Follow along with my WorldEmber progress!

I promised you a look over my shoulder this month as I bring a vague and disjointed collection of ideas together into a cohesive piece of world-building. These resources will help you keep track of my progress through this month-long marathon challenge:

• Haly’s Official WE Progress Report — each participant gets a page that automatically collects their author information and all WE-eligible articles across all worlds into a single, shareable package.
• A WorldEmber Chronicle — follow along with a map and timeline of my progress. You’ll see locations and information develop day-by-day as I work my way through the basic elements of world-building.
• Haly’s WorldEmber on Argentii Index — an on-the-fly journal page and handy sidebar displaying only new Argentii WE-eligible articles.

Hammer Time

Kelly stared into the sneering face of the bird on the pickle jar’s label. For twenty minutes it had been mocking her as she strained, tapped, and even applied hot water.

Still, that jar of kosher dill spears remained locked, as though guarded by some ancient and particularly determined spirit.

A quick glance at the clock told her that time was running out, her guests would be arriving soon, and the annual Yule party just couldn’t be the annual Yule party without the kosher dill spears. She would serve those pickles.

Yanking open the junk drawer in the kitchen, Kelly found exactly what she needed: a hammer. A slow smile tugged at the left corner of her mouth and she wrapped her fingers around the rubber-sheathed wood handle.

This would get the job done.

As she started to slide the drawer closed, the rattle of the junk inside shifted something loose and into her line of sight. It was an old ice pick!

Good enough!

With a bit of effort after a pair of false starts, she finally managed to open the pickle jar by perforating around the edge of the lid. Once she had made a large enough arc, she shoved a dull knife under the edge and peeled it back.

It was more difficult than opening a can in the same way, but after several minutes of strain and spill, she was finally able to put the pickles on their serving dish.

And just in time. As the dish was placed among the build-your-own sandwich spread, a quick knock was followed by a cheerful, “Hellooo, Merry Christmas!” as her dad and stepmother entered.

No. It wouldn’t ever be perfect. But good enough was good enough.

Tip the Bard

Wrapping the Day

As I write this, I am sitting at 10,272 new words of world-building toward my 50,000 word goal.