There's gotta be a way to know how many words in a row I've written since February 1st. I thought I had been posting totals at the end of each month, but it looks like I stopped that long ago (I also was posting my progress on my yearly goals each month too, but that also fell by the wayside). I'll keep thinking.
This afternoon I took my younger nephew to a baseball game, but I don't really care to watch him strike out again or fail to catch a ball (again), so I brought my laptop and am sitting on the grass (in what little shade there is), thinking about writing again. I glanced at what I had written in the park on Tuesday, the big break-up scene, and thought the interchange was pretty darn cool. Basically, I wanted to split Talia and Rick up, and decided on the old trope of the-girl-is-jealous-of-the-attention-the-guy-is-getting. In this case, though, she's totally right to be jealous, and Rick is just too slow-witted to realize he cannot win this argument.
So now, I've got to write something new. It should be way easier to write now (at 5:34pm) than it is at 12:34am (when I usually write). And honestly, I'm close enough to the end (I think) that it should be coasting at this point. Basically, Rick and Talia go their separate ways, and get back together when their lil hatchling is threatened. And then they are murdered by junkies. Simple as that.
Sit-ups Today: 200
Sit-ups This Month: 1105
The day disappeared, as quickly as they all do, and I don't even have a nap to blame it on today. At least I had my run to look forward to. But as I went on it, and I turned the first corner, I neared the place where I saw the ghost last night . . . and suddenly, I was afraid. What if I saw her again? What if there really was something I saw last night, and it wasn't just a tricky shadow or a teenaged girl who happened to be standing on her lawn at midnight and then disappeared a second later?
Well, I saw nothing this time, not even a tree or a bush or a cardboard cutout of Ted Danson that I could have confused for a ghost. But it still gave me a spooky little thrill as I ran past.
The rest of my run, I concentrated on moving my legs up and down, and also thought about a sign I saw in Target on a display. As I approached it, I swore it said "MESSAGE HER" in all caps, and it really struck me as profound, in the way that superstitious folks that are always looking for signs seem to experience. At the time, I thought, "Really? I suppose I could message her, if I had to, but what would I say? And how welcome would my message be?"
A second later, I realized my mistake, and I took a picture of the sign--even then, thinking there was something at least semi-profound about it.
And tonight, during my run, I constructed a dumb little story around the sign (and my picture of the sign), so much so that I challenged myself to sit down as soon as I got home and write it out as a flash fiction piece.*
And I did.
Sort of.
You see, I sat down, and started writing, but before I'd even gotten fifty words, I tried to come up with a name for the girl in the story (I considered writing it from a female perspective, but then realized that "Message Her" would only work if the love interest was a girl, and only briefly considered a lesbian relationship, before deciding to just write what I know), and got lost down the rabbit hole of the internet. I started searching for images, then I remembered an action figure I grabbed at Cathexis's house today and I listed it for sale, and then I came in here and grabbed some water and started blogging, and now it's 1:39am.
But you know, it's not too late. I'll go in the other room, finish the story, and then come in here and figure out my word count.
I wish I were a better writer. But tonight, if I can just force myself to do this thing, I'm good enough.
Well, I just spent a few minutes writing, then putting G.I. Joe figures up for sale, and then forcing myself to finish the story. And then, realizing that it suddenly became in the third person instead of in the first person, changing all the "he"s to "I"s. But I finished it--a whole story in a single late night session, and one I'm calling "Message To My Girl," after an old Split Enz song.
Although realistically, all Split Enz songs are now old.
That brings my word count to a respectable number.
Words Today: 2008
Words In August: 5731
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