Tabitha returns!
Kia ora, friendos!
Some of you may remember this post from December last year in which I first introduced the character of Tabitha, and laid out a few details of her story. Now I am almost ready to show you something! But first I wanted to go over how this is going to shake out, at least in the short term.
First thing’s first, I had originally said that this story was going to take place in the early-to-mid 2000’s, but I have since decided to walk that back. At this stage, I don’t think I want to put a timeframe on it at all, except to say that it’s going to be quite a bit more modern than that.
There are a couple of reasons for this, but the main one is that even though I lived through the 2000’s in my teens, it would still require so much research on my part to make it feel more believable for anyone else who lived in Aotearoa New Zealand during that time, especially anyone who was around the same ages as the first characters you’ll meet. Another big one is technology. Maybe you could say it’s me being lazy, but I just don’t know if I’m well-equipped enough as a writer right now to tell stories with characters being restrained by old 2000’s-era technology, like cellphones with number pads, and bad internet. I might do something like that in the future, but for now I don’t want to put too many limitations on myself.
I don’t know exactly what will happen along the way, Tabitha’s story is as yet mostly undefined. Obviously, if you’ve read Olivia you’ll know that it very definitely has an end, but we are a long way from that right now. This is going to be a serialised story, and Tabitha has her whole life ahead of her, and I have some ideas about where she will end up and what she will accomplish. I hope you will all follow along and see what she gets up to! I definitely still want to dig into some kiwi culture with this story, so if you have any ideas for things you’d want to see Tabitha or other characters engage with, definitely please let me know at all the regular places.
This is a pretty short one this week, sorry about that! I am working on Tabitha’s story and I am hoping to have the first post go up, not next week but the week after. So stay tuned!
If you’re in Aotearoa New Zealand and still dealing with the severe weather we have been having all across the country, kia kaha! Stay strong! Stay safe, stay hydrated if you’re in an area like Ōtautahi Christchurch like me, currently being hit with frankly unreasonably high temperatures out doors - and if you can avoid it, don’t go out during the hottest part of the day!
People in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Waitomo and Tairāwhiti are still being affected by the flooding and heavy rains - if you have been affected, or know someone who has, you can check out the New Zealand Civil Defence Te Rākau Whakamarumaru website for information on what assistance is available and where. You may be able to receive assistance from the Ministry of Social Development Te Hiranga Tangata by contacting them here. If you want to help, you can donate to The BBM Project who are helping out in the Tāmaki Makaurau region with food parcels and more.
Thanks as always for reading, I really hope you are all keeping safe and dry and warm (but not too warm), and I’ll talk to you again soon. Ka kite anō au i a koe. 💚