Strange this, me updating only 3 days after my last one...

As it happens, I'm getting back into practice, if I ever was in practice to begin with. As it happens, I'll very shortly be running part of a website/online community. Yes, that's right, even with my negligible/negative past experience of such things.

It's for the Creative Arts Society, I'll be managing the Writers' Circle pages, once they're up and running. It should be very exciting, and maybe once I'm more familiar with it my own website will be less lame than it currently is! It could happen, honest.

The packing never seems to end, although my room now looks weird and blank without my postcards on the wall. I'm a little bit worried about all the white tack marks I've left all over the walls, but  I think they'll fade with time.

This summer, which has technically started, needs to be an improvement on the last one - in fact I really don't see how it could be anything BUT an improvement. Still, a positive attitude is called for. It's clearly the best way for me get the best out of the... 3 and a half months I have before I come back in September and have to do some real work.

I wonder if I'm too hard on myself sometimes. It's true that I'm very self-critical (as one friend in particular never stops pointing out, bless him), but there are good and bad points to that. The good side of it is that I can always see room for improvement, and can always hope for it. The bad side is of course that I never see what I am, or what I am doing, as good enough.

This year, and in fact this summer, I have to prove myself wrong.

I seem too to always be making new resolutions - I reckon only about a third of them follow through - but I'd rather be optimistic about it than not.

Yawn. I'll be home on Sunday. Scary stuff.

--Amanda xxx

Yes yes, I know...I dropped off the face of the planet.

My main problem with keeping this up is that I don't know anyone to add...or how to find people to add. Sigh.

Still, enough whinging. I'm here now aren't I? I should at least make the best of it.

I do indeed have a website, although it's still very much under construction, mostly because I'm not entirely sure HOW to construct it. Hah. Luckily now my exams are over  I might well have a bit more time to dedicate to such things as my blog and/or my website and/or the things I really enjoy doing rather than the just plain gotta-dos.

But you'd think the post exam period would be more....summery...wouldn't you? I know, I know it's such a typical Brit thing to talk about the weather but the truth of the matter is that it does affect your mood. I could be lazing out in the sun right now, improving my pitiful excuse for a tan, but instead, here I am, in my room. I can almost feel myself getting paler. It's not fun.

The other thing that isn't fun is being, as I am, in the process of moving out. My room is full of boxes and bags and all those useless scrap items that you look at and think: Why do I own you? I think it's time for a major clearout....AGAIN

Why is it that I never seem to run out of stuff that needs to be cleared out? Every time I tidy my room, I seem to churn out hundreds of bags of old papers and old things, but they NEVER stop coming! Even now I know I have drawers full and boxes full of stuff. Here AND at home. It's maddening. I swear that my stuff must be breeding somehow. ...(That really wasn't a pleasant image was it?)

I also know that there really are only a handful of things that are desperately important to me. Maybe I should just chuck everything else away, but it would seem so rude. A lot of it is stuff people have bought me. But then again not all of it. Have you ever opened a drawer or a box and thought - Where on earth did this come from? I do that a lot. Although that's probably just me...being somewhat scatty. (Don't laugh.)

One day, in my most special shiny dreams, I will transform from this fuzzy brained caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly of organisation.

Maybe....

--Manda xxx

Well, in an attempt to be slightly less internet-scattered I've made myself a website. You can find it HERE.

I like it so far, but I really need some hints on how to make it decent - any ideas? I'd really like it to be more like a blog, because, after all I'm useless at updating this one, and I'm more likely to use one I'm actually paying for.

I have an exam today, hence all the procrastination, and, unfortunately, some serious apathy. I need to get out of the house. Bleh.

Well, here I am, at home.

It's slightly odd. I mean it's nice, doesn't really feel like I've been away at all and at the same time I feel more Christmassy than I have done in years. I'm excited to see all my friends, and to find them obscure random presents and the like. I'm scribbling,and should today finally finish the short story on which I have been working, which I have to submit tomorrow. (Curse deadlines and busy living) If anyone wants to read it for me I'd appreciate it, so I'll send you a copy if you let me know, although it will require some speedy reading. :P

Today, admittedly, is gonna be a bit bonkers, but then, I think most of my holiday is. After all, I'm back for little less than three weeks, during which time I have a shedload of reading, essay writing, short story writing and general workerbeeing to do. Not to mention helping my mum, and being around with my boyfriend.

Thing is though, I wouldn't change it for the world. Today I know that when I go to bed I'm going to be proud of myself, and what I can do, and how I can manage my time. Well, that's the plan. Oh come on! I can do it. I can, honest.

Lol.

Good wishes to you all in your bonkers Christmases. I'm sure I'll find time again to write before the big day but if not Merry Christmas to you all, and try to get some rest, you deserve it.

HUGS!!!!

--Manda xxxxxxxxxxx

I have a profile! I have an article! Read and review me please!

That's right, something totally new.

I'm writing NON-fiction.

It's true, please don't be too shocked. But for some inexplicable reason those lovely people at suite101.com have given me license to write articles for them. That's right!

I'm thinking reviews, Author Biographies, articles on issues arising in modern fiction. All stuff that fascinates me. I'm very excited, and I can't wait to get going.

However, I felt it my duty to inform you, my two principle blog readers, of this latest development.

Thank you guys, for reading me before anyone else does, and cross your fingers and hope that these articles will actually earn me some cold hard cash. Lol.

That aside, the writing is going well. I'm working towards some competitions for short stories and I'm feeling rather hopeful. If I can find some time off in the hecticism that will no doubt be my Christmas Holiday, you might be lucky enough to find I drop you a line. Or, you might just find that I'm too busy writing my 10 articles in three months. You never know.

So, if you like me, which I hope you do, you'll check me out on suite101.com (ah! the shameless self-advertisement). But seriously, this site looks really good, and I honestly think their choosing me was some sort of blip. They have articles on just about anything you might want to read, written by writers who are really interested in what they're writing. It's exciting, and I'm really glad to be part of it.

More news soon!

--Amanda xxx

Nothing! That's just it!

I've had a really fantastic day. I've been very productive, and...drumroll please....passed the 10K barrier! Yes it's true. It's very exciting, and although I'm fairly sure most of what I've written will eventually be rewritten entirely or cut out, I'm really proud.

So it's not Nano worthy, who cares? I've written ten thousand words in just under a month, while keeping up work for a degree and being ill and a whole heap of other things. I should be proud, and I know I don't always give myself enough credit for what I achieve.

Today I have tidied my room, organised my files and generally made myself feel a lot more streamlined and ready for the work that's coming my way in the next few weeks.

As for the book, I haven't had any real feelings of inspiration recently, but then I find those come more when I'm on the move, and the last few days have been rather sedentary, not much in the way of thinking space and time. I need to make sure I make time for that too.

Talking of thinking time, I reckon I'm off to get a semi early night and do some scribbling.

Goodnight!

--Amanda

I am sat here, ripping music from a heap of CDs I just bought myself, while my housemate, sitting by my ankles is musing over some rather extraordinarily androgynous photos.

For the first time in a long while, I am genuinely taking an evening off. Ok, so I am vaguely reading one of the novels for my course, and I can't quite get over the feeling I should be doing something more, but it's a good book, and I'm really trying to destress. Honest.

So basically, I love Turin Brakes so much I just bought every CD they've made. Lol. I'm possibly quite sad. More sad, though not in my humble opninion, is the fifth cd which has all the music from season three of DR WHO!!! Shockgasp I can't wait for a sec to listen to it all. I guess having no time makes you appreciate the little things.

My laptop is glowingly warm. I'm so glad I'm not a bloke or I'd be totally sterile right now. Lol. Not that sterility is funny. Obviously.

Yeah I'm in a bit of a random mood. I should pass the ten k wordcount tonight. This blog is becoming like some sort of heavily extended NaNo diary. Lol. That's all good, as my brother would say.

Christmas is coming up, complete with essaywriting and the response to my competition entry. I'm very scared, and also excited. I can't wait to find out what they have to say about me.

Anyway, off to play some crappy game.

--Manda xxx

I'm better, at last, but I've done something that has really pissed me off.

I've broken my violin. Or rather, I've snapped the bridge, hence the title.

I'm an appalling violinist, barely even a grade three standard and I've been learning since I was seven, so it's obviously a combination of no practice and no talent.

I look at it sat there, unplayable and it just makes me angry. It makes me angry at myself for being the kind of clumsy fool that leaves a delicate instrument like a violin about and knocks it over. It makes me angry that I'm not good enough at it after all these years. I suppose it represents a lot of my feelings of inadequacy.

Don't get me wrong, I don't feel inadequate in general, I really don't, but I know there are certain things holding me back. Laziness is one of them, I procrastinate to the ends of the earth. I'm just not sure if I have the dedication that's necessary to fulfil my potential. I have potential in spades, but I waste it.

Hence all the mottos, and the self-affirmation. I have to overcome my issues and just do it if I want to get on in life. I have goals, and I have desire, and these must be pursued.

Looking at this blog must be so repetetive.

Current Wordcount: 8600 more than 10% hooray!

--Amanda xxx

I'm ill, three cheers all round. My Mum thinks I've got laryngitis, which would of course be fantastic what with Wednesday evening's concert.

In other news, I've written 6500 odd words now, 6687 to be precise, and I reckon I should take the day off and relax, so more is on the way. Two of the 75 sections are complete and the third is nearly there. When I get to 7500 I'll be really pleased because that will be one tenth of the first draft done.

I'm trying very hard not to cough, it's a bloody pain in the arse. Really, am I allowed to swear like this on LJ? I'm not sure, somebody tell me please. If not, I blame it on my suspected laryngitis, which has put me in a fairly odd mood. I don't do ill. I have no patience to sit and do bugger all, hence the ranting type. I know I should rest, but I have a load of work to do, and no time to do it in. Sigh. Wish I'd done more work in reading week. Then again I spent most of reading week sickening for this, this cough's been around since Thursday morning after all.

I'll stop whinging, at least my laptop is keeping me warm, this could all be a lot worse than it is.

Scribble time!

--Amanda xxx

I'm not being ironic, it really is my favourite number.

Well, Nano is not going, as it happens. I have a heap of essays and no concentration. Bit of a crazy week as it happens, lots to think about and plenty of time alone to think about it all. A very bad combination as it happens, I tend to overanalyse quite substantially.

Well, my novel's wordcount is currently 5210, which, I know, is rather pathetic, but there's nothing I can do about it but keep working. Determination is the key. Quality better than quantity and all that. The problem is of course, that I want both, and can't be sure I have either. Oh dear, it's hopeless.

I'm currently working through a lot of, what can only be described as performance anxiety. I'm trying to speak italian out of class. It's been difficult, a very patient friend of mine managed to get me to talk for about 5 minutes. I don't know why it makes me so uncomfortable, but really, considering everything, I've got to get used to it. I have the same problem when speaking publicly, but not to the same extent. And of course, the famous example of my violin, which is legendary. I may never be able to play my violin in public, but I can't escape speaking Italian, it's just a fact if I want to get my degree.

But I can readily put myself on the line for my writing. Well, I say readily. I mean, I've handed out copies of my script to people to read, and anyone who asks is free to look at what little there is so far of my novel. I mean it, please ask, I need all the feedback I can get. How can I be so, well not ok about it, still nervous and everything, but essentially prepared to put my work, my writing out into the wide world when I'm not happy to speak in a language I've been talking for years. I suppose, because whatever I let others read I am happy with, it is complete, at least, in a sense. I know what is there, and I don't have to come up with it in response to anything. Maybe that's it.

Anyway, I have some more handwritten stuff to type up, so I can guarantee a few more words on that count. Technically, one fifteenth of my novel is complete as it stands. At this rate I should at the latest be done in about 2 years time, but really, the next month will be a lot more representative. Exciting!

--Amanda xxx

Lol, it's the time of year when we write novels in funny costumes, apparently.

I'm up for Nano, as I hope everyone else is, but I'm not getting the best start, considering the whole going out to get wasted thing that's going on in the Union tonight. Although, might not really drink that much, depends what's on offer. Lol.

Gaaah, my fingers are itching to get going. I've fifty thousand words to write and only 30 days to do it! Maybe I'm mad. Is it even possible? Well I suppose it must be if so many do it. It's about DILIGENCE, which is of course one of my areas of focus this year.

So here I am, whiling away the minutes till I can sensibly get my costume on. I'm thinking I can do it before I go to Writer's Circle this evening. I'm thinking I should at least wait till dinner time. I don't even have to cook this evening. How am I supposed to pass the time?? Maddening.

Ah well,

--Manda xxxxxxxxx

Oh God. I can't believe I'm signing myself up to go abroad for a year. Seriously, what was I thinking?

A long distance relationship in the one country is bad, but with seas and mountains in between us? I mean really, I am a moron. Why didn't I just sign up to do Creative Writing. Then I'd have it easy, and not be going away. This is insane.

I'm an idiot, that's what it is. I have no sense of forethought. I have dug myself a big fat hole of stress and I'm going to have to wallow in it for ten months next year. Ten months! With quite possibly only two days off for Christmas, and no Easter. Shit. I need more information, the booklet is totally stone cold. Crap.

I apologise for the cussing.

Anyway, finished the first three thousand words of the book (Woo, that's one hell of an achievement, not.) and now on Ming's advice (excitedrainbow - I don't know how to link these things) and Bill's complaining, am changing the formatting to make it more approachable and therefore simpler to read. It's alright, I enjoyed the challenge of Joyce's style, but he himself was so irregular with it that it was hard, and quite possibly made it so difficult for me to finish the three thousand words.

So I'm printing out what I've got, and taking the executive decision to rewrite it all in the style I like. I'm attempting to go for a poetic style, similar to that of Gerard Manley Hopkins, which I achieved in some of my original draft, most specifically the bits I wrote later.

Sorry, I know this must sound confusing, I'll explain.

My book, which for NaNoWriMo purposes will be called Lily of the Valley, centres on the life of Lily Edwards, a girl from a town in rural South Devon (my home town as a matter of fact). The story begins in 2005 and covers the events of that year from January through to May, and the events of the same part of the year in 2007 and 2011. These years are crucial to Lily's life, the years that really change her, but they are told non-chronologically, in that all the Januarys are told together, then all the Februarys and so on. It allows for certain...interesting ambiguities.

Anyway, I've been playing with style, most particularly that of James Joyce in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, but I've found that my landscape descriptions are more similar to the poetic language of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and I thought that it would be interesting to go with that idea, and make it integral to that book.

Will see, NaNo is coming up after all.

--Amanda xxxx

I am sat here, listening currently to the Casino Royale theme, and wondering why this current sense of block is so acute.

Despite this amazing rush of ideas, all I seem to have is fragments, and I'm really going to have to work to get past that. That's what this afternoon is for. Intelligence, diligence and determination.

The problem, I think, comes from this mess I'm feeling at the moment. Ever since I got back to Uni nearly three weeks ago now I've felt really...lonely. Even when I'm surrounded by friends, or talking to my mum or my boyfriend on the phone, I'm isolated. It's so strange. Maybe I always have been and have just never noticed it. The problem is that it's making me all weepy and sad, which really tries my patience. I hate myself when I'm upset, I feel frustrated that I can't just get over something and get on with things, especially when it's my writing, because I know full well that writing will make me feel better. Well, I finally told my Mum how I was feeling and she's coming up to see me on Sunday, which gives me something to look forward to, and now I have this afternoon to write.

November is NaNoWriMo, and this year with the help of Writer's Circle I'm hoping to enter. It's a good goal to aim for, especially while things are relatively calm around here (finally got my course options secured today - one less thing to panic about). It doesn't need to be perfect, all it needs are 50,000 words written in the space of a month. I can do that. I'm determined. I'm diligent, and I'm bloody well intelligent. Grr. This is my fighting face. I'm a fighter.

Maybe. Oh dear, I'm turning into an even scarier person than usual. I apologise for such a chaotic entry. I'm sure it'll improve.

--Manda xxxxxxxxxxxx

To start with, the good news. I entered the short story competition, and will hear back from them in December, or so I believe. IT's exciting, and an undeniable achievement. I just hope that I can continue to keep taking these steps forward.
   
In other news, I've had a shit day an just fancy a really good moan. I mean honestly: first the rain, then the hours and hours of progressively more difficult Italian tuition and then Oh MOAN MOAN MOAN.
      
I suppose my main problem is that whenever I feel annoyed I sort of hate myself for being so. I get annoyed at my annoyance and I'm sure you can imagine the lovely downward spiral that can lead to. It's a feeling I find hard to shift, hence the ranting, btu I really want to so I can get on and have a nice evening albeit by myself (HISS SPIT).
   
Calm child calm. Now is surely the perfect time to start searching LJ for similarly minded individuals, and no I don't mean other people who had a bad day. Well. I'll give it a go.
 
I'm still writing on a fairly regular basis, nearly every night, and I've recently developed the habit of actually jotting down the inspired lines that tumble into my head from time to time - usually when I'm walking, which means I've discovered that it is impossible to write while walking, which I suppose most sensible people could have guessed anyway. This is particularly useful for what I'm doing at the moment, as it is set in and around where I live, so my thoughts on these places is, you might say, applicable. Whether these fragments of sentences will amount to anything useful is still in question, but at least the thought of this is lightening my mood. The big black cloud over my head is (looks up) fraying around the edges.

This is good. This means creativity. This is very good.

--Manda xxxxx

Ok, I know I know, It's been too long. I apologise.

 
So, writing since last update: I finished the notebook. That was another 70 pages. Then there is the new book which has much larger pages with no lines and which I have covered 38 pages or so of. At my last check Refractured Image - as Fragments of a Clouded Sky has been renamed- is about 40,000 words online and god knows how much in the notebooks.
 
My filmmaker friend has given me some preliminary feedback, in which, and I quote, he says: "you are one of the most mature and competent new writers I have come across in a very long time. You don't need any help with your writing" No I am not kidding. Wow. It's amazing.
 
Anyway, before I hear any more from him I have made my own decisions about the future. At the end of this week I will enter the Write Space Short Story competition with my story Damnatio Memoriae, if I can get it finished, which I must. Also, as cool as Refractured Image is, I think it's going to have to go on the back-burner for a bit. I learnt a lot this summer about publishing, getting published and how to get an agent, and I just think Matthew's story is going to be too experimental to sell to a publisher easily. Luckily I have another story  was planning to write as my second work that  I will start writing properly as soon as the competition entry is complete.It's a neat little parcel of narrative, characterisation and it's format is really interesting, so I think it should be fairly straight forward. Also, it's style is fairly episodic, so I can hopefully write it fairly steadily, and have some idea of when I'll finish.
          
Overall, I think it makes more sense to change now, and still be able to say I have 40,000 words of another script I have been working on that although blah blah blah and so on.
 
As for myself, well, it's been a tough summer, and not always very easy to write, but hopefully the routine of Uni will straighten that out, and I'll be able to make the most of my time. I shall live by my new motto: Intelligence, Diligence, and Determination.
 
In theory.
  
I'll try my best to keep up entries again now, and to add more people to my readership, for encouragement and exposure. Or something.

Wordcount: Playscript: 17,036 Notebook: Unknown
   
It's been a while since I updated, oops. The notebook is now 205 pages of scribble, paper and pictures. I finished the play, which is amazing because it's the first piece of writing I've ever finished, even if it is only the first draft.
   
I'm proud of it, and I feel my work is starting to go places. I put an message on Stephen Fry's Facebook friendship group page and I got a response from a a Freelance Filmmaker who sounds like he might be interested in working with me! Imagine that! That's a way to get started surely, and there's no doubt that all I can do is keep improving.
  
I will work so hard if he commissions me to do something with him. What an opportunity! The internet is a crazily cool thing!
  
Sigh. In the last, well week since I finished the play I've been at a bit of a loose end. I wonder what I should work on next. There are the short story competitions, which I started something towards, but I have to get my imagination grabbed again.
  
It is, as ever, a work in progress, but I shall attempt to keep up with the updating from now on.

--Manda

Wordcount: 1600 on the computer Approx. 2300 in the notebook
   
Well, that notebook I started just under ten days ago is now 70 pages worth of scribble! I can hardly believe it.
   
I'm still considering the competition entry thing, although after a certain disaster. (Sob). We'll just have to see how it goes.
   
Watching EQUUS has caused me to have a radical rethink of my written style and I've been working hard on the playscript elements of my narrative to achieve a similar sort of effect. As a playwright I think I'm mostly influenced by Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, although I really haven't read many plays apart from theirs to say differently.
  
Anyway, one of the competitions I'm working towards asked for a Synopsis, so I have written one:
 

Fragments of a Clouded Sky is a novel that focuses on the life, or rather lives of Matthew Alexander. This is not, however, a novel about reincarnation, but about parallel lives. Many fantasy narratives deal with the idea of parallel universes, but none consider the possibility of multiple versions of the same life. Versions where infinitesimal differences of the past have altered the character, situation and possible future of the character. Matthew is searching for his sister, this fact never changes. In some versions of his life he may find her, and her effect on him varies profoundly. In others he is yet to realise that he needs to find her, or is still searching for her after years with no success. In the course of the overlapping narratives, elements of his past, and that of his twin sister Faith are revealed, as are the lives of the characters he meets across the versions, such as his employer Daniel Winters, and his colleague Gideon Blake. His ability to interact with others is in some versions helped and in others severely hindered by his past.

     

The style varies with the narrative thread. In Slough, Sanatorium, Salisbury, a four part story which is essentially a parody of Dante Alighieri’s masterpiece The Divine Comedy the style is that of the comic short story, with grotesque characters and a Matthew essentially blown along by the winds of chance. However, intertwined with this narrative particularly we find Mirror, a dark, tragic playscript style narrative that shows a side of his sister Faith not seen in other narratives, and a vulnerability and rage in Matthew that leads only to destruction. Several stories are ongoing, such as The Psychologist in which a young female doctor describes her interviews with Matthew, and her opinions on the state of his psyche. Other narratives take the form of one-offs, an example being the opening chapter which is literally written as an introduction, an interview between Matthew and several other of the main characters. This fragmentary style is reflective of the multifaceted nature of Matthew’s character and provides a fascinating emotional rollercoaster from highs to utter lows, leaving, throughout all a sense of hope, hope in Faith.

 

For those of you who don't know the 5th circle is the part of hell reserved for the slothful and the wrathful. An odd combination that may seem, but they are divided by the River Styx, so they don't actually technically mix. Even though I name my posts so they fit with their order, this seems apt.
   
Notice the lack of wordcount. Technically I should put:
   
Wordcount: 0
  
See, it isn't all up and up. I have been slothful, and as a consequence I'm feeling sullen and angry. I'm like a tired child who needs sleep, only it's the writing that I need.
   
I'm still planning to send a submission in to that competition. I will wait now till Tuesday afternoon or evening depending on when my exam finishes. Ah, afternoon. I have to pick about 3000 words to send in. The problem is that I must have at least 30,000 to choose from.
  
But that aside, I'm off to get that sleep, after I've done the writing I'm craving so badly.

Wordcount: 4000 (roughly)
  
Well, I think I am actually going to attempt to enter that strange thing...the literary competition.
   
The thought is scary, more than just a little in fact. To actually put my work up  beside those of others, goodness knows how many others, and see what they think. The prize is mentoring and financial support, both of which I know I would benefit from. More importantly it is someone showing a belief in MY writing. I'm giving it a go. Wish me luck.
  
Since I last wrote I have started a new routine, and more importantly perhaps, a new notebook. It functions as a scrapbook, somewhere for me to write what I think about things, and to plan my work. So far I've used about 36 pages. I now make certain to sit down and plan what I want to write, usually before bedtime, and last night I managed to write a whole chapter! If I can keep that up, well it would be phenomenal. It's all very exciting.
   
Anyway, I wrote, as part of my application to this competition, a short literary biography, which contains the first description of what I'm actually writing that I've put on this blog. Here it is. Make what you will of it:
   

My name is Amanda McGrath, and I am a nineteen year old student of English and Italian at Royal Holloway, University of London. My key interests as a writer include the exploration of multiple perspectives and the manipulation of different written forms. My literary influences are: Joyce, Stoker, Lawrence, and Audrey Niffenigger.

 

My whole life has been about telling stories: from vivid, extraordinary dreams in my childhood; complex, evolving plotlines in my doll’s house; to the present day, when I live for those moments when I put my grammar assignments away for the day and sit down with my notepad and pen.

 

However, if I must mark the moment I became a writer, I know it. I was eleven and I was working in the library. I finished my work and drew a picture, a picture of a boy. Suddenly, every idea that I had had for months drew together in my mind and I began to write. Before I knew it, young James was part of an adventure that took him from age ten to his twentieth birthday, part of the destiny of an ancient evil that had destroyed his family, but had not left him the only survivor.

 

I wrote every night, between every class, in every moment of freedom, for three years. Since then I have moved between narratives as I have grown, developing my style and many of the techniques that I use today.

   

Fragments of a Clouded Sky is the simple tale of a man in search of his sister. Matthew Alexander exists in many universes, and therefore the Matthew you see in the two chapters I have given you is not the same man, but is always Matthew Alexander. The various story threads chart his different journeys: his successes, his failures and his tragedies.