It's Not Happening Tonight

Well, a late night is turning into a no-go night. I was up a bit later than usual gaming online with a buddy from High School. I took a break to eat something before getting to work, and it's just gotten later and later.

I'm going to declare tonight a night-off. In all honesty, this whole weekend has been focused more on having fun but I need to get back to work tomorrow night. In the meantime, I need to come up with some more good superheroes to be in the Brigadiers.

Enter The Brigadiers

Tonight's writing has brought Erin and her friends face to face with the premier super-team in the world I'm creating - The Brigadiers. They're the Justice League, and the Avengers - everybody knows them and I'm trying to play up a few specific things here.

I don't think that it's hotly argued that superheroes and their stories are the mythology of the modern age. Thesus lost his father because he forgot to hoist the right colored sail on his return from slaying the minotaur in Crete. Peter Parker lost Gwen Stacy because the Green Goblin knew who he was. Hercules performed his legendary 12 labors to atone for having killed his own children in a madness inflicted on him by Hera. Bruce Wayne fights crime in Gotham because he wasn't able to save his own parents from it.

So Superheroes are the gods and demigods of the modern age. I'm trying to play this up as I describe the Brigadiers' fortress (carved into an asteroid in stable orbit around the Earth.)

Here's an excerpt:

The Brigadiers conference room was massive. The vaulted ceiling reached upwards to space, ending in a transparent view of the eternal night sky. The crystals that provided soft light in the other parts of the compound that Erin had seen only lined the walls here. Several brilliant light fixtures were suspended from the ceiling. The floor here was tiled, forming a path leading through the center of the room towards a raised dais.

Upon the dais sat a table in the shape of a half-circle with the straight edge facing the door. Behind the table stood seven large chairs facing the entrance, and in those chairs sat the Brigadiers.

What do you think? Am I overdoing it? My notion is that of a room with seven thrones, in which these gods of modern myth look down on the Earth. Aside from playing around with the mythology angle that I already like, I think it foreshadows that Erin and her friends' concerns won't be viewed as 'important' by these other heroes.

Anyhow, here's tonight's word count:

Tonight's Word Count: 1,000

Total Word Count: 22,985

Oddly, I found I was at precisely a thousand words when I decided to break. (The excerpt above is the tail-end of my night's work.) I still haven't filled the tale of The Brigadiers, so I need to try to think on that a bit before I sit down to write again.

A Slow Night

I didn't get started until late tonight, and had a harder time getting started. It's my own fault - I got caught up goofing around while waiting on some laundry and next thing I knew it was 4am. It's strictly my bad.

I did get some writing done, but not quite 500 words for the night but I think my bed's going to be calling me soon. I'm not beating myself up over it, but I need to make sure I get started a bit earlier tomorrow.

Here's tonight's word count:

Tonight's Word Count: 444

Total Word Count: 21,985

Getting Back Into The Groove

One thing I've known about myself for a few years, is that I'm most comfortable with routine. I like my wagon ruts, and generally get to feeling a little anxious whenever I veer from my established patterns. So naturally I feel good, getting back to my regular schedule.

Tonight, Erin revisited an encounter she had earlier in the story. She'd come across a pimp menacing one of his girls back in... Chapter 4, I think. She wasn't in costume, and couldn't see him clearly enough to know whether or not he was armed so she opted to try to scare him off. I wanted to show that she had to do something, but that she wasn't ready to intervene directly. She was still smarting from the events that forced her to retire her superhero identity a couple years ago.

Tonight, encouraged by several successes (including reconciling things with her old mentor), she came across the same man getting ready to work another one of his girls over. This time she stopped him, and laid the smack down upon him. (She fractured his hip in her initial attack, and when he kept trying to attack fueled by adrenaline and rage, she shattered his leading hand and elbow.) I'm hoping that the contrast between these two encounters helps to highlight the change in her state of mind. And in a story featuring superheroes, it really was time for some kind of violence, I think.

Which is a shame, because I think that tomorrow night's writing is going to start battering her new-found self esteem. But she's stronger than she gives herself credit for - and this is how she's going to learn that.

Here's tonight's word count:

Tonight's Word Count: 933

Total Word Count: 21,541

I didn't get a writing exercise in tonight. I'll see if I can't catch up with those over the next few nights.

Second Month, And 20,000 Words

Just under a month ago, I started this journal to help document my attempt to produce a book. I've now passed two more milestones: I've been working on actually writing this story for about a month now, and tonight I've passed 20,000 words.

Tonight I've been writing another meeting between Erin and her former mentor, Achilles. Erin went into this one a little better prepared though, so she's a bit more secure about it. This meeting is going to lead her (and her companions) to a meeting with The Brigadiers - the premier super-team in the world I'm creating. I know who several of them are, but I think I need to come up with a few more. Of course, once I've hit the writing mindset, my trouble with coming up with names disappears (or at least shrinks a lot.)

The past month has been one of the better ones I can recall. I've actually begun (and continued) to write one of my story ideas. I've made some progress in cleaning the house, including clearing myself a better place to isolate myself from distractions for some writing. I've made some realizations about my relationship with my parents that have changed how I look at them (for the better), blood work from my doctor held some good news, and I've had an excellent time with Hilary. Now I need to work on making February just as good.

Here's tonight's word-count:

Tonight's Word Count: 1,085

Total Word Count: 20,608

Writing Exercise - OCD

Well, now that I'm back on my normal hours, I'm feeling a bit less tired. I had an excellent time over the weekend, and it's well worth the temporary discomfort of shifting my waking hours for a couple days, but it's good to be back on nights.

I lost a couple nights of writing exercises there. Maybe I'll make them up later, but for right now, I'm going to pick up with today's from C.M. Mayo's website (as always)

February 2 "OCD"
Your character is an obsessive compulsive. Describe his or her morning. Do not use the words "obsessive compulsive." (Show don't tell.)

Sounds like fun. Here we go.

The alarm sounded, and Kyle rose. Swiveling neatly, his feet touched ground directly on top of his slippers. And... now, he thought to himself as he reached out to turn off the alarm. Standing, he turned to head to the bathroom, but he saw his bed out of the corner of his eye.

The far side was unused, untouched, perfect. Passing the bathroom, he stepped over to the far side of the bed. Bending over for a closer look, he began smoothing it completely flat and gradually worked his way over to the side in which he had slept. He meticulously straightened the sheets, and folded the blanket back. He removed his pillow from the case entirely, and reached into his nightstand.

The tips of his fingers brushed against a neat stack of crisply folded replacements. Withdrawing one, he carefully slid the pillow in before folding the now empty case and placing it atop the pile of neatly folded clothing in the hamper. Stepping towards the bathroom, he turned abruptly and picked up the alarm clock. He held it up to his eyes, ensuring that the alarm was still turned off.

And... time.

I didn't get quite as far into it as I would have liked, but I think by this point I've figured out that I'm almost always going to think I could do better.

I'll be standing up to take a walk around shortly. After that, it's back to writing.

Wiped Out

Over this weekend, Hil and I went to see my parents. Our plan was to drive down Friday night, and spend Saturday before leaving after dinner. Amazing how plans change.

The weather reported that Columbia was the recipient of freezing rain on Saturday. Driving back home at night on highways potentially littered with black ice didn't sound like what we consider to be a good time, so I called my boss and arranged to take Sunday night off.

Since my parents don't share my own nocturnal tendencies, I wanted to temporarily muck with my sleeping habits to spend a couple of days with them. They were a great couple of days, and well worth the minor inconvenience of being tried tonight - but I'm just not sure I can get any more writing done.

I sat down about an hour ago, and managed to get a couple hundred words out but now I just can't stop yawning. I think our bed is most likely in my immediate future. So I don't have much to comment on in my writing tonight. I know where I'm going to take things from here tomorrow. Of course, my next shift presents a new difficulty. My monthly shipment of comic books is scheduled to arrive while I sleep. I'll be taking it with me to work in order to comb through the box, making sure that I've received everything on the invoice. And of course, to read a bit. But I want to get back to writing, and I'm confident that'll get me on-task.

Here's tonight's word-count:

Tonight's Word Count: 287

Total Word Count: 19,523