All who wander are not lost, but sometimes they are....

I know I know, I'm sorry. I have not been posting in sometime, but there is a good reason for it, I promise.

I once heard that blogs are but useless forms of personal dribble if you either a) don't have any followers, b) can't be found on the web, or c) don't post anything at least once a week. Well, I seem to be the captain fo the anti-personal promotion trifecta as of late, as life has simply just gotten in the way.

Wormwood Valley, this blog  really, started as a way to explore small snippets and stories that came to mind fro the setting, Wormwood Valley, a peculiar land of strange creations that gather in one locale from all over the world to reside in and amongst fables, fairy tales and legends from multiple cultures and countries.  Sort of a place where all stories and myths come to reside, along with every created and imagined "thing." From drawings to sketches to ideas half-realised, Wormwood Valley was where they came to reside. And Inkely Tolew the Third, esquire, is the Editor at Large For the Wormwood Daily, the chronicler if you will, of all things Wormwood.

But this blog has also become an exploratory place for the ramblings and wonderings and personal inquiry for an aspiring YA/Fantasy Fiction writer.  But it is in fact this goal, this aim, that has kept me away from Wormwood Valley all together. I am now finishing the final typed edits for Shadowborn, The Alliance of the Black Triangle, and am nearly done. Wether it will be a resounding success and usher in a new era of JRR Tolkien-esque fantasy with an old saga and biblical flare or just another shelved Fantasy remains to be seen. And from what I read about the ever-changing face of the Publishing Industry, I am even more skeptical. But none-the-less, it is a work of love and fun at the very least.
The more I learn and read and study and research about the modern Publishing industry and a writers place in it however, I learn that self-promotion seems to be the order of the day. And that having the career background and technical skills to carry out such a charge is even more important now than ever before. But yet, I still find myself reluctant to "promote" this blog and other projects via Social MEdia outlets such as Twitter and Facebook, because I am as of yet, NOT published, therefore, part of me questions:
What exactly do you have to "promote?"
Good question, with a slightly humbling answer.
Very Little.

And so, I go back to the laptop and continue to revise in hopes that soon this will change, and that feeling of shameless self-promotion and public relations will soon subside when I do indeed have the accolades or at least the publishing contract to support such endeavors. In the meantime, I basque in the inspiration-giving shadows of Stacia Kane, Holly Black, Tor, Christopher Tolkien, Wizards of the Coast, Trevor Kidd (you have such an awesome last name..."Captain"....), Bloomsbury, Simon & Schuster, Amanda Devine, Random House, The Black Library, DK, and the list goes on and on.

People always thank those that follow them. But for a brief moment, I just wish to thank those that let me follow them. Thanks for the daily dosages of inspiration and often times random banter that reminds me that even you icons of the industry are in fact, real people. And often have real life distractions as well....