Maybe it has something to do with the music I wake up to in the morning? The song I am using right now, and I am thinking about changing it is “The Fire Rises” from The Dark Knight Rises soundtrack. It’s a rather loud and sudden, so I am waking up to blaring brass horns. So I am jolted awake, almost falling out of bed (a mercifully short drop) and stumbling to my desk on auto-pilot. I sit down still in a daze as I go through my webcomic / Facebook routine. I’m wondering if it’s just the adrenaline rush wearing off from the blast of music. Maybe I should try something a little softer? Then again, I don’t think I have anything softer unless I want to wake up to Origa. Come to think about it – that’s not a bad idea. I might make a change today and see what happens. First – more caffeine for me. Feel free to grab yourself some coffee.

The stick game is almost over, and I cannot be happier. While I liked the idea, it just seemed to drag on for me and that was only one half of the chapter (again, see my previous post). The first half is going to be worked on after the end of the act. I don’t like going backwards, but there are some changes in the stick game and I want to put them in before I forget them (just a reminder: stone hoops for goals about six feet above the ground). After the end of the first act, I get to move on to act two: escape! This is what I am looking forward to since this is the real meat of the story. That and more crazy Nysa. I have to admit that I like writing her dialog:

“Then I leave you to your fate. Nysa, are you ready to run?”

“Go as long as the water brings it to the fresh forged metal, the fire will.” Nysa shifted to face Tyro. Tyro whistled long and hard. The creatures lumbered towards her on either side.

Yes, I am cheating in using this website, but it works and it keeps her sounding odd enough to fit with what the character
type is.

Anyways – I am also counting down to Fandom fest: 3 days and counting. I am looking forward to the body art show and finding some cosplayers. I love cosplay, but I have no talent for it at all what so ever. If I were to take a needle to thread, I’d probably end up putting out an eye – if not mine, then someone else’s by accident. Most of the pictures I have in my computer are of people like Ya-Ya Han, Linda Le and Meagan Marie (in fact, I have downloaded a picture of Meagan Marie as Wonder Woman and using it as a visual reference for the antagonist in Tyro’s second novel. I’ll put it up here.)

I hope she’d be flattered in being inspiration for a character, but more importantly, I hope she won’t sue me.

Well, I have to try to end the stick game and get to the next act before Friday, because nothing is going to get done at that point. I’m not being pessimistic, merely realistic.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Four days remain, and I cannot tell you how happy I am to say that. My last vacation was for the release of Bioshock: Infinite (a game that I highly recommend and one that I need to replay soon) in March, so I am due for one. Also – and completely coincidental, I swear – my first day of vacation is the beginning of Fandom Fest. I got my tickets and I am calmly counting down the days. This is going to be the longest four days of my life. When I am not geeking out to the likes of Scully, Khal Drogo and Captain Jack – I am going to get some writing done. I am hoping to finish editing one novel and hopefully get to the end of the first act in the other one.

As much as I have been enjoying writing the first novel… I am so ready to finish the stick game half of the scene and write the first half of the chapter. Yes, I did it out of order because I was tired and thinking about the original outline… the one that got nuked by my writing program. I was able to recreate it in on paper and if you ask me, this one is a little better because it doesn’t have a lot of detail in it like the last one. I am going to get it loaded into the computer (Office 2010…you may begin to impress me for my amusement) and save onto a flash drive for safekeeping. Once it is done I am going to divide it up into 2K chunks and present it to my writing group for their analysis and subsequent loving demolishment. Out of that ruin shall rise a stronger novel that will get put on Amazon and hopefully earn me a few dollars – maybe enough to go full time, or at least enough to get the bathroom floor fixed. I have also begun to outline the second book in a similar fashion in my common book. I like how this story is developing in relation to the first one, but as far as the third one, I have little idea what to do beyond a single scene and a theme, but I am sure I will something will turn up soon. My second novel started with a single scene of the antagonist Siva screaming “YOU WILL NOT ABANDON ME!”

I haven’t been keeping up with the summer movies this time around. I saw Evil Dead and Star Trek: Into Darkness… and that was it. There were a lot of movies that came and went that I wanted to see, but either shifting finances or just not as interested as I thought I would be, or at least interested enough to get out the door. Vacation will hopefully change that since I am getting paid that Friday and hopefully will have the time to go catch a matinee. Perhaps I should have dinner and a movie to celebrate my last day of freedom – any takers? I was going to go to dinner at Cheesecake Factory and check out the new cinema in Mall St. Matthews.

Well, I have to get back to the stick game. I hope y’all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Hello, all. I am alive, believe it or not. I am still trying to get into the groove of consistently writing both blog and novel. I am hoping to get some feedback about a pattern I have been noticing lately. I will have a good writing day (the words come steady and my back doesn’t hurt as much) and I pound out the 1500 with no problem. The next day becomes a different tale. I struggle to get out even half that amount and my back bugs me. Never fails me that I’ll have a  good day followed by a bad day or two (Tuesday is completely my fault, I acknowledge that.  Today?  No good reason) followed by a so-so day. Is it a matter of habit or just that I need to plant my rear in a chair and just crank something out?  More than likely the latter, one would assume.

On other news, FandomFest is coming here and I am a day away from (hopefully) getting the VIP tickets. I procrastinated in getting the tickets and I hope I am not too late. Since they’re advertising the event on the radio, I am hoping it is a good sign. Gillian Anderson is going to be there and I am getting a new camera for the event… not that I need a new camera or anything like that. The last time I went and used my phone’s camera the pictures of Bruce Campbell looked horrible. Since then I got a new phone and will have VIP seats. I am also taking the Friday off to attend all three days. God willing, next year I will be there as a vendor hawking my wares.

Nothing new here, to be honest. Trying to keep everything together as best I can without melting in the summer heat.  Hope your weather is a little more tolerable.

Sincerely,
Seething Apathy

I know that I have been away for a while, but I assure you that I am still alive. I’ve been trying to get 1,500 words done a day on my novel, so I’ve been doing that first thing in the morning, and after that I have only enough time to get a shower, lunch and get dressed for work before I head out the door. So, I think I am going to work on the blog in the evening, when I have so much more to say… or we’ll see how this works in the long run. So far, I have been fairly good about it, only had a couple of days that I couldn’t make the whole 1,500. I’ve even managed to finish a whole chapter and my mind is still working on the character in parts (I had a really good idea about her), so I have a lot of high hopes about this novel.

On some other writing news, I got my hands on a copy of Photoshop 7 and I still have the books when I thought I could handle learning it so long ago… and I think I am going to try it again. I’m hoping that through sheer chutzpa I can figure how to use it. No guarantees, but who knows? Maybe with some trickery, I could finally become something of a half decent artist. I mean, I learned to write from practice and reading books about it (seriously, no formal training at all – just reading and writing is all I’ve done), why not this? I still have some manga books in the back room, so I can try that. After all, the worse that can happen is that I show people a picture and tell me it’s a wonderful house… and then I tell them it’s supposed to be a woman. Well – OK, humiliation is the worst that can happen and I can live with that.

As far as things over here go – there has been little to mention. Just trying to get the novel finished by the end of September and I am trying to start up correspondence with a pen pal from Canada. Other than that, there is nothing really big going on. Oh, as some people may have notices – the hyperlinks in some of the past entries have been a little hit or miss… especially with .gif files. I got that taken care of – from here on out, every blue link will take you somewhere interesting and not just the Internet shrugging its shoulders and saying ‘I have no idea‘. Go on ahead and try them out.

Well, I should head off to bed, so I can get up and see just how clever Tyro can be under the most desperate of circumstances without any spiffy ushabit powers save stubbornness and memories of other people. Have a good morning, all.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Good morning all! I went to sleep last night at 3 AM and woke up at 7 AM. Since I can’t get back to sleep right now, I am going to do this, try to finish up an act in my outline and see what happens with the rest of the day. The Tiny Tina DLC comes out today… and my prepaid Xbox subscription happens to run out at the same time. Nice. I guess I’ll have to wait until I get paid to get it and try to avoid as many spoilers as possible. Yeah – good luck with that, I know.

I am still working on Tyro’s outline and I will finish the first Act today. I got about 85% of it done on Saturday and a little yesterday. The first act is four chapters long and (spoiler) and will end with Tyro getting some of The Great Book imprinted in her mind – setup in chapter 2 and 3. So, if I can really put my nose to the grind stone and hold off reading my favorite
Tuesday
web comics until work, I should get this act done. I like how everything is turning out in my head. Tyro is taking a different look to her from the earlier versions I had of her. I’ve got a good feeling about this one. I should – I’ve been working on her since ’97. I wonder if I should put up pictures of the people I have cast in my head for the series? Too spoilerly? We’ll see. First, I need to finish the outline. I also need to review Pixar’s Guide to Writing as I am writing the outline just to see where I can make some unexpected choices.

Yesterday was crazy slow, so I am not looking forward to today. Tuesdays tend to be more hectic (pro-tip, if you have to call into a call center for customer service, pick Thursdays or Mondays) for me, but at least it’s the last week of the month, so it’ll be a little slower…until it’s my break time of course. Well, it could be worse and they’d have me working the whole six hours. I could do that, but I would much rather get my fifteen in at the halfway point. I just wish they’d hurry up and close the shop down like the rumor says they’re going to do. Seriously, if I am there at Christmas, I will be stunned. I’ll also probably be on a suicide watch at that point as well. We’ll see.

Oh – I tried a service on my Blu-Ray player called Crackle. It’s fairly decent – it has The Dresden Files, which looks like it gets close to the series without going over (I recommend the books highly). I see some movies that look interesting and best of all – it’s free. There are some self-serving commercials, but really – they’re only 30 seconds at best and easily ignored. Check it out.

Well, I should get to the outline. I hope y’all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Good morning, everyone. I am awake as what some would call an early hour, whereas I am calling it ungodly, but I can’t get back to sleep, so I am going to go on ahead and get an early start to the day. At least it’s Friday and I am getting everything ready for the weekend lockdown to finish the outline. This is going to be a good weekend. I might even get finished early; if I do I am going to go see a movie. It’s a wide open weekend for me and I am happy to be productive.

Speaking of the Tyro outline – the only reason why I am doing this is because I/O Error is pretty much dead in the water. I turn it on and look at the screen with no idea what to do next to get to the next big scene. So, I am just going to move on and hope that something will strike me and I get back to ripping up The
Shepherd. I/O Error isn’t a tent pole series. It’s more of a ‘this is a neat idea; let’s see where this goes’ novel. I don’t want to be known primarily as a horror writer. Actually, if I had my druthers (whatever a druther is, I doubt I have many of those) I would want to be known as a fantasy writer. Right now, I would much rather be known as a successful writer – which I am working on when I can. Really.

I got all my banking taken care of – the woman was friendly, answered all my questions and was rather attractive (seriously, don’t they hire ugly people for banking jobs?). Today, I get to brave the Pits of HR and get everything reset to the new account. I am not going to cancel my NetSpend card, but I am going to use it to maintain a subscription to The Colbert Report and start my MLB subscription on iTunes and give Netflix a chance to impress me. If anyone who is reading this can tell me what’s good on it, it would be greatly appreciated. Next time I get paid, I am going to get the tickets for this and see some of my favorite actors there. Yes – there will be pictures. A lot of pictures. Since I am getting the VIP pass this year and a better camera, I am hoping to get a couple shots of the actors and actresses that don’t look like they were taken through a cat-filter lens.

Well, I apologize for another short blog, but I had to fix my PC and take a quick look at the Fandom Fest prices. I hope y’all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Well – this is no more. Apparently lawsuits were a-brewin’ and the owner of the site decided to pull it rather than go to court. So, now if I want my Art Bell fix, I have to find some old downloads I have or look for other streams that I can access. I am not happy. I like the Art Bell Show. I discovered it when I first started working third shift lo those many years ago. I like the paranormal and the fact that Art Bell never judged or called someone a crackpot – if you were on the show as a guest or a caller, you got the compliment of his full attention. There are rumors that he might return, but so far nothing has come of it. I will press on.

This weekend is going to be an outlining marathon. No cooking for me, so the local restaurants are going to get a fresh influx of cash. I want to have this outline done before Monday so I can hit the week running with 1,500 words a day (meaning I’ll have the manuscript done by the first of September). I might even get this whole finished and out the door by the beginning of the year. It would be nice to get a project finished, I have to admit. I just need to buckle down and work. This means I’m going to have to lock myself away in the office when I first wake up in the morning to work. I’ll have to save up for an artist, but that shouldn’t be a problem thanks to deviantart.

I am currently fleeing my current banking situation and have found a place where to put whatever money I get from work or from this little thing (I hear it’s pretty good). I’ve also taken to looking at office chairs – yikes. That might be a little bit of a long way down the road thing… along with a desk. Of course, I am going to need a match before I get the office together.

Sorry that this particular post is a little short and late, but the clock has been no friend of mine today. I promise that tomorrow will be a little more involved.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Hello all – I have been having weirdly vivid dreams as of late (taking silver out of someone’s veins while they’re still conscious… anyone have the number to Dr. Freud?) and headaches in the morning. The headaches I can understand as being caffeine withdrawal and that can be easily fixed. The dreams? Nope, not going to try to venture into that beyond the work stresses bleeding over into my subconscious. I’m hoping to be able to remember more of them over the coming nights – you’ll never know when you’re going to get a good idea? Speaking of headaches… time for my caffeine fix of the hour.

The outline for Tyro is coming along and I am going to try something new in how I am approaching the tale. This blog has a very good article about the 5 act structure. Anyone interested in story telling (novelist, playwright, screenwriter, the time you were *this* close to sleeping with that famous person, and other types of fiction) should take a look at it. For those of you whose Internet time is at a premium, let me sum up (courtesy of filmcritichulk.wordpress.com [note: all caps is his idea, not mine])

• ACT ONE – INTRO + STATE OF PRE-EXISTING CONFLICT
  
• ACT TWO – THE CONCEIT AND PUTTING AT ODDS WITH PRE-EXISTING CONFLICT
  
• ACT THREE – THE TURNING POINT
  
• ACT FOUR – THE SPIRAL/ESCALATION OF CONFLICT
  
• ACT FIVE- = CLIMAX/CONCLUSION/RESOLUTION
  

You may be asking yourself what’s the big difference between the five act and the traditional three act structure? Simple: The five act structure allows for more detail in the story telling. Again – I also want to say this: act structures are not to be slavishly adhered to like the directions on a medicine bottle. In the end, it is what works best for you in telling your story. I like the 5 act because it gives me a clear idea as to the path the story takes. Now, notice that I didn’t say that each act had to be a certain number of chapters. If your first act is a sentence, then so be it. The ultimate idea here is that the 3-act, two-plot-point structure is somewhat limiting. In writing the outline for Tyro’s first novel, I am using the five act structure and it’s helping me get everything lined up. Whatever works, baby.

I am happy that today is Wednesday – the last couple of days at work have been treacherous to say the least. I think this weekend, I am going to do a little house-straightening (no – not arson. Arson is for house cleaning, straightening is much different in that it involves work) and throw myself into the outline and try to have it done by Sunday evening. No Xbox, no movies – might even forgo the Saturday Spam lunch for something in a bag that can be carried home and dinner will be thoughtfully provided by Papa Johns. I am certain that if I put my back into it, I can finish the outline in a couple of days and the novel in maybe two months if I write every day. Try to get back to the idea of treating this like the career I want it to be and not a side-gig.

Speaking of which…

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Hello, all – as you can tell by my post title, I am having a bit of a problem getting comfortable:

Now I bang my knees on the keyboard on top of having a sore caboose…I didn’t know writing would be fraught with such hazards.

I am considering getting an office chair…which means I would have to have an office.

Does anyone have a match I can borrow?

So…maybe during the weekend I can try to get this house straightened out a little bit and make it more useable as an office space. I might need more than one match then. Well – maybe not this weekend (I am going to go see this), but maybe over the course of next week I will try to get the room cleared out and reset a little to be more of an office and less of a ‘cast-off depot’. I might even get a new desk. I might even get an office. I might even get a secretary. But first, I might cut and burn away some things.

To writing – I am working on the outline for Tyro and it’s coming a lot faster. It might be the enthusiasm I have for this particular novel series. This is going to be one of the ‘tent pole’ series – the one I am really going to focus on… not to say that any of the other works are going to get less or more attention, but…the tent pole series are the ones that I feel the strongest about. The Ushabit Trilogy and the Spooksayer series (if I can get the first one finished) are the ones I really like. Most of the other one-shots are good, but they’re just a means to an end – like Ed Wood pitching “Plan 9” to the church to fund their Bible movies. Which reminds me, I should also work on the smut at some point. As expected – the schedule idea I had doesn’t really work for me:

Really? I know there are drugs to handle this, but I’m new to the neighborhood.

I think I’ll just do what’s best for me – working on something until I become disenchanted and switch to something else. It worked for Asimov, or so he said… then again – he has a book in every section of the library. I’ll get one in before I die.

Well – other than that there is nothing new here, so I should get to the outline. Hope y’all have a good day.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy

Since I cut the cable I need to have a digital antenna so I can watch live TV (especially football in the fall). Yesterday, I went to Best Buy to see about how much a digital antenna would be (answer: about $30-$60) and whether or not it would work (“Sure, you’re close enough.“). So, when I get paid I’m going to get the antenna and get back broadcast TV. This is not the reason why I’m shaking my fist at Best Buy and getting odd looks. Just because I finished sooner than I expected, I thought I would look around at the computer section… you know… daydreaming. I saw the ChromeBook – an interesting little thing.

It was across a crowed tabled aisle when I saw it. It sat there, winking at me and saying ‘hey, sailor’. I floated to the table to pick it up. Light, responsive to my slightest touch, it was everything in a tablet that I never knew I wanted. I got my federal rebate a couple of weeks ago – the money that the government deigned to give me – and I had about $300.00 left over after doing a couple of house repairs. Luckily for me, I didn’t have it with me or I would be writing on how much I love my new tablet.

Do I need a new tablet? No, not really. I have a laptop, a PC and a net-top and Kindle Fire and an oft-ignored Nook Color. It’s got the same operating system as my smart phone and the same memory size. I don’t even need a ChromeBook (I have some reservations about something that requires a constant Wi-Fi connection to work), but I have to admit I was giving it a lingering gaze. I’m just a gadget-slut. I do need the antenna. I don’t need the tablet.

But I want it. I want it so bad I’m counting down the days until I get paid. Since this is the cable payment check, I am going to have a little bit more than normal, so the tablet (and the ChromeBook if I am feeling adventurous) is within reach. I also need to set some money aside since I am getting ready to switch banks. Something odd is happening with my messages from NetSpend – I am not getting them. I really don’t know what my balance is without getting on the computer… which I could do right now. Hey – I still have money! I am going to still join a real bank. I’ll just use the NetSpend card for reoccurring subscriptions.

Lest anyone here think I have gone completely off my rocker – I have begun outlining Tyro’s first novel and it’s going great. I have to admit that I like Scrivener. For a writing program, it’s fairly simple to use and it allows me to keep everything together and at my fingertips. It’s worth the $40.00 I spent. Too bad they don’t have a version of it for Android.

Well, off to do other things. Have a good day everyone.

Sincerely,

Seething Apathy