Hello, Readers, and Happy Mid-Summer/Moon Festival! 🥮 🎑💜

I was going to post this over the weekend, but allergies grabbed me by the throat (literally) and I'm just now feeling well enough to write. 

Oddly enough, this illness has cleared away some cobwebs for me, and I'm looking at a new direction for my writing. I'm pretty excited about it! 

First of all: I'm going to put on hold "The Logbook" and that saga for now. 

It isn't only the overwhelming construction on changing the point-of-view and updating that has me shelving it again. Skimming through it and the two other parts made me realize that the growth I've experienced in my style and skill will likely change a lot more of the story than I had planned. 

I cannot find the drive to turn those stories completely upside down right now. Too much going on in my personal life to dedicate the time to such a massive undertaking for one project. Once I begin, I won't be able to step away. It's how my mind works. I have to continue straight through because so much is in my head that doesn't translate well if I attempt to write it down. If I get distracted while writing a story, I will lose a lot of what is up there. It's why I was so devastated when my last computer died before I saved the work on Part 2 of A Moon For The Mountain. 

In my last entry, I mentioned a short detective story I had begun years ago. I had considered turning it into a series. I've thought about it every now and then since that time, always wanting to go back to my plans. 

I, then, spoke of Cultivating Lilies and leaving it open for JiHo's open investigations to become a series. I mentioned a possibility of having Nari and JiHo traveling to America and possibly meeting the characters from my original detective series.

A little backstory on that: 

I wrote "The Detective & The Socialite" in 2003. I did some editing in 2013. Until today, that was the last time I opened the file. 

The main characters are Kyla and Archer (or Asher .. thought of changing it several times). She is the victim of a serial rapist/killer. She is the only one to survive. No, this isn't a spoiler. You find this out in the first chapter, during pages 1 and 2. During her recovery, she meets Archer, who is a lieutenant on a team investigating and infiltrating a dangerous cult. Her attacker is involved with that cult, so their two cases become intertwined. 

My plans after writing that were to have them both work on cases together given her expertise in archealogy, cultural anthropology, and history. At the end of "The Detective & The Socialite," only her case was solved. They never took down the cult, itself. 

Just as JiHo and his team never took down the crime syndicate in "Cultivating Lilies."

Both of these short novels were left open in case I ever wanted to pursue a series with these organizations comitting crimes the main characters would solve. They would solve cases but the organizations would still be active throughout the series until I was ready to end them. 

My train of thought found its way to making the bad guys from both stories be the same group. One would be active in the U.S. and the other in South Korea, but they are part of an international organization. 

Everyone welcome "Xièzhì" to the discussion.

In 4 days, readers of "Xièzhì" will understand the correlation better. I won't say too much right now, but remember this post in 4 days when that novel has ended. 

My original intent for the existence of Xièzhì was to give kind of a fictional prequel to the creation of the infamous Chinese gang, Triad, which historically began to protect citizens (according to some researchers). It wasn't until decades later that it turned more criminal toward the innocent as well as the guilty. 

I can now quite easily see my modern detective stories having a connection through the Xièzhì society. 

There's more, though. (Of course there is...)

Prior to my last computer dying, I had begun another short story. This one was going to be for myself. I had no intention of publishing it. It was just something I would write a few paragraphs on when I wanted to rest my brain from my other work and when I needed a break from stressful things in life. 

To be honest, it seemed kind of like a fan fiction of my own character, JiHo from "Cultivating Lilies." 

Although in the main story, he is with Nari, I wanted to think of a backstory for his character, but it would mean he would end up with someone other than Nari. It was just a fun thing to do with a character that could have led a pretty interesting life had I taken the time to write it. 

While thinking of him, I saw him with someone else that changed the dynamic of JiHo and turned him into a brand new character named Eun. Thus giving me a brand new short story, but still only intending it to be for me and me alone.

As his character's bio developed, I started thinking of Archer and JiHo. Naturally, the next step was thinking of their cases and my consideration to bring JiHo to America and work a case with Archer. 

Eun's character is some sort of agent with a firm or law enforcement, like a mix of Archer's and JiHo's careers. All three men have cases that pertain to a crime syndicate that could easily be connected into one. 

With the way Kyla was saved from her attacker in "The Detective & The Socialite," it would be a simple addition of a single sentence to make her secret rescuer into a member of the modern day Xièzhì vigilante organization. 

There's a bit more to all of this that stitches all three stories together quite nicely, but anymore would be spoilers for not only the three modern crime/mystery stories but "Xièzhì," as well.

Today, I read through "The Detective & The Socialite" again in anticipation of doing this crossover, and I was reminded of how much I liked that story and why I always wanted to turn it into a series. I think, therefore, I am going to edit that one and post it. Then, I will work more seriously on this brand new one to make it ready for public reading rather than a personal project. 

I'm not sure yet what I'll call this collaboration/crossover novel. Right now, my head is still swimming with all the possible paths this story can take. I'm really excited about this. I've wanted it for so long, and now, it seems the pieces are fitting together when they needed to. 

Well, it's late and I'm sleepy. I think I'll drink some warm tea and go to bed early to let these thoughts become a fruitful dream. 

Goodnight, my precious readers! Thank you for your continued support and feedback! I hope you enjoy what I have in store for you! 💜