Also, expect to see some minor changes and updates to the blog as a whole.  I realized it has been quite some time since I updated the notes, overviews and other information for my stories.  There shouldn’t be a whole lot new, but keep your eyes peeled just in case.

As you can see, I have changed the layout of Ink Raindrops once again.  I apologize for the schizophrenia, but I am finding it difficult to locate a free blog design that does everything I want it to.  My knowledge of web design is from a much earlier era, and thus the CSS and web skills it would require to modify these into something perfect for me, is sadly elusive.  Short of expending time on learning these things, or finding someone willing to help me out, I’m stuck switching each time I find something that appeals more to me than my latest choice.  I prefer to keep my focus on writing for now, so there you have it.  I would, at some juncture, like to have something more unique and professional though.  Covers shouldn’t sell books, but unfortunately they do all the time.

I (and Way of the Dragon) will see you on the first!  Enjoy the final month of summer.  Personally, I’m eager for fall.

I hope you enjoy this month’s update.  It’s longer than most of my chapters, particularly for WotD, but the weaving and necessary information were all too tight to separate it into two.  I guess you can consider it one and a half!  Things are moving at last for Master Mikhail’s students, but not in a direction that any of them expected…

I have the funny feeling I’ll be revisiting WotD next month as well, but we’ll see what the votes say!  Oh, and my apologies for not having a chance to announce the winner this month as I usually do.  I got an announcement up on Facebook, but didn’t have a chance to get it here before a combination of impending vacation and sickness got in the way.  Someday I will have this blog organized so that perhaps such things can be visible to everyone, rather than to just my friends.  For now, it’ll have to do!

I’ll keep it short and sweet.  Onward to July’s update!  And do let me know if the poll isn’t working as expected, or if anything else goes wrong.  I’ll keep an eye on it as best I can.

Oh yes – some business, while you have a moment.  It has come to my attention that my World of Warcraft fanfic, Shadow and Flame, rarely receives votes.  When it does get them, it’s from my husband, who will admit to these things if pressed.  I suspect that most of my current readers aren’t involved with WoW, and that may be part of the reason.  In a fit of egotism, I also choose to consider the possibility that my original concepts are more enjoyable and interesting.  (Correct me, at length, if my assumptions are false.)  This, combined with the massive overhauling of the game itself via the next expansion, will render pretty much everything I have written nonexistent.  It will be a peek into WoW’s past, but I can no longer accurately look at what I am writing once that happens, and I fear that will impact my progress.

So here’s my thought.  I don’t want to remove it from the site, since it’s good writing and something I enjoyed doing.  However, I’m not sure that there’s any merit in keeping it available for votes when it doesn’t seem to be a priority for you all (or, really, for me.)  Unless there are any firm objections, I’m planning on taking it the way of Blank Slate – that is to say, I will leave it up, but only for posterity.  There will not be any further updates or continuations unless I someday decide to change my mind.  That is, after all, what it is currently doing.  If you like the number four, I guess you’ll just have to vote for a new story…  otherwise, the usual suspects are lined up and ready to rock!

How is a raven like a writing desk?  I don’t know either, but I’ll be thinking about it until I see you next month.  Onward to May 20th!

Still pondering how to get the word out.  I know most people do this kind of thing by being active in the writing community and various forums and websites online, but as I have been focusing on completing projects and actually WRITING rather than spending a lot of time browsing the digital distraction field (hereafter referred to as the DDF, or just plain Internet) I have limited resources in this regard.  Plus, I’d feel silly joining up just to pimp my own ride.  I may be a good writer, but I prefer the kind of attention that comes from readers stumbling across my site and finding a good place to hang their hats, not the kind I have to strong-arm my way into.  There’s a lot of detritus in the DDF – surely there must be some way to get mine more noticeable without handing out resumes links to websites I don’t even frequent.

Also, as an aside – I hate spam.  Most of it is quite obvious and I don’t waste time on such things.  However, there are often messages that are so close to believable that I run the risk of losing potential readers/comments to my spam filter.  If you have ever tried to comment and it hasn’t shown up, please do send me an email at brasspetals@gmail.com (don’t use the comments, obviously!) and tell me.  I want to be sure that I’m weeding out the bad but keeping the good!  If I bite anything or anyone, it’ll be my spam filters, not you.

See you on the 1st, ladies and gentlemen, with Liar’s Dice in tow!

*I will post the promised updates tomorrow.  Don’t look at me like that.

Thanks so much for your votes.  I see a few extra this month and I hope you’ll all stick around for the future!  I’m not in this for the publicity first and foremost (this is to keep me busy during months that are not November!) but the more readers I get, the better the system works, and the more I feel like it’s not just my husband and a very small contingent of personal friends telling me what I ought to do.    I know these things take time, and that’s great, but every little bit counts as far as I’m concerned!

Let’s see what I can accomplish in getting WotD moving.  Meet me back here in a little more than a week!

I am thinking of ways to improve traffic here, in order to get this blog out to the masses.  If you can think of anything that isn’t too obtrusive or frustrating for readers, please do let me know and I’ll consider it.  I’m not ready to shell out a ton of funds trying to get attention, but small avenues have to be available that I haven’t thought of yet.

That’s all, folks!  I’ll see you on March 20th!