Hi everyone,

Firstly, apologies for the long time between updates, I’d lost track of how long it had been. 

Unfortunately, things have been slow to non-existent for the last month or so when it comes to progress. It’s disappointing, for me and for you guys too, but I’ve been getting over some exhaustion issues and writing has often been the furthest thing from my mind.

That said, it’s April, and Camp NaNoWriMo has just opened up, and I’m forcing myself to participate. So I’ve spent the last week or so getting myself reacquainted with the story and the outlines for the unwritten parts (have I mentioned I really like my ending?...because I do) and I will be forging ahead to get this first draft knocked out. 

I’ve also got an extended chunk of Ghosts in the hands of a few readers, so over the next month or so I should be getting some feedback that I can use to start shaping the next drafts.

Updates should be a little more regular while NaNo is going on, so keep an eye out for them.

Until next time.

Here’s something fun for APRIL FOOL’S DAY!

Dear readers,

I was pawing through my blog archives for an old April Fool’s bit  - and I actually stumbled onto something I don’t remember writing. (All too common.) It’s from 3 years ago, after I finished my first book. It’s strange and sort of wonderful to look back and feel like maybe I’ve gotten a little closer to the things I talk about here -- and it’s all because of you.

I Want - 4/25-2013

Like Heinlein said, I want the Roc’s Egg.

I want the leather of my sword-grip to creak as my knuckles go white. I want the lightning to crackle between my fingertips like Egg Shen. I want the Flux Capacitor to ignite as I travel through time.

I want the power, I want the fairy tale.

I want to run down the secret hallway, and slam my rainbow colored key into the console of the Black Lion.  I want to save the universe with Rock and Roll, my electric guitar made of steel and griffon-talon. I want to wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of Holmes and Watson clattering by in a horse-drawn carriage.

I want the legend, I want the world of doors.

I want the Master Sword dreaming in the glade, and Excalibur in the Lady’s hand, and Cloud picking up Zach’s sword — his mind all wind and shadow.

I want all the promises that the world is not as it seems. I want Mulder and Scully in a Ford Taurus arguing with the night. I want all the possibilities, the promise of wonder. I want Seven Dragonballs, even if I never get to make a wish.

I want the doors. The endless, endless doors.

I want this world to be not as it is. Or, at the very least, I want the walls of this world to get a little thinner. Thin enough to hear the music from the Universe One Over.

I want to tell my story and I want my mom to get better and I want there to be enough money and I want Emerson back. I want my Beloved to never know pain or doubt, and I want my friends to never know want or despair.

I want to break the rules. I want to undo and shine and defeat and cheat death, cheat life, mashing in the codes on my controller and rolling back the cruel grip of time.

I want to snatch the lost from death’s grip.

I want to not be afraid. Of the Unmaker and its thousand, thousand shadows.

I want there to be more magic in this world, because there is so little — just a tiny, tiny drop.

Such a little thing to shine in the darkness. The secret flame we clutch in weary hands through the wind and rain.

I want the thousand heroes, I want the doors open wide.

Most of all, I want you to help me pry them open.

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No reminders or promo-flogging today. Just wanted to share this and say thank you again - for helping a stranger tip-toe down an uncertain path. And I use ’stranger’ here in the way you would ’baker’ or ’potter’ - something I make, not that you don’t know my social media profile.

I recently caught someone skulking about the Inkshares site, sneaking around, as if she could go unnoticed. Well no you didn’t, Felicia Day!  So I’ve been "following" her now, to see what the heck she is up to. And now I find out!

wow, Wow, WOW!!! Felicia’s Geek and Sundry is sponsoring the new Inkshares contest, to start April 4 and end on my birthday May 16! Details about the contest will be available on the contest page tomorrow.

Well, just to prove I am an old fanboy of this awesomely awesome goddess, I want to share two pictures from last summer’s San Diego ComicCon. I can hear y’all already, "Awww, luckeeee!"