Life gets its way

I wound up missing some work last week. I was kind of tethered to the toilet, and having one about a block from my desk just didn’t work.

That does not mean I was any kind of productive at home. When you don’t feel well, sometimes it just requires dealing with the issue and nothing else.

The weekend wasn’t much better, because I had real-world tasks to deal with. I spent an inordinate amount of time looking for my water key. It’s time to turn on the sprinklers, but I cannot find my key. I’ll have to wait until payday and buy a new one. We can use hoses and sprinklers in the meantime.

Writing wasn’t great, but it comes to about 2200 words. It’s not awful, but it’s my sum-total for a week.

It’s all coming out in chunks right now and separated by section breaks. (***) I don’t particularly like it that way and need to put some thought into it.

Some of the section breaks are a great way to move the story ahead. When you have three per chapter, it could be an indication of a problem.

When this happens, it’s usually caused by a combination of things. I have characters who need to wrap up a few things. All the secrets are out with the exception of the last big one. Bringing that last big secret to the table requires some actions of each character and they aren’t all in the same place at the same time.

This is also made difficult with needing a reasonable amount of time to pass. Like a month or more. Something great is supposed to happen, but it takes time to learn that it might not be so great. My normal thing is to use a section break.

I could write this with complete flow, meaning to follow each character until they can deliver their discovery to the rest, but it would read like crap. My readers would have the information, but have to suffer along for a few thousand words before the characters could compare notes and draw conclusions. (I’m not doing this.)

I could do some telling. This is kind of anathema these days, but can work under some circumstances.

There are a few ideas in play. I’ll probably wrap this with a few section breaks, a tiny bit of telling, and by staying in the head of the character who has the most at stake.

Then there are the “rewards.” I still believe each character has to get something out of the ordeal. This isn’t like dragon treasure or anything like that. Maybe Cody and Bai start making a life together. Maybe Jenny gains some of the experience she needs along her path to investigative journalism. I can weave some of this into the other pieces to make it flow better. I promise not to write a scene where Princess Leah hands out medals to signify all is well.

Do any of you ever have problems like this? How did you address them? Do you know where my friggin water key is?

The doldrums

I'm going to have two weeks where I won't be doing much writerly stuff. Or, rather I will but it's for the paycheck job. This means professional documents, three stand up presentations, and possibly a video script. It's all pretty dry stuff and not nearly as interesting as fiction. One of my old articles also got picked up by another professional newsletter, which is kind of cool.

Still, I vowed not to discuss the paycheck job here, so I'll drop it. Suffice it to say fiction is much more fun to produce.

My guests went home at mid-day today. We had a nice dinner out at The Yardhouse, complete with good beer.

After everyone left, my wife went shopping because the cupboard was bare. I used the time to add a few paragraphs to a short story. I also worked up critiques for three of four group members. One fellow hasn't delivered his submission yet.

My time is getting tight. I have to make a presentation in Eastern Idaho, then my wife and I are going over to Jackson for the weekend. It's probably going to be ridiculously quiet over there. All winter sports are over and the National Parks aren't open yet. My group meets the following Monday and I hope the last submission shows up while I still have access to a printer.

The following week is a madhouse at work. I have a couple more presentations to make and it's going to be busy. I may have to sluff on a post or two. If anyone would like me to post something for you I might manage that. Got something to promote? Want to teach us all something new? Let me know.

Beyond that, I turned on my sprinkler system today. Three quarters of it works fine. I'll probably have to get a repairman out to replace a valve.

Boring stuff, I know. That's how life is though. We have responsibilities and writing time takes a back seat.

The River Pixies

The Snake River God is plaguing me. I had big plans to go sturgeon fishing today, but they died last night.

Old What’s Her Face* called me on my way from work. The sprinkler system needs to be turned on, and right now!

I told her I would turn everything on when I got home and asked her to record the season finale of Shield for me. I changed into something suitable for spider webs, mud, and slugs and dove right in.

Our community system must have been turned off. There was no water at all. I suppose the River God sent his pixies to interfere with my fishing trip. I promised to work on it today, and my fishing adventure crumbled to dust. I swear I heard giggling over the sound of frogs when I went to bed last night.

Good news, the system is watering our yard right now. I’m sure there will be the inevitable dead sprinkler head, but I’m making progress. (And plotting my revenge on the River God.)

Aanndd – here I am online like I planned to escape from. Might as well update my blog.

In other good news, I got as high as number 36 on the Amazon list last night. Woo Hoo! This is the top 100 free science fiction books.

Wild Concept is free for a few more days. I always thought this story would resonate with the comic book crowd. Marvel has conquered television and the movies, and the timing feels right. I even got a comic book artist to make my cover. I’d like to break through to the comic crowd. If you know any fans or casual readers of comics, please tell them about my free promotion. Maybe together we can crack the top ten.

I hate self promotion, but here it is: I’m asking you to tell people about my give away.

Some very generous people have promised reviews. I hope they like it, and I earned good reviews. One reader already let me know she’s finished about a third of the book and is enjoying it.

Panama is also available on Amazon. My give away might have stomped its release, but I’m looking at things from a long term perspective. Those who like Wild Concept might give Panama a chance too. No robots, no frogs (inside joke for those who read Wild Concept), just a fun romp through the paranormal side of life. Deadly snakes, bugs, torrential downpour, witchcraft, revolution, explosions, demons: what’s not to like? Fun for the whole family, right?

Since last night imploded, I got to watch Shield. Director Colson has a nice ring to it. I hope this will influence the movies as well. He and May had some awesome scenes last night. May is always amazing, but Colson has fewer and bigger moments. Can’t wait for what they have planned in the Fall.

* Not my wife’s actual name.