Red Wolf Blogs

 From the 12/22/23 newsletter: 21st Day of the Frost Moon, 1218th Year, Human Age of Magic ... The days have been hectic since my last journal entry. The king has appointed me executor of the late Alchemist's estate until he can find and appoint a replacement, and the sorcerer left his accounts in such disarray that I've been bombarded from all sides with petty claims for payments or for services left unrendered. Plus, I've had several unwanted visits from a powerful member of the Protectorate, the dragon Pieter. Well, the first visit was not entirely unwelcome. I'd requested help removing the Eye of Ellindrell from the forehead of the sleeping golem, and I was grateful the Protectorate sent a dragon to do it. But I wasn't expecting someone so high up in the hierarchy, and we've had a few conversations that I've found disturbing. For anyone reading this journal that doesn't already know, the dragons co-founded the Protectorate, along with the elves, for ...

 From the December 1st newsletter: When I first started writing, I did very little outlining. I had a vague idea where I wanted the story to go, and I just wrote free-form, letting the characters develop themselves and the story unfold as it would. It was magical. Nowadays, since I'm trying to make a living at it, with deadlines to meet and daily word counts to achieve, a good bit of outlining is an absolute necessity. And especially with writing an epic fantasy series. where world building needs to be intricate and detailed, I keep not only an outline of each novel, but a "bible" of sorts, with lists of characters, their descriptions and motivations, conflict maps, flora and fauna, "W" plot lines--the list goes on. All this has made my writing more efficient. I can tell an editor six months ahead of time when the book will be ready, what the word count will be, and I can get it to them on time. But, in exchange for efficiency, some of the magic has been sucked ...

 From the November 17th newsletter... Hey folks. It's time for another excerpt from the Goblin Diaries. Things seem to be heating up in Trevor' world. 18th Day of the Frost Moon, 1218th Year, Human Age of Magic ... The mercenary, Tsing, arrived yesterday afternoon having procured the Eye of Ellindrell. However, he does not carry Ka'il Idreth. The rumor that he has a sword that sings seems merely to refer to his prowess with the blade. Still, I was counting my blessings when he turned over the Eye to the Alchemist ... ... until the feces hit the fan. Tsing delivered the Eye, and the Alchemist paid him half his fee, promising the remainder once he had balanced his ledger--part of the spell he worked up to conjure the god, Vale. My master was up all night completing his work, and when Tsing arrived this morning to collect the rest of his fee, the Alchemist apparently chose to demonstrate his work. I have no idea exactly what happened, but I knew something had gone terribly wro...