Just as last week was a little ahead of time, this week is behind. Go figure. Well, it is still Wednesday and time for chapter seven of my fantasy novel, Sand and Ash

One and a half books and we finally get to something other than the sand. Before this, the stories have been really insular and isolated. From here on, there are still moments of being alone in the desert, but the scope of the desert increased rather dramatically to include other clans of the desert.

I like Gichyòbi. He is a noble warrior but also a human being. I have 1-2 novels worth of ideas for him, but it depends on what my readers would like to see. Plus, the interaction with his wife is pretty interesting. Of course, having a character who can't really stray a few chains from a single city makes for interesting stories. Plus, the Wamifūko rites of passage are brutal (stick them in an airless hole in the ground where they either suffocate to death or escape).

Remarkably, the one thing I didn't have planned out in my head is actually when Gichyòbi rescued Rutejìmo (the one they talked about in the chapter). I'm sure I can write it, but it didn't seem as interesting as what happens between these two guys later.

When I wrote this, though, I didn't realize how import Gichyòbi would become in Rutejìmo's life. He shows up in this book and the next, not really being the center of a plot but being important. And since I have a story planned out for him, it really leans toward my R5-D4 plots.

Work

One reason this chapter was late was a major project at work. While I don't normally talk about work, I'm hopefully near the end of a multi-month project where I drastically underestimated the time it would take to complete and therefore worked 12-15 hour days to try making it right. It is due next week, so I'm having trouble doing anything else besides focus.

And I have an amazing wife. Seriously, I couldn't be sane without her.