Hello, it’s time for a very much delayed update on this lifelong passion project of mine.
I. Sword
As I mentioned on the previous update, I completed work on Sword’s draft in 2021, but put it away and left the unedited draft dormant so that I could focus head on on another project that, had it materialized, would’ve netted me that visa I’ve been working so hard to get.
With that falling apart in November 2021, I must admit that I was considerably down and depressed for the next few months. I’m not perfect nor particularly strong, as such I can only take so many failures at getting a visa (4 years trying) before starting 2022 with a “yeah, I lost” mentality.
Because I had nothing else to lose at that point, I went back to focus on getting Sword published. I got in contact with a good editor, and we had agreed on fares and all that. He started to edit the over 600 page draft. Shortly afterwards, I got presented with an opportunity to try and shoot for an Italian Passport, for which I embarked on a long journey which I documented on my site.
This was a gambit because I was also presented with another option towards migrating around that time, so I had to pick one: Either go with the presented option, or stay here for a few more months (because despite all this is my legal country of residence) and do the Italian Passport stuff, even if it meant correcting by father’s 30+ year old omissions in paperwork and due diligence.
I went with the Italian Passport approach because it is a lifelong thing that will carry over to my future children, their children, and so on. It was now or never, and it would’ve been close to impossible to do once I’m out of the country. Currently, I’m almost at the halfway point of the six month ETA that I was given for our stuff to be processed before my brother and I can continue with the next step.
Sounded like a solid roadmap: I’d focus on what it very much is, the most important bureaucratic process of my life, while my novel would get edited alongside. Publish Sword, get my Passport, and I could finally have two back to back Ws in my life.
However, life dealt the short end of the stick to the editor, and he had to face some real life stuff that prevented him from working further on it. No hard feelings, it is what it is, we’ve all been there at some point.
So I’m essentially back to where I was, with a lengthy draft that very much needs to be edited by capable hands. I’d be very grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction towards an editor that I can entrust this with so that I can get this rolling. Sword needs sharpening, metaphorically speaking.
As of the time of posting this, a friend of mine is proofreading Sword’s complete draft, and I’m awaiting his feedback and the feedback of other people he knows.
I still want to publish this before my paperwork and passport is ready, or at the very least, alongside that, or shortly after I finally get to leave this country.
Naturally, once I get this edited I’ll move on towards hiring an artist for the cover art — don’t forget that the novel’s site is still using placeholder art from top to bottom, the colored triangles on the public preview’s cover are also placeholder.
II. Sins
I spent the majority of the first half of 2022 working towards successfully getting all my paperwork in order for the Italian Consulate appointment, and I’ve spent most of the past two months between working on some stuff and starting to bring closure to my life in Venezuela — and by that I mean making some major arrangements for when I’m not here, evaluating our options for the future, travel estimates, and ‘minor’ stuff that is of great significance to me, like amassing as much photos I can so that I can scan and upload them somewhere since it’s not like I can bring them with me.
I’ve also managed to get my 11-year old laptop repaired as much as possible. It ‘works’ but it still has some issues booting — but hey, it works, and it has a working battery again, that means I have something functional to use since this desktop will have to stay here. I’ll give that banged up device proper rest once I’m in a position to get new hardware, it’s the only laptop I’ve ever had so it’s been with me through pretty much every job I’ve had so far, no joke.
In spite of all that, I’ve managed to put some tidbits of time towards Sins (the second book of this planned series) here and there. I gotta confess that I’ve been overthinking the prologue way more than I should, and I’ve been hamstrung at it to the point that I left it unfinished and moved on to other aspects of the book.
The way Sins’ prologue will be is that it takes place some months after the events of Sword but taking place months before the events of Sins’ first chapter. In contrast, Sword’s prologue takes place on the same timeframe as the first chapter.
It’ll be a self-contained action sequence, if that’s a simple way to describe it. I just need to snap out of it and stop overthinking it.
While I’m dead set on how I want this book to start and end, I’m still planning some aspects of it, such as some names, concepts, and total chapter lists. This time around, I’ll be using song titles for the chapter names, I hope that doesn’t get me in any sort of trouble lol.
III. Title changes, and other stuff
Now, on the matter of the book’s titles. This is something I’ve alluded to in the past, but I’ve made up my mind now: I’ll have to make a slight change to the every title in this planned series so as to:
A) Give it a more unique name to every book while keeping a consistent nomenclature
B) Make the project stand out more.
C) Not clash with a certain political slogan of a certain political party in a certain country. that may of may have not ‘tainted’ things for me. (It’s not Venezuela)
This change in titles will not alter the plot, characters, or tone whatsoever, it won’t be an extremely significant change either. Sword of the Nation was originally a working title that stuck for the longest time, and spilled over the rest of the books. Deep down I knew I would have to change it once this gets ready for publishing.
So, when the time comes, I will promptly update the website to reflect the change in titles and make a corresponding announcement.
As I work towards finally switching from 2 years of convoluted chaos and prepare myself for a new life, I want to really make it a goal of mine to provide more content on my site in a more consistent manner, and that will extend to this project as well.
My goal is to be more consistent with the cadence of lore updates, and with updates regarding this project as well. I still have a long list of pending irl stuff, which I clear little by little with each week.
I’m going to avail myself of this opportunity to thank you all for reading this, and hope for your best wishes so that I can finally get this dream rolling in the near future.
Take it easy,
-Kal
