Legate update; plotting volume 4; holidays (Patreon)

I finally have Legate of Mourne back on track for publication. Multiple illustrations are in the works right now, so apprentices can look forward to high-resolution versions of the illustrations and maps. When Legate is released, all current apprentices will get a copy.

Now that I've become addicted to letting Scrivener create ebooks for me, I'm learning how to control the format when exporting directly to PDF. My hope is that future volumes will go quickly if I don't have to use three or four different programs to write, layout a physical book, and tweak the ebook. The more I can focus on content instead of layout, the better. But, like so many good things, there is a significant up-front investment of time and attention required to reach that higher state. Wish me luck.

Primary writing on Alchemist is finished, aside from the rewrites I do just prior to posting scenes online. Letting the chapters sit for a while before coming back to them is both a useful tool in itself and gives me time to consider reader suggestions. There's a full-blown pipeline now that goes plotting/writing | Patreon | Royal Road | Publish.

Which brings me to the as-yet-unnamed fourth volume. The planned highlights include: Meltissa and Cadmius prying into other people's business; Taylor's fame continues to grow; a new Dark Lord Discourse; an Imperial expedition goes awry. If there are specific characters you'd like to see more of, post to the comments. I read them all, even when I don't respond.

One final bit of news, of a purely personal nature. Our Christmas tree is up, and November isn't even over yet. Amazing, right? Our usual routine is to wait until a few days before Christmas to brave the tree farm, always on a rainy day (always! It's a universal constant) and harvest a living organism for our yearly festivities. The wife and I are getting on in years, and it isn't so easy to wrangle a wet saw anymore.

So, we decided to get our first (and hopefully only) tree-shaped, life-like construct. It stands obediently in the corner and signals us with lights. It could be trying to communicate, but we like the way it looks, so we let it be.