Somehow, I managed today as my flex day. It hasn’t happened very often that I get a four day weekend out of the schedule, but I’m pretty stoked about it.
Tried my hand at some fiction this morning. It’s going slow. I’ve been dwelling on this story for years, but I still have to get post apocalyptic America on the page along with everything else. This involves things like transportation which is back to horse power, or in Mari’s case ox power.
It also involves a monetary system where barter is king, and salvage is a way of life. The currency exists in the form of quarters. These are more durable than old paper money, and people can sift through the rubble for them on occasion. Sometimes purchases are made by the coin count, other times by the pound. It’s +/- $20 per pound of coins. I looked it up.
I also have to work with geography and a few ideas from the fall of our modern society. For now, I’m sticking with “Once Upon a Time in the Swamp,” for a title. Something else may come to me as I write it out, but it functions for drafting purposes.
I’d like to start another Lizzie and the hat tale soon. Working on two projects at once really functions well for me. When I get in a bind on one, I can switch to the other and still earn word count out of the day.
I keep finding some pretty obscure music as part of my hat research. After so many volumes, I’ve covered a lot of tunes people are likely to recognize. I hate to use obscure stuff, but might have to start weaving some of that in.
This is something new from Samantha Fish. I think it’s a cover of an older song, but I can totally envision Lizzie and the Pythons playing it.
I’m thinking the working title for this story will be “Goodbye Old Paint.” That will probably be a line of dialog in the story. It will involve national security, and her being forced into helping. My motivator could go down in flames, though. It involves Lizzie’s unpaid student loans. If the president forgives those it might force me to change directions.
With any luck, I might start writing this one before the long weekend ends. Right now, Mari and the swamp need more of my attention.
Chipping away is progress. It’s how I wrote my last two manuscripts (one of these days I may actually get around to publishing them, LOL).
The swamp story with Mari sounds intriguing. I’m reading a series right now (the Last Policeman trilogy) that is PRE apocalyptic fiction. VERY different. I think you’d like it. I used Libby to borrow it free from my library for my Kindle.
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That is kind of a cool situation. I’m going to dive into what happened, but not right away. I’ll dribble hints out for now.
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Your apocalypse story sounds interesting. Love the title for your next Lizzie and the Hat. My grandson’s struggling with student loans. And having a motivator go down in flames can add a real sense of purpose to a story. Sounds good to me!
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I just don’t want to have the motivator disappear in the real world before it can motivate Lizzie. On a practical tack, it would be nice to help some of these kids in the real world.
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Loved the Samantha Fish video. Best wishes on your projects.
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I’ve been playing that song all morning. I’ll always take luck. Seems to get me farther.
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It is a good song. Reminds me of an old girlfriend.
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Ha!
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Congrats on the four-day weekend. I like the title of the new Lizzie story. Good luck with the writing this weekend.
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Thanks, Joan. Don’t know whether I’ll start it or stay in the swamp for now. Feels so good to be creating again.
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Sounds like a lot of interesting stories coming down the pipeline. Post-apocalyptic stuff is always a blast.
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I like it, but I’m tired of it devolving into zombies. I’ll try to avoid that this time.
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That tends to get overdone. Not like the days of Mad Max and Waterworld.
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Student loans being forgiven? A fantasy indeed!
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I have mixed feelings, but it would benefit my daughter.
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I agree. Several teachers I know have been paying their loans for five or ten years and owe more now than they did at graduation. That’s obviously an abusive loan and the whole educational industry should be reformed. (Starting with this idea that education is an industry at all.)
I just don’t believe either the congress or president will summon the will to actually do anything about student loans. Or any of a dozen urgent issues, either.
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A four-day weekend! Yay! Sounds like you’re making good progress. I’m loving what you’re coming up with and love the title of the new Lizzie story. Have a great weekend, Craig 💕🙂
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Thanks, Harmony. Might manage a bit more today.
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I love your discussion about your world-building. I find that stuff fascinating. Of course, paper money wouldn’t last and coins would. Of course, bartering would prevail. As my husband says, “you can’t eat money.” Have fun and Happy Writing.
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Thank you.
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Enjoy your four day weekend 🙂 Sounds like you are off to a good start.
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Thank you.
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How awesome to get a four-day weekend!! Sounds like you made progress. Love the Samantha Fish song!! Yes, I can see Lizzie and the Pythons singing that one. 🙂
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I played it many times that day.
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Hi Craig, I love apocalyptic books. I tried to write one but it starting getting me down because it was about climate change.
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Mine will be post apocalyptic. The world has recovered, but society hasn’t. I’m going to bleed info about what happened as the main story unfolds.
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Hi Craig Brilliant! I will definitely be reading this.
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Since it’s the weekend it’s about time to start working on it again.
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