Updates

Hey. Hey. Hey you.

Yeah, you. Hey. Voyaging/Questions just updated on the new site. Yeah, you know the one. I've posted the link, what, three times now? Go. Get over to voyagingblog.wordpress.com
You know you want to. You want to know what happens next. Get over there.

I'm waiting for you.
/stares creepily through the monitor like she can actually see you reading the blog post some time in the future/

New Site

New site is live, over at voyagingblog.wordpress.com
Blogger site is staying up so nobody gets lost, but it will be a bit before the new site catches up.

Tumblr

Well that was way less painful than I expected.
Come find me at skysonglark.tumblr.com! I also have a twitter account with the same username. Probably should have mentioned that before.

Technical Difficulties

Hey,
So I've been working on transferring everything over to the new site and I, uh, ran into a little hiccup. Well, it isn't exactly little, I-
Can you tell I'm blushing? My lack of expertise in the areas of Wordpress and pdf conversion is embarrassing. I'm usually pretty techy, but Wordpress and I, well, we don't get along. I can't seem to get it to format the site to separate the four stories, and I don't really want to make separate sites for each. I might have to, though. We'll see.
My bigger problem is the fact I can't convert more than one page of each pdf at a time. Wordpress needs the files to be separate jpegs, but because I'm using iBooks Author to make the pages, I have to export to pdf and then to jpeg, and Preview for mac is not a happy little conversion machine. I can't batch convert and it's killing me.
I might end up doing everything one page at a time, but that means the site won't be up and running for a while yet. Not setting a time frame, not going to make promises I can't keep. Also I'm tired and I have a chemistry midterm tomorrow and have to get up at 5 am on Friday, so I might put the site on hold until the weekend. However, I will try to get my tumblr up and running in the next few days- hopefully that won't be so painful.
Long story short, I'm working on it, and I will conquer the technology yet!
Thanks for hanging in there.

Update!!!

Hello
I am back! Between classes and work and other things, I haven't had a lot of time for this project. Sorry to vanish without a trace like that.
I'm working on a new site and new formatting that should hopefully be up by the end of the week. I'll put a post with links when I finish. I'm using wordpress and a more comic-like format, so you'll be getting smaller chunks of story but hopefully more regular updates.
Thanks for sticking with me.

Chapter 2: In which naïveté catches up with the protagonist

The ferry arrived at the docks of Miraway as the sunset bathed the waters of the harbour in a deep orange. Ally stepped off the boat and swung her knapsack over her shoulder. She’d been told there were inns all along the waterfront, built for travellers like her getting off the boats. Her sandals slipped a little on the cobblestones, the cold seeping through the leather into her feet. Dodging carts and people in a hurry she made her way across the street to the nearest inn. She opened the door and stepped confidently up to the counter. “I’d like to rent a room for tonight, please.”

“Money,” said the tired innkeeper, sliding his upturned palm across the counter.

Ally counted out the money she figured she could spare given the other things she needed and handed it to him.

He laughed. “What is this? You’ve got barely enough for a loaf of bread here, kid. This all you’ve got?”

Reluctantly Ally put the rest of her coins in his hand.

He shook his head and handed them back to her. “Get out of here.”

Shocked, Ally left the shop and tried again. She worked her way down the street until there was nowhere left to go, no one else to beg for a room, a bit of floor, a spare blanket. Finally she resigned herself to the inevitable and sat down in a dark alleyway, pulling her cloak around her shoulders. She fell asleep cursing her own foolishness.

When Ally awoke, everything was stiff and everything was sore. She stretched out her muscles and walked out onto the busy street. Her feet carried her back to the docks before she was awake enough to think straight. She wondered if there was even a point in trying. She needed a boat, but if she didn’t even have enough money for one night in an inn, there was no way she’d ever be able to buy a ship. The problem then was she doubted she had enough money to pay for the ferry ride home, and she didn’t see herself getting a job either. She sat down on the edge of the dock and swung her legs over the side, feeling defeated.

Laughter cut through her thoughts, and she turned around to see an old man nailing a “For Sale” sign to a ship. Ally got up and walked over to the edge of the crowd. She immediately saw what the fuss was about. Even to her inexperienced eyes, the ship was a wreck. The mast slanted at a precarious angle, the planks looked almost rotten, and there were patches over patches and haphazard repairs everywhere. It looked like it could fall apart at any moment. In short, it was perfect.

She waited until the crowd dispersed before approaching the old man, who was trying to paint the keel white to mask the questionable appearance of the wood. “Uh, I’d like to buy it,” she said.

“Huh?” He squinted at her. “You saw them laugh at her, and you still want to buy her?”

“Yeah. I, uh, I haven’t got a lot of money, and I need a ship.”

“Well, I’m honestly just looking to get rid of her. She’s yours.” He tossed his paintbrush into the bucket of paint. “You can have the paint, too. May as well finish the job.”

“But I couldn’t possibly just take it,” Ally protested.

The old man shook his head, laughing. “Fine. You buy my extra wood and my tool kit, and I’ll call it even. I’m retiring, I don’t want it.”

Ally pulled out her coins and handed them to him. He gave half of them back. “This thing isn’t worth that much, kid. Well, good luck. You’re gonna need it.” With a careless wave, he walked away without looking back. 

Ally turned around and surveyed her new ship. It was going to need a lot of work. She picked up the paintbrush.

Notice

Hello readers,
I hope you're enjoying the story of Questions so far. I honestly have no idea when I'll be able to post new chapters, so please just bear with me and keep checking back. While you're waiting, I write three other serials, all of which can be found on my website. The link can be found on the top of the page where it says "Return to Main Site".
Thanks!