“…’It’s such a pitiful waste, keeping you here,’ Tenenshe’ean sighed. ‘Or killing you, for that matter. My offer still stands, Auferrix. It’s not too late. At a single word, I could break these bonds. All it takes is a promise and, together, we can get rid of the fat pig, and we can rule A’aefar together.'”
I had fully intended to get this posted yesterday, and I was kind of thinking of skipping yet another Round of Words in 80 Days check-in, but I thought I would be good and try to muscle my way through it, even if it means posting this on Monday instead. Some really stupid stuff at work has left me in a little bit of a funk I can’t shake (I hate that), so I’m feeling an overall sense of blahness and wondering what I can do to cheer myself up. It’s like an itch you just can’t scratch, lingering there out of your reach. You try to ignore it, but it just sets everyone else off its usual balance. Today, things are better, especially with the prospect of a day off tomorrow, but I think I’m all Worked Out and I just want to take a nice day for myself and my writing!
Ah, well. All I can do is keep on moving forward, and this, too, shall pass. As far as my goals go, things are coming along nicely. I’ve downloaded Sigil and Calibre and am taking an absolute delight in following Cameron Chapman’s easy and engaging formatting guide for Bowlful of Bunnies. My cover artist got back to me with some sketches, too, and so I’m hoping to see progress on that front, too. My goal is to finish one more edit of the manuscript and then probably spend my rare Saturday off formatting things. This will be done by the end of June!! I am determined. It must happen.
I’ve reached that really dark part of Serpent in a Cage now, too, the part that always makes me wonder if it’s too dark…and then I go and make it even darker than it already was. I like it dark; it’s probably one of my favorite sections of the book, and that worries me a little. I also hope that it doesn’t turn a lot of readers off, but I’ve been using George R.R. Martin as my spirit guide in this part.
Speaking of George R.R. Martin, the reading is going well, too. Finished one book the other day, and a few more won’t be far behind. I always seem to finish books in packs.
The other works are plugging along; I’m really enjoying the way some of them are going, others are probably going to fall off my radar for a little bit. I do have a new Featured Story posted, “Machine,” which is inspired by the Regina Spektor song of the same time. It’s a little more “telling” than I had wanted it to be, but the other story I wanted to produce for this week isn’t panning out, so I brushed this one up a little. I want to develop it into something a little more fleshed out, but, for now, it works okay as is. There’s so much I want to do with this story, but nothing has quite been working with it, so maybe some feedback might help inspire me.
That’s all the news for this week. If you get the chance, try to check out the other RoWers here. Tomorrow is hopefully a bright and positive day off, so, until then, Happy Writing!
L.S. Engler 
About the “darkness” you’re talking about. If you change it to please others, it won’t be as good as it can be. If it needs to be dark, then leave it dark. I, for one, will be reading it, and I think if you stay true to yourself, many others will, too. The story is yours…you’re just sharing it with the rest of us.