News on my stories. Also: there's a writing tool I've discovered.

(Also New year is nigh .)

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This day is, as it appears... No, wait... That was yesterday, on the 21-st of December -- the December solstice. Year's midnight, as it were. The "night" will end, and with it will the winter.

Still, New year is nigh. We've got still some time left till that. Nine days... Whose New year tree is ready ?

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Ah, yes. This day marks three months since I'd put my Daring Do tale "to sleep". I promised to take a finite-time vacation. And, well, the writing will continue!

At the same time "The tale of the Spy" has not received any updates... If it had, it would have gone on hiatus to make room for me to breathe. Then "Daring Do..." would have returned. And after that -- "...the Spy".

That was the plan. To publish updates... to rest properly... and then to return. Am I rested for "Daring Do..."? Seemingly. But "...the Spy" has missed its update .

So it will go hiatusing till, say... the 22-nd of January, 2022. Eh? Surely one month is enough to release a chapter, right ? Yeah, let us pretend "...the Spy" has updated... and that rest must be had. We shan't break promises we made ! Daring's hiatus was promised to be not indefinite. And that way it will be. Not indefinite.

The Spy will rest, while Daring is brought back from her slumber!

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Now about the writing tool I've found.

So...

I didn't know, whether I was writing "by the seat of my pants" or needing to outline before I write. A personality test suggested I had a knack for outlining... But in the beginning I oftentimes have no idea, what direction it all will go in, to say nothing of knowing just how ! Still... that doesn't mean I can't benefit from organising. And a tool for outliners can help!

Just recently I've heard of "Scrivener"... and haven't ended up using it . Apparently, it cannot be downloaded in one click and used freely! Maybe, someone seeds a liberated version via Bittorrent, but I decided to look for alternatives first.

"Plottr"? Could be. But it had its restrictions too. Any chance we could find a free download ?

So I searched for alternatives... and there they were. But which one? How choose?

One looked seemingly suitable: "Manuskript" (yes, with a K). As advertised, with an outliner, distraction-free mode (for writing), a novel assistant... and free. "Because free is always better", as the page said.

Cool. Let us give it a try, shall we?..

Oh... Maybe, we need a handbook... Don't worry: just experiment with filling out different fields and creating things. You can totally figure it out.

So I attempted organising "The tale of the Spy" first: gathering up the lore and stuff. Seems convenient... Now we're getting somewhere !

Now "Daring Do..." needs organising, I've only got one month! Think I can do it?

Caveats, if you decide to try it: as of now it appears to use Python interpreter to run. That is, the Python interpreter is run that creates the actual window. Meaning, there are two windows: one with debug info, and another one is the app. Do not close the wrong one. Actually don't close any: instead use the menu in the actual app to exit. Better not touch that debug window at all.

The interface may be confusing, but I'll share info on that. The whole thing's actually usable!

Also it has translations.

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That's all for now . Do await further reports!