Nights are the scent of a lover made into reality.

It is their form cast like shining pebbles across the black.

Each pinpoint of light is a thought that burns across time to reach but one set of eyes.

Those small packets of dream are cast out into the endless void.

They travel, alone, through a sea of nothing. Single, fragile hopes.

Whisps of burning desire.

And their travel ends on the back of just one eye.

There, they stop, but never cease.

They become part of the longing watcher.

They are captured. Formed. Absorbed.

Like the flaming hearts that sent them, the light finds a home in the eye of those who are lucky enough to behold.

And the matter of the watcher will never again be the same for having seen what lies across that largest sea.

Who so ever stares into the sky of a trillion fires,

Sees that which would otherwise travel on beyond the boundary of what is.

So I ask, up into that night,

Who was saved?

The watcher or the sender?

Uh.

I really want to play Flight Rising for Riot of Rot this week. And halloween is happening on my normal update day.

So, the next installment will arrive on Nov. 7th.

Enjoy the spooky season, my American chums.

For those not celebrating spooky season in other parts of the world - go talk to your local ghost or nature spirit and join in the fun.

Hello.

I have lost time.

Or it's lost me.

I don't know which.

The next update should be on Friday the 24th.

Hello little monsters.

Are you ready for something a little different?

There will be a new post this week. I thought I would get it all into a single week's content, but alas I must split it into two.

Hope you'll find it interesting, fun, and illuminating.

Look for it Friday morning. I'll post before I trot off to work.

Hello everyone.

No new post this week. I needed a little break. But, the next sections are in process. It's getting a little harder to clarify things now that we approach the end of the story and timelines start to converge.

I hope you'll wait for me. There will be more. And hopefully the ending will live up to everyone's expectations. We're probably 5 or 6 sections out from "The End".

There may be an epilogue, too. We'll see.

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who has stuck with it. I have seen some new readers favoriting old sections, too. So, to the new readers and the veterans both, thank you from the bottom of my moss-covered heart.

It's true what my tagline says. To know that this world, these characters, and these events live on in someone other than me is a gift I don't know how to properly thank you all for.

When you all read it. . . That's when it truly comes to life.

I don't mean physically. I just mean, like, in general.

I think the kind of broken I am they don't have a word for.

Anyways, here I am again writing yet another journal about this Friday's update.

Yes. There will be an update. It's more than I thought.

And in order to get it published Friday (tomorrow) for my readers I have only edited it once. I am generally not a fan of only having a single edit. I always leave so many goddamn mistakes. I was telling a friend recently that every time I go looking at an old section I find at least 10 (not being hyperbolic) mistakes that I have to slog back and fix in 4 separate places (Here, A03, Working Complete File, Saved Chapters).

All this to say that I am sorry if you find mistakes this week. I really really wanted to give you all something this week so I pushed to get it edited at least once so I could give you something. Wow. I just re-read that. Awful. I'm leaving it in so you can see where my brain is at. I think I may take a short hiatus after this week. Might re-edit this chapter (36), too.

We'll see.

I feel like it's incomplete. I don't know. Like it's missing some important thing that I'm feeling but not describing for you.

Does anyone smell burnt toast and asphalt? Just me? Fuck.

I have material.

A goodly sized chapter.

But I only just finished.

And that means I only have two days to edit.

I cannot promise that Friday will see an update.

But I will try.

Things are hard. I wrote that in my last journal.

Life's ups and downs got me dizzy.

I want desperately to put something here that is meaningful,

but what I came to say is that I'm struggling tonight.

I know what I want to say.

But there is something in the way.

Some unnamed, untamed emotion.

Strange.

I'll try anyway.

Wish me luck fellow Dead Astronauts and Monsters.

I travel to where the rot flowers bloom in the light of the moon.

Sorry that it's so short.

Things are hard.

Hello all.

Unfortunately, as the title suggests, I have not had the time to continue to add content. I have a new section completed, but I won't have time to edit it properly until after this weekend.

I'm hoping to do the editing Saturday and Sunday, but I don't know if I'll have the time. I'm going on a trip and am hoping to edit on the flight, but I don't know if other things will come up or if I'll even be able to.

I promise that Wretched Gifts will continue. I've just had all my free time eaten up lately with, well, daily life.

Thank you all for understanding. And if you're here reading this instead of the posts I promised, I will try to make things up to you. Somehow.

Hello everyone,

Putting out Wretched Gifts this week was very difficult. It wasn't at the level of quality I was hoping. I've already gone back to part 32 and made some small changes since originally posting it yesterday because I was unhappy with the flow. And I may go back and make MORE changes. ((EDIT: I have changed more things AGAIN. If you've read it already, please check it again. I think it might be better now. Not perfect, but better.)) This is mostly due to the fact that I've had a big change in my work schedule (mentioned previously), and next week I'll be working even later during the week.

I've been neglecting some things in my personal life to focus on getting content out every Friday. I think I need a little break to acclimate to my new work conditions and meet some of my neglected obligations.

Have no fear, I will still be working on Wretched Gifts! I've already started the next section. However, slowing down a bit will do me a world of good. And I think it will make for a much better next-few-sections since we are technically moving into what I would consider the beginning of the climax of the story.

I want to end this narrative with the level of detail and quality it deserves - it deserves the best I can give. So, that means more time.

Thank you all for reading along with my. . . Adventure? Journal? I don't know. But thanks. Seeing your names pop up every week or so with a +fav really helps motivate me. Little things, that end up meaning a lot. Thank you, FA readers.

I will polish something old to give you this friday. Maybe more In Bloom.

Brain is soup.
Skull is bowl.

Soul is slop.
Body is mop.

Hey all!

I'm really hoping to have a Friday update for you. But I have had a very drastic change in my work schedule which is really doing harm to my daily pattern. It may take me some time to readjust to this new schedule. So, if I'm not able to post this Friday, please forgive me.

There are SO MANY talented people in the world.

I am just constantly amazed. That is all.

Wow. I managed to get so much done this week.

I just finished my first edit, and even before the second edit there is enough material that I could split it into two weeks.

Instead of doing that, I'm going to publish everything I wrote this week. I'm going to keep trying to add new material each week, but this feels better as a fully encapsulated section rather than two.

If I run out of steam before the next update day (Aug 1st, not tomorrow the 25th), I might take the week off. We'll see. I hope that won't happen, but I want to keep my options open. Because I'm greedy.

About this week, though. Even though there will be a big post, this week's subject matter was still very difficult for me to write. Look for an Adult Content warning this week. Read at your own risk. There are some things that, even though they are terrible, must be written. To fail to shine a light on them is to pretend that they don't exist. We can't be afraid to look, or to feel, just because we know it's wrong. When we turn away, evil thrives. When we pretend it doesn't exist in the world because it makes us uncomfortable, we give it a place to grow unchallenged.

Not everything is an adventure. And we need to remember that choice is shaped by experience.

Hello all!

I have tried to get stuff down this week, but it has been very busy. I want to say that there will be no update this week, but the last time I said that I was able to squeak in before the cutoff.

So, instead, I'll say that I have material written but it isn't edited and I don't even know if I should post it in the first place. It makes me wonder how many professional authors just throw out whole sections they don't like. I feel like this stuff is narrative relevant but largely uninteresting to readers. Especially after everything that has developed. It feels like going backwards rather than building material forward.

I'm going to write and edit today. Who knows if I'll finish. Or even if I do, if I'll post. I might just throw it out and try over next week.

Sorry if I don't make it to post. I might have more In Bloom to make up for it.

EDIT: I promised a few weeks ago that I would post what I have. We're week-to-week now, after all.

So, here it is. I don't think this section is worth posting. But, this isn't a novel. Not really. It's something else. I don't know what.

Hello!

If you are one of my readers, it would mean the world to me if, should you enjoy Wretched Gifts, you would please encourage your like-minded friends to give it a try.

Thanks!

P.S. I am having fun writing this week, so there will be content even if shorter than normal.

I didn't think I would!

But I finished enough to post this week. It might also be small, but smaller isn't bad if I can keep my schedule.

This week, like last, has only been edited one time. So, in a sense it is still raw.

But that's okay.

I hope you all like it. This is the beginning of the end.

I'm sorry. I couldn't make it this time.

I could blame the holiday, but it wouldn't be true.

Sorry.

I am a lie the universe told itself and then forgot to believe.

I'm sorry you all saw what I am.

Can't take it back now.

Too late.

I really wanted to have more wretched gifts for you than I was able to submit today. My week just happened to fly away from me in more ways than one.

At least it's something, even if its short.

To make up for it, here is some more of In Bloom. Do with that information what you will.

Hopefully, there will be more opportunities to write next week.

Look at that. I somehow actually got writing done this week.

I only JUST finished editing it. And I only edited the material in part 24 once.

There is a HIGH likelihood that you will find errors. If you do, let me know please.

Hope you all enjoy it. We are getting close to the climax. No pun intended.

Time has a way of showing us that we deserved it all along.

So, it's a little smaller than usual, but I did manage to write enough in the last few days to post something today.

Maybe I'm broken and need the imminent deadline to put writing top of the priority list?

I don't know. This section is barely edited. If you happen to find mistakes, let me know and I'll fix them.

Thanks for reading, everyone. It means the world to me that people, no matter how few, are enjoying the story.