Things to do in longmont when you're frozen...

Not much to report on the writing front today, I've done a bit more rewriting of a weak scene, and I've done a fair amount of backgrounding, such as the last couple of posts. All that background stuff is buried deep in my head, and writing it has done a lot towards helping me recraft the storyline of Imperfect Hope. I don't expect to do much writing over the next couple of weeks, though...

Holiday air traffic seems to be down from last year, with the economy the way it is, I'm not suprised. We've 5 fewer controllers in the area than last year, though (out of 53 last january, down to 48), so we're doing more. I've been grateful that the weather has been reasonably mellow so far, other than the record setting cold over the weekend.

I finally ordered the Turntable-to-digital recordplayer and the slide-to digital reader for my computer at home to start archiving all of my dad's slides, photo's, and rather extensive jazz and other record collection. I've put aside an external hard drive with 500gb space to it up on, and I plan to make cd's/dvd's as I go along to share with the family. I'm not sure where I'll start, the record collection starts in the 1940's, perhaps earlier, and the slides... whooo. Probably more than a few embarrassing shots of your's truly when I was way to little to care about the camera pointed my way. (As well as other members of the family who shall remain nameless so long as they promise regular "protection" payments to keep the pics out of the hands of his triplets... (Evil Grin). Seriously, I do intend to share some shots, in some cases I'll be seeking help in identifying places and/or people (though I don't expect Art to recognize my Aunt Whoosit) The music, who knows... If I can make the music player on the web page work seamlessly, I might upload the tune of the week... If nothing else, it'll give me something else to write about.

Anyway, drop me a line to encourage me or harangue me, or even to just say hello from the long-long ago's, either thru comment or email.

Clear skies,
Jim

More of D'oril's inner workings

Working on Imperfect Hope has required me to look at the motivations of the antagonists with a critical eye. One way I'd done that was to detail the what/why/how/when/where of the plan. In IH's case, I needed to know why the empire was changing their tactics, in the earlier era (Sha'te Valley and IFGS times) they were driving straight at their foe in order to obtain...
The what. I hadn't detailed the reason for the Empire's aggression in Sha'te very well, I'd sufficed it to say that they wanted something in the south, and the K'tath were in the way. For writing, though, I"ve come up with a bit of a deeper reason. Wintergems... Once common in the empires lands, they were used and abused in creating control collars for dragons and demons (among other shadowy uses. The proble being, that using them in that way kills the Heart-Pine from which wintergems come. With their own supply all but gone, they found a new source, within the forests of D'oril.

In other words, the empire's aggression is a war for oil. Sort of. Anyway, one way I developed this plot line was to write the empire's history. Here's a blurb from the rough history of the empire of tallux.....

(Excerpts from History of Tallux, 2nd to 3rd empires, Gurn and Prable dynasties)

.....The series of military catastrophes that began with the debacle at the Battle of Five Passes (called Sha’te Valley by those of the eastern continent) weakened the last of the Gurn emperors. Gurn the XIVth had long relied on the competence of his generals, and following the assassinations and betrayals of his best commanders sent to conquer the wilds of D’oril while bolstering their ally, the Dar theocracy, he assumed direct command of the campaign. This proved to be his undoing, for Gurn’s control over the Demonguard, and specifically their commander Beauty became tenuous at best. The shadowgems that allowed his domination of the demonguard from afar lost their potency, and eventually failed entirely. As we later determined, Beauty eventually slipped his masters leash, dooming any further military progress in the D’oril region. All military units were ordered to return as best they could. This retreat, as well as the failure of the demonguard to maintain an actionable rearguard allowed the assassins of the northern alliance the time they needed to slip into the empire’s heart. Many of emperor Gurn’s most trusted advisors then fell to the assassins, and the replacements he chose were at best unreliable. When Beauty himself returned to the homeland with the remnants of what he now considered his own army, the changeling allied himself with the traitor Jun. The ensuing civil war lasted only 11 months, but exacerbated by the relentless attack on the empires leadership by the k’tath assassins and their allies, the fall of the Gurn dynasty became inevitable. Though the rebellion was crushed, it was nearly 30 years before an effective emperor emerged from the crowd of pretenders to take the reins of the empire of Tallux.....

.....Prable the First was vastly different from the dozen false emperors that preceded him during the time of chaos, and nearly the opposite of Gurn the 14th. He’d been educated in the temples of Seta, and throughout his long reign, he relied upon them almost exclusively for advice. It has been said that he was the first (and perhaps the only) emperor who essentially was advised directly by the demi-god himself, for he always chose the high priest of the temple as his closest advisor.

Prable’s first tasks, of course, involved pacifying the outlying regions on the western continent that remained in rebellion. The campaigns showed his prowess, both as a military strategist, ruthless foe, and diplomat. Many of the rebellious lands returned to the empire voluntarily, often following the untimely death of several of the more prominent leaders who had espoused their tentative independence. The success of his navy in suppressing the coastal raiders that sprang up during the chaos times marked the end of the rebellion, but before he could turn his attention outward, he fell ill, and died shortly thereafter.

His eldest son, Zuli (known as Prable the second) also relied heavily on the divine advice of the priests of Seta, but his adaptation of that advice was often flawed. In his early bid to gain access to the wintergems of D’oril, he plotted the course of both naval, clandestine, and diplomatic campaigns. These moves were designed to gain a foothold along the shores of the northwestern shores of the confederacy that had arisen from the loose conglomeration of merchant princes and Baronrys in the interior of the eastern continent. Zuli hoped to avoid the costly war against the k’tath that brought the fall of the Gurn dynasty by employing some complicated subterfuge within the fledgling confederacy in order to gain control of one of several ports along the rugged coast. Any one of these ports would have given Tallux a much more direct route to the forests of D’oril where the wintergems were found. However, circumstances spun wildly out of his control early in the campaign, and it became clear that Zuli’s prowess in both strategy and diplomacy would never matched his father.....

The workings of D'oril, pt 1

So I’ve bloviated on magic and healing over the last week or so, explaining in a small way how things work. There’s a lot more involved, of course, especially the ‘color’ involved in how healing works (Randir’s healing style, for example, is more than just ‘laying on the hands’) but I’ll go into that at a later date. Art recently reminded me/asked a question about ‘cha, cha’kel, and indirectly, il’cha status. So, here goes...

Back in the ifgs days, when Brandis’ character depth was fairly limited, I tossed out the stereotype statement “Elf Friend” and applied it to a couple of characters who were either close friends of his, or could be considered such in their involvement with the k’tath in the d’oril games. Early on, I was pretty vague about the differences between “elf” and K’tath, and in a spur of the moment, pirated ‘elf friend’ straight from tolkeinish literature.

Later, as I began developing my own background and depth, the K’tath became more distinct from “elf” in many ways. At first, it was cultural, I borrowed somewhat from CJ Cherryh and her Kesrith/Kutath/Shonjir (Faded Sun) series of sci/fi, specifically the three castes of the Mri culture. Though I kept the words at first, as I developed more and more depth, I diverged the cultural divisions very differently from the Faded Sun trilogy and Mri. The last remnant of that appeared briefly in Sha’te Valley, where I had the kath (now called krath) veiled in the manner of the Mri. However, the desert-born mri costuming has no similarity to the taiga residing K’tath, so I’ve dropped even that last similarity. Now, the K’tath are mine fully...

From there, I began altering most other elements, trying to create a unique character. When I came to “elf friend”, I wanted to keep the concept, that there would be a very few human and other-raced individuals who the k’tath would accept as close allies and friends, but I wanted it to have a deeper meaning. In addition, I began to see the kel groups as a core of the success of the k’tath in war, because of their incredible teamwork within a fighting unit, unparalleled in humanish culture. Thus Kel brothers and sisters, originally merely a convenient grouping and naming convention, became an almost psychically bonded group of warriors. But even within that group, there would be even tighter bonds. Thus, Cha’kel, a pair of compatible kel warriors, usually of opposite sex, who formed a synergetic, empathic bond between them that enhanced their, and the kel’s abilities.

I later used ‘cha, appended to a name, in the ifgs when Brandis first referred to Cerredwyn (A human amazon character) as Cerredwyn’cha after Shatterman Pass. In that game, then two of them had lived (and essentially died) through a series of emotionally traumatic events. Cerredwyn and Brandis had been taken unconscious by some Jepali tribesmen, and then used as hostages in an attempt to get the commander of the pass fortress to open the gates. They were healed to bare consciousness by the jepali and displayed in front of the gate of the fortress, but the jepali made the mistake of letting the two of them see each other, With unspoken understanding (mirroring the empathic link of cha’kel) of the situation, they both thrust their throats against the knives held against them, in an effort to remove the ‘live hostage’ leverage that the jepali held against the fortress defenders. (Never mind that the defenders then sallied from the gates to recover Brandis’ and Cerredwyn’s dying bodies). I chose to apply ‘cha after the momentous/miraculous healing that they received afterwards, (and as fate/ifgs would have it, the two characters spent the next two years surviving a series of dark no-co minigames, thus cementing the ‘cha name in their character histories.)

When I began transitioning from IFGS mind set to author mindset, I worked on reconciling the differences in these and many other areas. Cha’kel held a different meaning than Cerredwyn’cha, or Brandis’cha, Elf friend was implied, but unnamed. And I still needed another level of bond. Elf friend would remain un-renamed for now, but for the new level, I created Il’cha. Il’cha was something much deeper, stronger than Cha’kel, or (name)’cha, and I added a level of tragedy to it, in essence it was a spiritual bond that, at least as far as the kel were concerned, sometimes went too far. Two ‘lovers’ or partners, too deeply involved with each other, such that in the fatalistic K’tath Kel world, sooner or later, one of them would die, and the other would suffer greatly as a result, disrupting the harmony of the kel group. Il’cha bond pairs thus became stuff of kel tragic legend, something admired, and feared at the same time.

Needless to say, this complexity, though clear within my own notes, isn’t easy to immediately explain in writing. In Imperfect Hope, Cerryn and Randir have progressed to ‘cha status, but because the tale begins well after the characters had first met, I’ve little chance to “show” rather than tell. If I do a prequel (which is looking like a good idea anyway), I can do just that, but if IH is to stand alone, ‘cha, Il’cha, and cha’kel (plus ‘elf friend’) will have to be explained, or shown in some manner. It’s something to work on.....

At any rate... Looking into the bitty details of what I'm writing about has helped strengthen the continuity of what I've written, and I"m planning to do a lot more. For one, there's the whole history between the K'tath and the Empire of D'oril Why is the empire so insistant on fighting them... More to come...

TTFN,
Jim

More stuff

One aspect of the tale I’m working on, (and probably most of the stories I write) involves magic. Since magic can be whatever you want, there is a tendency for many authors to just “whip that rabbit out of the hat” when it’s needed. Bad technique. I’ve put a lot of thought into how magic works in D’oril. At first, I just sort of appended the IFGS system, without much consideration as to how it would fit. In truth, it’s a handy template, a familiar starting point. I’m not a big fan of “character classes” in fiction though, it reeks of writing about role playing games.

So classes, per se, are the first thing to go out the window. Instead, the main characters have some things they’re really good at (Cerryn and the 5 forms of sword dance she’s mastered), and some things they’re not at all able to do. (Cerryn and defensive magic) Not unlike real life, (me and keeping planes from meeting unexpectedly, probably a form of defensive magic, or me and getting a clue in social situations)

Once classes are out, I started looking at how magic is made. I”m still working on the details, but I’ve pretty much decided that there are a few forms of magic, such as elemental magics, natural magics, spiritual magic, mental magic, and innate magic. (There are a few others I’m still deciding if they’re independent forms, or sub forms) Within each form, there are likely some crossover effects (for example, elemental magic fire, and spiritual magic fire, though coming from different sources, may sometimes appear the same). Forms are differentiated by source, ritual (how the form is summoned) and side effects. Within this framework, I”ll be able to let characters develop who aren’t omnipotent, who are believable.

For example, Randir is a k’tath questor (known as a companion of Elorna during Brandis’ time). Magically, he’s somewhere between a cleric and a ranger (using some rather broad IFGS categories). He’s a skilled healer, which comes from a spiritual source, has some empath abilities (mental forms), and knows some basic natural magics. Since the story revolves around his spiritual side, naturally that aspect has been fleshed out the most so far...

That brings up the question, how does healing work. In my world, true healers are very rare, but there are more who have basic skills that would equate to modern day field medic abilities. The “medics” would use a mix of basic first aid with some limited empathy to detect and eliminate corruptions in wounds (infections). They can set bones, and with their empathic skills, ease pain a little. The next level up, “surgeons”, would share many basic skills with your basic general practitioner. Healers, full blown miracle workers, could conceivably do anything, but... There’s the consequences issue. Massive healing takes both massive energy (either from the healer, or the healers supporters) and has physical, mental, and spiritual repercussions to the healer. Thus, Randir can bring someone back from the brink of death, but... He’ll be unconscious, or near death himself, and more. The more is where a twist in the story begins...

Anyway... More to come...

new week, new month...

Hey! I actually got some work done on Imperfect Hope. Not much, 1k words or so, and some rewriting of a couple of scenes in chapter 2, but it’s work, the first of a long time. I’m sure more will be coming. I did reread everything I’d done so far, noticed a general pattern that a couple of the early scenes were pretty bland, but the last couple I’d been working on before “summer vacation” were, if I may pat myself on the back, pretty on target. I think one reason is that the early sections in question were setting up character and scene, and the latter scenes revolved around some important action, even while it set firmly some aspects of the main characters. I’ll see how it goes from here, see if I can keep up the intensity.

I touched on a bit of Cerryn’s early life in my last posting, and it’s something I’ve been mulling over. In the character sketch I wrote way back last winter, I included the basic details of her early life, how as one of the youngest daughters of a keep holder in the coastal reaches of the confederacy, she faced a probable arranged marriage to cement political alliances, with no real hope of anything approaching today’s standard of happiness. It all changed when she was one of the two children selected that year by the Valnar monastery for training as a questor. I think that stage of her life would actually make a pretty good story in itself, especially after digging around in the dirt to see what makes the grown up Cerryn tick. I’ll see where I fit that in my ferocious writing schedule... ;-)

On the less than happy side, The summer of stress has piled on the physical side-effects. According to Dr. Faini, besides the weight climbing again (despite the weekly personal trainer sessions), my cholesterol is climbing again (though not in the bad area, yet). I’m reminding myself what I need to do, diet wise (“Portion control, man, and put down that loaf of french bread!!!. Oh, and more oatmeal for you...) and exercise wise (once a week doesn’t cut it,) so I”ve asked my trainer to prepare “homework” for me. I’m pretty sure I saw her rubbing her hands together in glee after I asked her...

Writing practice at last?

I wish I understood what it is that motivates me to write. I've felt dead in the water for months now, and all of a sudden, these last couple of weeks, it's alive again. Maybe it was a form of depression, maybe somebody stole my mojo ;-), or perhaps my muse has returned. At any rate, I'm getting back on the ball...


I"ve been digging back into Imperfect hope, working on redepthing (there's a new word) the main characters. Though I'd done a rather detailed character history for both, I felt like there's something missing, hence the 'redepth'. Besides just adding some details, I've decided to spark my interest again with writing some bits and blurbs from their pasts as writing practice. So here goes, a little bit from Cerryn's life, well before she became a questor of Valnor...



Cerryn peeked out from behind the heavy tapestry, trying to remain inconspicuous as she watched the visitor. It wasn't difficult, she and her older brothers and sisters had found dozens of hiding places throughout the keep, and this was one of her favorites. From here, she could listen in on the courtly activities, though most times she understood little of what the grown-ups spoke of. Usually her older siblings would be discovered, either too fidgety or noisy, often they just grew bored and would run off after each other to play or study. Cerryn would keep quiet and listen for much longer than any of them.


From her secret vantage point, the young redheadwas able to listen intently as her mother and father spoke with the stranger. He was short, his hair was cut severly, with a clean shaven face. From where she hid, she could barely hear any of them speaking in their hushed tones, something rarely done withing the great hall. Cerryn knew that her father held an important position within the western confederacy, and that many came to him for advice on all sorts of matters. The great hall was rarely empty of observers, if there was business that needed to be kept quiet, they would meet in the library upstairs. This meeting, and in fact, this visitor seemed different. Both her father and mother seemed unusually deferential. It was especially odd considering the plain attire of the stranger, simple homespun breeches and tunic more fitting to a weary traveler than one meeting with one of the confederacy's councilmen.

"Cerryn, come here and meet the abbot-questor" called her mother. For a moment, she wondered how her mom knew she was there, and for a few seconds, the red haired youngster tried to stay very still behind the tapestry. When Cerryn peeked out again, she saw all three adults were looking her way. She grimaced, wondering if she were in trouble, and stepped out from behind the wall hanging that depicted the hills that overlooked their ancestral lands. Then, she recognized what her mother had called the stranger, abbot-questor. There would be only one reason the abbot-questor would be visiting the keep. Her heart leapt with hope, even as she kept her face calm. Her feet betrayed her excitement though, and the 6 year old almost ran to meet the legendary sword master of the Valnorian questors...

New Stuff

I've rearranged a few items, including bringing the sunset of the day up to the left column, moved the quote of the day to the left, and added a reaction poll for each posting. The reaction poll will give me a snapshot on what I wrote about, and whether I should work more on it. I also added another poll, this one to gauge the interest in what I should write about in the future. Help me build interest.....

I've also added an opportunity to become a follower of my blog. I think this requires you to register with blogspot, though honestly, you can use any alias you want. One advantage is that you can get an email when I've updated the blog, post a picture of you (or your favorite mushroom) and follow other blogs from a dashboard when you log it. I'll be exploring it a bit myself to determine if it'll be useful or merely fluff.

Speaking of fluff, (nice segue, even if fluff has nothing to do with the rest of this note). Art raised some more questions about my timeline for Imperfect Hope, compared to the Brandis and the companions of Elorna era. I sat down and started charting out "THE BIG PICTURE", a time line from the earliest K'tath history, to beyond the time of IH. No year spacing yet, I'm just putting things into a perspective. I'm doing this so I can better understand how much the past (in my many notes about D'oril) can and should influence the stories. I'm rather excited by the ideas that have popped in my puny brain these last few days as a result of those questions...

One final note, my statcounter gadget tells of an average of 10 visits a day to Tales from Doril, about half are regular visitors. I know who a couple of you are, you've left comments, and I'm really curious who else is visiting, and why. Please leave a comment, introduce yourself (an alias will suffice if you prefer) and feel free to join in. Off topic comments are welcome (for now, but if it gets offensive, I'll edit/delete as I see fit), if there's enough commentary, I'll start a weekly "Open Commentary" thread for discussions. Help make this place fascinating...

More to come...
Clear skies,
Jim

Brandis and Merlissa

First of all, mundania... It's Over... Now, maybe we can start to heal and get along???

Writing is coming back. Maybe it's because winter is coming, and D'oril is in the north...

I think everyone who has been reading my blog knows Brandis, in one form or another. I've been doing some writing practice, and one way I"m stretching my brain before getting back to Imperfect hope is to Remember, Rewrite, and Revise stuff I'd done in the past. Character histories are something I have always practiced. That dredged up a bunch of memories, some of which involved how Brandis' character history has evolved over the years.

In the beginning, (gah, I actually used it. Somebody shoot me) his history was pretty simplistic. Something on the order of "He's from the north, and all of his people were killed in a horrible attack". Later on, I added more details, explaining why he came south, what happened, who the k'tath were, and who the bad guys (anyone remember the "Black Axe Dwarves", the original B.A.D. guys???)

Later, as I started working on writing the first games that took place in D'oril, I amended the simple to a bit more complex, "Brandis thinks he's the last of his kind, but in truth, he came south because of Elorna's need". Suddenly, Brandis was no longer a refugee, rather he's now an emissary, though he doesn't know it yet, due to some machination of the goddess that he's not privy to.

Then there was Merlissa. About this time, I was reading a lot of MZB (Marion ZImmer Bradley), which often contained an edge of romance novels. When one of the D'oril games ran, my game aides added a bit of content intended for Brandis' history, (with my permission, albeit unknowing of the details) that smacked of the classic MZB romance. Merlissa, a tentative non-player character, later to become a PC) was wondering where Brandis was, pissed that he'd disappeared, leaving no word, and no clue from Elorna, except a sense of "He's alive, I know it, I'd feel it if he were gone". In the process of feeding information to the players of the mini-game, I was playing Brandis as an NPC, who'd returned to D'oril for some unremembered reason, and had fallen into the wrong hands. The end of the minigame provided the reunion, a classic high tension moment of complicated emotions for the NPC's.

After that, I revised and reworked Brandis history many times, usually adding more detail, occasionally changing something to fit the growing D'oril universe more smoothly. I never revisited the Merlissa story line, in part because the once NPC became a PC, and it wasn't in my rights to rework that part of the storyline. I considered "cloning" the character for my own purposes, but chose instead to stay away from the issue. Instead, I wrote him off in another direction, he faced another exile from D'oril. This one was explained by a short story I wrote about how Elorna intervened directly in a Shadowlord Plot, saving him from the hands of Beauty and the Empire, but in doing so forcing her to pull her hero from D'oril because she'd upset the balance.

Brandis became the center of several short stories, all incomplete writing practices that revolved around his adventures in many other lands outside the IFGS. He played in many IFGS games as well, his character darkening as he spent more and more time away from home. The crux came after a series of very dark mini's that he played in, most of them with Cerredwyn on his team. In them, Brandis and Cerredwyn became close friends, in some ways a substitute for Merlissa, but one that didn't touch on the intimate side of that relationship. Instead, his soul became exhausted by the constant war, this gave me the excuse to withdraw from playing him for several years (actually due to the pressures of being an Air Traffic Controller). In my writings, he found some spirit healing from a k'tath healer sent to help him, though he was still unable to return home.

I wrote about other topics for a while, and played Brandis in a few other games at Ray Michel's request, playing him still as an exile, becoming somewhat of a tragic figure. His mood deepened the more he spent away from home, while I sought through writing a way to finish his story that began as a character history. At one point, I outlined a series of D'oril games that could do just that, but FAA time pressures never allowed me to go beyond that stage.

I've recently gone back to the history, considering what I might do with the saga. Since I'm writing Imperfect Hope in the D"oril universe, Brandis can and should be a part of that, but I've going to place him in a different time frame from IH, probably a few dozen years earlier. The lands of the Seven Tribes, in which the IFGS games take place, have changed to the Confederation, at least in the present. Brandis' saga would detail the re-contact between the k'tath and the people of the south. But what ever happened to him. Did he ever get home? Did Merlissa ever find him again? Should I drop hints about the past, little easter eggs that, should someday I get published, fans (yeah, right) would argue over the meaning of online and at cons.

In the meantime, I"m going to keep practicing. Brandis' history is, at last count, some 40 pages of story and scenerio and random notes, maybe my next project will organize that. More to come later.....

Clear skies,
Jim

Nothing to write about???

Argghh. 11 more days of political insanity. Then, I'm sure, the real finger pointing begins. I wish I could join the crowd of folk who love to comment ad nauseum on the campain, but the 'nauseum' hits me pretty hard. Guess I just hate conflict, there's that old INFP thing again (read up on that in the personality testing label).

Started watching a new tv series last week, "Life on Mars". It's a combination sci/fi crime drama show. Sci Fi because a 2008 era police detective finds himself transported back to the 70's, where he's apparently a new detective in an old school police department. The comparison between today and 30+ years ago is, at least in the one episode I've enjoyed, "Heavy, Man". I have to admit, I enjoy the look back at the 70's as well. Nostalgia is just another word for aging.....

Another show I've really come to enjoy is "Eli Stone". If you haven't watched it, do yourself a favor and track down last years episodes and catch up, the backstory is important, although you will enjoy just jumping in almost as well. (Perhaps there's a web page that will fill you in on the whoosits...). There's a lot of deep moral meanings in the program, which revolves around a high powered attorney who develops a brain aneurism that could kill him at any moment. Along with the aneurism, he gets visions, full blown participatory musical song and dance numbers that are so real to him that he's almost always drawn into joining in on the dancing, much to the consternation of the high muckety mucks of his law firm who have no idea why Eli has suddenly jumped on top of a conference table and started singing. The visions lead him to taking cases that, in the typical money driven judicial system, aren't likely to be big money winners, but have a strong moral and ethical value. At first, he resisted his visions, but more and more, he's coming to trust them. Good storylines, continuing character development, and just enough humor. Seeing George Michael singing "You gotta have faith" in one of the early shows, with attorneys and law clerks dancing around the extremely puzzled Eli Stone, corporate attorney, is a winner...

Looks like I had something to write about after all.....

More to come,
Jim

Blah

With any real luck, I"ve had my fall bug. Last wednesday, at work, I felt a tickle in the throat, by shift end, I was sneezing like I'd just emptied a vacuum cleaner bag. By midnight, I was full blown sick. The next 5 days was typical "not the flu but feels just like it". What amazed me was how quickly it came on, usually I feel out of it for a day or two, then it comes on steadily. This one surprised both Irma and I. She said I went from looking normal, to looking really bad, in merely a couple of hours.

It has been going around work, my supervisor actually thanked me for not coming in thursday, too many of us feel the need to grind through it and work sick, especially with our standard short staffing, but that just spreads it around faster. Or maybe it just gets us all over it so we can face the rest of the season ready... Hah.....

I"m sure most of you know that I dislike the ugliness of politics. It's a necessary evil, I guess, I just wish we could do it without the venomous hatred that's coming out every 2 years now. Humor, on the other hand, even satirical, is less painful. A while back, I ran across a funny, well made, poke fun at everyone web cartoon/song. Give it a listen at... http://www.jibjab.com/originals/time_for_some_campaignin

Getting away from politics, work, and without even thinking about the economy (yeesh, I feel like someone just lifted a black cloud from about my head), I'm mapping out my next phase of writing. I'm going to finish the first draft of Imperfect Hope, and I'll poke through some other writing ideas that have cropped up lately. I keep saying there'll be more later. Really.

TTFN,
Jim

New stuff

Hey all...

I've added some new, semi-permament content, some gadgets scattered about the page, there's a pic of the day slot at the bottom, as well as some other stuff. Feel free to comment on them, I plan on swapping the unpopular things out on occasion. I'm also considering reducing the space alloted to posts so the stuff on the bottom of the page doesn't get forgotten. Or I can just remind everyone to scroll down to see daily content. Or move that stuff up??? Comments? More to come soon.....

I'm back. Really... Is anybody still there???

Well, after disappearing for more than a month, I"m back. A lot happened, travelled back east to Virginia for 2 weeks to help take care of my second youngest, and work was Work. I've had more adventures in Handymanland, this time involving basement water and drywall repair, and I think I've gotten the whole writing thing figured out. (Okay, maybe not the last...)

On the subject of writing... Imperfect hope still hold my primary attention, though I've not done any work on it for most of the summer. No changes to the major storyline, which I suppose is good news, considering I usually change everything when I come back to a project like this. I'll post more on writing later as I get more into the rhythm of it...

I've always felt that blogging should be more than an open diary of what's happening this week, and as I've looked back on the last few posts, I've realized that that is exactly what I've been doing. It's a factor of my mindset of the moment. Instead, I'd prefer blogging to be an expression of creative exercise. Pick something in my brain and run with it. Preferably scissors, point up. Figuratively. So.....

You can't escape politics right now, every other ad on tv is something attacking somone else over their position. I dislike politics. Or at least, the hatred that comes with todays version of it. Express an opinion at work that someone else disagrees with, and you get a five minute diatribe on how stupid you are for believing that. Dare to offer a counterpoint to someone elses view, and the venom that follows is beyond belief.

Part of my problem is that i'm a member of the most hated group of people, the (whisper it...) Moderates. I don't buy lock stock and barrel the arguments of either party, and that pisses them off. Just because I believe in strong national security doesn't mean I want to gut the educational system, just because I'm pro-education doesn't mean I advocate free government care for life for everyone (except those who make more than a nationally decided upon threshhold of success). Energy policy, Social Issues, so on. Mine is a pathway of deliberate, reasoned choices, rather than blind adherance to party line.

I was very disappointed in the tone of what has been coming out of both campaigns. But it's typical, I guess. There's not much I can do about it. Or is there... I have to admit that I tend to bury my head under a rock when the mud starts slinging, maybe I need to throw a few rocks myself at the mudslingers. Wonder it that'd do any good.....

Anyway, next post will be about fun. Anything but politics. I hope.....

TTFN,
Jim

Now what...

Well, it seems that the summer of new crises is coming to a close. Or at least, so it seems. Things are returning to a more normal (as if anything is ever 'normal' around me) state here in colorado, between family health and issues and such. We have had to change our vacation plans, whereas we had planned to go to mexico to visit the ranchito, check up on our horses and visit my brother in law and new nephew, now we're probably going to fly out to visit Irma's dad in LA. For once, it's not going to be an emeregency someone's sick or worse visit, and that's the main reason we're doing it, Senor Antonio is doing well in his apartment, and has asked Irma a couple of times "When are you coming to see me). We're actually thinking of driving, mostly so we can set our own pace getting there...

With the abatement of serious chaos, I'm getting back to practicing writing, and champing at the bit to get back to Imperfect hope. I'm holding off, though, I want to rethink a plot line. In the meantime, I'm warming up with description practice and outlining a short story that I may work on in between Imperfect Hope segments. More on that later as I get a better handle on what my overactive imagination is up to.....

Work is still insane. Work is still grinding me down. Work is... I guess that's why it's called work.

Anyway... Life update complete. When I next write (later this week, I promise myself), I'll be creative.

For now, keep those cards and letters coming.....

TTFN,
Jim

Progress?

Okay. Writing hasn't been high on my list of priorities these last couple of months. I'm still writing, though. Perhaps a break was needed, perhaps I just let stress get ahead of me. At any rate, I'm getting back to Imperfect Hope. I promise. (hear that, Jim? You promised it!)

Where do I restart? I'd stopped at a natural break point way back when, protagonists having dealt with their first crisis and were beginning a recovery, but... Soon the deadlier problem will reveal itself. I shouldn't have too many problems getting my writing back up to speed, but... Starting can take on a life of it's own. So I'm rereading what I've done so far, without (hear that, Inner Critic) Without editing, the goal being, when I catch up to where I left off, I should be "in the right mindset".

In the meantime, real life goes on. May have to drive out to Salt Lake in a couple of weeks to pick up Omar's (Irma's brother) kids to spend a few weeks with us, their mom is still in a hospital and facing long rehab after her brain surgery. Omar's been hanging in there, but it can't be easy, splitting his time between work on the ranch, nights at the hospital with his wife, and trying to take care of the kids. The kids are looking forward to a vacation... Lets hope Irma and I are up to the challenge.

Anyway... Back to the grind...

Clear skies,
Jim

Woodpeckers and Trainees

We've always had woodpeckers in our neighborhood. Many mornings I've awakened to the machinelike pounding on ours, or our neighbors homes. Most mornings I smile, for whatever reason I like woodpeckers, I suppose they're not doing that much damage to the house, and after all, they're really just marking their territory. Or to put it another way, trying to attract a mate. Something about pounding your head against a block of wood in order to attract a mate strikes a chord with me. I'm just sayin.....

Speaking of pounding your head against a block of wood... For years, we've had a developing shortage of controllers nationwide, national management kept assuring us that "trainees were in the pipeline, don't worry." Well, they're here. 15 trainees, brand spanking new out of the academy at Oklahoma City. Most of them have gotten two years of associate degree work from one of the aviation related universities before going to the academy. 15 trainees. Wow.

Guess what our training department has them doing. Sitting in the control room, taking turns watching 2 or 3 printers spit out strips. (Flight plan and informational). What do they do? Look at the strips, and decide if they need to be delivered to controllers. Maybe one in twenty has any pertinence, the rest get tossed. Keep in mind, that before the arrival of the trainees, a supervisor would wander by the printer every 15 minutes or so and check for usefullness. Now, a trainee (with 2 years college, and 4 months academy screen and training) sits... Rat-a-tat-a-tat......

It used to be that flight data (the position he's filling now) had a purpose, we used to process flight plans manually on occasion, relay flight information to surrounding facilities, and actually do things that made sense. I spent a year on printers, and in doing so I learned the area in and out. HOwever, we've gone digital in almost all ways flight data, so the human touch is taken out. Nothing to pass, no flightplans to copy, coordination to complete, nothing. nada. Sit and watch the printer..... Rat-a-tat-a-tat.....

Why??? Because the training department hadn't foreseen the arrival of trainees. They've got other training programs that just can't be postponed, so the trainees, rather than get denver center specific instruction and training that would get them on the track to start being useful in 3 or 4 years, sit and watch and wait for the phase 3 training class to start in 9 months. Rat-a-tat-a-tat.....

So yesterday I had to provide training to one of our new future controllers. He's bright, young, enthusiastic. He's had 2 years college in minnesota, and passed the academy ready to jump in. And I got to explain to him what it was that our managers and instructors want him to do for the next 9 months. I watched the hope drain out of his eyes, watched the despair fill them. I tried to find useful things for him to do for the next 9 months, practice on URET (digital flight plan information) so he'll be fluent in it's use when he actually starts training, suggested he spend as much time as possible observing controllers at work. I hope the training department wakes up and moves their class date up, though... Boredom leads to attrition.....

Anyway..... Rat-a-tat-a-tat.....

Clear skies,
Jim

Tornadoes and stuff

If you've read or seen the news lately, you've likely heard about the several tornadoes that struck northeastern colorado today. Most of them, including the most destructive one, were several to a few dozen miles northeast of us here, but one was spotted south of town. It lead to a challenging day.

First, the ludicrous. The tornado closest to longmont was spotted right around noon, and sirens went off town wide. I suspect many people around town were puzzled, many knew what was going on, and many just missed it entirely. Here at denver center, though, you would think that people who work on a daily basis with constant awareness of the weather and it's impact would understand. However, when the P.A. announcement went off telling all non essential personnel to proceed to the basement, and controllers to the control room (which is, I suppose, being in the center of the building and away from windows is a safe as one can be on the ground floor), what do a sizeable majority of staffers, managers, and other non-essentials do? Head for the windows or outside to LOOK FOR THE TORNADO!. Gah!!!!!

Anyway, the tornado sighting was just the mid point of a long and difficult day. Weather started building around 930 am, which is unusual. By 1100 am, there were lines of thunderstorms across eastern colorado, western nebraska and kansas forming up, much like the slats of venetian blinds. Thus far, aircraft could make there way through, but as the weather began filling in, the planes had to deviate further and further off course to get around it.

TMU, traffic management unit, tried to keep up. Once again, they seemed to be about an hour behind the real weather situation. As a result, they had sectors west of denver aiming aircraft at holes in the line of weather that had already closed. Nothing like a 120 degree about face and 100 mile detour to eat up gas.....

By early afternoon, the line had closed up, and nothing was getting through... Except tmu kept trying pathfinders, who would fly 100 miles east of denver, then head 125 miles north or south to find a way round. Oh well. (I'm sensing a pattern, and it's not just my cynical attitude)

Anyway... We got through it. Afterward, we began getting the reports on the damage in Platteville and points north. It wasn't pretty. Guess we had it pretty easy after all.....

Getting my writing back in swing, though I mostly have just done some exercises trying to get my rhythm back. Blurbs will follow soon. I promise.

Keep those cards and letters and comments coming....

Clear skies,
Jim

May showers and such

May. Writing wise, I still haven't gotten back into the rhythm I had up to march, though I have actually done some rewriting. Word count is still about the same, and to be honest, I'm paying no attention to the deadline right now, I just don't need any new pressures. The inner critic has been happy though, he got to dump another entire scene and rework it, it came out tighter and much more relavent.

Why did I let him out? The scene in question seemed very weak, and it's content will directly impact future scenes and chapters, so I felt that I had to rework it in order to keep my continuity going once I do charge back in. It feels better, so I"m happy with the IC's work.....

I"ve started rereading some older novels in my library, still haven't found any of my old darkover books, might still try the library. Anyone have any suggestions for new writers I might find enjoyable?

I mentioned pressure. The fact is, sometimes life gets dirty. I've had to focus full time on work challenges (o/t is going to be a fact of life very soon, with our staffing shortages reaching a critical level.) YOu know it's bad when your Traffic Management Unit puts out a restriction on surrounding centers, not because of bad weather, but because an area is understaffed and can't handle normal traffic. Guess the airlines are going to start putting pressure on FAA management to DO SOMETHING FAST. Like they didn't have 10+ years warning that the retirements were going to peak in the next two years.....

Besides work, it's spring yard fix up time. ANother round of handymanitis had me digging up some cracked irrigation pipes in the front yard, stuff the original house builders really didn't do a good job on. Front yard is mostly dont and ready to go, I've a pair of sprinkler heads in the back to repair (One got whacked by the turf-aerator guys, despite the yellow flag marking it). Thankfully, we've had rain (and snow) the last couple of weeks, so I"ve not had to rush the repair jobs.

Oh. New Truck. Vaquera, my 9 1/2 year old ford ranger, has been replaced by a brand new nissan Frontier club cab. I"m still contemplating the name.....

Anyway, more to come soon. Drop me a line and say hello.....

Clear skies,
Jim

News from the front

Writing continues at a slow pace, only put in 5k words last week, and that after dumping about 3k due to terminal dullness. It happened when I went through what I'd writtien som far, and realized that one scene was totally without point. I left a placeholder, in case I can think of some way of reworking the scene, but mostly, it was missing relevance to the rest of the plot. More to come.

On the non-writing front, things are back to going mostly well. Other than work and misc. crisis floating about. We did start looking for a new truck, Vaquera, the 99 ford ranger I've driven for nearly 10 years, is starting to show it's age, so we started looking around a couple of weeks ago. Because the ranger had been a very reliable truck, I looked at ford first. I was disappointed, in part at the selection of rangers that they had at the local dealership, and in part with the salesman who "helped" me.

I came on the lot with a clear idea of what I wanted to look at, a new 4wd club cab ranger, nothing too fancy, good gas mileage and trustworthy. The salesman apparently decided I needed to see something else, and took me immediately to see a used Ford F-150. Absolutely the wrong thing to do, if he doesn't even listen to my first list of 'wants', I doubt he'll do anything right from there on. I politely let him show the used ford to me, then tagged along while he pointed out the rangers that they had. Nothing like what I wanted. I haven't gone back...

Meanwhile, both Nissan and Toyota have treated me well. Nissan's Frontier and Toyota's Tacoma are neck and neck, but Toyota seems to be a bit higher end. Or, to put it another way, Nissan is more economically priced. Since I'm not looking for a massive off road toy or powerwagon or whatever, I'm leaning toward Nissan, assuming I can find the features that I want. So far, none of the salesmen have tried to show me used alternatives..... ;-)

Gardening time is near, so I've been working (not on the railroad, but) on the sprinklers, fixing the last of the original system that the house builders put in so incompetantly. My knees may never be the same.....

More to come later, Clear skies,
Jim

Reading the past

Writing requires reading. Everybody in the writing business I've talked to, from Mercedes Lackey to Robert Asprin, tout this. I've always been a voracious reader, sometimes I've been known to go through 2 or 3 novels a week when I'm focused on that. As I"ve been writing more, I've also noticed that my tastes have become somewhat refined, in my own way, just like they've changed back and forth over the years.

I used to read a lot of hard military sf, things like Hammers Slammers. Before that, there were phases of humorous fantasy (Asprin comes to mind). I periodically pick up new releases by old favorites, Orson Scott Card, for example, keeps me entertained with a constantly changing battery of different styles.

What I've been writing with Imperfect Hope is somewhere from my long ago reading habits. I suppose it has an official name for the genre within the fantasy realm, but off the top of my head, I can't think of it. One of the prolific writers of my reading past (probably 20ish years ago) is Marion Zimmer Bradley, specifically her Darkover novels. I've come to realize that much of what I'm writing about in the d'oril realm is influenced by that styling.

MZB often set her novels in the harsh, cold climes of Darkover, I remember images of castles nearly swallowed up by massive drifts of snow much of the year, the residents hardened against the winter by their breeding and magical talents. D'oril is similar, the k'tath are quite inured by the cold of their homeland. I've also built a stable of potential heroic characters, and I've noticed that, Like MZB, many of them are female. I suspect many of them will show up in my stories.

I suppose it seems rather arrogant of me to compare my writing to Ms Bradleys, but in truth, I'm only making some very general comparisons, I know the reality is that I'm only just beginning, regardless of how much practice I'd had writing for the IFGS and fantasy gaming. But the realization of where some of my deep down inspirations have come from has reawakened my desire to dig out the darkover series and reread... Except I donated away most of my paperbacks about 10 years ago. Guess I'll dig up that library card and see what I can find.....

new month, new hope

Okay, so I took a month off from writing. I've let my deadline slip. Hey, I'm an amateur, what do you expect. Well, I don't feel too badly right now, for I did get some headachey stuff dealt with.

One isue that'd been hanging over my head for nearly a year now was the last bits and pieces of the stuff from my dad's apartment. It had been sitting in storage since may last year, every so often I'd fiddle about, trying to sort and organize, but I'd made very little progress. So this March, I made a big effort...

Furniture and some stereo equipment went to Jose. Old, mold filled refrigerator went to charity, it hadn't run since more than 5 years ago, anyway. Washer and Dryer ended up going to Betty and Gerardo (and when we took their old one out of their basement, we saw how truly old it was). What was left got moved to fill half of my garage while I began to dig through it.....

Lots of papers. Some mementos. A lot of really obsolete computer disks and software and documentation. (One item found referenced requiring a 16 color monitor!) Slides from decades ago. It took me two weeks, but I emptied it.

The slides I'm going to scan into digital format and make cd's for the family. The extensive jazz collection on LP's and 45's will be an ongoing project to record into digital as well. And geneology stuff I"ll look at eventually.

It was emotionally draining to go through so much stuff, even more so than when we emptied his apartment last year (by just boxing everything in sight). However, it's done, and I have gained a greater appreciation for the things in life that last. Those photo's, for example, include most of my brother, sister, and I, growing up through the late fifties and sixties.

Anyway, I feel like I dumped a 80 pound backpack this weekend, finishing that. Yes, there's more to do, but it's constructive stuff, not like going through boxes and deciding what to throw out, what to donate, what to keep.

Back to writing now. I did some fiddling about with ideas this week, no formal writing, but I'm ready. More to come.....

Real Life trumps part time writing

Heya's.

For those keeping track, I've not written for nearly a month, due to an avalanche of real life issues, all unrelated, hopefully once in a lifetime type crisis that I think (I hope) are winding down. Sometimes, real life overwhelms you, and I'd have been stressed even if I weren't trying to burn that candle at both ends. So, part time writing job was sidelined for four weeks. I've revised my deadline appropriately.

I hope to get back into the writing mode tonight, perhaps. We'll see how I deal with a "normal" paced day at work. I'd been short on sleep the last couple of weeks, but I think I'm caught up. Hah.

Outside of chaos, however, I'm coming up with a new distraction: 60+ degree spring weather. Who wants to sit in the office, typing when you can be outside. Ah, but then, there's the yearly ritual of getting the sprinkler system ready for the season, hauling fallen sticks and branches out of the back yard and down to the tree limb recycling center in town, and all the other springtime yard chores.

Breathe.... Balance...

I was recently reminded of a series of books I'd read way back in the early days, at my grandfathers house. Outdoor humor books by Ed Zern, probably the original curmudgeon. His titles included "How to tell a fish from a fisherman", "To hell with Hunting", and "To hell with fishing". I ran across one of his short essays a couple of days back, and remembered how much I"d laughed over his cartoons and imagery way back when. Perhaps I'll become a curmudgeonly writer....

Oh, too late, some say I already am.

Clear skies,
Jim

A postponement?

Well, I've been off line for nearly 2 weeks, and though I got some good word count in the early part of that, circumstances out of my control put me in a forced non-writing mode for the better part of a week now. Irma and I had to make an emergency trip to Salt Lake City to be with her brother, Omar, whose wife, Rosie, had surgery on a (now known to be) benign, fist sized tumor on her brain. The surgery was successful, however the 48 hours following the surgery things did not go well. Swelling and bleeding put her in critical condition, they induced a coma, and... When we arrived, she was non-responsive and it didn't look good. Prayer, family support (as others of Irma's and Rosie's family arrived from la and mexico) and patience followed, when we left 4 days later, she was showing signs of improvement, albeit slowly. She's still in a coma, but the doctors are hopeful...

So. I've decided to tack on some extra time to my deadline. I'll let you know more about it later, and if I hear any boo's out there, they'll likely be drowned out by my own, but I think it's realistic to do that. I'll update my countdown and such later.

What I did get written prior to our last minute travel seemed to be going well. At least parts of it. A crux scene mostly came together well, but the action seems weak to me (but, 1st draft, so leave it alone for now), but amazingly, some dialogues seemed to really pop for a change. Not sure what I did right, but I'm hoping I'm getting better. Or maybe the scene's dialogue just fit the story better.....

Anyway, it's back to the grind shortly, but tomorrow, Cruella DaVille, aka personal trainer, is going to kick our butts. See, we ate out in SLC, and didn't make good choices all the time. The old comfort food/stress eating thingie... If I survive, I'll give a report.

Clear skies,
Jim

There are two times when...

Writing for the week has gone well, I think. Word count will exceed 50k by the time I'm done writing tonight, I considered a small celebration, maybe an extra ration of grog for the scurvy dogs who've managed to scrape the hull of barnacles despite everything. On the other hand, maybe the captain is the one who deserves the reward, maybe a gallon of frozen strawberries. What I mean to say is that it seems to me that there's a whole crew driving this sailing ship of a novel. Captain Imagination, who comes out on deck and marvels at the weather, and waves vaguely at the horizon and says, "thataway". First Officer and chief navigators Scenery and Plotter (who figure out where the ship is going) . The B'suns mate, Discipline (who tries to keep the gang moving). And the crew, collectively named Tenacity and Fortitude. So who gets the credit for making it 1/3rd of the way (estimated, your mileage may vary)? I'll let you know, though I suspect it's the crew and the B'suns mate.

On a different subject, as long as the captains walking the poop deck, I figure it's time to smile a bit. I was watching the Red Green show the other day (a funny, home spun canadian import that has apparently run on canadian tv for about 15 years). Red, a gruff, grizzled canadian who runs the Possum Lodge (motto: When all else fails, play dead) somewhere in the great white north, was offering his take on life. He pointed out that "there are two times when you shouldn't be smiling, when you smell something bad, and when your wife isn't. (Think about it. And realize how often the two times coincide). That got my funny bone twitching. I'm sure there are other "two time" wisdoms out there, like "there are two times you shouldn't say volunteer", and "there are two times you shouldn't offer to carry a baby." So, here's the contest. Pick one of these two time lines, or make up your own, and write the punch line, stick it in comments. I promise, the winner (It's my blog, I choose) will get a prize. Something that will make you smile. Good luck. Or as Red says, "Keep your stick on the ice"...

Progress (IV)

Writing progress, part four. (Did you think I was punning on progressive? me? a political statement? Maybe, all I've got to say right now is, Moderate is not a bad word, despite the efforts of both parties, and our good old main stream media, to define it as something else. Anyway, someday I"ll offend half of you out there and discuss the whole moderate/extremist thingy. If MSM has its way, by allowing myself to have an opinion that half of you don't share, I'm setting myself up to be hated.....

Anyway, writing progress. Met all goals this week, even with dumping nearly 2k of word count by letting the inner critic out of it's cage and allowing the tasmanian devil like creature to rewrite one scene. Inner Critic (IC, notice he's capitalized now, does that make him a real person?) didn't like how I had sneaky, dastardly villain number one deal with a plot point, so he dumped the whole scene, and made me rewrite it. The fiend!

In the original scene, he (DV#1) acted directly. When I was working on a later scene, it occurred to me how out of character it was, and I made a note to myself to consider redoing it. In the next scene I was working on, I came up with a solution, but I realized that changing that earlier scene would affect the following sections that DV#1 was in. I started writing with the change in mind, but found myself making note after note of things I'd have to include when I got around to rewriting the earlier scenes, so. Open Cage, let IC out. When the dust settled, old scene gone, replaced with new, hopefully better scene.

So, hopefully IC will quiet down for a while. I have started seeing things that I want to change when I do start revising, adding color and correcting discrepancies, but for now I'm just taking notes and sticking to my plan.

Anyway, milestone 40k words reached. Think I'll celebrate by... Hmmm. Only 110k words to go. Egad, 110k words. Panic attack?

Clear skies,
Jim

Activate the wayback machine, Mr. Peabody

Okay, so last week I had a memory moment, one of those episodes where something gets dredged up out of the past. I don't know where these things come from, they just come out of the blue, like getting blindsided by a wing forward as you pop out of a scrum. (Three points to whoever correctly identifies that reference, sorry, Jeff, you're disqualified...) Anyway... look at the pretty lights when Sherman and Peabody punch that button...

Nineteen-sixty-one. The cold war and innocence battle for control of the minds of America's youth, and President Kennedy is worried about fitness. He forms the presidential council of fitness, and with the help of a famous stage and screen actor, sends to every (according to the propaganda, anyway) school, a six and a half minute exercise record. First graders and up are greeted in gym class, or on the morning PA, with which of the following?

A. Frank Sinatra sings "My way"
B. Richard Simmons does the Twist (and can't be seen on video, because it hasnt been invented yet)
C. Robert Preston takes a break from Music Man and sings "The Chicken Fat Song"

Anyone? Anyone?

I remember first and second grade, our once or twice weekly gym class teacher pulling out this record and playing, yes, "THE CHICKEN FAT SONG!" Oh, it was the most annoyingly mind-sticking song, we absolutely hated it. Nearly seven minutes of jumping jacks, push ups, and running in place while Mr. Preston belts out a broadway-quality, pre-video era exercise routine worthy of any boot camp. Marching music, a back up chorus, and words that, once triggered, probably mutated our little brains for all time. If anyone doubts that lines such as... "Give that chicken fat back to the chickens, and don't be chicken again, Go you chicken fat, Go!" hasn't warped todays generation beyond all repair, doesn't understand why both the United States and the Soviet Union spent billions on mind control research. ;-)

Anyway, the memory was jogged. Out of curiousity, I looked it up, and sure enough, someone was weird enough to archive it. Be warned, listening to this may cause epileptic fits, drooling, uncontrolled retching, smiling, giggles, and a reversion to childlike behavior. Be warned, but... Listen. It'll make you laugh. http://www.ubu.com/outsiders/365/2003/276.shtml

I think it should be required on all exercise mp3 players.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

More to come writing wise later.....
TTFN,
Jim

Blah Blah, Blah Blah Blah.

Okay, so I'm not up for a catchy title yet. It's been one of those weeks where I've fought the arch villain, Inner Critic, to a standstill. He keeps poking at me, reminding me I'm doing it wrong, trying to turn me to the dark side. However, there are the occasional Rays of Hope (you hear me, Ray? I Hope?) I'm getting better at hitting a rhythm when I write, and I'm getting a sense for the feel of the tale better than when I started.

I can hear the question already, though. "You mean that you didn't have a feel for the tale when you started?" I suppose explaining what I mean by feel is in order. Starting out Imperfect Hope, I had a good sense of what the overall theme would be, the importance of "Hope". However, as I write, I'm getting a better feeling of the depth of how that theme will come together. The early parts of the novel will develop the main characters, Cerryn and Randir, showing their basic 'heroic' nature, as it has developed during their normally stressful but successful heroic lives. Then, crux encounter, which will change the fortunes of the protagonists. One will face his doubts through his faith, the other's faith, and hence hope, will falter. The feel for the tale incorporates a gradually darkening of situations, the playful banter of the early tale will later be replaced with grimness from the point of view of Cerryn and Randir.

Right now, I"m working on the pre-crux tale, setting the stage for the first reversal of fortune. I've introduced the antagonists, mysterious at first, and I'm building up to their first encounter. One of them is the Lord-Admiral of the Empire's fleet. He's a sympathetic character in an unsympathetic role, much like Phorix in "Sha'te Valley". Or so I hope.

At any rate, cheer me on. Word count keeps building, I've added more scenes and I've made notes on things the (Shhh, whisper his name lest he wake up) Inner Critic has identified. I promise, I"ll work on it later, just don't wake him up!!!

Clear skies,
Jim

Still writing, after all these years

Was that 'still writing'? 'Still crazy'? or 'Still trying, very trying'. Progress was less than I wanted this week, but I'm not concerned about it right now, because what I did do felt like it was falling into place. Dialogue is still a weak point, but I guess that's what revisions 1-4 will take care of, for now I'm just getting the basics of the conversations down, and I'll add the characterization and rhythm when I start revising.

I have done some reminescing about years back when I was writing IFGS games, I remember writing the first games without a computer. (can you say Corolla Manual Typewriter?) White out and photocopiers were my friends. That was work. I don't think I could do it that way today.

The other thing I was thinking about was how I enjoy listening to a piece of music (either without words, or in a different language) and imagining a scene that goes with it. Often movie scores are fertile grounds for exercising that imagination, though it's best if I haven't seen the movie that the music goes to. I guess I'm the opposite of a composer, he sees a movie without soundtrack, and imagines music to go with it. I listen to music, and imagine a scene that someday may become a novel.

Anyway, nuff said. Time to get my BIC/HOK..... Oh. Already there.....

So it goes.

Hey all.



Semi productive week here. I"m up to 16.5 k words, a little behind my target, but not terribly so. Guess I could toss some excuses out there, but... I know what's going on, so I'll deal with it.



I'm noticing as I go along that when I get into the zone, my writing feels good, and when I'm not, I feel stress build as I write. I'm not sure whether that means I shouldn't write when I'm not feeling it, or if it means I need to eliminate more distractions and focus on the "zone". The scene I've been working on tonight, for example, felt good. But yesterday's writing just doesn't feel right. Yet. Guess that's why the inner critic keeps trying to surface.



Anyway. One thing I was working on today was putting some emotional content into the interaction between the two main characters, Cerryn and Randir. IFGSer's will recognize that Randir is of the k'tath race, (similar to Tolkiens elves, though with significant differences, and no, it's not brandis, Art) is very reticent with emotions, at least as far as his interaction with Humans goes. On the other hand, Cerryn is the product of an upbringing that included most of her formative years training at a questors monastery, and they actively encourage their questors to keep a studied distance from outsiders. Randir and Cerryn have journeyed together for many years, and their companionship, though strong, has been kept safely locked behind closed doors. (figuratively speaking). Since growth in characters is an important part of the tales that I like to read, and keeping emotions locked away is a sign of non-growth, I've considered this to be a big part of the undercurrent of the story. However...



However. I don't want to fall into stereotypes. So I'm going to put some serious thought into how deep the relationship between protagonists should be. Many successful writers allow protagonist relationships to develop over the course of several books, giving readers a link between sequels that they can anticipate. (Call it the serial romance syndrome, my own title) Perhaps in book one, the protagonists recognize each other for who they are, but heroic circumstances being what they are, can't pursue anything for... See book two. If successful, the readers carry the anticipation from book one to book two, and perhaps by mid series, are screaming at the two protagonists, "For God's sake, man, Kiss her already! And you, lady, stop pushing him away because..."



We'll see if I can carry that sort of continuity through one book first.

Progress?

It's going to be quite a balancing act, between meeting the deadline and keeping everything else afloat. So far, this half week, I'm barely keeping up with my projected word count (I'm at 13500 at this point), in part because of a rather productive Monday, and some good grinding at work tuesday night. Cautiously optimistic? nah. Still daunted...

There's a lot of things I'm noticing about my writing progress, though. For one, I'm pretty good at inanimate description, at least, it feels that way to me. I feel pretty weak at dialogue. At work, I'm pretty good at identifying plot inconsistancies, and if I'm stressed, I'm no good at anything except seeing how bad my writing is. If only I could keep stress away..... (a chorus of me too's out there, eh?)

The other thing going on these days is fitness. In November, we (Irma and I) started working with a personal trainer in order to deal with our ongoing health issues. We actually started with a nutritionist, who besides confirming that in general, we knew what we were supposed to eat, gave us some useful tips on avoiding some of the many pitfalls. After that, we started with Charity, and the YMCA.

Though she varies the routine each week, basically she has us do 25 minutes of cardio warm up on our own before the 1 hour session. Often she'll come in and see if we're working ourselves hard enough on the elliptical, treadmill, or bike (we get to choose), if we're not sweating and panting, she'll speed us up or otherwise correct our laxness. Then, the tough part begins.

Yesterday, with Irma out with bronchitus, I faced the dragon-lady alone. For me, one of the goals of this program is to get off bp and cholesterol meds, Charity expects that by my next FAA physical, I'll be able to petition my doctor for just that. In order to reach that goal, however, she's hammering me hard. Yesterday, it was 45 minutes of hard hard weight training, focused on the upper body, followed by 10 minutes of crunches, sit-ups, and stretching. Oh, there was that 5 minutes of running up a 14 degree slope on the treadmill in the middle of the weight training just to break up the routine.

I'm really feeling it. And tomorrow, I'll feel it more. Remember Tim Conway's shuffling old man on the Carol Burnett show? That's me.....

However, building the muscle will help with the weightloss. So far, 11 lbs gone out of the 60 I need to lose. Since we're focusing on changing our exercise habits, and keeping our eating habits healthy but not "dieting", it's a more sustainable way of losing weight. The diet is balanced so that, with no extra exercise, I'd lose about 1 lb a month. With the exercise, it's about 1.5 per week, and a big part of that is replacing flab with muscle mass, which is heavier.

We'll see how it goes, but... belts are looser, my watch flops on my wrist and will need to be adjusted soon, and I'm not out of breath just hauling folded clothes from the laundry room in the basement up to the bedroom on the second floor.

Anyway... Fitness and Writing. Now, for that stress... Where's that bottle of "15 year old Macallen"...

Three steps forward, one step back

Well, the first half week has passed, and my word count has dropped. That would normally be a bad sign, except I decided that one scene I'd written last year just didn't fit with the plot at all, so I pitched it. 9500 words dropped to 7700, just like that. I spent a couple of days reworking the outline, tightening the plot, and then stepped in where I'd left off and ground out 1100 words to replace the 1800 I'd dropped. Now to keep the inner critic locked away.

I have to admit, I'm more than a little daunted. The word processor program I'm using has a feature that lets me set up a date, and a word count total, and keeps track of my daily word count production to let me know how I'm doing against the deadline. I"ve estimated that it'll take about 150,000 words to finish the first draft (more on what that means in a moment), and right now, ywriter tells me that means I"ll have to pump out 1380 words a day. Not bad, but that assumes I'll write that every day. Realistically, there will be some days I just don't have a chance to write. But... I've committed myself. (maybe one of you will be committing me later)

How is that going to come about, though. This week, I did do some writing at work on a break, I found it doable to write 200 words, allowing for time to set up, get my brain out of atc mode and into creative mode, type, then shut down. At home, my word count varies, some nights I glare at the screen and feel lucky to complete 600 words, other nights (or mornings before work) my fingers fly and can pump out 4-6 times that. If I set a schedule, I think it'll be easier.

So that's what I'm going to work on. Being consistent with writing, ask myself to write on at least one break at work a day, and see what happens. This week will be a peek on how that goes.

The other question I've asked myself, what does 150k words mean, and how did I come up with it. Well, in outlining the plot, I've broken things down into 59 scenes. So far, scenes are averaging 1600 words in length. I expect that will double in most of the latter scenes. Allowing for a few scenes that I expect to be much longer (crux situations), I came up with 150,000 words as a rough estimate. That's pretty average for a first draft/fantasy novel. It will probably lengthen when I start in with expanding descriptions and dialogues and such, and shrink when I cut ugly or unnecessary scenes. Final result? Hey, I'm new at this too, who knows.....

I'm still waiting for encouraging words, questions, or whatnot from most of you. Art did commment, and in response, I'd have to say... Ayup, winters in D'oril can be harsh to outsiders. Thats why wintergems are found only in D'oril, takes some really cold weather to concentrate that natural magics that make them so coveted by the Empire (and many mages in the south).

Here we go!

Welcome back. I've added a new element, at the top left column you should see my ticking time bomb, the countdown. I plan to update it weekly, and I'll be using it as a way of measuring my progress, as well as provide you, dear reader, with a chance to push me and encourage me, and perhaps build some interest in Imperfect Hope. If you think of something you'd like to see or hear about, let me know, one idea I've got is adding the "question of the week". This will require active participation from you. (both of you?). To be honest, I'm hoping you'll ask me questions about either the writing process, plot elements, stuff you'd like to read/hear more about from blurbs, or what my favorite color is. I'm betting that active participation will motivate me to look deeper into what's going on...

So today, I"m going to imagine one of you has asked a question... Any volunteers? anyone? Yes, you in the back with your hand up? can you go to the bathroom? Ummm. Certainly Ray, but I'd hope not here... Any relevent questions? Yes? you in the back with the blond hair and dulcet voice? How did I come up with the title "Imperfect Hope"? Good question.....

The writing fragment I'd posted a couple of days ago came from an idea I'd been nurturing for quite some time. I'd imagined a hero, deeply involved in the battles of light versus dark, normally filled with self confidance and hope (and perhaps a little bit of reality blindness) who one day finds herself being stripped of her support little by little. Eventually, she finds herself alone, seemingly abandoned. Her hope disappears, her spirit is infected with darkness and shadow. When help does arrive, it seems too late, but her companion, himself only recently recovered from his own battles with inner demons, never gives up, and shows her where to find her own forgotten hope. She tries to adopt his attitude, but her own imperfect hope (there it is, the title! Eureka!) keeps standing in the way of her ultimate salvation. Finding the path through the shadows to find that salvation is the gist of the tale.

From that idea, I had to develop a plot that first put her in her dire straits, explained how her companions disappeared one by one, and how eventually hope returns. Those of you who remember the IFGS game, Sha'te Valley, may remember that I built it's plot around a similar theme, the players start out ultra confident, but set back after set back finds them, by the end of the first evening, having little to no hope of succeeding the next day. Here is where the real heroes emerged, for even though they saw nothing but darkness ahead, they forged on, finding a tiny bit of hope within themselves that, with a little nurturing, would eventually blaze into a beacon of success. (or so I imagined the players in the game feeling.) Now, what happens if that spark of hope isn't nurtured. How can the forces of light rekindle it in one of their favored champions.....

Thus, Imperfect Hope. Now to keep my own beacon of hope lit in the quest for completion.....

New Beginnings

2008. The year two thousand and zero eight. Ummm. I think someone has skipped a bit in the calendar thingie, seems like only a couple of years ago we were stressing about Y2K, then 9-11. 2008 seems like the future! Where's my jetson flying car and personal robot valet!

So what to do with a new year? For me, I plan to finish this first novel. Yep. I've set myself up with a deadline, of sorts. One year to finish the first draft, then start revising and revising. It's up to you, dear reader (s?) to remind me from time to time to keep at it. Yes, I have my own self motivation, but having some of you ask me once in a while, "how's the novel going?", or ask for an excerpt to mull over (I"ll even take constructive criticism, so long as you provide plenty of tissues when I fall apart over self-doubt). And maybe the occasional encouraging word (best served up with a hot cup of coffee and a pat on the back).

Ah, but what a deadline do I have to face? First, the rough draft. A lot of writing books and articles suggest it can be done in a couple of months, so long as you don't keep revising and revising as you go. (others suggest doing just that, but...) For me, I think a reasonable draft deadline is end of April. Thats 3 1/2 months from now, to take what I've worked on so far (some 9000 words plus a fairly detailed outline) from idea to ugly realization. Then, the revisions. How long to revise? Yeesh, I have no idea. depends on how ugly. I do know that I'll have to go through several types of revisions. Grammatical, structural, check for inconsistancies, plot and scene revision, and so on. It's best to do each one seperately. Or so I'm told.....

So.... A deadline for a novel. Step one, first draft, of Imperfect hope. And to intrigue my few readers, an excerpt from mid novel, part of the story fragment that developed into the plot that is Imperfect hope... (be gentle, it's rough draft still)

. Redwynn kept her eyes closed against the bright light that bathed the room from corner to corner. Her breathing slowed as the warrior-questors thoughts ran free, remembering. Sunsets. The green forested glens of home. Laughter in the Inn of the Stumbling Friar, as well as the comforting warmth of a blazing hearth in the greatroom, boots steaming by the fire after a long trek through the D'oril winter. Memories of battles, alone and with her friends during many years of campaigning. She watched herself in sword-dance, body and sword moving in a deadly ballet freshly remembered. Pride as she and her shield mate stood shoulder to shoulder at Shattered Pass as wave after wave of barbarians came at them. Then her mind was flooded with memories of a parting. Her shield-mate, gravely wounded in mind and spirit, sent to his home where he could heal, while Redwynn returned to the south seeking vengeance on his attacker. But the shadows they had fought together overwhelmed Redwynn when she had come alone for her revenge. Cursed by a remorseless foe, she had returned home to the abbey, unable to return to Randir's side as she had promised. Now she spent her days and nights locked in a cell, honored as a hero, yet chained at her own request to protect those whom she had spent most of her life defending from shadows that now raged within her soul. Unnoticed, a lone tear slipped from a closed eyelid to fall on the table.