Ashlyn @mahaleia@wandering.shop

Hello, just wanted to say hi and give an #introduction. :D I've been writing stories since I was little, but in the last 12 years or so I've actually started doing it more properly. :) I've got one self-published novel, two more in the wings, a bunch of short stories, a short-lived comic-thing (re:my avatar)... I've been busy. :D Will post again when the site revamp is finished. I'm going to try to post the back-catalogue there. (And a new short story I just finished up.) Nice to meet you all!

I've been a bit deficient about wandering.shop (sorry), as well as with my writing, lately. But I posted a new one tonight. This is another short story from the archives to tide us over.

https://nafina.com/2019/01/ghost/

"Geek grrl Lydia has had dating troubles for years. When she finally finds the perfect girl on a dating site, said girl goes mysteriously missing. It’s up to Lydia to find out what happened, and the chase leads her to some unexpected and surreal places."

The LWH story has been a bit on hold, as I've had a difficult couple of weeks, and then discovered FFXIV >_> but it's maybe 40% done, I just need to get motivation back and jump back in.

Also introducing my Continuously Variable Capitalization System(tm) in the previous post...

tfw the words are finally flowing and the story is making sense and it's happenin', it's happenin'! And then, oh man i'm tired, but i don't want to stop now, and actually I'm starting to feel some burnout, but there's so much more story to write, aaaaand boom. down for a week. 😂 (Okay, I'm trying to stop before that last step right now, but it's hard.)

First chapter, and part of the second, now written on the new story! Whee, getting started at last. Yay vacation.

I don't think my Victorian English is perfect, but I think it's good enough to add some interesting Doyle-esque flavor to the text. :) I might hand out what's done so far to a few people for a test-read to see if it's annoying or good.

I was writing a book earlier this year, and I was reading the last draft on my Kindle on the plane, and I discovered to my dismay that I only finished about half of it. I have an outline for the whole thing, so I know what happens, but it's still a bit of a bummer. :D I'd like to get back to it in a bit. It's YA about multiple realities that takes place mostly in Manitoba, Canada. An evolution of something I've been trying to write since I was very young, really :)

Awesome, the new Scrivener for Windows beta has a dark mode. This makes it match my Linux windows a lot better. ;) I think at this point I'm more into the Markdown+Git workflow, but it's nice to know that it's coming along and mostly working in Linux under Wine for the inevitable day that my old Mac quits working.

This Kindle and I go a long way back. :) I bought it originally to read stuff on, and later discovered it was an invaluable part of my writing process too. I can load drafts up using Calibre and then add notes as I read in the relative eye comfort and portability of the Kindle. (Please don't judge the text on it... lol... it was a "just get something down" rough draft that I'm pretty much planning to rewrite.) It's even been rooted and screen savers replaced.

I'm looking over my notes here for the story whose writing got interrupted by Things, and it feels like something I'm really interested in reading. :) That's usually a good sign for the outline, anyway.

I'm going on vacation soon, and I suppose it's unlikely I'm going to finish this story by next weekend. So I'll just plan to post another story from the archives.

But it's coming. *sigh* Still coming. I wish I didn't feel exhausted all the time.

ZOMBIE LAND SAGAAAAAA

Just go watch it. But not with any drink in your mouth...

The first two episodes got me laughing so hard that I was crying, and then my glasses fogged up, so I couldn't read the subtitles... haha.

New ("new") story posted: In the Limelight, in the Spotlight

https://nafina.com/2018/12/in-the-limelight-in-the-spotlight/

This one is a bit different because it's a very short story constructed out of a particularly compelling dream I had. The story is from years ago; I'm just now getting around to publishing it.

I still have a Long Way Home story in the works, it's just taking a while because life's been a bit gross lately. I think it'll be worth the wait. ;)