• Marigot Magic - Stuck in draft mode while Referata wiki is being set up; Easter story set in Mauritius (and in the same community) announced last month

• Sevton - No hope for this baby for the time being, sorry--although I've beta-tested a new map of the setting, Rogatia. Government there's been shut down--indefinitely. (Blame Aaron Swartz's run-in with the Feds--and the CFAA. Fix it.)

• EnWa - 700+ entries so far

Till we meet again, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.

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As of February 24^th 2013, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are dedicated to the public domain worldwide under Creative Commons' CC0 waiver, with Kopimi provisions presiding.

After months and months of obsession, waiting, scanning and proofreading...I've finally put Gadsby, Ernest Vincent Wright's 1939 lipogram, to rights.

All 267 pages of it!

I've fixed up the Kindle edition to bring it in line with Kindle Previewer standards as well as the Wikisource version, and also taken care of many a typo and error in the Skipping Fifth essay. (If you're really curious to seek out the original Wetzel edition, you can find it at the Internet Archive.)

The revised Constitution edition of Gadsby is now on sale at Amazon in the U.S., Canada, UK, France and Germany. I will deal with a few more typos in the next three weeks.

Cost: Just two dollars. (That's a lipogram--and so was this book.)

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Well, that's it for now. Although I'll still do journals up to every two months, you won't be seeing me much on deviantArt for the time being. My main focus nowadays is Google+, which has taken up a lot of my online time nowadays. That said, you're more likely to expect status reports on my projects here from now on, unless I really have something else to write about.

Time to continue my promotional efforts with a listing on AuthorsDB. After that and a bio update, I'm moving on with a few Aground posts...and (at long last) the development of my NaNoWriMo project, Marigot Magic. (If you're happening to wonder what its working title would have been late last year, it was supposed to be Emancipated Minors. [Tiffany, the 1980s teen pop sensation, almost became one of these on a legal standpoint.] Too bad the term doesn't quite fit the behaviour of our main character--Samson Dixwell, Guadeloupe raccoon--as it should have. I wonder if Dominica has any law pertaining to that, anyhow?)

Till then, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.

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As of February 24^th 2013, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are dedicated to the public domain worldwide under Creative Commons' CC0 waiver, with Kopimi provisions presiding.

I'm only writing this to keep up with my two-month maximum between new posts.

My NaNoWriMo/Marigot Magic and Gadsby duties (among other things) have caught up with my psyche so much that I'm not really in the mood to add anything here right now--status reports or whatever. That said, I'll see you in the New Year (later this week) with another journal.

You'll have to keep with with my Aground feed on G+ in the meantime.

Till then, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.

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As of October 1^st 2011, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0) and the Free Art License 1.3 (FAL), with Kopimi provisions presiding.

I meant to write this here yesterday, but now I've finally found the time.

Sixty days of madness, obsession, worry and what-not...have all led up to this. A special edition of Gadsby: Champion of Youth, Ernest Vincent Wright's 1939 novel without an "e". With a brand-new behind-the-scenes essay. Released October 8--Columbus Day--as promised.

I've submitted a request for my Amazon listing to be featured in Great Reads in the UK, a brand-new blog targeting the Kindle elite in that country.

Here's praying that we get noticed--Skipping Fifth especially. Nothing so far during those first 28+ hours listed.

Time to head on down to Amazon's "Meet Our Authors" (MOA) forum to continue our promotion.

Till then, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.

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As of October 1^st 2011, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0) and the Free Art License 1.3 (FAL), with Kopimi provisions presiding.

(Originally posted at the Literature forum, but locked there after investigation. Moved to the journal area instead.)

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I've spent much of September (and a bit of late August) readying an Amazon Kindle version of Gadsby, a 1939 novel by Boston native Ernest Vincent Wright. Back in 1937, the work caused a sensation for its omission of "e"--the most common English letter--in its entire text. Sadly, what's left of the first edition (by Los Angeles' Wetzel Publishing) has become extremely rare; a warehouse fire consumed the remainder of its stock--and Wright's manuscript.

You can thank Guy Kawasaki on Google+--and the book's public-domain status--for giving me my first publishing opportunity. And that's only half the fun: with this new edition, you'll get to know Wright like no one has ever done before--in a biographical essay entitled Skipping Fifth. (Which I plan to serialise on this site soon.)

Fifth is not just about Wright and his small-town novel: it also concerns a similar endeavour made in the late 1960s by OULIPO's Georges Perec, titled La disparition. (In the early 1990s, Scottish writer Gilbert Adair translated it as A Void.)

If any of you have checked up on my #WhatLiesAground feed, you'll see I've devoted most of my recent posts towards the upcoming reissue. Only six days remain--I've got summaries to fill, a press release to refine, a home site to decorate, and a supplement to finish up on... Again, this is really hard work for a first-timer!

(A countdown timer for the launch can be seen on my "About Me" page.)

Just the other minute, I posted a first look at the reissue cover. I'll send the entire thing over to the Kindle Boards in a matter of hours.

So on Columbus Day, wish me luck as I bring back a lost treasure of American literature--experimental or otherwise. Cost: Just two dollars. (That's a lipogram--similar to what both authors had for concoctions. So was this last sentence.)

Till we meet again, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.




"So, as Sirius and Luna hold an all-night vigil, I'll say a soft 'Good-night' to all our happy bunch, and to John Gadsby—Youth's Champion."

FINIS

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As of October 1^st 2011, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0) and the Free Art License 1.3 (FAL), with Kopimi provisions presiding.

See also this Kindle Boards post.
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So it says at the start of a very long post I've composed regarding the future of my NaNoWriMo 2012 assignment, referred to as #WhatLiesAground in the feed. If you're not on G+ or at the Kindle Boards (or haven't followed me here on either site lately), please allow me to share some backstory:

Late last month, things weren't looking well for the "Aground" project as a whole. Nothing resulted but a meandering, overcomplicated plot, with a bloated soundtrack listing to match; both bugbears made me reconsider my plans. On July 22, I announced a split in which two new projects sprang forth in its wake. Both feature young animal characters and partly take place on Dominica's east coast--but here the basics and similarities end. In my original plans, the 2012 effort would focus on the adventures of Inri Suppowell, a young mouse living on an island off Castle Bruce; the initial setup, with the Maple Town homage in Marigot, would've had to wait till next year.

But by Monday, there was a change of plans: Much as I wanted to do Inri's story, I didn't feel the final result would turn out quite as interesting as I would have liked. Even its companion thirty-song lineup proved underwhelming to say the least--although I like every single tune on it. It all led me later in the evening to give the word to a librarian at Waterbury's Silas Bronson facility:

I'm switching the two campaigns around.

And now the one I've put in front will get me there--as a real author. Over the past few days, it's taken a bunch of convincing newcomers on the original soundtrack page--now more exciting and better-maintained--to do the trick. And for the most part, it's working fine. Especially with three certain songs out of Jetsons: The Movie. (Remember this from 1990? So do I.)

The refurbished NaNoWriMo campaign, codenamed Marigot Magic for the time being, deals with a hectic summer in the village of Marigot as experienced by an 8½-year-old raccoon from the suburbs of Roseau. Sometime during his visit, he meets a famous relative desperate to get his long-awaited production off the ground in nearby Marie-Galante (off the southern coast of Guadeloupe). Two versions are expected upon completion--one for children, the other for older readers. A working title will be unveiled on September 15--and I found it a few days ago in this WP entry. If you feel you already know, then please don't reveal it here or to anyone else. Confidential enough for you?

Well, that's the scoop. I'll see you again as updates permit.

Till we meet again, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.

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As of October 1^st 2011, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0) and the Free Art License 1.3 (FAL), with Kopimi provisions presiding.

• Sevton - Gambit (Part 1 of Lucky Guess) is nearing the end of its KDP Select run; work on next one, Castle, may resume in earnest during late August

• EnWa - 700+ entries so far

• Aground - On the road to NaNoWriMo 2012; top-secret logline written on index paper, and main character's surname revealed, in last 3½ hours alone

• Marigot Magic ^{(Quickly came up with that title on the spot)} - Recently announced in the wake of the current Aground project splitting in two; saved for 2013 campaign

Till we meet again, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.

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As of October 1^st 2011, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0) and the Free Art License 1.3 (FAL), with Kopimi provisions presiding.

As planned all along, Sesta 1 of Lucky Guess (Gambit) is available for free at Amazon's Kindle Store starting today--for three whole days only, to tie in with Memorial Day (in the U.S.) and Pentecost (in the Caribbean, Commonwealth and parts of Europe). The promotion ends Tuesday morning sometime before 1:00 a.m. Pacific/4:00 a.m Eastern/0800 UTC. Not that it really matters, but around twelve hours into this shindig, I've racked up a grand total of just 23 downloads--20 on the U.S. site, the remaining three in the UK. 23...and if you think about it enough, that's not bad for a first-timer. At the rate I was going early this morning, I thought I'd be lucky to hit half of that by 2:00 in the afternoon. (Thanks, Ruth Nestvold!)

Alas, judging by the amount of flak I've recently received on the Kindle Boards for my efforts, I've decided to throw in the towel after Part 2, Castle, goes up on July 10th for the same list price as Gambit...and that's it for the Amazon previews. After August 17th, when my KDP Select trial is over...you know where to find me next. Back to deviantArt and RedBubble, too...

Till we meet again, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.

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As of October 1^st 2011, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0) and the Free Art License 1.3 (FAL), with Kopimi provisions presiding.

It's finally there...in the form of a sample chapter that basically serves as a placeholder until the complete Sesta 1 takes root on the 22nd. List price: US$0.99/£0.80/€0,90. (I was two chapters short of completing that first part, and will get to it sometime during Thursday.) From here, it's the S.O.S. (same old strategy): both the sample and the Sesta will be offered for free during May 26-28 in honour of Memorial Day/Pentecost (depending on the reader's territory).

For once in my life, I am so elated to have an ASIN of my very own. It's time I got the message out to the Literature forum, as well as those I know.

In the meantime, check out the official Weebly site and Referata wiki, as well as this Grooveshark tie-in. (As for the wiki part, don't even bother to ask how I felt spending all that time just to set it up. This, along with the lure of an HBO/Showtime/Starz cable freeview, compounded with my ongoing story woes and online obsessions, prevented me from meeting the original May 15th deadline. Do I owe anyone apologies yet?)

So, till we meet again, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.

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As of October 1^st 2011, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0) and the Free Art License 1.3 (FAL), with Kopimi provisions presiding.

In less than thirty days, Sesta 1 of Lucky Guess will go on sale at Amazon's Kindle Store. In honour of both Memorial Day in the U.S. and Pentecost in the West Indies, Sesta 1 will be offered for free during a three-day stretch (May 26–28), then settle back to the US$1.50/£1.00/€1,00 list price.

As of today, the rewrite has reached nearly 8,000 words (close to the end of Chapter III). The official site has undergone a slight front-page redesign.

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As of October 1^st 2011, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0) and the Free Art License 1.3 (FAL), with Kopimi provisions presiding.

As far as Lucky Guess' backstory is concerned, I've finally come to a crucial conclusion based on this article on Historic Mysteries. (Hint: the impetus is hidden well within the last two pages.) And this 2007 piece from the Montreal Gazette. Which is bound to render the sample opening chapter's second sentence all but irrelevant....

The madness never ends, does it?

Well, then, I guess it's time to start writing fast.

Again, look for Sesta 1 on Amazon's Kindle Store this May.

Till we meet again, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.

(UPDATE [29/3]: And thanks to those who visited my page on March 7th, setting a one-day personal record [70 views] in the process. I've confirmed this, and am only adding this to the post before the stat goes away in quite a while.)

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As of October 1^st 2011, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0) and the Free Art License 1.3 (FAL), with Kopimi provisions presiding.

So many to consider--and so little time (knowing my affair with the Saga so far).

Well, then...as I promised two nights ago, here are the four story ideas that have been popping into my head for several weeks now:

• On Saturday evening, I watched this report from the Wall Street Journal on the state of abandoned jet planes across Brazil. Something's coming up for this one...


• Another WSJ story dealing with the plight of incomplete villas in several Caribbean nations. I see something involving kids à la Playing for Keeps...


• A PressDisplay clipping I fetched from the pages of Ireland's Sunday Independent, February 26th, reported that treasure worth millions is waiting to be salvaged off the Irish coast. This premise is a sure bet because: 1) The SS Mantola, one of the ships mentioned, contains more than US$18 million of silver bullion within its bulk. And 2) Under local law, shipwrecks over 100 years old are automatically declared national monuments. Enjoin the two factoids, replace the Mantola with a fictional counterpart, and you have the makings of a good pursiut story. Can't wait to see where that goes!


• And as I wind down for the night, I'm considering an ambitious, personal endeavour along the lines of The Year in San Fernando meets Maple Town (thank you, furry freaks!), with a throwback to the works of Canada's NFB. With so many memories of vacations in Marigot, Dominica floating back to me (my grandparents lived there once), this could become a potential smash on Amazon's KDP Select program. (I could give it a go on NaNoWriMo and continue from here.) Since the middle of last month (when I started to consider this), no clear storyline as yet...but you never know. ^{(Just so you know, San Fernando was written back in the 1960s by Trinidad's Michael Anthony; the story I am envisioning largely takes place in Marigot.)}

So there you have it: Four story germs, all with the potential to break out. What do you think of them, and which one(s) are you looking forward to reading?

(As for Lucky Guess, I've gone up to six sections while restructuring it with The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing by literary agent Evan.)

Till we meet again, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.

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As of October 1^st 2011, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0) and the Free Art License 1.3 (FAL), with Kopimi provisions presiding.

After stalling at two sample chapters for several months, Lucky Guess is taking off yet again this week. (Blame some story development problems for the delay, along with the online legislation paranoia that has kept me off bay from sufficiently thinking about it.) The serial format is still in place--and guess what else?

As I'm running short on cash, time, sleep and whatever else, I'm moving on to Amazon's Kindle store (via their Direct Publishing platform).

That's right: My loyalty to the open source movement aside, I'm selling my wares on Amazon...not only while I'm a customer, but also as an author.

After several days looking up the pros and cons of selling such a work on the Kindle front, I have come to a conclusion:

The story will be sold worldwide by the sesta: six chapters at US$1.50/£1.00/€1,00 each, every five to six weeks until the work concludes. _{(This calls for a tighter development schedule on my part.)} After a two- to three-month window, individual chapters will be posted for free viewing on the Internet Archive, deviantART, Scribd, issuu and RedBubble. Nonetheless, the licensing terms (which allow for redistribution, copying and rewrites without permission) remain unaltered.

From the looks of things, expect Lucky Guess to hit the digital shelves sometime between late April and early June. And follow me at Google+ for updates, predictions and announcements. After little more than six years, it's about time it gets done--one way or another.

And now for the status report:

• EnWa - 700+ entries so far

• Western Sandpiper Guild - Progress suspended due to lack of adequate storyline

• Little Hamster Prince - Progress suspended; layout details still fuzzy

In addition, I've found inspiration during the past several weeks for no more than four projects, which may or may not get through the active stage. This Wall Street Journal feature gave way to one last night. (More in Tuesday's post.)

Till we meet again, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.

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As of October 1^st 2011, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0) and the Free Art License 1.3 (FAL), with Kopimi provisions presiding.

• Sevton - Two chapters of Lucky Guess so far, and an important subplot has surfaced this week; progress stalled in between as I've been overwhelmed by this whole SOPA/PIPA/ACTA debacle

• EnWa - 700+ entries so far

• Western Sandpiper Guild - Progress suspended due to lack of adequate storyline

• Little Hamster Prince - Progress suspended; layout details still fuzzy

Till we meet again, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.

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As of October 1^st 2011, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0) and the Free Art License 1.3 (FAL), with Kopimi provisions presiding.

And at RedBubble as promised. Check it out now: [link]
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As of October 1^st 2011, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0) and the Free Art License 1.3 (FAL), with Kopimi provisions presiding.

Aren't you glad already? After all that hard work behind the scenes, I sure should be.

The Sevton Saga officially launches with Part I of Sesta 1. For those not up to their poetry terms (and I'm really bad at this craft), the story division (and the POV scheme) pays homage to the sesta rima, a form of verse identified by the rhyming pattern of ababcc. In the case of Lucky Guess, the six lines become six chapters in each so-called "sesta"--each assigned to a single character.

I've also managed to spread the word on the ThumbShare forum; I wonder how long that thread'll stay open? (I contemplated placing it in the Literature section instead--until I read the rules carefully.)

Till we meet again, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.
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As of October 1^st 2011, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0) and the Free Art License 1.3 (FAL), with Kopimi provisions presiding.

This weekend, I've completed the digital galley proof of the very first chapter of Lucky Guess, the first book of the long-in-waiting Sevton Saga. After nearly six long years of development--and that isn't over yet! The scenario I am facing brings to mind something I read moments ago in Writers Digest's second edition of their Complete Handbook of Novel Writing: Truman Capote's struggle to finish his novel, Answered Prayers, during the last 19 years of his life. (He never succeeded.)

So now I'm following in the footsteps of Dickens and Conan Doyle--by taking the serial route. (After this stage, I am still planning to release Lucky Guess--on my own--as a real novel.) See you all with Sesta 1 later this month or the next.

As for Irene, it was just a light brush in our neck of the woods. No harm done--just a few downed branches across our street.

Till we meet again, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.
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As of October 1^st 2011, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0) and the Free Art License 1.3 (FAL), with Kopimi provisions presiding.

• Sevton - Sesta 1 of Little Miss Marple already drafted; rest of book details sketched

• EnWa - 700+ entries so far

• Western Sandpiper Guild - Progress suspended due to lack of adequate storyline

• Little Hamster Prince - Progress suspended; layout details still fuzzy

Till we meet again, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde. God bless everyone (including me) who must endure Irene's wrath.
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As of June 18^th 2009, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under:

• Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)

• GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), version 1.2 and later

• Free Art License 1.3 (FAL)

• Sevton - Retool a success; title ruse: Little Miss Marple

• EnWa - 700+ entries so far

• Western Sandpiper Guild - Sample opening chapter to be finished tomorrow

• Little Hamster Prince - Sample opening chapter to be rewritten by tomorrow

Till we meet again, we'll keep in touch...and diè wåde.
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As of June 18^th 2009, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under:

• Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)

• GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), version 1.2 and later

• Free Art License 1.3 (FAL)

• Sevton - Ultimate re-tool has sprung up with a definite title, un/spared; storyline in track for completion on or before May 7th

• Wallex - Now revived as EnWa, a Firefox-only XML project; 50 English/Walloon translations to date; suspended for now until further notice

• Sago - Only a few paragraphs; nothing else written since Christmas 2007, web site now inactive; could resume soon?

• NY Memoir - Postponed until further notice; could also resume soon?

Till we meet again, we'll keep in touch...and happy belated Easter from me and E.B.

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As of June 18^th 2009, all of this user's deviantArt journal posts are multi-licensed under:

• Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)

• GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), version 1.2 and later

• Free Art License 1.3 (FAL)