Part 6: A shadow in the Light

Hey hey... yes I know it is the first Friday of the new year and as I promised to you - here is the next part of The Bamboo Labyrinth for all of you to read and hopefully enjoy.
I know there will be at least a few people who didn't think I'd actually pick this back up again and to those people I only have one thing to say: "Shun the non-believers!"

As per usual if you are new to this little story of mine I'd advise you to start off right at the beginning so you can fully enjoy the experience. I won't be putting up links for each part anymore though, as I was aiming at restructuring these posts a bit anyways. Too many pointless links only clutter up the site..
But as I was saying - link to part 1, coming right up.

The Bamboo Labyrinth - Part 1: Introduction


And now for the actual update - enjoy.


*~*

The rustling, or whatever sound it was that presented itself to me was quickly discarded as the sound all great old houses would utter during the day or night. Yet the feeling that arose alongside it was something more like knowing when two eyes rest upon you far from your own sight. A suspicion transcending every normal form of perception and directly correlates to something more vile and primitive as instincts. Though, one should not make the mistake to take this ‘primitive’ as a negative statement. In this, our world one side of a coin always needs the other. They depend on their opposite. As light needs the shadow to exist and have a meaning, so does our intelligence rely on our once primal foundation. The day we shalt lose all our instincts will most likely be the day our race dies out. But enough of this diversion my mind send us along so happily.

She was there, together with me in the same room. I didn’t see her, as she kept herself hidden away like a scared little puppy but I already knew it. It wasn’t fear, yet I could almost feel how nervous she was just from me finding out about this room.

The pointless tension in the air was ever rising, up until the point that I boldly decided to make an end to it. I called into the small room like a daft old man or stupid young child. The words leave my mouth without a sound. I dare say I’m unable to remember any of them, though in all honesty, they can’t be too hard to guess. The game is over, would fit the scene. Or ‘no need to hide from me, I won’t bite.’ Yet in any of those lucid creations the mind of an adult already swings along, ripping apart the fine pristine words of the youth.

The moment that follows is one of those I cherish. It has its own place in my heart when I watch closely how one of the walls is pulled to the side, revealing another small room directly adjacent to this one. A girl is standing in the newly opened doorway, her hands slightly shaking. She even tries to still hide behind a part of this loose piece of wall.

She seemed so frail, to vulnerable and on a completely different note almost longing. But what it was, that she appeared to be seeking so desperately is something I never really found out, at least not directly.

At first it proved hard to believe how she should a member of the family housing us as guests, the way how she was shaking, looking afraid like that. But something else quickly took over in my eyes when looking at her.

The gloom she radiated seemed to cease and instead something entirely different emerged.  I wanted to take her in, keep watch over her, just from this sight. I wanted to grab her hand and never let go of it again.

It feels like everything happened on a mere whim of mine, it was all so sudden I hardly understood my own thoughts. And how can you in such a moment?

Her hair was blond, golden for me even. Her eyes of light blue like the afternoon sky on a sunny day and her skin would surely feel as soft as a freshly put down pillow. Her body was nicely developed, though she wasn’t as slim as my first sight tried to convince me of. As I stood there she seemed to be everything I ever wished for or could ever think of wanting. Yet now, it also somehow strikes me how ordinary this memory looks.

But it’s not about the picture you paint, but the feeling it evokes.

Hardly more than a minute had passed and I had already lived through three to four possible lives with her at my side, ending in various drama and romance and even comedy. A feeling only the worst romantics amongst us will ever understand. It’s something I’m not too proud of, but everything has its advantages as well as most likely its own disadvantages. And all this time, she was standing there only shacking as four lives had passed meanwhile and several generations had been born and raised into greatness. She was so frail, she needed protection, it screamed at me. And soon enough I would find out why.

*~*

*click here to keep on reading with part 7*

There you go, next part coming right up next Friday. Same place - 'bout the same time. I admit lengthwise I got a bit carried away with this one, but I hope it won't matter too much.

Anyways, as always thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll feel the need to drop by next week again.
Marc, disgustingly light side oriented hobby-Sith

P.S.: I'll be on the lookout for some new kittehs, promise and I'll upload the picture of Mauzi III during the upcoming week, once I get around to scanning it.

[SUM] - I'm really starting to hate that word...

Good evening if you're from Europe, good afternoon and/or good morning to any international reader.
I just got done with my little workout routine for the day so I'm good to go on possibly just falling asleep as I'm typing this. Hopefully feeling like this after the workout will ease up sometime soon.

Anyways, it's Tuesday and here I am, giving you what I promised to you. I hope the new year has gone easy on you during these first three days and everything's fine.

The word in question is without a doubt 'synopsis' - contrary to writing a query letter - which finds itself between quite challenging and actual fun whilst playing around with the first couple of sentences (despite the somewhat harrowing nature it takes on in later stages) writing a synopsis is something I personally ... well, hate - to put it this blunt. Something in my mind just doesn't like distilling those roughly 100 pages of work in font size 10 down to four, three or even better, 2 pages of nothing but information and names (keep in mind - a frequent tip I used to get concerning the query is to try and keep the style of the novel ... now have fun with that on two pages).
But... no matter how much you start nagging and cursing about it, it's always something you have to do... no way around it, so just bite the bullet and get on working. And that's precisely what I did during these first few days of the year. I'm quite happy with the outcome so far and it should serve its purpose sufficiently without doubt. Only thing now to hope for is that there are agents out there who think the same way.
Let's go conquer a world! May the query-ing being!

... Yeah, I had to butcher that word.

No excerpts for the moment. I highly doubt you want to read any of the spoiler ridden synopsis right now. Though I might publish any 'rescoursses' affiliated to 'Loner's Peak' at some point in time IF they should prove successful. But that's still a good bit of time ahead of ourselves.

As always, thanks for reading!
Marc, apparently an 'Omega-deadbeat'

[RBSITMOTN] - Happy New Year

The title says it all (more or less):

Happy 2012!

The year of 2011 is now part of the past and a completely fresh one is already lying ahead of us, waiting for the people of this world to make good use of it.
(Let's just skip the fact that its not 2012 for all religions and beliefs out there - though I know that the 23rd of January is Chinese New Year and it's gonna be year of the dragon - so hell yeah! going to be a good one!)

Anyways I wish all of you best of luck and health for 2012. Keep up with your New Year's resolutions and don't let them slip right away.

I got a couple of things planned for myself too and I'll be trying my hardest to be as strict with myself as possible.

Getting back into the diet plan and work-outs being probably the most important ones. But also something of similar importance, so it shouldn't be forgotten - though it might sound a bit comical or at least straight up silly at first - trying to be more like Beni.
And I'm not talking about the being all dusty and/or furry part. ... Nope... not about being a bear either.
Don't worry too much... I still know what I'm talking about.

In any case... my motto for this year will be "do or die".
Sounds harsh, but at least it's effective. And yet again: "nope" - I'm not suicidal.
Though I guess at least a few people will try to correct me into something like "it's 2012 - we're all gonna die anyways on the 21st of December". To those people I will probably say: "don't believe all the stuff the crazy old men on the TV try to talk you into (even if the talk about the Maya)" - or think about it differently... we're all going to die at some point - I'd just rather have the do-part of it now and the dying bit a good couple of years later. Sounds good and convincing? Yeah, to me too.


Enjoy the New Year, have a great one everybody and expect lots of exciting updates on the site starting off next Tuesday. Greetings from Germany and as always, thanks for reading.
Marc, not as fluffy as his plush-bear (-1 to the Beni-o-meter)

P.S.: I think I got a new kitteh I could share with you somewhere around here.