Or, at least, that’s how it feels, in a sense. These old, dusty bones woke up and started looking around, saw they writing they haven’t done over the last four years, and the strange force that animates them is considering what orders to give. The last time I did any real writing of note was in November of 2019, and, as mentioned in the last update, some things were very, very up in the air at that time.

Most of it has settled back down by this point, routines have been established, and what was once very uncertain now has a lot more certainty to it, at least inasmuch as anything can have. I still have the original rough draft of Avalanche sitting in my hard drive, and I still have a drive and desire to keep writing, even if I haven’t dove back into it with the fervor that I had before.

I keep rereading Avalanche, and I keep seeing its flaws. I think I’ve decided (and committed) that Avalanche needs an almost complete rewrite from chapter one. I’ll keep some of the pieces, of course, but I think a few of the characters need a bit more gravitas, and the story needs more focus on what is important. I know I can do better on it than I did the first time, and I absolutely plan on doing so. Pieces have been moving around the board, events have been proceeding excruciatingly slowly, but they have been proceeding.

I’ve taken some time to read, something I haven’t done in years, to keep from influencing my own work with the plots and devices and voices of other writers, and I think I am better for it. By consuming the creative works of others, I feel like it’s kickstarted my own creativity, something that I had wrung out like an almost dry waterskin, trying to force every drop. While that’s sustainable for a short period of time, it’s not exactly a pace one can keep up, if one wants to put out quality work. And that, I desperately want to do.

So, while I’m not currently parked in my chair 24/7, hammering books out of my poor keyboard into the wee hours of the morning, I am shifting back into that direction. It’s been four years since I stepped out of Erde, and it’s been calling to me again. Amethyst needs to tell the rest of her story. The Dynasty of Storms needs to march on, and it only marches on my order.

Here’s hoping I’ll be able to give those orders soon.