I love my flex schedule. It gives me a day here and there to do some writing. I set my alarm just like a regular work day, then ignored it completely.
The crow woke me up just before six o’clock. I swear that is the loudest crow I’ve ever heard, and he likes to let the world know he’s there at the crack of dawn. Maybe he needs a lesson from my Beeman air rifle. (If you’re reading this Sue, just ignore this part.)
After feeding the dogs and making coffee, I started off by checking email, then read the last section of The Viral Blues.
The characters had a big night fighting off the forces of evil, and the story required a bit of cooling down. Lizzie and Lisa did some girl bonding, then Clovis and Gina helped pump everyone up for the next phase.
Jason Fogg wound up wearing a dress, which didn’t make him too happy, and I’m headed toward the final showdown. I also worked in a mild musical gag, because it makes sense for a Lizzie and the hat kind of story.
I’ve been trying something a little different. When I first started writing, I would put on some classical music. Old What’s Her Face complained about it, so I started writing in silence. I’ve found that almost anything can distract me these days, but I decided to do a bit of a test.
I went to YouTube and turned on some soundtracks. I’ve been bouncing between Last of the Mohicans and Ennio Morricone music. Some of those power chords from Once Upon a Time in the West really do it for me.
I’ve only done this a few other times, using Pirates of the Caribbean music. (For Lanternfish, obviously) Sometimes Wagner from the Excalibur soundtrack.
So far it hasn’t made me more productive. I managed a sum total of 2900 new words today. It doesn’t seem any worse either, so there’s that to consider.
It was a good day, but I’m finished now. I’ll probably dedicate some time to my next Story Empire post. I left it unfinished, but need to keep up on that stuff.
Something odd happened too. In my first Expansion Pack post over at Story Empire, I mentioned Stephen King’s story, Thinner. The film is so old it isn’t available anywhere, but there it was on television late one night. I never use my recorder, but I recorded it. If we get a slow evening around here I’m going to re-watch it.
Back to work tomorrow, but it was a pretty good author’s wednesday.
THAT’S AWESOME.
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Thank you.
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Sounds like a great author Wednesday to me. (And I can’t wait to read about Jason in a dress.)
BTW, Sue is definitely going to be angry with you.
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Ha ha. I don’t know that she always comes by, but she’s pretty frequent.
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I love your character descriptions, Jason. In a dress. Too funny. sounds like a productive day.
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I find the cooldowns and transitions easier with a larger cast. They don’t focus on everyone, but a couple of them can talk while the others rest and it feels natural.
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I loved the book, Thinner. King wrote it under the name Richard Bachman (I think) I never saw the movie. I’m filling in for Sue on the B-B Gun. I armed the crow with a shoulder mount rocket launcher. It’ll take out the bedroom so be careful.
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his rocket launcher couldn’t be much louder. This guy puts Canada geese to shame.
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Hahaha.
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I’m surprised that ‘Thinner’ isn’t available. Thought everything was on dvd or streaming these days.
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It’s old. I don’t have access to everything though.
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Can’t wait to read about this mild musical gag! I used to put on Mozart when I got writers block…it always helped. Haven’t done that in a while.
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No writer’s block here. I’m just experimenting. The song is Mustang Sally in the gag.
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I can imagine a lot you can do with that song!
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Fingers crossed.
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I often use soundtracks or music when writing – particularly if hubby is home and rattling around. However, I do find what i’m listening to influences the tone of my writing so I have to keep it theme appropriate 🙂
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That makes sense. Don’t know that I’ll keep doing it, but it was an experiment.
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Glad you had such a good author day.
Doesn’t matter to me what’s on in the background. I only tune it out anyhow.
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I have a hard time with that. Natural sounds are no problem. I tend to get into the music and drift away from the task at hand.
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I think a lot of people have your problem, but it’s never been an issue for me.
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Sounds like a brilliant day, Craig … minus the crow at the crack of dawn, lol. The writing sounds great! Can’t wait to see the finished thing 🙂
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Thanks, Harmony. Back to the daily grind today, but it was wonderful.
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Victoria, I was accused of being deaf the other day, basically because I had tuned out. Sometimes my brain does this without my direction, so I tend to miss stuff that might be important. Not quite as important as what I was doing at the time though…
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*Gasp* Leave those sweet crows alone! I would hate to have to tell Poe to put you on the Crows Most Wanted list. 😉
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They’re so clever it’s like they have an extra sense. They tend to fly away just as you’re taking aim no matter how sneaky you are.
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Congrats on a great author Wednesday! I’m getting really tired of editing and wish I could get back to writing soon. I’m glad you made more progress.
I tend to write in silence or use instrumental New Age music in the background. Anything other than that and I get distracted!
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It’s an experiment I don’t know that I’ll continue. I tend to get into the music and not the work in front of me. It was a good day though.
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La-la-la-la-la-la. Can’t hear you. 😉
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You mean over the crow? It’s like a jet engine at 4:00 am.
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An awesome Wednesday, Craig!! Congrats on the word count! How cool that you found the old movie after just mentioning it. The power of suggestion!
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It was a good day. Still haven’t watched the movie, but I’ll get to it. Maybe I should have suggested a winning Powerball ticket to myself.
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Ha ha!! Yep! For sure!
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I alternate between writing with music and silence. If it’s a scene where I know the direction it’s going, I’ll listen to music. If I’m uncertain, I usually need silence. Your low word count is an outstanding day for me, lol.
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It was a moderate day. I have some of those 500 word days too, then occasionally I’ll get 5000 plus. I think these days I prefer the silence.
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The last of the Mohicans? That takes me back. Lol
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It is a very good soundtrack.
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