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With coffee and writing implements at hand, I can determine the shape of today. |
| I tend to write in the morning. After morning coffee and writing comes whatever the day holds...work, more writing, family time, reading, maybe even some gaming. It just depends...but writing first, always. And once I start writing, I get an idea not only of what I'm writing about, but how the rest of my day will go. Hence, the shape of today. |
| Here is a treasured rarity: a day off work when I don't have to go anywhere. It's still warm enough that I was able to leave the windows open all night, allowing fresh air in. Yes, that means enduring more pollen setting me sneezing and coughing, but that's the price you pay. I'm also enjoying the songs of birds as the sun rises. Yes, that means also enduring the endless racket of the highway with its traffic, but that's the price you pay. There's a lesson to be learned in these musings, I suppose. To attain life's pleasures, we must endure life's unpleasantness. One could argue that there's only so much unpleasantness one could endure, but I don't want to waste my precious time on that. The sun is up, the birds are singing, and for the moment at least the highway is quiet. I've got chores to tackle, and hopefully my mind will tackle its chore and help me form a story to write. As Gandalf told Frodo, all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. |
| Many people are anxious to see 2024 out. For me, it's been a mixed year. The good...well, I'm still on my feet and doing as well for myself as I can expect. Could I do better? Sure! But that sort of segues into resolutions for the next year, doesn't it? The bad...losing more friends and family to diseases. Excitedly voting early, only to see my choice lose the election, thanks to willful ignorance. But my resolve is only strengthened by this. Hard times are coming for us all, I fear, and we soon will be under siege. My best weapon is already at my fingertips, and it will not stop until I do. Now, today is a workday, so off I pop. |
| Well, here we are, on the cusp of Halloween. We're on the cusp of many things, in fact, but I won't go into that. I'll just say that I personally am on the cusp of a longer-than-usual break from work. I took next Tuesday off because the library is literally next door to the polling station in an area where the traffic is horrendous on an ordinary day; I don't want to have to cope with it on a pivotal election day. I did my early voting. I did what I could. I also don't want to be out and about for any reason next Tuesday. I rather suspect the crazypants factor will be much higher than normal. Hopefully things will settle once the big day passes...and gawwwd, I'm ready for it to. Too much time has been spent on the orange bellowing moron and his minions. Time for us to leave them behind. Also, we have the time change next weekend. I'm not looking forward to the advent of cold weather or driving home in the dark on closing days, but I'll be happy for the extra hour of sleep. And now it's time to get ready for work. Time for me to make the world better, in my very small way. |
| Okay, WDC, here I am, updating my blog! My "off" weekend has me considering a couple of the contests here at WDC for the month of August. I definitely want to enter one, and I just found another with an intriguing prompt. If all goes well, I might enter both. It'll be good for me in a number of ways. On another writing front, the tet has begun making noises about the annual Halloween story. I threw my hat into the ring (not going to get back into NaNoWriMo until I figure out what's going on over there), but I really hope we don't go all over the place like we have in the past. Witches, fairies, demons, elves, serial killers...you don't need all that in any one story. But I don't want to say anything, because they're also looking for someone to oversee the thing and I don't want that responsibility. Mayhap I can drop a gentle hint that narrowing the focus is the key to a great story. We shall see. Who knows, maybe I can draw some inspiration from my perusings here at WDC. Well, I need a mundane chore or three to tackle while my brain goes to work on my tale. And it just so happens that the house is in desperate need of cleaning. Time to get serious. As my muse is fond of saying...ALLONS-Y!!! |
| Well. I ambled over to the NaNoWriMo site this morning to find its forums completely shut down...it appears some restructuring is in progress. The site itself appears fine; my unnamed DW fanfic project is still sitting right there. I'm not quite sure what happened or whether it would affect the event in November, so for now I'll just leave things as they are. And how are things? Well, I'm putting together a story for a competition here on WDC...I've an idea that seems quite enjoyable and will make for a fun story. And I am doubling down on my reading, something I've been neglecting. While working my way through You Like it Darker, sai King's latest short fiction collection, I've been trying to pay attention to why his tales work so well. Well, apart from his decades of experience, of course. I have to keep asking myself "Why do I like this? Why do I not like that?" Reading is a learning process as well as recreation. I also plan to get more proactive about inviting people here. The site owners are wonderful and generous people, and the community itself is top-notch when it comes to encouragement. If something has gone wildly sideways over at NaNoWriMo, writers in training are going to need a home. What better than this one? |
| For whatever strange reason, it's quiet today. It's my Thursday off, and we have a holiday weekend incoming. School wrapped up yesterday about midday, and I figured the highway would be a solid stream of cars full of families heading off on vacation, but so far it's markedly quiet. I can actually hear the birds singing, I'm glad to say. It's a nice change. When we moved here 36 years ago, there would be long stretches through the middle of the day when nothing moved on the road...people were at work, school, whatever. One could actually walk down the middle of the highway for a time, and hear approaching vehicles in plenty of time to get safely out of the way. Nowadays, I don't even like going to the mailbox. The "growth" I hear being touted by so many is coming at a heavy price, and few realize it. For the moment, however, there's no noise...just a happy bird singing in a tree near my open window. Both of us are going to enjoy this moment for all it's worth. |
| I spent a little time yesterday responding to reviews a few other WDC veterans have left on various items I'd written during my previous active period...and reading these pieces again for the first time has been an eye opener. Probably the most telling was the "Dear Me" entry from January of '21, which provides a snapshot I no longer remember clearly. It was during Dad's last illness, probably that period when I was driving him to Gainesville for iron infusions and having to get help from passerby to get him in and out of the car. He kept insisting he was strong enough to do it himself, and he never was. Yeah. It was a bad time. Writing was my own strength during that period, though I stopped when things began to deteriorate in February of that year. There really wasn't time at that point. Now that I have time and structure in my life again, it's interesting to go back and see where my mind was. It'll help me to plot a path into the future. |
| I mentioned my NaNoWriMo idea on Gallifrey Base, a Whovian forum I frequent. Immediately another member began encouraging me to write a scene or some dialogue to get the juices flowing. So I suppose I'd better update Scrivener (it's uniquely suited to this) and get started. I'd be lying if I said I weren't intimidated a little. Starting to write seriously again is one thing, but with a fanfic? Uncharted territory for me. I never gave much thought to personifying my muse, but here we are. It turns out he's a Scottish actor and says I should play with his most famous character to rebuild my writing fire: I've also seen him be a lover, a supervillain, a spy, a brooding, amoral murderer, and a duck. For this, however, his eccentric alien hero will do. As another character in that universe told him: "You watch us run!" |
| Update my blog, WDC? Okay, quickly, because I've got a lot to do today. Recently rebooted my account, and also pinned the NaNoWriMo site back to my main taskbar. Suffice it to say I've got an idea percolating. But if it's going to work I've got to get back into the habit of writing daily, and here is as good a place as any to begin. So I'll try to hop into a few contests here, do some reviewing when time permits, and see if I can get that muse of mine coaxed into action. It shouldn't take much to get him started. Now, let me see if I can get myself started... |
| I have always shied away from fanfiction. It never felt right to play with someone else's characters, in someone else's setting, without the knowledge and permission of that someone. As kids we're taught not to raid some other kid's toy chest, after all. However, this morning I was browsing a Doctor Who forum and found a thread on writing. I think there may be a whole section on that particular forum devoted to the craft, but writing's been on my brain of late after an extended dormant period. This is because yet another forum I'm a member of has coaxed me into participating in its annual Halloween story, and since I'm doing a readers' advisory display for work in October it seemed natural enough. Click. I've been dormant for the last couple of years, yes. My life's undergone some pretty radical changes, and writing fell by the wayside. But this morning it suddenly occurred to me...how would it be if I did a DW fanfic for this year's NaNoWriMo? It wouldn't be something intended for publication, but intended to jump-start my writing brain and get me back into the groove? I checked the NaNoWriMo forums and yes, lots of people do fanfics for the annual writing challenge. Click. I've had an idea for a DW story in the back of my mind for a while, mostly because it's something I haven't seen in the Gen Two era at all, and if it exists in the Gen One era I haven't run across it yet. I imagine it does exist out there somewhere, possibly in the Big Finish archives, almost certainly in the uncountable number of fanfic stories. What better way for a fan to celebrate the show's 60th anniversary, than to create a story about it? Click. And because it's going to be my story, I'm going to bring my Doctor over here to America, something he never did during his tenure on the show. I think I'll also bring along my favorite of his companions, for exposition and also because someone's got to help me keep him in line. What the hell...I think I'll just land the TARDIS right here in Georgia. Click. Maybe it's time to stop being such a snob about fanfic. These toys cannot be broken--generations of writers, directors, producers and actors can attest to that--and they are unlike any in the world. I'll play with them for a bit, and hopefully they'll help me find my way back to the world I need to be in. Click. |
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