Tears fall like Aquis

23 August 2019 - I was talking to a friend about all the trials and missteps I've mentioned in this blog—about how it looked like I'd faced one failure after another and that for nearly a decade I couldn't figure out why that was the case. As we chatted, I became verklempt as I mentioned the myriad projects I'd started that appeared at the time to be random one-offs, but that I now realize are part and parcel of all Omni is meant to be about. On Patreon, the Academy's tagline is "cultivating community by creating a whole new world," and that is one hundred percent what all of this 'stuff' has been about.

La Vie Sirene magazine paved the way for Writing on a Whim, the upcoming Cynosurae newspaper, and Omni's anthologies, the 3rd of which publishes next month with Besties & Beasties.

The retail spot I did not open with my cohort necessitated the creation of Whimsicalidocious, my dream of starting an arts nonprofit coming true.

Fantasy Fitness is now part of the Omni curriculum and I've already taught a few classes—woohoo! The Wellemental elements-based retreat I planned long before knowing about the academy and its element structure will be held next year.

Siren School was revealed to be the academy's all-female affiliate, and its long-forgotten newscasts were the dress rehearsal for Omni's Station AOAS newscasts starting in Spring, in keeping with academy activity written about in Pete's Omni Tale.

Shared Treasure Hunt will finally leave port from Omni in July 2020, the academy having deep connections with all things piratical.

The original language Naturim is taught at the academy and features in the first OmniQuest escapish-room game that launches 1 February 2020.

Pete's story will at last be published ... more like 'churned out' ... on an oh so regular basis, with chapters released every few days on Patreon, and novellas (about a dozen chapters in length) released every 6 weeks for the next 6-7 years.

The few 'fiddleheads' who have supported this project have seen their original characters come to life in Pete's story.

Even Platen, the stepchild element at the academy, has come into its own with the running of Dim Q's Tea Travellers Societea.

All the intense work and seemingly disparate projects are all unexpectedly converging, and where they all meet is at Omni. I could not be more delighted.

Naturim

January 2001 - As part of the Ray of Hope trilogy, I developed Naturim - an ancient language that was to be the precursor to the Romance Languages. It had its own alphabet, numeric system, and punctuation. The calendar and time telling in the world depicted were different than our own as well.

The image shown here is one of the oldest spelled-out words I could find in my files. It is 'flusprenn' which apparently means 'lunch'!

A Ray of Hope

January 2001 - I got the idea for what I intended to be my 'opus' - the Ray of Hope trilogy set on the ancient island of Amadun, ie. modern day Catalina off the California coast. I shan't divulge the premise here, since I still fully intend to realize this project. The story was to include an oceanic festival. That's when the idea of Squallix first popped up. It just made sense to me that 'water polo' should involve playera riding 'sea horses.'

I came up with a variety of humanoid 'species' that evolved based on their physical environments. Not sure if I still have notes on any of them, but when the time comes to write the series, the differences between the species will be a big part of the conflict. The story will be a precursor to Pete Drake's Omni tale. I love three of the main characters, although I can only remember the intended name of the protagonist now: Orlian.

Wow, this makes me want to work on that project now!