Update: 28th April

I’m beginning to think that keeping my two accounts at LJ and DW was a mistake when it comes to building my audience up at the website, but I know for a fact I have an audience on LJ, even if they are a quiet bunch. My focus is almost entirely on the website, because I want it to be the best it can be. I have so much more control over what I can do and yet crossposting has an effect on that, as everything I do has to work with what I’m doing on LJ and DW. In some ways it can be a little annoying. There are systems I could use at the website that wouldn’t work for LJ and DW, so I don’t use them even though they could make things simpler.

An example of one of the disadvantages: where I have a donor filter on all three sites I have to use a plug in that will make the posts on LJ and DW locked in the same way they are here. This means there are changes I can’t make to the posts here, because of that plug in, and it’s a little irritating really.

If my readers at LJ were more vocal I might feel differently. I don’t know. I’m just not certain what I should do for the best, especially with the aims I have for the site. It’s possible I might be able to use a better system for the credit count which means I won’t be spending hours going though emails for all the different sites, but I keep thinking that I won’t get as many comments if I stop using the mirror sites entirely because there are readers at LJ who have LJ accounts and having my posts on their friendslist makes things easier.

At the moment I just don’t know what to do. When I posted about this at my personal accounts the replies I got suggested I would be better off with just the website, but they aren’t my readers.

I’m also, once again, trying to work out how to best get some income. In the last few months I have submitted stories to Strange Horizons, but so far they’ve all been declined and I’m not certain what to try next. I’m also not certain where else I can try that might work for me. On the first of May story bundles will become available for purchase, which might help. It still apppears that the adoptions and rentals aren’t all that interesting, which is disappointing because I thought they’d work out better than they have.

Ideas?

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

The World Walkers: Taithmarin: Matt: Arriving

It took Matt two steps to realise that something strange had happened. Then he turned and almost walked into a wall that shouldn’t have been there. He stared at it, his watch ticking on his wrist, before kicking it. Kicking it didn’t help at all, because the wall stayed solid and the path he’d been using to get home had disappeared. Slowly, trying not to let his sudden fear get the better of him, he turned once more so he could look at where he’d found himself. After the strangeness of what had happened it was a surprise to find himself standing in what appeared to be a block of flats much like one his family had once lived in.

Breathing deeply Matt looked down at his watch. It was still working, which was nice because it gave him a connection to the place he’d left behind, and if he’d kept on the path he had been on he would have been home in five minutes. Then he would have slept for a couple of hours before Amy turned up. Shaking his head he tried his best to push the image of the girl he planned to marry out of his head, knowing that he’d probably never see her again. Or his brother.

A not all that unexpected tear trickled down Matt’s cheek and he wiped it away, wishing he could be angry instead of upset. Things would have been so much easier if he was angry at whatever it was that had just happened to him. He glanced at his watch one last time, trying not to think too much about anything, and started walking towards the end of the corridor, where there was another door. Behind that door he hoped there would be someone who could tell him exactly what had happened and when he’d be able to get back to the life he’d been forced to leave behind.

Matt was a step away from the door when someone on the other side pushed it open. “Hi,” the girl said, looking surprised to see him so close to the door. “I’m Siobhan, your guide.”

“Where am I?”

“Taithmarin.” Siobhan obviously knew what Matt’s next question was going to be because she continued, “It’s one of the worlds the fae created when they travelled to Athare after destroying their home world Kalinia. Taithmarin evicted them, because it didn’t want them here, and has been gathering the races it does want ever since then.” She sighed. “Including humans.”

“How do I get home?”

“You can’t. The door you came through is something we can’t control and we haven’t been able to work out how to create another one. I think that’s partly because Taithmarin doesn’t want anyone to leave when it’s brought them here, no matter what they’ve been forced to leave behind.”

“My friends and family…”

“Will have forgotten you. As far as they’re concerned you never existed, thanks to the magic of the door. You’ll remember them, which I think is one of the hardest parts of this whole thing, but this won’t affect them in any way.”

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.