This post is something of a personal update, borne out of the need to say something to you all, even if I can’t think of what to write. It’s been about a month since we last talked, and I feel bad about that.

Lots of things have happened in that meantime, which is a good thing in a way, I suppose – it’s better than nothing! First and foremost, the biggest impact on my life has been Little Satis’ injury:

Do you see the problem?

This happened shortly after his birthday, poor thing, when his grandfather and I took him skiing. It was only his second day on skis, and at the moment he claims it will be his last. It was a gentle slope with a curve, and he picked up a little too much speed (not a lot, honestly) and forgot to stop. The edge of the curve was bounded with a net, and when he hit it his ski twisted one way while the rest of him twisted the other. As you can probably see it’s a bad fracture, and he’s now in a full-leg cast for the next three months. Apart from the guilt and remorse, there’s a whole lot of inconvenience involved, especially since he can’t really get up the steep stairs to his bedroom. He’s been sleeping on the pull-out couch so far, which is getting in the way of just about everything. On the plus side, the pain seems to have more or less subsided for him, and he’s gotten pretty good on crutches.

I started The Redemption of Erâth in November of 2011, so it’s been quite some time, and I’m really looking forward to it finally being done.

On a very positive note, I’ve started writing The Redemption of Erâth: Exile again, and have managed to complete an entire chapter. That’s right – 6,436 words now exist in a row that did not exist before, and while it’s definitely not my best writing, it’s a chapter I don’t have to write anymore, and I’m that much closer to the end of the book (book 2, that is – there are still 5 more to go). I may even set out to write the following chapter when I’m done writing this post. I have the week off to look after Little Satis during his spring break, and there’s not much to do with him having a broken leg except read, watch movies and write.

How dare she?

Speaking of reading, Little Satis and I are diving back into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the first time in four months – another loss to be attributed to the rather devastating depression I’ve been struggling through. No spoilers, please, but we were both outraged that J. K. Rowling had the audacity to kill off his owl, Hedwig. Wasn’t it bad enough to do what she did to Dumbledore? And although I know somewhere along the line Snape manages to redeem himself, I can’t for the life of me see how. Good writing, Joanne; good writing. I can only hope to have such mystery and suspense in my own story.

With regard to my story, I finally made the move to get my publishing company to start final edits on The Redemption of Erâth: Consolation. It should be a few weeks now, and I’ll have a finished – actual, honest, finished – manuscript in my hands, and I’ll be ready to move that little bit closer to publication. It’s terrifying, nerve-wracking, and not a little exciting to think that in a few months I might have an actual, purchasable book.

You’ll all buy a copy, right?

I started The Redemption of Erâth in November of 2011, so it’s been quite some time, and I’m really looking forward to it finally being done. Five sections, 25 chapters, 103,000 words (it was 111,000 to begin with)…it’s a hell of a novel. (For what it’s worth, the second book is at 93,000 words already and I still have 9 chapters to write! That’ll end up being about 150,000 words – eek!) I have to say that, looking back on it, there are definitely improvements that could have been made, but also parts that could have been a lot worse, and on the whole…I think I’m pretty proud of it. I just hope you all like it as much as I do.

So what’s the upshot of all of this? I guess it might be that things are starting to look up for me a little bit. I even had a breakthrough regarding the origin of my depression in therapy…not that it’s helping me get through it today, of course, but every piece of information is useful. I still can’t promise that I’ll be returning to my blog on a weekly basis, though I honestly would love to – the issue is motivation and energy, which I sadly am still lacking severely. If I can, though…if I can…

For now, take care, and enjoy the new chapter of The Redemption of Erâth: Exile!

Satis 2014

Featured image from http://miriadna.com/preview/the-clock.