Update #3 - May 2025

 I'm working on chapter 26 now, which takes Gwernin et al to visit the Oldest Man who lives on the plain of Mag Slécht. We've been there three times before, once in The Fallen Stones and twice in The King's Druid, so I can recycle some of the descriptive passages. This visit is different, because Fráechán is introducing Neirin, Mael, and Ianto to him all at once, rather than one at a time, so some of the framing will also need to be different. I'm working on that now, stitching together stuff from our previous visits with new material. Once that's set up, I'll write the Mac Criomthann story which gives the chapter its name: "Mac Criomthann and the Knife of Stone." This refers to one of the forfeits Mac Criomthann paid in rescuing those who were stolen in "Mac Criomthann and the Cave of the Cats". I own such a knife myself, but he got his in a different way, and I'm curious to find out when and where he got it <grin>.

Summer is arriving cautiously. After three days in the 80s F, things have cooled down again, and I had a very slight touch of frost this morning. I want to plant some things I've gotten from the farmers' markets - so far a couple of tomato plants, a zuchini plant, and a borage plant - but I'll wait till tomorrow; I've other things to do today anyway.

Update #2 - May 2025

 I've written most of chapter 25, including the internal story "Mac Criomthann and the Robbers' Den", and will be tinkering with the rest for another day or two. The next chapter will take them to Mag Slécht to visit the Oldest Man and hear another Mac Criomthann tale. Including these, if they're ones I haven't written yet, slows me down, but they add to the main story. By the time I finish this book I'll have enough of them for another Mac Criomthann collection as well! 

After a warm weekend (and the first Farmers' Market), we had a couple of mornings of light frost, then got a lot of rain Tuesday and Wednesday in what would have been a spring blizzard if things had been a little colder. After today I think we will probably be frost-free until September, so I will start buying vegetable plants at the Farmers' Markets, not having started any of my own this year. I'm hoping for lots of tomatoes!

Update #1 - May 2025

 I've made a start on Chapter 25, which will have someone telling yet another Mac Criomthann story before Gwernin et al head on south to Emain Macha. This one answers a question left hanging from the previous chapter. I've written part of it, and need to get on with the rest. Six more chapters after this one will finish this book. The next one will be another spin-off: "Taliesin: King Arthur's Bard", and will flesh out some of the things he has told us from time to time about his early life before Gwernin met him in the first Storyteller book.

Spring has definitely arrived. The tulips are finished, the oak tree has opened its first tiny leaves, and the ash trees which took so much damage in the last hard frosts are timidly starting to leaf out again. It's also lawn mowing time. I did bits of the front yard yesterday, and need to do the back next. Not today, because we got some rain last night, but tomorrow or Saturday before the big storm which is forecast for next week. I just hope that will be all rain and no snow here - it will probably be a spring blizzard in the mountains!

Update #4 - April 2025

 I finally escaped Chapter 24! The hold-up was the long interior Mac Criomthann story, in which Mac Criomthann searches for his father's birthplace and kin. That story, however, left a question hanging, which I now have to answer in Chapter 25. I've made a start on it, and hope to finish the chapter in a more normal time frame, having got rid of distractions like Oak Leaves and this year's taxes.

After last weekend's snow and two hard freezes, which did the budding leaves on my ash trees no good at all, the weather has settled down again - 60s and 70s most days. I normally consider my frost-free date here to be mid-May, but we'll see. I hope to get in a good garden this year, after my good neighbor removed the fence-line elm on the south which was shading far too much of my yard and endangering our power lines every time it snowed. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to our local farmers' market which starts the day after Beltane (May Day). Oh, and the hawk which was nesting in the top of the big spruce next door has returned, so I'm seeing less birds at my feeders. The blue jays, however, are not much deterred - I saw a couple of them chasing her the other day!

 

Update #3 - April 2025

 A little progress, but still in chapter 24. There have been a lot of interruptions in the last week, including taxes, the funeral of a friend's father, lawn mowing, and errands. I spent part of yesterday working on what I've written so far in this chapter, doing some editing. Now I have to do some map work to move the internal story on. 

In the meantime, after several warm days - almost t shirt weather - today it's around 32 F with intermittent light snow.  This resulted in a couple of hours of distraction while my orange Ruay cat wanted out, then in, then maybe out - but not in either, etc. He's finally settled, thank goodness. Maybe I can get on with my writing now.

Update #2 - April 2025

 A little forward progress on chapter 24, if slowly. Having reread The Druid's Son, as I said in last week's post, I found that I had to change some of my ideas about the Mac Criomthann story which will finish this chapter. My original premise, that this would involve Mac Criomthann's search for his father's birth name and birthplace, proved untenable in part, but I thought of some things which will make the story a better fit. Time-wise, it should fall just after the story of "Mac Criomthann and Erigal" from The Fallen Stones, so whoever tells the story will need to summarize that piece first for his audience.

Other impediments to writing progress in the last week have been Oak Leaves (finished now and handed off to the new editor), yard work (mowed the whole back yard yesterday), and taxes (only started, alas). I need to get on to the last item ASAP. In the meantime, the weather is definitely Spring now - only traces of morning frost some days. It's about time!

Update #1 - April 2025

 No new writing in the last week, partly due to Oak Leaves again. However, I spent a couple of days reading The Druid's Son to collect all the parts where Lovernos is mentioned - things I need to know for the Mac Criomthann story which will form the rest of chapter 24. The Oak Leaves issue is 95% finished and I'm just waiting for one more submission, so I can now turn most of my attention to Gwernin et al for a couple of days.

After some mild spring weather, things have got chilly again, with a little snow night before last and possibly a bit more tonight, before things warm up again next week. Small leaves on some of the trees now, and I actually mowed some of backyard grass. Next week looks good for yard work as well as writing.

Update #4 - March 2025

 Even less writing progress this week - still stuck in chapter 24. Complications have included my desktop computer dying (I'm on my laptop now), working on Oak Leaves, and hosting our Spring Equinox ritual Saturday (only hours after the desktop died, which didn't improve my concentration). I can put off buying a new desktop computer until I've finished this issue of Oak Leaves, which should be my last -- after 9.5 years of editing it, I'm handing it off to a new editor, who I hope won't need much help from me! I need to concentrate on my writing if I'm going to have The Well of Wisdom published by Samhain!

In other news, we are progressing into early spring. My little plum tree is blooming beautifully, and some bees have found it. Most of the crocuses I planted last fall didn't survive, however -- the squirrels may have found some of them, but I planted rather late, and the cold dry weather over the winter won't have helped. But the hardy grape hyacinths and violets have started to bloom now.

Update #3 - March 2025

 Not much progress this week, partly due to working on Oak Leaves, partly because I'm not sure about the Mac Criomthann story I want to include in this chapter. The idea--Mac Criomthann's search for his father's birth name--fits into Gwernin's quest to learn how his mother acquired the ring she left him, which Gwydion has told him was Mac Criomthann's originally, but it's slow going having to make sure this story doesn't contradict things in The Druid's Son, or at least doesn't contradict them badly. After all, details can change in 500 years of oral tradition!

The weather so far this spring has been mild and dry, with next week expected to be warmer. This is a bit of a worry, since it's still March, and having trees leafing out early might lead to broken branches and power outages if we get heavy snow in April, as we often do. In the meantime, it's been so dry and windy I am going to have to start watering things in my yard. Lots of birds lately though--my birdbath is probably one of the few water sources in my local area.

Update #2 - March 2025

 Some progress this week, although not very fast. I finished chapter 23, and am 1,000 words into chapter 24, which is between 1/4 and 1/3 of a chapter. (The longest one so far in this book is 4,385 words, and the shortest 2,295 words.) I spent Monday's and Tuesday's writing time thinking about what needs to be in this and the next chapter, combing through the previous two Storyteller books to see which Mac Criomthann stories Gwernin has heard so far, and thinking about which ones I can fit into the rest of the book. This current chapter will take him to visit Caróg the Oak Priest again, and hear the tale of Mac Criomthann's search for his father Lovernos' birth name - a quest not unlike Gwernin's.

Mild dry weather the last few days - highs close to 70 F, and mild or no frost - but that's about to change again, with possible snow Tuesday. That's spring in Colorado.