1011 so far today. Nap, shower, put away laundry and maybe I can get another 500 words or so. When I finish this scene, I'll have Chapter 17 of Born of Silence completed.

Watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets DVD last night. I think the best part was the scenes that were cut. Some of them were really hilarious. It's too bad they didn't make it to the finished product. Also, the snippet of interview with Jason Isaacs (who played Lucius Malfoy) was interesting.

Been writing on an RPG or two I've got going, as well. (Too bad they don't count towards word count, huh? LOL!) My Grayhawk campaign fighter, Anton, is now suffering from two curses. The boy's first adventure and he keeps getting enamoured. Sheesh! I'm actually kind of glad, though. He was rather boring (as most first level fighters are) and this has given hiim some definite angst.

And then there's the Star Trek PBEmail one. All hel's breaking loose while on thirty day leave. Vikings and Althings and assassins, oh, my! (Not to mention the smut…LOL!)

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1020 words today. I actually started on the scene I’ve been ruminating about rather than work on more world building. Since I’ve finished the master level world building Dare at Forward Motion, I’ve gone to the Journeyman level and started anew. That means an additional 6k words on the Sanguire or on other plots and the like.

Feath! You’re a brat! I found myself actually having a gander at the NaNoWriMo website and contemplating November! ARGH! I might actually DO it! It’s all your fault! I’m even considering which outline to have done by that time

Tonight's a ball buster kinda night at work (and I don't even have balls!) I'm scheduled in at 1pm but I bet I'll be working an 11 hour shift. We have a monster turn (from a wonderful dinner to schoolroom for 200 the following morning) at 10pm tonight. I can't imagine my boss telling me to go home at my scheduled time of 9:30.

And then tomorrow is graveyard again. Which means if I'm to keep up, I need to write 2k words before work tomorrow night.

And I'm thinking about NaNoWriMo? I'm insane!

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1247 words today. Brings my week total to only 5272 cuz I didn't write for three days. However, my daily average is only 350 words in the hole since I had some overflow, so it doesn't look all that bad. No more slacking, regardless of work schedules. The crisis has appeared to pass, so it won't be an issue.

Man, I wish I could go get a nap.

Graveyard only sucks when you have to go back to swing shift two days later.

Yesterday, I did nothing but try to stay awake after 4 hours sleep so I could be up in time this morning. Get to do it again Thursday morning since I work graveyard Wednesday night. Woo hoo . . .

My last post, I said I'd written nothing. I changed that. Pumped out 1931 words of world building. Maxed my World Building Dare out. I finished the outline for a space pirates story and did a complete outline for the 1800's mail order bride tale. Still a little stumped on the next scene of Born of Silence. I guess I'll spend my next day or two finishing out the character sketches for the Sanguire Council.

And a bit from the Sanguire Encyclopedia:

Sanguire Council – The leading ruling body of the Sanguire, it is made up of five individuals. Historically, the Council worked in conjunction with the sovereign ruler of the Sanguire. They're positions, once acquired, is for life. Since the death of Elisibet the Tyrant, the Council has taken over the rule of the Sanguire race.

For those of you interested in our recent familial crisis, suffice it to say we're shut of the sister-in-law. She hasn't tried to contact us in any way. My wife has officially quit with Mary's case worker and a missing persons report has been filed. Once she's found again, she'll be detained and we'll get her meds to her. After that, it's up to her.

It's sad, really. She's one of the better siblings. I like her. It's a shame to see her toss everything to hang with the liquor bottle.

So, I looked over the last scene I wrote. Alle ist gut. Then I check the outline to see what's next. No problema. (How's that for mixing languages? Heh.) But as I prepare to work on the next scene I notice something is missing.

It's time for the Council to get together. Bethany knows of the aborted attempt on Jenna's life, the mysterious councilor pretending to be Lionel doesn't know his operative failed because he hasn't had word yet, and Lionel needs to be informed of what the hel is going on in Portland with Margaurethe and Valmont.

sigh

Wouldn't be an issue except my character outlines of the Council are pretty non existent (except for Bethany and the mysterious one.)

So, I spent the day pumping out 1094 words as I cross referenced Allies, Enemies and Lackeys for each of the characters. Concentrated on the main ones. Figured out which characters will only be supporting in book 1, which ones won't be seen until book 2, and I've even got a line on a scene for book 3! Sheesh!

The entire manuscript is over 48k words. Not bad since I only started the thing in mid January. By my previous method of writing, I'm about eight months ahead of schedule! LOL!

Off to shower and then the dreaded work.

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Hah! I knew it! (But then, isn't everybody's boss a dork?)

Last night he called work and had me get hold of the supervisor that was working tonight. Wanted her to come in at 7am instead of noon. Which left no supervisor working tonight. I didn't realize it at the time he called. Wasn't until I called my compatriot to let her know of the shift change that I realized we had one guy coming in at noon and no one with him.

Went home and told everybody I expected a phone call from work in the morning.

Damn, I'm good.

So, I'm working today on my day off. No biggie, really. I've had 3 days off this week. And my boss is so happy that I agreed (difficult? Who, me? snicker) that he said I only need to stay a couple of hours. I expect to be outta there by 4pm and off to Coffee People for another writing session.

Barring any weird street people staring at me . . .

Worked today on world building. Primarly I fleshed out the characters some more. Allies, Enemies and Lackeys to be specific. Prepping for the next installment. I've finished chapter 16 and, according to my outline, I've only ten more scenes to the book. I'll probably be finished with it by mid May.

Anyway, working on Jenna's history I've discovered a whole 'nother prophecy in the making from the secretive sect that her family belonged to. Who knew? (Well, her family did, apparently. They're just now getting around to informing ME about it.) I've never done this world building thing before. I can see I've been really messing up without it. The storylines become much more rich and textured.

blissful sigh

This one's gonna be my best, I know it.

I've been asked about what the hel it is, so here's the skinny.

The Sanguire Encyclopedia is basically my world building tool for Born of Silence and all the other odds and ends. The main goal here is to have an easy to search database for those sudden questions three books later. (Wait! Did Elisibet kill Nahib or Balboa?? Crap!) Saves having to dig through three or four manuscripts to find the exact scene and what have you.

As ideas come to me and I research them, I write an entry for said idea and end it with other topics for cross reference. I can then go back over what I've already got and make the necessary changes. Eventually, I'll also add a timeline of some sort and most general characters will have their own entries. I also have the characters in a separate database with Omni Outliner that gives me much more detail.

As an example, here's the entry for Elisibet the Tyrant, a historical babe with a bloodlust that rivaled Vlad Dracul's.

Elisibet the Tyrant – Elisibet began her reign in 1136. She came to power upon the death of her father, Maximal III. She was young, only thirteen years old, but the Sanguire Council decided to allow her to use the Book and Turn before she reached the age of majority. (It is argued that her young age caused the problems later in her reign.)


By the mid 1500’s, her court was one of gluttony and cruelty. She ruled with an iron hand and a velvet whip. No manner of sadism was too much and more often than not, Elisibet personally involved herself in the bloodletting and tortures. Her only trusted companions were Lord Valmont, a young protege of Councilor Nahib, and Lady Margaurethe O’Toole, her consort.


Toward the end of her reign, Nahib was implicated in a rebellion against her. Elisibet had him thrashed before being drawn and quartered before his lover, Bertrada Nijmege. On a lark, Elisibet then pronounced Nijmege as Nahib’s replacement on the Sanguire Council.


Not long after, Lord Valmont was ordered by the Council to kill Elisibet, thus ending her bloody rule.

W00T! 22,381 in 21 days! I had a couple of rocky parts when Castle Walls came in to be edited, but so far so good.

Of these words, I’ve completed five chapters for Born of Silence and will finish a sixth one by early tomorrow. Six chapters in just over three weeks is a major record for me! When I began writing, it would take me two weeks to finish one chapter on average. I’m going like gang busters!

I've also put in 4300 words on the Sanguire Encyclopedia. I've still got plenty of character building to fall back on if I have a problem getting into the groove with the writng and over a month to hit my goal of 8000 in this section.

1545 words on Born of Silence! W00T! PLUS I finished all of Castle Walls edits and sent it back to my editor. Yeah, baby! Who’s yo daddy?

There appears to be someone on the streets of Portland that looks like me. Whoever it is hangs out between the South Park Blocks and Pioneer Square.

A couple of weeks ago, I was enroute to Coffee People, my favorite writing haunt. It was raining and I was standing underneath an awning a few feet from the intersection as I waited for the crosswalk light to change.

Two guys crossing the other street approached from my left. No biggie. Downtown was relatively busy despite the liquid sunshine. But one of them, a tall scruffy blond man I've never seen before in my life, wouldn't stop glaring at me. It went so far as him craning his neck around like an owl as he passed.

But he kept walking, so I had no problem. Just chalked it up to a generally odd bird.

Today, on my way to Coffee People again to see if I can get more than my grand for the day, I came to a dead halt just outside the door as I realized I didn't have any money with me. Which meant a trip to a bank a couple of blocks away. No biggie.

I turned around and there was this fellah almost a block away. He was standing on the corner and it looked like he'd been calling to me to get my attention. (I'm mostly deaf and besides, I was listening to Saigon Kick on my CD player.) When I turned, he was in the process of waving and seemed to realize I wasn't who he thought I was. Rather sheepishly, he finished the wave, kinda shrugged and turned away.

Since the bank was in that direction, I headed after him. Of course, kept an eye on him for the couple of blocks we paralleled. He wasn't much taller than I, dressed in dirty clothes, straggly black hair. Street person, plain and simple. He also waved at others who ignored him, so I assumed it was simply his mental disabilities that caused his initial 'recognition' of me.

But here I am in Coffee People. I'm parked with my Palm and keyboard near the window, watching the park and preparing to write more on Born of Silence. Some guy walks by and stops to stare at me. I've never seen him before. He's down on his luck though he wears a leather jacket and has a bad scrape on one temple that seems fresh.

My automatic response is, of course, to ignore it and it'll go away. The guy turns around and heads back the way he came. I'm sitting at the back of the coffee shop and he entered through the front door.

Great. I'm gonna have some nut case trying to pick me up or some stupid shit.

He walks past the counter and all the way to the back of the shop, aiming for the bathrooms. Before he reaches them, however, he stops and stares at me. I glare back. (I might work in the hospitality business but I can be VERY inhospitable when the need arises.) He seems to realize I'm not who he thought I was and shuffles out the side door.

Weird…

. . . nibbling on my arm. Amber's not a lap kitty by any means. So she has a wooden chair next to my office chair where she hangs out (since I'm mean and won't let her on the desk.) When she wants attention, she'll swat at my arm and, if I continue to ignore her, she'll reach over and bite me. She's a pet shop rescue and she's never been what you would consider a 'cat'. I think she got confused with all the dogs around her. LOL!

Finished my one grand in one hour. W00T! Can’t beat that! Now the reader knows exactly who the other potential assassin is (not to mention the first one who died a horribly icky demise.) I’ve just finished the fifth chapter of the April May Dare at Forward Motion. Three more to go and that one will be complete. I might just sign up for a second go round there if I get all 8 in one month.

My wife's a happy camper. Her first term in college and she's come away being on the Dean's honor list. Not bad for an ol' lady, huh? She's pretty proud of herself and has every reason to be – she hasn't been to real school for . . . oh . . . about thirty years! She's kicking butt and taking names, man! I'm proud of her!

Well, off to goof while I have time. Then off to work. I dunno, maybe I'll get out before ten hours tonight. Wish me luck!

You are a narrative writer. Usually a writer of
stories rather than poetry, you grew up reading
Shakespeare’s less popular and heard of plays–
like King Lear or the Henry series. Your
writing contains a certain order and
organization–be it chronological or otherwise.
If you are to write poetry, it has to convey a
logical (or perhaps unreal) story with some
sort of order behind it.


What’s YOUR Writing Style?
brought to you by Quizilla

Just over a thousand today. Thank the gods for the Sanguire Encyclopedia! I got three hundred words in when I realized Margaurthe was commenting on the general structure of Sanguire society. And it occured to me . . . "I have no clue what she's talking about!" So I had to research it. LOL! I suppose it's high time to figure it all out what with the potential civil war scenario I have planned for future books.

So I structured the Sanguire people similar to the Lakota – a handful of branches with various family clan unit within each. I've made one branch supposedly dead, though there's always rumor of their continued existence. The cool thing is, I tied in various special abilities to each of the branches. One of these ultimately ties into a completely different trilogy of books! W00T! So, lemme see…that makes the final tally of books from this creation…NINE BOOKS!

Heh.

Now I've got to write 'em! LOL!

Crazy night at work. I'm beat. Aloha and nitey winky all.

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Only 769 words today. About two hundred of that is the last of Castle Walls edits. The rest I did at Coffee People on Born of Silence.

I’m having difficulty slipping from a medieval fantasy to contemporary vampires (go figure!) I had the same problem the last time I went through CW. Took me three days to get back into BoS. Can’t afford that this time, however, if I’m going to keep up my grand a day for the Forward Motion Dare. This is day two of no joy as far as word count.

Tomorrow morning I think I’ll get back into the swing of things. Write the grand for BoS before work. Then, when I get home (which will be early cuz we’re REALLY slow at work) do the final bit of CW. I’ve got a list of repetitive phrases I’ve got to sort through. Brainless work, actually. Just a matter of finding them all and replacing them with more inventive things.

And now I’m waiting for my buddy, Shawn, to get her butt home from work so I can talk to her on iChat.

In the meantime, for those of you who wish to ask about outlines, the answer is yes, yes, and yes. LOL! Oh, all right, I’ll answer a little better . . .

Yes, I work from an outline. At least I am with BoS and I have with Warlord Metal and Tiopa Ki Lakota.

Yes, I work without an outline. At least I did with the fanfic series I was involved in. Those were done on a chapter by chapter basis because each chapter equated with a single day. I’d decide “Okay, it’s the following day, what’s everybody doing?” I also didn’t work from any sort of outline with CyberEpic and got about halfway through one that’s been tabled (Kou Itten) without an outline.

Yes, I have an alternative method. Or at least I’ve tried several. With Castle Walls, I didn’t use an outline so much as the index card method. Tiopa was the result of historical study where I had to keep good track of time. (There really was a year known as the Year of the Horses by the Lakota.) With Born of Silence, I found a Mac program called Omni Outliner that’s fantastic!

I would highly suggest going to Forward Motion and registering there. They have online classes and they also have the transcripts from past classes. You’ll find one by Holly Lisle about how to outline. It helped me a lot!

Final count – 239 total. I know, I know. Not a grand. But I claim extenuating circumstances! My editor finally got Castle Walls back to me for the next round of edits and that’s how much I’ve added throughout. I’ve only 60 pages left to go (from 188.) I’m still in advance of what I need for my second week of the April / May Dare at Forward Motion.

Went to the doctor. She had a medical student with her today. Considering the female exam I had to do, I figured, what the hel. Sure, she can stay. What's one more set of eyes and pair of fingers in an already embarrassing situation? LOL! Gods, I'd never have thought that twenty years ago. As expected it was a pain in the . . . well, ass is in the general vicinity, so we'll go with that.

My doctor's going to set me up with a hearing specialist. W00T! Taxes rolling in for hearing aides. I might be able to hear somewhat better come summer! That'd be a hoot!