Because everyone on the east coast is all "waah! It's 3 am when it's midnight where you are, Mei!" I'm willing to consider posting at a different time. The thing is, if I start posting at midnight eastern, the west coast starts getting the story at 9 pm the night before. If I do that, I don't wanna hear "wah! The west coast gets their updates on Monday!" Okay?

Canadians, sorry I referred to the US in the time zones. Should've said "Americas" or gone by GST or sumpin. And everyone else, I sorta lumped you all together because you guys aren't complaining.

Wanna earn five points? Refer your friends! For every one of your friends who signs up for an account here with your referral link, you earn five points.

How do I do this! you squeal. It's easy! You go to your account page and scroll down until you see "Your referral link." See that URL? That's your referral link. Send that to your friends and if they sign up for accounts you earn five points.

At midnight, chapter 3 will go live. It's called "The Needs of the Dead Are Few." Thanks to V for being a beta reader and Manoki for asking her pesky questions. (You can be a beta reader, too; ask in the comments, and if you have a history of constructive feedback here, I'll consider you.)

I'm excited about this part, and I've already started on chapter 4. This Thursday points story will probably be for the Perfesser, as there is a myth mentioned in chapter 3 and it's only fair to let you read it--he asked for a myth, so "Ennia's Descent" it is.

No one's had anything to say here for 15 hours?! I have an excuse; I was sleeping for part of that and writing the rest. Speaking of which, chapter three will be ready at midnight PST (-8 GMT for those of you unlucky enough not to live on Gods' Own Coast ). And I woke up this morning to what I wanted to say for chapter four on Saturday. I'm not sure what Thursday's bonus story is going to be. I might write a myth.

But again, seriously? I don't think we've gone this long without someone saying something since the site went live.

It is still early in the evening here in Portland--5 pm on the 31st--but I know that for many of you, it's either already 2009 or very close to it.

The best thing that happened to me in 2008 is you guys. You lift me up more than you know.

Here's hoping we have an even better 2009. Happy New Year!

All of these are Yules. Quickly:

Perchta is:

It's increasingly clear that because I work best with immediate feedback--putting up a chapter and getting a genuine reader response--I'm going to keep this site. What's also clear is that by keeping this site, I will never get a contract, or even an agent. I'm becoming okay with that. I started this site with the idea that I didn't need and couldn't get a publisher, though it's clear I'll never be considered a "real" author by the wider world without one. I'm increasingly okay with that, too, though it does make me sad.

Everyone's all, "Geez, I dunno about explicit sex right off the bat in chapter one, book three, are you sure you wanna do that?" So I'm all, well, okay, let's reconsider that and start with something else (going unnamed for spoilers). So I write this all awkward and stuff chapter and I'm like this is totally not working. So I take everything apart into its base components...

I've made an executive decision: This Tuesday's update is the last for the year. One today (I haven't even started, got sidetracked writing on book 3), one Tuesday, then we're off until 1/3/09. If things go the way they've been going, I may be able to start book 3 that day. There's just too much I have to do with the holidays to do the stories justice, folks, I'm sorry. Also I am betting you guys will be busy with getting drunk opening presents and stuff.

I'll still be here, blogging and commenting and stuff. Good Yul, everyone! Happy Eddin's Day!

I had a hard time figuring out which Inquisition I wanted...until I read the description for Gluhwein:

Warm red wine spiced with cinnamon sticks, cardamom, vanilla beans, honey, clove, lemon and orange rind, bay leaf, and honey.

If I could have only one (and really, that's all I have $$ for right now), that's the one I wanted. And I guessed right. It's delightful.

I need an actual Tremontine calendar. The maintenance of the Tremontine calendar is the responsibility of Eddin's Temple. Any would-be Eddinites want to give me a hand? I mean a physical calendar.

Now that I've got it in mind it's really hard not to pay attention to it. The working title is now "Scryer's Valley." I've got characters and scenes and I'm building up the central mystery.

I'm about to brave the shower. Not that big a deal, but it's 27 degrees F out, and we have fairly poor insulation (100+ years). But before I do, here's where we stand this Monday.

Me:

--Still on points stories through the New Year. If you have racked up enough points to ask a question, now is the time to ask.

I'm revising book one. Here's the question: Three of the bonus stories to date fit into the timeline of book one--Potential, Peacock Feathers and A More Romantic Temperament. Book one is written entirely from Temmin's perspective. Do I interrupt that narrative flow and insert those bonus stories as interludes, or leave well enough alone? This would be for the print and ebook versions only; the web version is remaining as it is.

I've already started on book three. I want to have it better plotted out, and we have a whole bunch of plot threads hanging that I want to pick up and weave some more, including but not limited to:

--Henrik's head
--Sedra and Brinnid
--Twenna and Harsin
--Harsin and Ansella
--Ansella and Ibbit
--Jenks and Britta
--Ellika and Bern
--Bessa and Barik
--Fen and Arta...

--and Temmin and everybody! Well, it just seems like that sometimes. Sir is demanding the return of Mathanus, who he's developed quite the crush on, so we'll see that for sure.

On the left, Sugar Cookie '08

Affectionately nicknamed 'The Devil's Bake Sale'.

On the right, Lick It Like You Mean It:

Every holiday season should be full of lewd suggestions and filthy double entendres, right? Lick it in earnest! Lick it with vigor! Peppermint candy cane with an extra jolt of sugar.

I'm sorry, you guys, I'm THIS CLOSE to being done. Seriously, so close. But Sir and I have had a rough couple of days and so we're going to bed. We need some down time. I'm sorry. Upside? It's a long chapter!

Today it's Badger on the left:

Warm earth, deep-reaching roots, dark myrrh, galangal, and Atlas cedar.

and The Winter of Our Discontent on the right:

Embrace your villainy: balsam, myrrh, mandarin orange, bitter clove, artemesia, rosewood, nutmeg, dark musk, smoke and cypress.

A continuing battle for my pulse points continues, this time on the left, Snow White '08:

A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers.

...and on the right, her sister, Rose Red '08:

The perfected winter rose, dew covered and freshly cut.

On the left wrist, Jacob's Ladder:

The meeting of Heaven and Earth: golden amber, galbanum, benzoin, ambrette, rockrose, costus and tonka.

On the right wrist, Lines Written Among the Euganean Hills, based on the poem by one PB Shelley:

Senseless is the breast and cold
Which relenting love would fold;
Bloodless are the veins and chill
Which the pulse of pain did fill;
Every little living nerve
That from bitter words did swerve
Round the tortur'd lips and brow,
Are like sapless leaflets now
Frozen upon December's bough.

OK, you guys, I've said before that this story as you're reading it is a draft. It's as well-written a draft as I can give you, but it's a draft. And I know you guys like it and all, and that's great.

But there are holes in the story, and overcrowded bits--pulled threads and dead ends. I'm sure of it. I can't see them, because I wrote the damn thing. In January I'm going to hire an editor to read book one and see how it reads as a story, but I can't afford to hire an editor to go through it the way I would like.

Today from the BPAL Yules, we have on the left wrist: Frau Holle! And on the right wrist: Midnight Mass! It's a pocket review duel to the death, ladies and gentlemen--uh, well, how about, to avoid the Do Not Want box?

Left wrist, Frau Holle, Goddess and star of one of the Daughters' favorite stories:

We're coming to the end of Macca's story. I think we'll wrap up the story-in-story in chapter 51 and the book entire in chapter 52. That's ten more chapters than book one, but the book two chapters tended to be shorter; the word count will be close to the same.

What happens after that? I just took some time off, so I hesitate to take another break so soon. But I'm not at all ready to launch into book three just yet; I need some outlining time on it that doesn't involve concurrent work on another book.

Gotta get through these! A couple of pocket reviews, both from the Wind in the Willows subseries of the Yule BPAL releases. First is All They Had Seen And All They Had Lost:

Because he's been doing an INCREDIBLE amount of work over at the wiki. That's why. If you've got a question on anything story-related, go over there; it's likely to be listed, and if not, you can create a page as a stub and someone (probably Gudy or me) will get around to explaining it. Let's all say thank you to Gudy: Thank you, Gudy.

Do you like the smell of chocolate? I mean real chocolate, like unsweetened cocoa powder. I mean, do you really like to get your nose right down in that tin of Dutch process and take a big HUFF until the insides of your nostrils are brown? You like huffing that cocoa powder, bunky?

Then you will love Gelt.

Alice is going to be busy for a while, so after she finishes Jenks's character study (saw the first proof this morning) that'll be it for art for a bit. (Don't worry, she'll be back. I hope.) While she's off doing other things, though, the Overage for Art target will come down, and overages will all roll into the next week's target.

Remember I said I'd have a major subscription to announce once I'd confirmed it? Confirmation arrived this morning in a Fedex envelope: Six crisp new one hundred dollar bills, to be considered as a $50/month subscription paid a year in advance, from a donor known to me, but not to be known to you. Suffice it to say s/he's a regular reader. (No speculation, please.)

The companion to E Pluribus Unum, Tabella is:

The voting tablet. Herbs and flowers that represent democracy, justice, leadership, and power: olive blossom, frankincense, tobacco flower, benzoin, Little John, bergamot, galangal, angelica, fig, sage, and ginger.

In the bottle: Serious. This is a serious scent. To my nose, the sage is immediately apparent.

Wet: Bergamot, sage, ginger. I smell bee balm, but that's probably the galangal and bergamot together.

Thanks to all of you for being my readers. You've made the last few months an exhilarating experience for me.

I'm also thankful for the current donation challenge.

I know I said I have a roof over my head, etc, and that's true; I'm not about to get tossed out of my house. To the contrary, we just made some financial maneuvers that won't make us rich, but that will remove many worries--and that makes me *feel* rich.