Tag Archives: Erâth

Thought of the Week: Not Writing

pen-and-paper

I had quite a hard time thinking about what to write this week, so I thought I’d write about not writing instead.

I have now not written for The Redemption of Erâth for two weeks, which is not something I feel happy about. I have not written a movie night post in the same period of time, though we watched Hogfather recently and very, very much enjoyed it. I very nearly did not write this post tonight.

The truth is, I’ve been in a bit of a bad place for the past few weeks. Some nights I didn’t want to go to bed, because I didn’t want to wake up the next morning. I’ve eaten far too many bowls of Cheerios, too, and even forgot to brush my teeth one night. I had two glasses of wine and a finger of rum a few days ago, and wow – my sleep pattern was all kinds of messed up.

Completely psychotic sleep.

Completely psychotic sleep.

In fact, sleep has been one of the things getting me down. I’m not going to debate cause and effect, but ever since I got my UP band and was able to track my sleep patterns, I’ve felt worse – more tired, less energy – than ever before. Some nights I’ve had as few as 5 hours of sleep, despite being in bed for almost 7 hours. The weird thing is that I usually fall asleep quickly, but wake up often through the night. Sometimes I actually think the band is just picking up my violent thrashing and bashing and thinking I’m awake, but I suppose the result is the same either way; if I’m active enough to seem awake, I might as well be awake for all the rest I’m getting.

It ends up being very hard to write when you question doing anything at all.

Like gods of the sunI’m playing through every My Dying Bride album in the car – one album each day – in an effort to match my mood (damn, their music is good bad mood music). I actually did pretty well tonight; Like Gods of the Sun kept me going until I got home, and I didn’t really fall asleep at the wheel either. I’ve been experimenting with music and sleep, as well; I usually listen to music through earphones in bed as I doze off, since for as long as I can remember it was always a way to soothe myself to sleep. It turns out, thanks to my UP band, that listening to music actually delays my sleep, especially since I eventually wake up to pause the music and take the earphones out. That sucks, because I really, really miss listening to music as I go to sleep.

It ends up being very hard to write when you get to the point of questioning the value of doing anything at all. By the time 10:00 PM rolls around all I want to do is crawl into bed, which of course gives me no writing time at all. I miss Brandyé, and thought I want to know where he’s going next, I just can’t bring myself to go back to him. I worry about this, because I know that the longer I leave the story alone, the harder it will be to get back to it.

The funny thing is that cutting back on writing to focus on sleep hasn’t made me feel better; all it’s really highlighted to me is that I really suck at getting enough sleep. I’m still waiting for the ‘official’ results from my polysomnography, but until then it’s sweet dreams with a rubber ring on my wrist.

At least I got this out – that’s a start! Thanks for bearing with me, guys; I’ll be back in full soon. Trust me?

The Redemption of Erâth: Book 2, Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Raid on Voènarà

It was some weeks before Brandyé had healed from the latàhní’s wounds, in which time he was allowed to rest and perform only minimal duties in Khana’s home. Khana, despite his injured leg, appeared unbothered by any pain, and limped quite contentedly here and there until his was able to better bear weight upon it. Brandyé was quite struck by the man’s resilience, for so it had been on Tahn-khafawō after the attack. No further sounds had been heard that night, whether by Andèlin’s vigilance or good fortune, but come the morning Brandyé had slept little, and was still in great pain.

Khana, however, was bright and sharp at first light, and managed to drag the latàhní’s carcass through the forest and over the plains, ensuring always that Brandyé was well and with him. For his part, Brandyé had begun to feel faint and feverish, though thanks to Khana’s remedy his wounds had not become infected. How Khana was able to descend the cliff stairs to the boat bearing the weighty carcass Brandyé was unsure, but somehow they found themselves in the open sea once more, having passed under the great rock arch at the lowest tide. Khana had […]

Read the complete chapter here.

The Redemption of Erâth: Book 2, Chapter 4

Chapter 4: On the Lonely Island

Rumor of Brandyé’s defiance of Abula Kharta, and how Khana had bought him from their lord, spread rapidly, and it was not long before Brandyé was the subject of much gossip and whispering, which was a thing he was only too familiar with. Khana himself fell under the scrutiny of the Cosari, for while the purchase of a servant was entirely legitimate, to rob their lord of the subject of his wrath was seen as terribly unwise, and it was wondered how much wealth Khana had parted with in order to do so.

Neither of the two were much perturbed by this however, for Khana was a commander and captain of no small reputation and thus able to distance himself from the common folk’s tongue-wagging, and Brandyé of course bore it with sadness and resignation that he would likely never be truly accepted anywhere in all of Erâth. Rather, the bond between the two strengthened, though Brandyé remained manifestly his servant, and had many daily chores and orders to be carried out. Even this, however, did not greatly bother him, for he discovered that it gave to him a satisfaction – a sense of purpose, as it were – and he found […]

Read the complete chapter here.