It's been a while, hasn't it? Been busy with a million things, and, frankly, I'm just not happy with the story of Ashlani's Reincarnation as it is. I started this as a story that I wouldn't care about, something to simply practice writing with to hone my skill. I picked this up as something to be... dunno, potato chips of sorts. Kinda tasty, but nothing substantial, and if it was kinda crap, who cared, right?

Since I started initial work on this story, back in December 2019 on Tapas, so much has changed in my life and in my perspective of this story. A big one is that I care about this world and this story, and, with its supremely shaky foundation, large swathes of it feel fundamentally broken to me. Ashlani shouldn't have become a father so quickly. There should have been greater ramifications of changing physiology. I should have better illustrated the hatred and betrayal from Viilor (had grand plans there). I should have been slower to develop the story as a whole, to keep it well-paced, but to slow the beginning. I should I should I should.

Make no mistake, I've enjoyed the story of Ashlani, and, at times, I look back at what I've written and can't help but grin in pride. Ashlani's Reincarnation has 933k, nearly 1 million views on this site, and 750k on webnovel. At one point, we were in the top 450 on this site, and at the top of the Rising Stars tab. There were something like 20 people, 20 of you who thought my work was good enough to pay for on Patreon. That's especially amazing to me. I can't thank you all enough, since I know myself well enough to say that I never would have been able to write so much without consistent (positive) feedback.

(Seemingly off-topic change of subject, but trust me, it is tied to what I'm saying.) Of late, I've spent a fair amount of time reading a lot of independently published novels through Kindle Unlimited. I've read dozens of novels this year, something that I'd missed doing, since I was such a voracious reader as a kid and teen. Many of these series and novels have been tons of fun and good reads and case studies in amateur writers making their dreams come true, like Will Wight with his Cradle series, or Shami Stovall's The Frith Chronicles. Others... have been lackluster. Obviously lacking in editing, poor writing and plotting, and so much more. This isn't said to disparage their work or their hopes and dreams, not to tear them down or to hurt feelings, I would never attempt to destroy someone else's hopes for the future, most especially when they mirror my own. Instead, it started introspection within myself.

Over fall break from school in 2021, I remembered my long-forgotten story over on Tapas. Laying in bed Friday October 8th, I began to reread what I had written, then began to edit it. Then took it to Webnovel, where I had been reading a couple of webnovels. If I remember correctly, in that weekend, I published three existing chapters and wrote three more on my phone. Honestly, I can't think of an elegant or less negative way of putting it, but I became an addict, always chasing that next high, the next moment I could write. I would volunteer to take my son to the park, just so I could sit on a bench "watching" him play while I typed, imagined, and plotted. I would get home from work, eat dinner, watch an episode of something with my family, put my son to bed, then sit down at my computer and write until I borderline collapsed into bed. My relationship with my wife deteriorated, my lesson plans suffered, I didn't hardly see my son grow for a couple of months. Because I threw myself so completely into writing. It wasn't healthy.

Fortunately, I got a hold of myself quickly enough that interpersonal relationships didn't suffer any permanent damage, and I dialed back my obsession with seeing my word, chapter, and page count going up...

What am I writing at this point? I'd be surprised if anybody actually reads this to the end, this reads like the most self-indulgent mid 2000's blog I've ever heard of. Anyways. Writing is something of a therapy to me, and I've missed it. But I feel like Ashlani need's help. Thus, I'm going to take it down or private it, whatever I can do here, at the end of July. After that, in August (probably? who knows, I hate being flaky when I've promised something and I have been many things with regards to this book, but dependable aint one of them.), I will begin releasing re-written, fleshed out Ashlani's as my current and more expansive plans dictate. Many things will stay the same in concept, but others will change, some characters will die, others will live, some will not exist, others will be created. The general story will shift a little, but the roots will stay the same. I'm excited just thinking about it, to be frank. I hope many of you will return to the re-release, the repolishing of Ashlani's Reincarnation.

TLDR: Ashlani's Reincarnation will be taken down in about a month, but will be edited and rereleased starting in August. Hope to see you there.

VICTORY BY FANG AND BLOOD!