Where We're At Now

 Good 2022 everyone!

I know it's been a while, and so I know there likely won't be too many people seeing this. Surprising as it may be, I haven't completely fallen off the wagon with movement for the blog. I could go into the long of it, but the main reason for CMW's hiatus is the same reason it started: Kingdom of Sun. I spent the vast majority of last year working with the hosting site to get it ready to go Premium, which basically meant rewriting a large portion of the second draft. Then came the matter of keeping up with it ever since it did go live. That entails me writing at least four chapters a week and making sure those chapters are as polished coming out since there's little chance for heavy edits or going back and reworking entire portions of the story like I could before.

Naturally, I'm not the most eager to do even more writing once I get through my normal work day, writing and editing for that, and doing what I need to maintain the rest of my life. I do have a couple chapters done for Nutmeg's generation, which are the few final bits of her teenage years. The reason I haven't released them is because they leave a much different taste in the mouth than the more positive end the story is currently stuck on. I've also done some work on her adult years and even another short story, but consistent crashes kept making them a chore.

So, what'll be happening going forward?

Like I mentioned in the last post, there continues to be an issue with Blogger picking up malware from somewhere. It seems to have absolutely nothing to do with any actions of mine or leak from my end. I'm going to go ahead with my plan then and switch over to WordPress. This blog will remain up, but it won't host any content aside from the eventual notices giving more information about the switch. What I'll do with the new blog is sort of...start over. It'll only host CMW, and I'll transfer over the story starting with Ethereal's generation. I won't be doing everything from scratch, but I'll tighten up the writing and give the old content a slight refresh. It'll require much less effort from me, and, hopefully, it'll put me into a groove that will allow a continuation of Nutmeg's story to see it through to its proper conclusion.

I'm still figuring out what I want to do after that. I have a feeling the aging of TS3 is going to be the main problem with CMW's continuation, and TS4 simply doesn't offer the ability to do the story the way I envisioned it. So, I just don't know. I have another project related to CMW that I'm super excited about though. A 'what-if' version of things, basically. There should at least be that.

I'll post a link to the new blog when it's ready. Hope you look forward to it, and thank you as always!

~Kelsey

Malware and Potential Blog Move

Hello, everyone. Just coming by with some more news. I've been doing my best to work on the remaining CMW Gen Four chapters when I've got the time. I've been feeling pretty good about it, but then I found something unfortunate in my email today. I received a message from Blogger stating the most recent short story had been deleted due to violating their guidelines. Condensed version: it appears some internet malware snuck its way onto the post, which got it flagged as dangerous by Google, prompting Blogger to get rid of the whole thing under their "Malware and Viruses" clause. It is incredibly frustrating as there was no chance to be told of the issue or at least have the post simply unpublished, and it's even more frustrating since the matter was nothing I caused. There doesn't appear a way at this time to retrieve the short story. While I've done everything I can from my end to make sure there's nothing bad coming from my computer, the incident does leave me concerned as there's little I can do should something like this happen again or, even worse, should the whole blog get deleted for repeated "violations". Every search I did for preventing/resolving issues like this only led me to information about WordPress, even if I specifically typed for Blogger/Blogspot help. I'd kinda already been contemplating moving my content to WordPress, and this has really put me in the mindset that I should. I wanted to stick around here due to its nostalgia, yet there's also a lot of changes made to the interface that have put me off the place in the past year or so. While I don't think I'll be jumping ship immediately, just keep an eye out for updates I suppose. Also, if pages do give you warnings, let me know, and if the blog suddenly disappears, hopefully you'll have seen this beforehand. I'll try to name the new blog the same if possible if something that extreme happens, so search it out under that. I did back-up a copy of the blog's contents too to ensure I can access it later.

Hope you all are having more pleasant days 😂

~Kelsey

Color My World Short Story #12

 

I raised my head as I heard the familiar clack of polished shoes on wood. Like so many times before, my mind immediately went to the days of my childhood where I snatched Dad's shoes and danced my heart out trying to perform some tap. Those attempts ended when humiliation replaced cheerfulness. One of those shoes that had been far too big finally rocketed off my tiny toes and smashed Mom's nose. She laughed it off and complained more to Dad about why he felt the need to have footwear with such hard soles, but my tap dancing days were done.

    "Hey, Crys. Feeling any better?" Dad asked as he rounded the corner. He was already hovering over me with a sympathetic smile before I could answer.

   "Yeah. This new medicine is working a lot better than the other ones have. I'm still feeling a bit weak and unsteady though. Kinda cold too. Part of me wants to turn the fireplace on, but it's summer. That seems like it's a bit much," I smiled.

    "I can help you if you don't mind some cuddles."

    "How could I ever turn down cuddles? Just as long as you don't mind getting your clothes wrinkled."

    "Bah, what's a few creases?"

I scooted over for Dad to settle down next to me. The couch was a lot less manageable than it used to be when my crashes happened when I was little, but Dad refused to admit this old loveseat might not contain us for much longer. He snuggled me tight, and I closed my eyes relaxing into his secure hold. Too many times I'd ended up in the hospital because of my anemia. Him and Mom making sure to always be there with a warm hug was a gift I would never forget.

Happy Birthday and Some Updates!

Once again, it's been a while! I thought I'd taking this opportunity on the prodding date of my birthday to keep blog-only followers in the loop. It's been quiet here, but rather busy on Tapas! The new story I began there, "Kingdom of Sun", had constant updates and found itself doing well. It often trended and was featured on the website's front page. Then I decided to submit the story to staff. What had been a hope that I thought might come true way off in the future happened much sooner than expected as "Kingdom of Sun" was accepted into their Premium Program! I am now working with staff to make it better for a relaunch where readers will use ink, the Tapas currency gotten through either payment or watching ads/playing games, to unlock chapters. It's my first big step to making a career out of writing, and it naturally requires most of my effort. I have struggled to find time for "Color My World", which I do wish to continue although I know it has been a long time now since the last main update. My idea right now is to slowly work on it when I have the chance and begin posting again once the rest of Gen Four is completely done. That way I don't have to worry about constantly starting and stopping. I thank you for your immense patience! As a treat, I have another short story prepared for you today featuring a previously unmentioned character, Crystal. I hope you enjoy!

~Kelsey

New Series on Tapas!

 Hello, everyone!

It's been quiet for a while, but I've been hard at work these past few months. That's due to my work on the new story I've prepared to host on Tapas, Kingdom of Sun. I've been writing it for over a year and a half now, and it's finally ready to go live. If you enjoy fantasy or reincarnation stories, please give it a go. It would mean the world to have you give it a look over and possibly a subscription. My hope is to one day have it be chosen for a premium story on Tapas. That would allow me to get paid for it and even more hopefully switch to writing as my full-time career. Such would likely lead to me having more time to work on CMW! Now that Kingdom of Sun is being released, it is my goal to shift more of my attention back this way and resume updates here as soon as possible. Thank you as always for your support.

Check out the story here!

Cover art by Line

Apologies - Update

Hey all! Sorry for the sudden absence and quiet. Everything has been fine with me and nothing is wrong. A big cause of the silence was my work reopening, which brought on a schedule change and adjustment period. I hope I didn't cause too much worry. A quick update about that wouldn't have been difficult to write, but I took some extra time to let myself step back and just prompt out the reality that I've been working against for most of the generation. I'm really starting to hit a motivation shortage after so many years of this project now. Have no fear that I'm canceling it. Generation Four will be completed, and I'm planning on doing Generation Five. I love and am excited for those two stories and everything beyond. The problem lies with the process getting the story from my head. The Sims 3 will always hold a special place in my heart, yet using it as a backdrop for my creation process now tires me. I'm tired of the same animations, the same poses, the slowness, the glitches, the problems like this I encountered taking pictures for the last chapter:

I consider The Sims 4 an okay game. I open it to play it for general fun far more than I've opened TS3 for actual game play in years. I wish I could say switching over would give me the needed refresh, that solution takes away many of the necessary mechanics needed for the planned plots of numerous generations. There's no real solution I can think of, which has me at an impasse that leaves me just not wanting to do anything.

So that's where I am at the moment. I am a little done, but at the same time I'm not done enough to get close to calling this project to a premature end. What I do think will help is pulling back some of the pressure of responsibility. You've all been wonderful whenever there's a delayed or missed chapter, and I don't want to do you a disservice by not being upfront about the thoughts in my head. For now, I'm going to release the story from a schedule. I won't promise a certain number of chapters or having a post on a certain day. However, I feel that allowing myself to work more at leisure should lessen the reluctance I feel towards even opening TS3.

Thank you as always for your understanding, and I hope to see you with something new soon!

~Kelsey

Gen Four- Chapter Twenty Five

NSFW Material

I almost forgot why I had come after a time. Pieter and I rested until our beating hearts calmed and the worry of discovery temporarily slipped behind the peace of nature. The sun glittered warm, yet the wind danced cool. Pieter provided an excellent cushion while the birds called for one another in a lullaby for me. This was the scenery of my youth. How I'd missed it, and how oppressive the harshness of the city now felt. The cringe in my body at returning was why I didn't protest when Pieter eventually guided us up.

     "Feel any more strongly about a decision?" he wondered.

     "I'm pretty split both ways..."

     "Well, if we're almost an hour out, why don't we get a little closer? That should help with your decision."

     "Sounds good," I agreed.

Pieter dusted himself off, I picked grass from off his back, and he turned to where our path continued.

     "A lazy hotdog, huh?" he laughed.

     "Yeah," I grinned. "The sides dip like they're trying to hold something in, but they flatten halfway giving up."

     "I see it."