Writing Dare 2001, Week 11

michaeljasper.net

"Another Wrecked Web Site"

May 15, 2001

In a bit of a rut...

Today's Quote:

Taking off his hat, Titus dropped it onto the concrete and crushed it under his foot with a merciless smile on his face. Hatless, he hurried back into his limo. He had a phone call to make.

Today's Progress:

350 words

Busy work - a submission and the start of final revisions; new stuff for horror novel...

The Official Dare Page

Man, I think I need some caffeine -- I can't seem to focus on anything.

Here's what I've done in the past week:started, finished, and sent out a story, wrote 3 new chapters for my fantasy novel, and started the final revisions to horror novel. 7,650 words total [make that 8,000 total, after tonight's fixes], plus lots of editing and revising. Not bad. Maybe it's okay if I'm not super productive today. Right???

I spent half of last night trying to find a clear, printable, preferably color map of Middle Earth. Elizabeth is reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy right now, and is frustrated by the tiny map in our paperback version. So I spent a good hour last night searching the Net for one. There are a lot of excellent color maps out there, but they all wouldn't fit on a standard sheet of paper. I have lots of the top left-hand side of the map printed out! I just can't print the rest. I found a really good one, even it is black and white, at this site. It's in Adobe Acrobat and prints out as 6 very clear pages. Here's hoping that satisfies the new fantasy fan I've created in my wife! ;)

I also spent some time last night (and on the drive home from work, reading as traffic slowed to a crawl in some places!) reading the novel submission from a fellow writer, Derek. He's got a really fascinating book, and I was disappointed that I only got to read the first 3 chapters. It's pretty cool. I look forward to seeing it in print.

Speaking of fellow writers, Elizabeth and I are having dinner on Thursday with Tim Pratt and his girlfriend Meg. Should be fun! It'll be cool actually meeting him -- we've only conversed via e-mail. But we know a lot of the same folks, and obviously have a lot in common. I have a couple cool places we can check out in Chapel Hill for good food and atmosphere...

And finally, I got to dive into Perdido Street Station once again last night. I got to read about 50 pages or so before I fell asleep (it's been a busy few weeks!). I'm impressed again and again with this hybrid he's concocted. Very well-written. I'm starting to think of some things I can say in my review. The scary thing is I'm only 1/3 of the way through! Maybe I'll read some more tonight.

If I can stay awake long enough! Later.

Later that day:

Fixed up a scene to the horror novel, and redid some chapter numbering to try and fit our submission package/excerpt into 60 pages. Right now it's over by a page... Oh well. Titus's scene @ the airport, at least, is more fleshed out. Now to take a rest. Later.
mjj

May 14, 2001

A day off of sorts, with some productivity here and there...

Today's Quote:

Richard realized that the sight of the low, domed teepee made of canvas and bent branches next to the road didn’t even surprise him. Not after the strange things he’d imagined already today. He took a tentative lick from the sucker in his right hand, a gift from one of the kids for helping with their bike. “I only licked it a coupla times,” the blue-eyed boy had said.

Today's Progress:

300 words

Messed around with website; revised horror story!

The Official Dare Page

Well, I didn't get much done this morning. Actually, I was lucky to get out of bed at all before 6. The temptation to sleep in was great. But I rolled out of bed about 15 minutes after 5 and got a little bit of work done

Mostly I did some updates to various web pages, adding the comments from the Tangent Online review. I was pretty excited about this one. Tangent is well-known and respected, and it's the only professionally run site that reviews only short fiction. And I've been trying to get them to do a review of WotF 16 for months! I even went so far as to send them a free copy! It finally paid off.

So I was distracted by that, and I'm still in the hunt for a place to send a couple stories, including the novella version of "Last of the Hand." It was almost picked up by an online magazine paying one cent a word (hey, I'll take it, even if it isn't pro rates -- not many places take 25,000 word stories...). I'm wondering if there's a pro 'zine I could send that to...

I'm also looking to send out my suburban horror story by Wednesday. I just need to revise it and add some details, and it'll be ready. I'm pretty please with how it turned out. I may send it to my friend Chris today for his take on it.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get back into the swing of things and not be so distractable. But I can't be too hard on myself. We had a really busy weekend, and I still was able to do lots of writing in between various activities. Later.

Later that day:

Okay, it's a little later. Had some time on my lunch break to finish up the suburbs story and sent it off to my friend Chris. The story is pretty close to being done. I just reread it and add my last edits. Now I need someone else's take on it, to see if it worked or not. But the day was not a total bust! Have a good rest o' the day. It's quittin' time for me!
mjj

May 13, 2001

Not bad at all!

Today's Quote:

"I think he's havin' a heart 'tack," one of the dark-haired girls said. Like the others, she looked Oriental. Maybe Chinese, maybe Japanese, Richard thought. "My uncle had two heart 'tacks, then he had a highway bypass put in him."

Today's Progress:

2,000 words

Finished a rough draft of the horror story about the 'burbs!

The Official Dare Page

Once again, I surprised myself by squeezing in some quality writing in between various other chores and distractions. Again, I owe all my success to my outlines! Knowing what I want to write definitely make the first draft fly by.

I know there are some writers out there who use the "garden approach" to writing -- they just start by slapping some words on the page ("digging in the ground") then they let whatever happens happen. They don't outline but just "nurture" the words and let them come ("fertilizing"). They just keep writing and let the characters take over, watering as needed.

Actually, I don't really know where that analogy is going. Sounds like a lot of fertilizer to me! All I know is that if I just have a couple characters, no idea what to do with them, I get stuck pretty quick. This story I had pretty much summed up the point by the time I'd written the first sentence: "Richard Tolliver was proud of the fact that his was the first black family to move into the Olde Carriage Ridgewood subdivision."

The kicker is that I didn't realize at the time how significant that sentence was going to be. I just wrote it and kept writing. So in a way the story was written organically, but I did have some concrete expectations and goals in mind. And the first draft just popped out.

Now to go back and do some weeding. Heh.

Have a good rest of the weekend. I'm off to cut our raggedy lawn. And maybe read some more of Perdido Street Station, if I actually have time! Later.
mjj

May 12, 2001

A quick, quick chapter!

Today's Quote:

They were ten feet from the landing of the old fire escape when Jeroan leaped, pulling Marky with him. Basketballs flashed past them. One hit Jeroan in the head, another in the leg, while Marky was hit in the rear end. They began to fall.

We can make it, Jeroan thought, his blood burning and his skin turning cold, then hot. We will make it.

Today's Progress:

1,300 words

Drafted ch. 19

The Official Dare Page

All right - got a quick chapter off, still keeping up my pace! Not bad for getting about 5 hours sleep.

We went out to Chapel Hill last night to celebrate, got some good food and beer at Top of the Hill, then went out to Players, a pretty dingy bar, to drink and dance. We had fun. It was sort of sad, though. We all came to the realization that we are Getting Old. All of a sudden, after dancing for about an hour straight, everyone just sort of slowed down, then stopped. It was 12:30 in the morning and we were all exhausted. Our tired old bodies couldn't move anymore! So we walked back to our cars and went home.

Morning came all too quickly, but after taking the dog for a walk and drinking lots of tea, I was able to sit down for about 45 minutes and jam on the latest chapter of the fantasy novel. This really amazed me -- I just sat and wrote and next thing I knew, I was close to the end of the chapter! It's nice when the words flow like that, in spite of all the distractions working against me. Sure, the chapter needs filling out, but I was able to get the skeleton in place, and I was able to keep my 1,000-word-a-day pace going.

Gotta run (again). We just got back from a dog walk to support the local SPCA. Now we're off to the family's place for Mother's Day. Talk to you later.
mjj

May 11, 2001

Over 4k in 3 days -- he can't maintain such a pace!

Today's Quote:

At the intersection of Forest View Heights Avenue and the entrance to Lakefront Trail, Richard’s cul-de-sac, someone had set up a sweat lodge.

Today's Progress:

900 words total

Added more to horror story, researched novel

The Official Dare Page

Well, I almost made it to 1,000 words today. Not bad for not having got up at 5. But my days of sleeping in are over. No more slackness, now that I'm over my cold/congestion/sore throat. Plus I've got too much stuff to do at work to keep messing with my stuff in my free time. My free time's about to end, I'm sorry to say. Oh wel. Had to happen eventually...

But I was able to add a couple more pages to my horror story in the 'burbs, based on an idea I had while walking the dog last night (where all good ideas come from, y' know!). It's become a lot of fun. I may go ahead and finish it this weekend. I'm about halfway through I'd say. It's more "Twilight Zone" than horrific, but it's got some good moments to it.

And I wasted some time doing research on chinese sorcerors. Interesting stuff out there on that topic, on the Net. Most of it is gaming-related, but some stuff is quite cool. I found 2 historical links I think I can use. I also found some stuff on www.history.net dealing with 12th Century England that I can use for my flashback from the Interlude. All sorts of details likes that. Fun stuff.

I didn't get much time to work on the latest chapter on the novel, but I did touch up a couple things on Jimbo's encounter with his Gran, and I should be ready to start the chapter with Marky and Jeroan first thing tomorrow.

It all depends on how I feel -- we're off to Chapel Hill tonight to celebrate Elizabeth finishing work and preparing for grad school. She's pumped, and so am I. I'm glad she's able to follow her dream. So we're going to be out late tonight, celebrating.

This is a total tangent, but I had to write about this story I heard on NPR on the way in to work. Today is the 20th anniversary of Bob Marley's death. He died of cancer at the age of 36. I couldn't believe that -- he was barely 5 years older than I am now, and his music has touched people all over the world, and in a great, uplifting way. But that wasn't the main point of the story. It was all about how his music was about the poor living in Jamaica, and how he was able to show that despite the hardships in their lives, there was just as much joy, love, and happiness. Reggae does that. You cannot be in a bad mood while reggae is on. I'll always think of our honeymoon in Cancun, listening to a cover band (Bobby Mali, I believe) singing "No Woman No Cry" and "Buffalo Soldier." Drinking Coronas and margaritas.

The coolest thing was when a professor of Reggae Studies came on to talk about the effects of reggae. If I had my life to live over againl, it'd be cool to be a professor of Reggae Studies. Can you imagine the "research" he'd be doing??? Too cool. If I were a student I'd definitely take that class!

That's why I like public radio. You get these little gems in the midst of the news. Somehow it'd be cool to work that into a story, have a character who's a professor of Reggae Studies. Have to file that one away for the future. Of course he had a cool Jamaican accent as well.

I always pick up odd factoids from NPR. I remember hearing something on there about how supposedly, at one time, Tim McVeigh, the Unabomber, and the gang leader of the Latin Kings (I think that's the name of the gang -- don't quote me on that) were all being held at the same maximum security prison, and they were let out for exercise at almost the same time... What a weird interaction that would be. The goofball kid in me took that and imagined some supervillains all getting together for some massive jailbreak, like the Joker, Two-Face, and the Penguin all busting out of Arkham Asylum at the same time to terrorize Gotham City. Yes, an imagination is a terrible thing to waste...

Everything is research for a future story -- grist for the mill, as they say. Later.
mjj

May 10, 2001

Over 3k in 2 days -- not bad!

Today's Quote:

His heartbeat raced suddenly, and he could feel goosebumps jump out across his arms and neck. Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard an old man’s voice, speaking in an ancient tongue. He saw flashes of green and blue in the darkness behind his eyes.

Today's Progress:

1,500 words

Added details to Interlude and horror story, drafted ch. 18

The Official Dare Page

Someone stop me. I can't seem to stop myself from adding more and more to my fantasy chapters. It's bizarre. Having an outline makes the drafting process so unbelievably easy. I can't recommended having an outline for your novel enough. Even if you don't follow it. It's just there to get the wheels turning.

And, at least for the past 2 days, my wheels have been a'turning! I've finished the first drafts to the Interlude and chapter 18 for the novel, the first sections of the part of the book that is completely new. And it's only taken 8 years or so to get to this point. Remember, I started this whole story way back when, as an exercise with my 8th grade Writing class. I think we were doing descriptive writing.

And now look at it -- it's over 100 pages long so far, and 28,000 words. I've done 9 pages in just 2 days. I'm feeling pretty confident about finishing the draft by the end of June.

Of course, I've been able to do more work today (as well as yesterday), because I've had some time here and there between various work projects, and yesterday I was out sick. I don't think that's gonna last too long, as work is looking to get pretty hectic in the next few weeks. I think. Plus I don't like doing my stuff at work. Sometimes I just can't help myself.

So what have I been writing? I added some more details and dialog to John's first encounter with Michael, things like him asking Michael who he was, then recognizing him as a "Warlock" (I think I'm going to use that as a running gag in the flashbacks, where the "Sorcerers" keep getting misidentified as "Warlocks" (or worse, as "Witches") to their great consternation!). I've also got to do more thinking on the rules of magic and the Druid and what role everyone has to play in that. But it's coming along nicely. I have a fuzzy idea in my head, and sometimes a fuzzy idea is all you need.

I also finished up Jimbo's attack by his grandmother, who senses some sort of strangeness in him (I need to research what the Chinese call a wizard -- any ideas? I'm still looking; right now I'm calling it "bushido" which I know is totally wrong). In any case, she goes off on him and tries to brain him with an ancient vase, with surprising results.

And lastly, every now I then I add more to my suburban horror story, where the dude comes tooling on home in his SUV to his gated community and, of course, finds that all is not as it seems in the 'burbs. It's been fun. Right now I'm setting it in Cary. That'll probably change, of course, but it's been fun.

I've been thinking aobut using my story "Mother of the Bride" as a second entry in the 'burbs contest. I just have to wait to hear back from the last magazine I sent it to. I'd just have to make a few changes here and there. If I don't hear back by May 28th, I'm gonna send it anyway! That'd give me one more pro sale for HWA membership. Things are falling together, and I'm having lots of fun with my fiction. That's the key. Later.
mjj

May 9, 2001

Kicking out some drafts (it's been a while!)

Today's Quote:

Azure reached for his intercom button on the left-hand side of his desk, then froze. The memory came back to him, for a second. He saw a young face and a dirty hand clutching a piece of bread. Then the mental image was gone.

"Archie," he whispered, reading the name he'd scratched into the hard top of his desk. “Why is that name so familiar?”

Today's Progress:

1,650 words

Drafted Interlude, started horror story about the 'burbs

The Official Dare Page

Now this has been fun -- I've actually been working on some new stuff. And I've even managed to get a lot of writing done at night, not my usual modus operandi.

I was starting to have some doubts for a while there that I'd never get back on track. I'd done so much, so fast on the horror novel, and I kept finding myself distracted. Like revising our cover letter for the editor for the horror novel. Or surfing the net aimlessly (I did read a good Harry Harrison story on SciFiction.com called "The Falls" -- very nicely written story, with some magic realism thrown in quite effectively).

But this afternoon I was able to sit down and actually write some new stuff. I drafted out four pages of the Interlude that forms a bridge between the first and second parts of Last of the Hand, another flashback this time. I like it a lot, though it needs some work. It shows when John and Michael first meet. I need to research that time frame (around 1100 BC) and see what was going on in England at that time, then I can pick a location and run with it. It may not even be England at all, but someplace in Europe. But they should speak English. I'm being a wimp, I know, but I just don't want to get into the whole translation thing.

I also started work on a new horror story. Now that I've made it into SFWA as an active member, it's time for me to reach my next goal: active membership into HWA (the Horror Writers of America). I've filled out the forms for Affiliate membership (for people without 3 pro story sales) and should have that all underway soon. That way I can say on our cover letter that I'm in the HWA and serious about writing in that genre as well.

I think "Natural Order" would qualify me for one pro sale there, but I'm not sure. And of course, once Autumn's Fall is published, I'll have Active HWA membership. But I don't want to wait that long! I want to get the newsletter and directory and get my website linked from their pages.

So this horror story is set in the suburbs, for a contest whose deadline is the end of May. I have over 500 words for it already, and I think it's going to be more of a "Twilight Zone" type of story, maybe. Or it could be just wacko. I dunno. I'm not going to outline it too much, but just draft it all out and see what happens. So far I've got my main character driving home in stop and go traffic in his Expedition, nearly getting into a head-on collision as he turns into his new neighborhood. Life is good in the 'burbs!

Finally, I'm going to add my word count again, something I haven't done at all in 2001. Since I'm doing lots of drafting, I just want to see how much I can get done each day. My goal is 1,000 words a day. So today I'm ahead of the game. See ya tomorrow!

Home

mjj

	michaeljasper.net *"Another Wrecked Web Site"*
May 15, 2001 In a bit of a rut... *Today's Quote:* Taking off his hat, Titus dropped it onto the concrete and crushed it under his foot with a merciless smile on his face. Hatless, he hurried back into his limo. He had a phone call to make. Today's Progress: 350 words Busy work - a submission and the start of final revisions; new stuff for horror novel... The Official Dare Page	Man, I think I need some caffeine -- I can't seem to focus on anything. Here's what I've done in the past week:started, finished, and sent out a story, wrote 3 new chapters for my fantasy novel, and started the final revisions to horror novel. 7,650 words total [make that 8,000 total, after tonight's fixes], plus lots of editing and revising. Not bad. Maybe it's okay if I'm not super productive today. Right??? I spent half of last night trying to find a clear, printable, preferably color map of Middle Earth. Elizabeth is reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy right now, and is frustrated by the tiny map in our paperback version. So I spent a good hour last night searching the Net for one. There are a lot of excellent color maps out there, but they all wouldn't fit on a standard sheet of paper. I have lots of the top left-hand side of the map printed out! I just can't print the rest. I found a really good one, even it is black and white, at this site. It's in Adobe Acrobat and prints out as 6 very clear pages. Here's hoping that satisfies the new fantasy fan I've created in my wife! ;) I also spent some time last night (and on the drive home from work, reading as traffic slowed to a crawl in some places!) reading the novel submission from a fellow writer, Derek. He's got a really fascinating book, and I was disappointed that I only got to read the first 3 chapters. It's pretty cool. I look forward to seeing it in print. Speaking of fellow writers, Elizabeth and I are having dinner on Thursday with Tim Pratt and his girlfriend Meg. Should be fun! It'll be cool actually meeting him -- we've only conversed via e-mail. But we know a lot of the same folks, and obviously have a lot in common. I have a couple cool places we can check out in Chapel Hill for good food and atmosphere... And finally, I got to dive into Perdido Street Station once again last night. I got to read about 50 pages or so before I fell asleep (it's been a busy few weeks!). I'm impressed again and again with this hybrid he's concocted. Very well-written. I'm starting to think of some things I can say in my review. The scary thing is I'm only 1/3 of the way through! Maybe I'll read some more tonight. If I can stay awake long enough! Later. Later that day: Fixed up a scene to the horror novel, and redid some chapter numbering to try and fit our submission package/excerpt into 60 pages. Right now it's over by a page... Oh well. Titus's scene @ the airport, at least, is more fleshed out. Now to take a rest. Later. mjj
May 14, 2001 A day off of sorts, with some productivity here and there... *Today's Quote:* Richard realized that the sight of the low, domed teepee made of canvas and bent branches next to the road didn’t even surprise him. Not after the strange things he’d imagined already today. He took a tentative lick from the sucker in his right hand, a gift from one of the kids for helping with their bike. “I only licked it a coupla times,” the blue-eyed boy had said. Today's Progress: 300 words Messed around with website; revised horror story! The Official Dare Page	Well, I didn't get much done this morning. Actually, I was lucky to get out of bed at all before 6. The temptation to sleep in was great. But I rolled out of bed about 15 minutes after 5 and got a little bit of work done Mostly I did some updates to various web pages, adding the comments from the Tangent Online review. I was pretty excited about this one. Tangent is well-known and respected, and it's the only professionally run site that reviews only short fiction. And I've been trying to get them to do a review of WotF 16 for months! I even went so far as to send them a free copy! It finally paid off. So I was distracted by that, and I'm still in the hunt for a place to send a couple stories, including the novella version of "Last of the Hand." It was almost picked up by an online magazine paying one cent a word (hey, I'll take it, even if it isn't pro rates -- not many places take 25,000 word stories...). I'm wondering if there's a pro 'zine I could send that to... I'm also looking to send out my suburban horror story by Wednesday. I just need to revise it and add some details, and it'll be ready. I'm pretty please with how it turned out. I may send it to my friend Chris today for his take on it. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get back into the swing of things and not be so distractable. But I can't be too hard on myself. We had a really busy weekend, and I still was able to do lots of writing in between various activities. Later. Later that day: Okay, it's a little later. Had some time on my lunch break to finish up the suburbs story and sent it off to my friend Chris. The story is pretty close to being done. I just reread it and add my last edits. Now I need someone else's take on it, to see if it worked or not. But the day was not a total bust! Have a good rest o' the day. It's quittin' time for me! mjj
May 13, 2001 Not bad at all! *Today's Quote:* "I think he's havin' a heart 'tack," one of the dark-haired girls said. Like the others, she looked Oriental. Maybe Chinese, maybe Japanese, Richard thought. "My uncle had two heart 'tacks, then he had a highway bypass put in him." Today's Progress: 2,000 words Finished a rough draft of the horror story about the 'burbs! The Official Dare Page	Once again, I surprised myself by squeezing in some quality writing in between various other chores and distractions. Again, I owe all my success to my outlines! Knowing what I want to write definitely make the first draft fly by. I know there are some writers out there who use the "garden approach" to writing -- they just start by slapping some words on the page ("digging in the ground") then they let whatever happens happen. They don't outline but just "nurture" the words and let them come ("fertilizing"). They just keep writing and let the characters take over, watering as needed. Actually, I don't really know where that analogy is going. Sounds like a lot of fertilizer to me! All I know is that if I just have a couple characters, no idea what to do with them, I get stuck pretty quick. This story I had pretty much summed up the point by the time I'd written the first sentence: "Richard Tolliver was proud of the fact that his was the first black family to move into the Olde Carriage Ridgewood subdivision." The kicker is that I didn't realize at the time how significant that sentence was going to be. I just wrote it and kept writing. So in a way the story was written organically, but I did have some concrete expectations and goals in mind. And the first draft just popped out. Now to go back and do some weeding. Heh. Have a good rest of the weekend. I'm off to cut our raggedy lawn. And maybe read some more of Perdido Street Station, if I actually have time! Later. mjj
May 12, 2001 A quick, quick chapter! *Today's Quote:* They were ten feet from the landing of the old fire escape when Jeroan leaped, pulling Marky with him. Basketballs flashed past them. One hit Jeroan in the head, another in the leg, while Marky was hit in the rear end. They began to fall. We can make it, Jeroan thought, his blood burning and his skin turning cold, then hot. We will make it. Today's Progress: 1,300 words Drafted ch. 19 The Official Dare Page	All right - got a quick chapter off, still keeping up my pace! Not bad for getting about 5 hours sleep. We went out to Chapel Hill last night to celebrate, got some good food and beer at Top of the Hill, then went out to Players, a pretty dingy bar, to drink and dance. We had fun. It was sort of sad, though. We all came to the realization that we are Getting Old. All of a sudden, after dancing for about an hour straight, everyone just sort of slowed down, then stopped. It was 12:30 in the morning and we were all exhausted. Our tired old bodies couldn't move anymore! So we walked back to our cars and went home. Morning came all too quickly, but after taking the dog for a walk and drinking lots of tea, I was able to sit down for about 45 minutes and jam on the latest chapter of the fantasy novel. This really amazed me -- I just sat and wrote and next thing I knew, I was close to the end of the chapter! It's nice when the words flow like that, in spite of all the distractions working against me. Sure, the chapter needs filling out, but I was able to get the skeleton in place, and I was able to keep my 1,000-word-a-day pace going. Gotta run (again). We just got back from a dog walk to support the local SPCA. Now we're off to the family's place for Mother's Day. Talk to you later. mjj
May 11, 2001 Over 4k in 3 days -- he can't maintain such a pace! *Today's Quote:* At the intersection of Forest View Heights Avenue and the entrance to Lakefront Trail, Richard’s cul-de-sac, someone had set up a sweat lodge. Today's Progress: 900 words total Added more to horror story, researched novel The Official Dare Page	Well, I almost made it to 1,000 words today. Not bad for not having got up at 5. But my days of sleeping in are over. No more slackness, now that I'm over my cold/congestion/sore throat. Plus I've got too much stuff to do at work to keep messing with my stuff in my free time. My free time's about to end, I'm sorry to say. Oh wel. Had to happen eventually... But I was able to add a couple more pages to my horror story in the 'burbs, based on an idea I had while walking the dog last night (where all good ideas come from, y' know!). It's become a lot of fun. I may go ahead and finish it this weekend. I'm about halfway through I'd say. It's more "Twilight Zone" than horrific, but it's got some good moments to it. And I wasted some time doing research on chinese sorcerors. Interesting stuff out there on that topic, on the Net. Most of it is gaming-related, but some stuff is quite cool. I found 2 historical links I think I can use. I also found some stuff on www.history.net dealing with 12th Century England that I can use for my flashback from the Interlude. All sorts of details likes that. Fun stuff. I didn't get much time to work on the latest chapter on the novel, but I did touch up a couple things on Jimbo's encounter with his Gran, and I should be ready to start the chapter with Marky and Jeroan first thing tomorrow. It all depends on how I feel -- we're off to Chapel Hill tonight to celebrate Elizabeth finishing work and preparing for grad school. She's pumped, and so am I. I'm glad she's able to follow her dream. So we're going to be out late tonight, celebrating. This is a total tangent, but I had to write about this story I heard on NPR on the way in to work. Today is the 20th anniversary of Bob Marley's death. He died of cancer at the age of 36. I couldn't believe that -- he was barely 5 years older than I am now, and his music has touched people all over the world, and in a great, uplifting way. But that wasn't the main point of the story. It was all about how his music was about the poor living in Jamaica, and how he was able to show that despite the hardships in their lives, there was just as much joy, love, and happiness. Reggae does that. You cannot be in a bad mood while reggae is on. I'll always think of our honeymoon in Cancun, listening to a cover band (Bobby Mali, I believe) singing "No Woman No Cry" and "Buffalo Soldier." Drinking Coronas and margaritas. The coolest thing was when a professor of Reggae Studies came on to talk about the effects of reggae. If I had my life to live over againl, it'd be cool to be a professor of Reggae Studies. Can you imagine the "research" he'd be doing??? Too cool. If I were a student I'd definitely take that class! That's why I like public radio. You get these little gems in the midst of the news. Somehow it'd be cool to work that into a story, have a character who's a professor of Reggae Studies. Have to file that one away for the future. Of course he had a cool Jamaican accent as well. I always pick up odd factoids from NPR. I remember hearing something on there about how supposedly, at one time, Tim McVeigh, the Unabomber, and the gang leader of the Latin Kings (I think that's the name of the gang -- don't quote me on that) were all being held at the same maximum security prison, and they were let out for exercise at almost the same time... What a weird interaction that would be. The goofball kid in me took that and imagined some supervillains all getting together for some massive jailbreak, like the Joker, Two-Face, and the Penguin all busting out of Arkham Asylum at the same time to terrorize Gotham City. Yes, an imagination is a terrible thing to waste... Everything is research for a future story -- grist for the mill, as they say. Later. mjj
May 10, 2001 Over 3k in 2 days -- not bad! *Today's Quote:* His heartbeat raced suddenly, and he could feel goosebumps jump out across his arms and neck. Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard an old man’s voice, speaking in an ancient tongue. He saw flashes of green and blue in the darkness behind his eyes. Today's Progress: 1,500 words Added details to Interlude and horror story, drafted ch. 18 The Official Dare Page	Someone stop me. I can't seem to stop myself from adding more and more to my fantasy chapters. It's bizarre. Having an outline makes the drafting process so unbelievably easy. I can't recommended having an outline for your novel enough. Even if you don't follow it. It's just there to get the wheels turning. And, at least for the past 2 days, my wheels have been a'turning! I've finished the first drafts to the Interlude and chapter 18 for the novel, the first sections of the part of the book that is completely new. And it's only taken 8 years or so to get to this point. Remember, I started this whole story way back when, as an exercise with my 8th grade Writing class. I think we were doing descriptive writing. And now look at it -- it's over 100 pages long so far, and 28,000 words. I've done 9 pages in just 2 days. I'm feeling pretty confident about finishing the draft by the end of June. Of course, I've been able to do more work today (as well as yesterday), because I've had some time here and there between various work projects, and yesterday I was out sick. I don't think that's gonna last too long, as work is looking to get pretty hectic in the next few weeks. I think. Plus I don't like doing my stuff at work. Sometimes I just can't help myself. So what have I been writing? I added some more details and dialog to John's first encounter with Michael, things like him asking Michael who he was, then recognizing him as a "Warlock" (I think I'm going to use that as a running gag in the flashbacks, where the "Sorcerers" keep getting misidentified as "Warlocks" (or worse, as "Witches") to their great consternation!). I've also got to do more thinking on the rules of magic and the Druid and what role everyone has to play in that. But it's coming along nicely. I have a fuzzy idea in my head, and sometimes a fuzzy idea is all you need. I also finished up Jimbo's attack by his grandmother, who senses some sort of strangeness in him (I need to research what the Chinese call a wizard -- any ideas? I'm still looking; right now I'm calling it "bushido" which I know is totally wrong). In any case, she goes off on him and tries to brain him with an ancient vase, with surprising results. And lastly, every now I then I add more to my suburban horror story, where the dude comes tooling on home in his SUV to his gated community and, of course, finds that all is not as it seems in the 'burbs. It's been fun. Right now I'm setting it in Cary. That'll probably change, of course, but it's been fun. I've been thinking aobut using my story "Mother of the Bride" as a second entry in the 'burbs contest. I just have to wait to hear back from the last magazine I sent it to. I'd just have to make a few changes here and there. If I don't hear back by May 28th, I'm gonna send it anyway! That'd give me one more pro sale for HWA membership. Things are falling together, and I'm having lots of fun with my fiction. That's the key. Later. mjj
May 9, 2001 Kicking out some drafts (it's been a while!) *Today's Quote:* Azure reached for his intercom button on the left-hand side of his desk, then froze. The memory came back to him, for a second. He saw a young face and a dirty hand clutching a piece of bread. Then the mental image was gone. "Archie," he whispered, reading the name he'd scratched into the hard top of his desk. “Why is that name so familiar?” Today's Progress: 1,650 words Drafted Interlude, started horror story about the 'burbs The Official Dare Page	Now this has been fun -- I've actually been working on some new stuff. And I've even managed to get a lot of writing done at night, not my usual modus operandi. I was starting to have some doubts for a while there that I'd never get back on track. I'd done so much, so fast on the horror novel, and I kept finding myself distracted. Like revising our cover letter for the editor for the horror novel. Or surfing the net aimlessly (I did read a good Harry Harrison story on SciFiction.com called "The Falls" -- very nicely written story, with some magic realism thrown in quite effectively). But this afternoon I was able to sit down and actually write some new stuff. I drafted out four pages of the Interlude that forms a bridge between the first and second parts of Last of the Hand, another flashback this time. I like it a lot, though it needs some work. It shows when John and Michael first meet. I need to research that time frame (around 1100 BC) and see what was going on in England at that time, then I can pick a location and run with it. It may not even be England at all, but someplace in Europe. But they should speak English. I'm being a wimp, I know, but I just don't want to get into the whole translation thing. I also started work on a new horror story. Now that I've made it into SFWA as an active member, it's time for me to reach my next goal: active membership into HWA (the Horror Writers of America). I've filled out the forms for Affiliate membership (for people without 3 pro story sales) and should have that all underway soon. That way I can say on our cover letter that I'm in the HWA and serious about writing in that genre as well. I think "Natural Order" would qualify me for one pro sale there, but I'm not sure. And of course, once Autumn's Fall is published, I'll have Active HWA membership. But I don't want to wait that long! I want to get the newsletter and directory and get my website linked from their pages. So this horror story is set in the suburbs, for a contest whose deadline is the end of May. I have over 500 words for it already, and I think it's going to be more of a "Twilight Zone" type of story, maybe. Or it could be just wacko. I dunno. I'm not going to outline it too much, but just draft it all out and see what happens. So far I've got my main character driving home in stop and go traffic in his Expedition, nearly getting into a head-on collision as he turns into his new neighborhood. Life is good in the 'burbs! Finally, I'm going to add my word count again, something I haven't done at all in 2001. Since I'm doing lots of drafting, I just want to see how much I can get done each day. My goal is 1,000 words a day. So today I'm ahead of the game. See ya tomorrow!
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