The Many Ramblings of K. A. Webb

I've been thinking recently about my writing. That's something I've always done a lot of, especially recently, and I'm coming to realise I'm trying to square peg myself. When I started my site I was planning on it being somewhere I crowdfunded my work. I'd still like to be able to do that, but I think what I'm doing is trying to make myself like other writers when I'm very different. Recently I've been talking about writing novellas, because I feel that's what I should be doing, and now I'm starting to believe I was wrong about that. I want to write about those characters, those worlds, so that's what I'm going to do - by letting myself be who I am as a writer.

The whole reason I started writing the way I do is because it works for me. Now what I'm trying to do is push myself into being like all the other self-publishers, who are doing what works for them, when I shouldn't be. What I need to be focusing on is walking my path. I need to stop comparing myself and be me. The novella worlds are still something I'm going to be working on, but I'm not going to be writing novellas, or novels. I'm going to be writing the way I have done since I started crowdfunding. I'm going to be myself, rather than the writer I keep telling myself I should be.

Making that decision feels like a weight off my shoulders. I know it's the right one to make. It has always been the right one to make, but because it seems like everyone else does something differently I felt like I needed to follow in their footsteps. I don't. I need to walk my own path.

Eorith is one of the Fae World worlds. When I started writing it I knew it was going to be a world with classes, but I'm still working out exactly which ones I plan to use and how that's going to affect things. Obviously, because it's one of my worlds, I had to add unusual races. The first one to be introduced were the Curatix Canes. I have to admit to using a lot of Latin to name things, as well as some other languages, but I never used more than one language in a name. I also have to admit to having a lot of races that are mammals, often dogs and cats, although there are a number of other animals on the World Walkers worlds. (Feel free to ask questions about them.) The Curatix Canes are dogs, about the size of Great Dane or English Mastiff, and they have magic.

I'm still working out the magic of this world. That can be one of the most difficult parts of the world building I do, in part because I write at different times, and magic, in my worlds, always evolves. I might learn something about it and then find it's different in ten, twenty, or a hundred years time. What I do know about it is that the magical races have dealt with a long war, that I'm still learning about, which is why humans are being drawn there by the magic of the world - so it's obvious they're going to have an effect on what happens next.

As it's one of the worlds I know least about it would be great to have someone to bounce ideas with, especially related to the classes and magic, because that always helps. I know there are several other races, one humanoid, but so far they haven't come forward yet. The other thing that helps is asking for more stories on this world, as I often learn as I write.

There are days when I hate ghostwriting more than others. For some reason today is one of those days. I know part of the reason is the fact it takes time away from me being able to write what I want to be writing, because, a lot of the time, I find myself too busy to do that. Recently that's been due to doggy day care as well as the ghostwriting. Another thing I find is that there are plenty of people who want me to create the plots for them, as they can't, for whatever reason, or don't have the time, and then I find myself having to leave the story in the middle of the action. What I might do is adapt the ideas to fit into my own worlds, although, to do that, I need to find the time, and that's one of the biggest issues at the moment. Finding time to do everything isn't easy when I'm by myself. With James here everything would be a little easier, as he'd be able to help me with the housework, and the cooking, and the washing, but, for now, those are things I have to do - and sometimes it's very distracting.

As my birthday's coming up, and I'd like to treat myself to some time to write what I want to be writing, I need some help from anyone who likes my writing. To be able to do that I'm offering 2,000 words of fiction for $5. My Paypal is kayleigh.a.webb[at]gmail[dot]com. The maximum for anyone is 20,000 words, which is $50. I can write in my collections, so add that to the notes, I can write more for a specific story, or you can give me a genre, for example sci-fi, or paranormal - demons, or pretty much anything and I'll write a story for that. There will be extras for every $100 I receive, which will be posted at the website for everyone to read. I've got some things I really want to be working on, so that will be the extras, and every cent is gratefully received. This offer will be open until the end of the first week of September. After that I'll see how things are working out and go from there.

Feel free to signal boost. The more the merrier, and I really could do with this, because I think it will help me to sort myself out mentally.

This is another world building writing thing that I did to learn about this series. I think this is probably older than the demon assassins, although not by much, and was going to be connected with Kim's Earth and Thera. Now it's become an AU of Kim's Earth, beginning the mess the World Government created by making some very bad decisions. Alexis is one of the main characters and I have plans to write about at least another couple of the ships, because I think the whole idea is fascinating.

Read more: http://www.kawebbwriting.co.uk/other-the-ships-series/

Other Worlds, Status: Incomplete, Word Count - 5000+

Today I'm going to be sorting the World Walkers collection, and then, I hope, working on doing a complete timeline for the Fae World and the World Walkers. Once I have that the only thing left to do is updating the categories from some of the collections. I know that shouldn't take anywhere near as long as the job I'm doing today, so I should, I hope, be able to do that tomorrow. When I have those jobs done the website is going to be pretty much sorted. The only thing after that is writing a list of all the stories I have written and the order they're currently in, to make it easier to add new stories, which, I think, will probably be Wednesday's job. After I have that done posting should be much simpler - and I have lots to post. I have just as much to write, so I'll be working on that when I have a chance. Getting the website sorted in the important thing right now.

Another thing I need is maps. I have an idea of what I want for some of the worlds and no idea what I want for others, but if I'm going to have any idea of what happens where then maps are important. That might be something I do at the end of the week, although they'll have to be hand drawn and I don't have a scanner at the moment. Having the maps is the important thing. Unfortunately I'm terrible at maps, so it's probably not going to work out well. Something is better than nothing, however, so something is what I'm going to have.

I HAVE FOUND A CROSSPOSTER!!! It's not perfect, but it works, so I'm very happy. One issue is that it does post an hour prior to my actual time, which is something I will look into dealing with at some point in the future.

As I said yesterday I thrive on comments. It makes writing so much more enjoyable for me, so, in an attempt to regain something I feel I've lost, I'm going to have a competition running for the rest of the month. The three people who leave the most comments will get a prize. What those prizes will be will depend on the number of comments I receive in total, which means the more comments I get the longer the prize. Starting here makes the most sense, because that will then lead you to the stories, and it will be easy enough to go from one part to the next - and the best thing you can do is assume whatever you're reading is unfinished. However commenting on unfinished stories will speed me up, because I'll know people want to read them.

The only two untidy collections are the World Walkers and the Donor House, so I'm going to get that sorted in the next week, to make it easier for anyone who might want to read those stories.

From ashlyme: 'Sketches Of A Sleepless Earth'

This is the story of an insomniac. Hannah O'Connor has been dealing with her inability to sleep for more than a couple of hours a night since her sixteenth birthday - and how this affects her every day life. After just over a decade she learns there a reason why this has happened to her, which is going to change her life all over again.

From night_owl_9: 'Gemini'

Christopher and Thomas look alike. They could be twins, but they aren't, or so they believe. One day a man comes into both their lives to tell them everything they thought they knew was a lie. When they find this out they start looking into who they are, and why they were created in the first place.

From shipwreck_light: 'The Diary of a Doppleganger'

Lucy steps through a door, the same way she has done hundreds of times before, only to find herself facing a woman who looks exactly like her. As the two of them get to know each other Lucy finds it impossible to tear herself away from her new world - and her doppleganger makes the decision to go to the world Lucy came from. This story is told in diary entries from both Lucys.

From novel_machinist: 'Is It Saturday Yet?'

John has been waiting for Saturday all his life. Everybody else he knows talks about what they got up to on their Saturdays, but for him the day just doesn't exist. When, for the first time it does, he finds the world he knew has changed beyond recognition - and learns about who he truly is.

Interested in seeing any of these as actual stories? Let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Personally I like reading stories online. If something is available to read on a website I generally don't have a problem with reading it there, rather than reading it on an ereader. Occasionally, if something is really of interest to me, I might get the ebook, but in general it's not really not something I feel I need to do. Tipjars are something I do like, mostly because it gives me the option of giving however much I want. I don't need anything in return if I've enjoyed what I've read.

( More rambling... feel free to skip. )

25: Rachel: Becoming Human. Summary: a young woman becomes human again after spending her entire teen years as a cat. Set on Raenarin, the Witch World.

7: Mirica: A Thief in the House. Summary: what happens when a young woman finds another thief in her home. Set on Aurora's World.

5: Kim: The Injection. Summary: a young woman returns home to find out what happened to her parents and her brothers after her parents have had the contraceptive injection. Set on Kim's Earth.

22: Anne Boleyn Donor House part 2

If you want to add another number feel free. I'll be updating this list as I go.