May Sweeps - Day 482

Wookiee, Muggle, CHUD.  When you reach the doorman, tell him those three words.

Back in the library today, with time to write . . . but will I?

Sit-ups Today: 111
Sit-ups In May: 2834

I've mentioned (over and over) the good feeling I have when I reach "the end" in a story, novella, or project.  It's pretty grand.  But it's a fleeting thing, because the next day, I have to write again.  Like today.  What the devil am I going to write about?  What half-finished story can I get to work on again?  What done-but-in-bad-shape story can I look over and adjust a little so it feels more complete?  What terrible idea did I have today that I could turn into a story?

Well, for the last one, it was this: a rich old man encounters a kindergarten/first grade class on a field trip, and is impressed or touched by their youth and innocence.  When he dies, a short time later, the teacher finds out that the man has left the bulk of his estate and holdings to that kindergarten class.  Hooray, they can all go to college, and support their parents, and try whatever drugs they like a few years earlier than they had planned!

However, it is stated in the will that, in order to receive all the money, the kindergarten class--every single one of them--must spend the night in the old man's spooky, infamous mansion on the hill, and not leave the premises until the sun rises the next day.  Otherwise, his millions are to be given to the state prison, in order to provide free pornography for the worst of the inmates.

Not good, eh Mom?

Push-ups Today: 50
Push-ups In May: 3164

I wasted my time at the library blogging and pasting the scenes I wrote on May 23rd into the body of the story proper.  I did do a word count on the piece as a whole (temporarily entitled "Unidentical Twins," though I'll give a Fake Sean Connery song to anybody who can come up with a better title that means the same thing), and it's sitting at 23,446 words.  That's longer than I thought it was, but will surely gain a couple thousand when I do a revision.  There are one or two ____ spots in the story, where I'll have to fill in the blank with something relevant, such as where I mention an ingredient in diet soda that is absent from regular soda, and meant to compare two different cans sometime.

As I get older, I imagine it will be harder and harder to write teenaged characters, and it upsets me to think that Layla Shonauer, the main character of this story, is actually younger than the shirt I'm currently wearing (and surely all but one of my shirts are from the 21st Century).  It's difficult to know what one of them would be aware of or care about, so I simply have to write them as human beings, and if one of them says "Cool" instead of "sick," or one makes reference to a movie from 1994 when an actual Zoomer wouldn't be caught dead watching something that old, well, I can live with that.*

I killed WAY too much time today reading about the insane (and utterly pointless) media coverage of a single negative review torpedoing PADDINGTON 2's perfect Rotten Tomatoes score (a few weeks back, someone posted a negative review of CITIZEN KANE from 1941 that knocked it from the top spot of all time, replaced by--of all things--the second Paddington film).  I read the review, I read the outcry about it (tons of people are angry, for various head-scratching reasons), and then read up on LEAVE NO TRACE, the new top film on the RT website.  I don't really understand why I would've had any interest in that, much less invested so much time reading articles about it.

(you know, seeing this image--with five Hugh Grants--makes me want to watch the film)

I didn't end up starting (or working on) any other projects today.  I simply looked mine over, and tried to identify where I had blanks or empty spaces.  I filled in a couple of paragraphs, but it wasn't much.  And then the darn library made their announcement and flickered their lights, and I got going so I could do my run before it got dark (if I run at night, I always put a light-colored shirt on so cars will/might see me, but if I run during the day, I can wear whatever).  Better luck tomorrow.

Words Today: 359
Words In May: 18,630

*At the beginning, I had the sisters reference a cute celebrity Layla used to have a crush on, and I picked Timothy Chalomet, even though I'll be DAMNED if I can spell that without looking it up (had to just now once again).  I also had Layla NOT know what a Wookiee is, though I nearly changed it to Muggle, since I figured everybody knows Chewbacca, just like I would think everybody knows what Muggles are, whether they're fans of Harry Potter or not (just like I knew a field goal was worth eight points, even though I'm not a fan of tennis).  I texted my niece and asked if a girl in high school would know what a Wookiee is, and she said no.  It makes me want to put my arm around Layla and say, "You've got so much living yet to do, little one," because I am, in every way that matters, her father.
I also asked Cathexis if she knew what a C.H.U.D. was.  She did not, and said she would watch the movie sometime.  I told her not to.  I saw it thirty-something years ago, and even then, I knew it was not good.