Just a short post today. Actually posted a piece of flash fiction earlier. I continued to write the novella and wrote 1340 words on the project, and you can add around 500 for the Flash. That is a good day, no matter what you think I am I am hitting my stride. The antidepressant I take–I am not ashamed–has allowed me to get my mind functioning. It is the fourth I have tried. The other three, over the years, had terrible side effects. I am having an amazing period of creativity, flash fiction, short stories, a Novella. I need to get back to editing “The Jungian Gate” and plan a novella sequel to Shift.
Goal: I am thinking I will edit and tighten up all my short stories and put them together into a book.
Well, I think this is it. It is about time to hit the sack. My late start this morning happened because I stayed up to one in the morning.
Damned if I’m not late getting started again, but it’s not my fault this time. No, I blame day, that being last night. How can I blame a period of time equal to a fraction of the rotation of the earth? Easy, I went to sleep at 0100, that is 1:00 AM for the twenty-four-hour clock challenged. You see, I sit up with my lovely wife until she falls asleep, approximately 2345. (Subtract 1200 form the number to read the time.) Then, after watching a few minutes of The Late Show With Steven Colbert, I decide why not read for a while. One thing led to another, and I start editing back over yesterday’s writing. Suddenly, it’s 0100. (If you can’t read that go back to my second paragraph. See what I mean, not my fault at all.
Well, only so much exhaustion can be fixed with a cup of coffee.
Ah, much better. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. The alarm blares at 0520. I wake up, stab my alarm to death with my finger, and glance at my wife and say, “Time to get up, Dear.” “Five more minutes,” says Dear. What is a man to do? So, I give her five minutes. “Five more.” Now I start feeling like the witch hunter in Salem, Massachusets who in trying to seduce a confession from a suspect witch dropped a rock on his chest only to hear, “More weight.” You probably see where this is going but being a writer, I can’t stop.
It’s like an addiction, and there is no twelve step program.
Five minutes later. “Dear…
“One more minute.” “I have to wake up the boys.” “One more minute.”
Then up she pops like a devil from a Jack-in-the-box. Strip from her Tee-J. (That is a t-shirt she sleeps in.) Bathroom break. Brush teeth. Shower. A few minutes while I wake up my son. Dressed, we run downstairs where she fixes breakfast to eat from her desk at work and takes most of the coffee. Son #1 comes downstairs, bleary-eyed. Kiss, kiss, hug, hug and the door.
I need to compress time here, a bit, so consider this a brief trip through a small wormhole. (Obligatory Science Fiction Term.)
Boys fed and dropped off at school, I return home, sit my cold cup of coffee on the end table and recline with a lie to myself. I will just close my eyes for a minute. 1100, Oh, shit!
Damned if I’m not late getting started again, but it’s not my fault this time.
Now that we’ve reached that sudden moment of Déjà vu for you, I need to go to work.
Started my morning with a visit to the Doctor. (You don’t really need to know.) It all came out fine, anyway, blood pressure 112/80, which is really good. I seem to have that in shape. I started by setting a couple of goals, came up with more ideas about promoting work, and wrote a piece of Flash Fiction, “An Unintentionally Embarrassing Morning.” (584 words) So, not bad at all. I wrote something, but I have not written on my main project, my next published work. So I am going to take this moment to say, “Get the Lead Out!”
Writer’s Log – Supplemental – 1217: Just a note. (1) I am going to start a blog to promote my Novella Series. It will be written by the main character. (2) I intend to do the same thing for Shift.
Writer’s Log Supplemental – 2304: Yea! Two days, with this new system, and I have finished a second scene and a total of 2418 words. Add those to the Flash Fiction Piece mentioned above. Even though I have the novel sort of planned out, I created a species of alien, The Tau Tepe, A species with three separate brains and three semi independent consciousnesses. I had not planned for that, and now I like the character’s idiosyncrasies. Not sure how it will influence changes in the rest of the novella and the series, but they will.
So the new system begins. I have begun writing Starjack, and complete 1067 words. It has shifted form my original vision. Captain Suri Oza is suffering form memory problems due to the use of a long sleep drug that drastically slows his metabolism, usually used with deep sleep tubes. Those on his ship were destroyed. He crawled in a body bag with the body of a friend and injected the drug as a beg middle finger to fate after his ship was damaged. His memories will dribble back to him over time. The person who shot him will be the last memory he will recover, somewhere near the end of the novella.
I have completed a one-sentence summary of all three Novellas, assigned working titles, and know how each novella ends. I have three main characters, and plan to make each character the POV character of one Novella.
NOVELLAS: Yes, yes, yes I will get around to my writer’s log, later. This is just a note covering my change in direction. since I am self-published, I’ve decided to write a series as Novellas. Each book will be between twenty thousand and forty thousand words. They will be complete, in that I will present a beginning, middle and end with rising action a climax and a denouement. (Yes, I am showing off my literary chops with that word.) But Each will be one part of a series of two or more books. That requires writing one thousand words a day. I can do that.
I also intend to continue blogging about writing. This blog will expand out to more than one page, covering my printed works. along with the blog here, I will publish at Medium at least once a week.
Honestly, I’ve never been that disciplined, but it is past the time that I learned. I’m old enough, and I’m good enough.
First Novella will be Starjackers. Watch this bog for more.
Good morning all you beautiful people! Woke a bit earlier this morning, and begin what has become a comforting ritual, beginning my Log. Putting words on a page may be tedious to some, but I find the quiet pop of keys falling, and the appearance of black letters on a white screen soothing in a way that escapes my definition. Of course, there is the annoyance of the occasional misspelled words or grammar mistake that I must fix, but that annoyance is more like biting into a peppercorn in a delicious meal, a rush of pepper than gone.
Shift, by Frank Darbe “Two o’clock in the fucking AM on a smoky night with no clouds and only the light from the overglow of distant fires, Toss sat on the goose seat of a Harley Sportster with his arms around the waist of a beautiful woman. He lived a young man’s dream, and all he could think about after hours of driving East was that his ass hurt from his knees to his neck.” Chapter 3: Chasing Ghosts Available at JaCol Publishing and Amazon
Writer’s Log – Supplemental – 1628: I wrote a Flash Fiction piece titled, “The Path Most Demanding” using the painting by Johann Georg von Meyer. 812 words.
Painting by Johann Georg von Meyer
A Writer’s Plan: So far, I have pursued this without a pl;an, other than published a book. Well I’ve done that and now I need to move on. I intend to try something a little different. Writing a series of Novella’s that will add up to a larger novel. Novella’s can be as short as 20,000 words and upwards to 40,000. I want to aim at 30,000 words. I can write one in thirty days or less. For a series, I can have each novel complete on its own, and series arcs.
I am already working on a Novella. I am going to make this either a duology or a trilogy. It will be Science Fiction of the Space Opera genre. It will run like a series of modules in a game, one leading to the next but each being independent, capable of standing alone.
Writer’s Log – Supplemental 01.13.2019-0048 I have written the basic background for the series of Novellas. I suspect it will be a Trilogy. The first novella will be the gathering of the three primary characters and their escape from Breakersbore in search of an ancient colony ship.
Been one of those days, know what I mean? I stepped on a water hose and fell and twisted my left ankle. It doesn’t hurt bad, but with my Achilles Tendon being a bit calcified, it means that it can take months to heal up. I don’t think it is that bad, you know, but I probably won’t know for sure until tomorrow. And now, Grammarly ( a great program by the by) is telling me “know what I mean” (written as a tongue in cheek salute to my childhood in Oklahoma where that phrase appeared multiple times in any conversation, know what I mean) wants me to change it for “uncertainty.” Why in holy hell would I want to do that?
Writer’s Log – Supplemental; Off to a late start today, so don’t “twizzen” judge. A question came up in the Novella I am working on, how do I handle profanity. I do, indeed, want my characters to speak, and at least one of them is as profane a man as you might ever find, especially when he wakes up in a body bag. He is surrounded by people who are less profane only in that they do not have as much dialog. I am going to come up with my own choice words. Twizzen – Galac Basic word for extinct American English slang “fucking.” Galac Basic – The common language spoken in the region of space where the story takes place. Galac Basic varies from star to star. I will add other choice words, and post them separately as a page, perhaps. Working on Space Opera novella.
Writer’s Log – Supplemental-2019: Some days you write the bear, and some days it runs off with your mind and shit’s it away in the wood. I’ve written some on the Space Opera Novella. Interesting work.
Sometimes, a writer must take the seat of their (gender neutral pronoun) pants firmly in hand and lift themselves by their belt loops. Yea, the metaphor could be improved, but this is about pantsing, writing from the seat of their pants, not the game where jocks (I was never one) jerk the pants of nerds (that’s me) down around their ankles. Lot’s of fun for observers, bullies, and jocks, loads of humiliation for nerds. Besides, I am not complete pantser. I know how this story ends and begins. I know the main characters, just a little hazy about everything in between. Read my Novel “Shift.”
Slipped off that subject, I suppose. Well, for the morning I am working on my upcoming Novella, writing the first draft of a scene titled, “A Body Bag With a View.” More on the flip.
Writer’s Log – Supplemental 0839: Trying to decide in this Science Fiction Novella if I should just let the profanity rip, or if I should create a profane lingo. Think I will go with my gut and create a lingo or jargon for profanity. Beta readers and editors can change my mind if they want to try.
Writer’s Log – Supplemental 0947: Wrote 357 words. Not bad, but not good either. I need to go do a load of laundry. Latter.
Writer’s Log – Supplemental 1153: After a load of laundry, I edited Chapter Eight Scene 1 of “The Jungian Gate.” The work continues.
Writer’s Log – Supplemental 1510: More editing on Jungian Gate, continued with the sequel.
Writer’s Log – Supplemental 1529: Finished Chapter 1 Scene 1 of the TJG’s sequel.
Title a little silly, well that is me all over. And now, to work.
Writer’s Log – Supplemental: At this point, I have two things going on today with the time I have.,The Jungian Gate and Jackers/Starjackers/Shipjackers Yea, well I am not sure of the title. And away we go.
Writer’s Log – Supplemental 1119: Starjackers, going to snowflake it to get off the gournd.
I’ve struggled with using journals to keep track of things. So far, it hasn’t worked. I’ve decided to keep a running work log of what I am doing here, and maintain all work in individual files. Too hard to find things.
01.07.2019 0745: Novella – Working Title : Jackers.
