Strands of Existence

 Hello, long time no write!  I've been taking a bit of a pause due to my workload and other stressful things going on this year. But now I'm back to writing, although, it is going slow as I'm doing it by hand to try to conserve some electricity here in Finland as the prices went through the roof due to world events. It's actually pretty fun as I decided to add to the atmosphere and do it with only an oil lamp for light. It is almost meditative and sort of healing instead of working in front of a computer screen like I do almost all day every day anyway when I translate. Of course, I will still need to type it out but it doesn't take long to do. I was also feeling, not a writer's blog as such, as I had a lot I wanted to get put into words and a plot to follow, maybe just a bit depressed, a kind of hollow "meh" feeling, which seems to be greatly alleviated by this odd new way of writing. I'm especially pleased with a scene of Riestel and Isa I just f

 Finally, I managed to get everything done from the story to the cover, so here it is: The third book in the series is out on Amazon . This one was the slowest to make from the books so far as I had to write some characters that are dear to me in a more negative light for the sake of the entire plot. Now, I will take a few months to rest, then once I'm in the writing mood again, we will see where the fourth and final installment takes us. I have some small inklings on where we will end up but how we get there is still a mystery to me, one that I will have a wonderful time solving.

 

 This Spring was very busy so it has been difficult to keep up with the blog. Thankfully, I've still had enough time to work on the book itself. I'm currently giving it my last once over before the editor begins their work. For now, everything seems to be on schedule for the Autumn launch. But what exactly does the "last once over" entail? Well, mostly it is about checking the scenes convey the meaning I want to, checking they give enough clues but not too many, and most importantly trying to keep the new parts of the story from conflicting with anything and everything that has happened previously.  Here is the final version of the cover. I love the way the iris looks. The final cover colors don't always match the drawing I start out with because instead of a certain scheme or palette, I use filters and Krita's tools to try and find the mood I want to convey.

Since I have the bad habit of making my own covers and I don't intend to give it up quite yet, I have the pleasure of posting raw starting point pictures once I'm happy enough with them and letting people see what gets processed into the final version. This is the first time I'm showing a bit of Isa with her mask spliced with the Witch Queen's visage. The duality is also further portrayed in the iris. Bright red and vibrant for Isa, a blemished and withered violet for the Witch Queen. One might think that a green sun-decorated mask seems like an odd choice for a fire consecrator. The reasoning behind having green as the deity's and consecrator's color is simply the idea of fire as a producer of life, ecosystems must sometimes be burned by wildfires to renew and start their cycle all over again.

I just finished the raw version of SoE3. The next step is to let the story rest for a while and then to start tweaking it for a smoother and better final version of the plot and to make sure it’s as consistent as possible with the previous books. What can you expect from the third book? Well, it definitely has more Riestel in it. It also shows more of Rime’s affliction and what can be done to manage it. Isa is finally starting to take a more active role in controlling what happens around her and how she can influence things and dig a little deeper about people around her. Isa also works with Riestel in order to recover his daughter, or what’s left of her, and to learn how to create things in the lighter world and move around in it as she knows she will have to face her old self at some point. They keep dancing on this line of bitching at each other and being friends and having deeper feelings for each other. At the same time, Isa’s and Rime’s relationship is being tested with Rime havi

The sequel to Island Girl is finally out. Publishing the ebook today is my birthday gift to me. I hope the people who preordered or will pick up the sequel now that's it out will like it as much as the first book, though the tone is a little darker with the civil war and all. Now, I can stop thinking about the cover design and hunting for tiny lingering mistakes and focus fully on the third installment which I've been itching to finish. The third book will switch the feel of the story a bit. (Yet again. I know, I know, I should pick a lane and stick to it, but then it wouldn't be me doing this, haha) And I'll get to explore the different levels of reality more and how they function so that will be fun but also challenging to explain. I've also begun to sketch to third book's cover, and currently have about 3 options for it of which I might save one for the fourth and last book in the series. Once I know which will be which, I may share them here.