7-17 to 7/19

7/17

Reading "Arcove's Bright Side," I am impressed by how well Abbie writes about how hard relationships are.  Her characters continually say the wrong thing, or what they say is misunderstood or does not get the reaction they were expecting, and the characters despair over it.  I'll simply say that, if real-life interpersonal relationships were this complicated, then I'd be pretty darn alone.

Wait, I said that bit aloud, but nobody complained.

I did what I could on the exercise bike tonight.  It's not like going for a run.  It's way less difficult, and focused solely on the legs.  But exercise is exercise, right, Your Honor?

Writing or Exercise: Exercise

7/18

Jeff was supposed to have gone home to Germany by now, but his wife caught COVID (as did his son, daughter-in-law, and multiple members of his family that went to the reunion), so he bumped his flight back a week.  Today, we got together and watched "Star Trek: Lower Decks" together, until I fell asleep, and he kicked me out so he could make dinner.  We also had lunch at a sandwich place that was so expensive, I fear I will never buy a sandwich again.

Afterward, I hit the library.  I got 1137 words today.  I was writing the scene (in "Balms & Sears") I keep talking about, and probably would've gone further had it not been 8:52pm.  No worries.  I'm happy to have made some real progress today.

Writing or Exercise: Writing

7-19

I write these posts as if there are avid fans of mine, hanging on every word, unable to wait another year for a Ben Parks or Will Choner story, much less the stupid "Calling" finale, which I'm probably never going to get to (do you believe I had this idea of a young George Clooney as a villain for that one?).  But even though that's surely not true, I will continue as though it is true, until it becomes true. 

Regardless, I finally got to the climactic scene in "Balms & Sears," and now that it's here, I desperately don't want to eff it up.*  I know what I want to happen, and I know how it's supposed to feel, but I'm afraid I'm just not a good enough writer to pull it off as well as it exists in my head (please return in two days for more of this thought).  But I'll press through to the end, let the manuscript sit for a year (or three), and maybe work on that in the revision, and really act it in the audiobook (coming out circa 2025, mark your calendar), and hope that it gets close.  For now, finishing is the most important part.

I got 874 words today.  Not bad at all.  Sadly, I'm nearly done with the scene (though I'd like to go in and make it more powerful, add in a couple more details and emotions), and then, well, I guess I end the book (I had wanted the encounter with the crazy guy from here at the library to be after this scene, but since I already wrote it, I suppose I'll come up with something else).  It's past the 60,000 word mark (I crossed that threshold today), so it's really getting up there.

Writing or Exercise: Writing

*I've recounted many a time of when, in my writer's group, we reached the end of my screenplay "Fallen Angel," where the hero and heroine realize that, even though they are starting to fall in love, they have to part, for the good of each other.  And my buddy Brandon approaching me afterward and saying, "That's the part where the audience is supposed to burst into tears because it's so tragic they can't be together . . . but I just wasn't feeling it," and how upset that made me, because I knew he was right when we read that bit, but for the life of me, I didn't know how to MAKE the audience feel it.  "A man's got to know his limitations," Dirty Harry said, but sometimes it really sucks to discover them.