Yeah, You Guessed It

I didn't do any writing yesterday, except for the little bit of blue pen revision at my desk.

[morning] Right now I'm so completely dissatisfied with my life, with my bum knees and softball going away, the house dragging us down so thoroughly, money always an issue, and just a general malaise. Mind you, I remind myself constantly that I've got a damned good life, but I still dwell on the negatives. One of the negatives right now is that I'm not writing every day.

[afternoon] I wrote for a few minutes right after lunch, but was interrupted. Still, I suddenly got a better idea of how the killing Grandma Opal chapter starts. I kept the first sentence, which was pretty cool, and now I'm going with Kelsey and her feelings more, and describing what's going on rather than expecting the audience to just "know". Duh.

Bleh, Bleh and Double Bleh

So, yesterday is yet another proof of the fact that I CAN write even when my head is fuzzy and I don't FEEL like writing. For the life of me, though, I can't figure out WHY I have to force myself to write nearly every time. I'm all about the planning and the starting, but damned if I can keep going on a project and finish it. That's so frustrating. It's always off to the next fun thing, but I know at the same time that having a FINISHED project is way, way, way fun.

Grrr.

So, now is the time to consult my long-forgotten outline and see where I'm supposed to go next. I've got the first three and a half chapters done - Parker and Tran at the bar, Parker in the wings joint/scuba shop getting his first taste of the end of the world, Kelsey and her grandmother running for the fall-out shelter and killing off Miriam in the process, and Grandma Opal getting killed.

So, that leaves the rest of chapter four. I need to get Kelsey and Grandma Opal out the door, then jump to Kelsey hobbled and in shock so that Parker can find her. Which means I have to get Parker out the door of the scuba shop and on his way.

I printed out a copy of the text so far on scrap paper, and I've been making notes. Got a blue Flair pen. I love those things.

It's Still Dead Jim

Still no progress, even over a long weekend. I spent hours playing spider solitaire, but wasn't even tempted to try and write. Of course, I felt like hell, and at one point passed out from the drugs Birdie fed me to quiet me down. ;-)

UPDATE: I wrote that at 10:40 this morning. Now it's five o'clock and I just put out 600 words in fifteen minutes.

I don't know what's worse - not writing, or whipping out words in what could be a 2000-words-an-hour pace. I just finished the bomb shelter chapter, and it occured to me on the fly why Grandma Opal doesn't protest more when Kelsey wants to leave. She doesn't really believe it, either, and rationalizes that Miriam has just had a panic attack. Yeah, that's it, that explains the blood on the window. BUT, then Kelsey opens the door and it's a sea of blood on the stairs. Bwahahaha...

It's Dead Jim

I haven't written a word since last Thursday, when I jotted down four hundred easy words. It's so damned easy when I get to it, but I don't get to it - for no good reason.

Last week I wrote more on Kelsey arguing with her grandma about getting the cell phone. Today I thought more about the scuba shop scene and realized I have it wrong. The stranger should come in and ask for a respirator, the cars begin to crash outside, the clerk says "Whoa, dude!" and goes to check it out, so the guy reaches under the counter and grabs one. Then he sees Parker's desperation and gets another. That's better thrill.

Ahhhhhh...That's Better

Man, I SO did not want to do any writing yesterday. I'm still in that mood. But now I know that if I start I will do some work. It remains to be seen how much I'll get done on vacation. Being in the cabin gave me a lot of alone free time last year, so maybe I can push it up to a thousand words a day. !

The Sims have gotten their hooks on me in the mornings. What I should be doing is the treadmill and/or writing. But hey, life is short, right?

Anyway, on the book, I'm nearly to the point of introducing the preacher man and I wondered this morning if I should describe his survival or just have him flashback later in the book. At the very least, Parker and Kelsey should know each other some before they run into him - and what use is introducing him if he's just going to disappear again for a while? I need to think about this.

Worthless

I'm completely worthless. I wrote one line yesterday. This is powerpoint season, and I knew this would be a challenge because it saps my creative energy.

Later in the day...

I'm in 296, where I tried to avoid writing, but made myself get back to the scuba shop and in twenty minutes I've got the helpful stranger dead and Parker discovering he's not going to die a gruesome death - at least not yet, and not by his own hand. He's running back toward the bar, I think, because he'll have to get a car to get through the swarm of dead on the highway.

Then I went to Kelsey and grandma and wrote a teensy bit more on the whole "I want my cell phone and I want it now!" thing. Got hung up on an awkward sentence, and now it's five o'clock.

Sigh

Nothing. Not one word on Friday, and nothing this weekend. I was in the worst mood ever on Saturday, so it's no wonder, and yesterday I just played Sims until the grass was dry and then mowed and mowed and mowed. I thought it would be nice to give Birdie a chance to do something in her yard besides mow. My upper body is really sore today.

This week is vacation! I'll be writing on my laptop, that's for sure.

Keepin On

I'm writing, but weirdly divorced from the story. But I'm writing. I'm near the end of the chapter when Parker lives through the scuba store clerk zombie. I need to add a lot more atmosphere, in the way of lights and darks, smells and sounds.

Last night at softball was painful, but I played better. Had a couple of nice put outs where there was a runner on third and I got a grounder, looked the batter back and threw to first. Another one was a hard one to my right, which I've had a lot of trouble with for a few years. Bases were loaded, so I really wanted to get the lead runner, but I booted it and had to chase it a few feet. When I picked it up, there was Liz ON THE BASE, so I threaded the needle and got the runner and she DIDN'T DROP THE BALL. Yeah, I'm getting cynical about my team. Then I had a bonehead play where I should have started a run down and let the runner advance instead. Vella chewed me out for a full minute. Oh yeah, I struck out two batters. *laugh* One of them with bases loaded. We were playing the IU Softball Coach's team, and she got up with one out bases loaded and Vella had me put her on. *laugh*

I've got two weeks off, and I hope to get my knee somewhat rehabilitated. It doesn't feel as bad as I feared, but I'm really tired after getting home at 11:20.

Better Today

Last night Birdie talked me into taking a Flexoril before bed (half of one, actually), and I was CONKED, so much so that when I got up I spent another hour sleeping on the couch rather than watching Atlantis commentary. I'm not going to get my Netflix money's worth in May. Oh well. I've got a game tonight at 9:30. Bleh. Tomorrow I will be the walking dead.

Speaking of walking dead, I came near to finishing the first draft of the chapter in the scuba store. Yucky stuff. *grin* But I put down a couple of hundred words, so that's pretty good.

Vacation next week. We're so psyched!

Ow and Ouch

Too much awkward lifting of very heavy objects on Sunday and now my back is fucked up. Been a long time since my back has been this on edge and just downright painful. I was digging up the garbage dump Sunday and picking up the glass filled bags in the worst possible way and now I can barely move. Thanks, little brother.

Got some writing done yesterday upstairs. Made some notes on the restructuring of the chapters, but didn't waste time on moving text. I'm getting near the end of the chapter where Parker lives through the gas and learns about the zombies the hard way. Both he and Kelsey are going to barely live through the first uprising of the zombies, being too near for comfort to some pretty gruesome carnage.

Man, this is slow going, but I AM moving forward on it.

Shoo Fly

Too bad I do 99.9% of my writing at work, so I can't tell people who interrupt me to buzz off. I waited till 4:30 yesterday, on a very busy but very, very quiet day to begin writing, and the words just were tumbling onto the page when suddenly three people showed up needing stuff. Dammit.

Parker is being helped by a stranger to breath unpolluted air from a scuba tank at a shop while the world ends around him.

I need to add more atmosphere description to give a more creepy feeling.

Crazy, Crazy

Crazy Friday, crazy weekend. Betty Haven's retirement party was Friday night and I got snookered in front of the faculty. Damn. Saturday was Liz Gregg's dissertation party and I got snookered AGAIN in front of faculty. *sigh* Then we went to Uncle E's where I got really, really drunk and couldn't drive home. Man, do I have a problem.

Friday writing was, again, brief, but productive. I just need to keep going on it today. The students are now gone - as witnessed by the incredible filth covering some lawns I walked by - so it's REALLY quiet around here. It'll be interesting to see how much I get done. Cheryl is gone, so there will be even less interruption, not that she does that much. Heck, even Birdie stayed home today.

Quick Note

Five minutes, lots of people, but got some done!

Dang, Blast & %*&$#^@)$^

So, again I took up the story with the idea of slogging through and just putting words down, no enthusiasm but a desire to keep it up, no matter what. It was late in the afternoon, I was tired from actually working all day getting the evaluations ready to send off - completely typed! - and having a lot of people come in and phone calls. And just, being tired. I know I slept that night, but you couldn't tell it from how hard it was to keep my eyes open. It was going to be a late night as well, with an 8:20 game to look forward to. Not. My knee was really sore, and I'd get home late.

We went out for our last free pizza and it was great, then we went to Gayla's to take kitten pictures and oh my goodness isn't it a good thing we waited till they were spoken for. *g*

Oh well, I began to slog through. Parker has just left the restaurant and runs across the street to the scuba shop. I'm not into it, I'm revising, and then I just put him inside hiding behind a rack of rubber suits calling Tran. Suddenly, the words are tumbling out, the story is going forward and I'm thinking this is going to turn into a MUCH better scene than him standing around in a construction trailer WATCHING people die. He's going to be inside with someone else breathing air, and the clerk dies. Parker is going to see quickly and up close what's going on, and he makes an excuse to flee but this time he's right to get out.

Anyway, away I went and just as I was REALLY getting in the groove and the words were flying off the page and it's LATE in the day - people start wanting things. So I had to stop.

All Quiet On The Faculty Front

Nice quiet day. There should be a few of those in the very, very near future. I need to really get going on putting words down. Today I'm going to re-read my outline and get back into the story. I'm so fuzzy on where I'm supposed to be going it's making me timid.

Parker is running for the scuba shop right now. He needs to be making frantic phone calls to Tran and his mom.

Notes From The Guru

Kate says if I keep going on the novel, it will become interesting to me again. I can only hope she's right because, even though I know this is not a good novel, I really want to finish it. There's not enough passion, too much logic, not enough gore or suspense.

I keep wanting to go back to the three chapters I've almost finished and fix stuff. Still working on just putting down words and fixing later. That's so difficult to do, even though it's a simple concept.

Yesterday I put down some words on Parker in the restaurant and hand wrote some notes on where chapter endings will change. It occured to me I was writing it like a tennis match: First Parker, then Kelsey, then Parker... So I changed the order up a little.

I was just talking to Kate about A Short History of a Small Place, then read about it in amazon, and it occurs to me that I don't digress often. I love reading digressions, why don't I write them? My story is like this happened, then this happened, then this happened. Bleh.

Oh! But I did think today DUH, you've got Parker passing a SCUBA shop, because it's a SEASIDE town. Why don't you take him to the shop and let him breath from an AIR TANK? Der. Sometimes I'm so slow.

Thank Goodness For My Job

I can take it easy today because I'm at work. All weekend, and Monday, was nothing but work, work, work. Real work. Hard work. Hauling and carrying and trimming and mowing and pulling tomatoe cages and generally being on my feet and trying to ruin my knee some more.

This is much nicer.

Of course, that means I didn't do any writing this weekend. My goal for today, since I'll be able to write at lunch, is to press on. I'm going to start taking my "write - even if it's crap" motto to heart again and just PRESS ON, because I've gotten bogged down. I want to finish the damned thing, and THEN go back and work on it.