Okay, so let's just dive into the numbers:
Mon: 2108
Tue: 2131
Wed: 1122 FAIL
Thu: 302 FAIL
Fri: 0 FAIL
Total: 5663 FAIL
I'm posting late because I took a bit of a break this holiday weekend (and some of the week, as you might be able to tell from the numbers). I pulled myself away from writing and internet and sort of enjoyed life for a weekend. It was nice, it was refreshing, it allowed me to catch up a little on my reading and my editing, so I'm feeling better. I'm working on today's total right now, and have gotten about 1233 words in, will be jumping back into it after I blog this stuff.
And yes, I took yesterday off as well. It's a holiday, after all! Okay, yeah, that's flimsy excuse, but still! Anyway, as I said, I'm feeling 100% again and I can get back on my goals. There will be no misses this week (and in fact, I'm going to try and make up for missing Monday as well).
Breaks, if you ask me, are a difficult concept for a writer (or any creative mind). It affords some time for the artist/writer/musician/sculptor/slam poet to step away from their work and de-stress in order to get back into things, but at the same time, it leads to what you see above: Failure. It's one of those situations where balance is necessary, and my trouble with breaks in the past is that I end up taking a break that never really ends. This is really what led to my first schism with the craft when I was drowned in work after college.
So when I take a break, I need to have a clear endpoint in mind. I was really burnt out by Wednesday last week, which is when I considered taking a break. I did a little work on Thursday, but not nearly enough to constitute anything, and I just decided then that I was going to take it easy the rest of the week and work on editing of other people's work--which in of itself is still helpful to better my writing, but not nearly as much as actually writing.
Anyway, the time for breaks is over. I don't want to spiral into sloth. I'm getting back into things today and vow to hit my goal for this week! All I need to do is keep the internet at bay.
Bishop
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Monday, May 19, 2014
Graduation Situation
So, this weekend was a big graduation weekend for many schools across the country. In the windows of cake stores (and by cake stores, I mean that section I walk by in Walmart that makes me want to buy a cookie cake ‘just because’) you’re probably seeing a lot of graduation-themed cakes. Yes, ‘tis the season for diving into a horrendous job market… And ‘tis the season for sitting in a huge room listening to inane speeches about the next steps of your life. Which is how I spent my Saturday morning.
As avid readers (all one of you!) know, I’ve been sick this past week. I do not sleep well when sick, and despite wanting to spend all my time in bed in a coma induced by Nyquil, I find myself doing things like mowing the lawn without provocation, because why? (I actually mowed the lawn while at the worst of my sickness—what’s wrong with me?) I also tend to stay up late as it is, and have had a particularly hard time sleeping this week, so when Saturday rolled around, I had plans to be in a coma. See “Nyquil” above.
My lovely wife, Bishopette, had other plans. It’s not her fault, it’s a family event kinda thing, but I had to go to my brother-in-law’s fiancée’s graduation. Writing that sentence reminded me that were it not for marriage, I would have no idea who this person was, and would never have had to go to her graduation at EIGHT A-FREAKING-M. Seriously, who plans graduations? Shady Acres Retirement Village? Saturday is a wide open day, most everyone on the planet can attend things at eight, nine, ten, even noon. Let me sleep, higher education!
I’ve been to a few graduations, including my own, and I know what they entail for the most part. So, as you can guess, I brought my Nintendo 3DS. My wife didn’t mind, one of the earmarks of why I married her, and in fact brought a book for herself to read (which now reminds me I really should have brought a book, read a little, became a better writer through it… but the monsters in Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate are not going to slay themselves). As we sat, listening to a keynote speaker talk about… something… I was fighting a Lagiacrus, scourge of the seas. This great water serpent and I were in mortal combat, and the middle aged woman next to me seemed none too pleased with her seating arrangement. Every few moments, I’d hear the speaker say… something… and then she would say, “Ooh,” like it was the most poignant or moving grouping of words she had ever heard. Clearly, she was the speaker’s groupie.
As the day went on (by GOD did it go ON AND ON), she continued to “ooh” and “ah” EVERY FREAKING SPEAKER that went up there, and there were a lot of them. Yes. I get it, it’s sweet that he built a school for disadvantaged youths, but I am trying to concentrate on quelling a great monster of the seas here! All while I was swinging my great sword, she would casually look in my direction (I never actually looked at her face, as Larry the Lagiacrus was still breathing) and give an “Ugh” of disdain in the fact that I was entertaining myself rather than losing three hours of my life to speeches about… something…
This middle-aged woman (let’s call her Helen!) never actually said anything to me directly, but with each of Helen’s condescending grunts of displeasure, I felt more assured in who I was. I was reminded that even though I had already graduated from an institute of higher learning, had a stable job and a wife, and generally began to feel my youth slipping away… I would never be a Helen. It’s my goal in life to one day be forced to go to a graduation for my brother’s grandchildren (I’m not having children of my own—they’d cut into my monster hunting time) and I will bring my 3DS. I’ll sit next to someone my own age, a future Helen, and pop that thing out and mutter curses under my breath while Son of Lagiacrus (Louis the Lagiacrus!) attempts to murder my hunter. I’ll receive a mindful helping of “ughs” and other snorts of derision, but it will all be worth it as I know that in some small part, thanks to video games… I’ll always be a child.
As avid readers (all one of you!) know, I’ve been sick this past week. I do not sleep well when sick, and despite wanting to spend all my time in bed in a coma induced by Nyquil, I find myself doing things like mowing the lawn without provocation, because why? (I actually mowed the lawn while at the worst of my sickness—what’s wrong with me?) I also tend to stay up late as it is, and have had a particularly hard time sleeping this week, so when Saturday rolled around, I had plans to be in a coma. See “Nyquil” above.
My lovely wife, Bishopette, had other plans. It’s not her fault, it’s a family event kinda thing, but I had to go to my brother-in-law’s fiancée’s graduation. Writing that sentence reminded me that were it not for marriage, I would have no idea who this person was, and would never have had to go to her graduation at EIGHT A-FREAKING-M. Seriously, who plans graduations? Shady Acres Retirement Village? Saturday is a wide open day, most everyone on the planet can attend things at eight, nine, ten, even noon. Let me sleep, higher education!
I’ve been to a few graduations, including my own, and I know what they entail for the most part. So, as you can guess, I brought my Nintendo 3DS. My wife didn’t mind, one of the earmarks of why I married her, and in fact brought a book for herself to read (which now reminds me I really should have brought a book, read a little, became a better writer through it… but the monsters in Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate are not going to slay themselves). As we sat, listening to a keynote speaker talk about… something… I was fighting a Lagiacrus, scourge of the seas. This great water serpent and I were in mortal combat, and the middle aged woman next to me seemed none too pleased with her seating arrangement. Every few moments, I’d hear the speaker say… something… and then she would say, “Ooh,” like it was the most poignant or moving grouping of words she had ever heard. Clearly, she was the speaker’s groupie.
As the day went on (by GOD did it go ON AND ON), she continued to “ooh” and “ah” EVERY FREAKING SPEAKER that went up there, and there were a lot of them. Yes. I get it, it’s sweet that he built a school for disadvantaged youths, but I am trying to concentrate on quelling a great monster of the seas here! All while I was swinging my great sword, she would casually look in my direction (I never actually looked at her face, as Larry the Lagiacrus was still breathing) and give an “Ugh” of disdain in the fact that I was entertaining myself rather than losing three hours of my life to speeches about… something…
This middle-aged woman (let’s call her Helen!) never actually said anything to me directly, but with each of Helen’s condescending grunts of displeasure, I felt more assured in who I was. I was reminded that even though I had already graduated from an institute of higher learning, had a stable job and a wife, and generally began to feel my youth slipping away… I would never be a Helen. It’s my goal in life to one day be forced to go to a graduation for my brother’s grandchildren (I’m not having children of my own—they’d cut into my monster hunting time) and I will bring my 3DS. I’ll sit next to someone my own age, a future Helen, and pop that thing out and mutter curses under my breath while Son of Lagiacrus (Louis the Lagiacrus!) attempts to murder my hunter. I’ll receive a mindful helping of “ughs” and other snorts of derision, but it will all be worth it as I know that in some small part, thanks to video games… I’ll always be a child.
Bishop
Like... Bay Of Pigs Levels of Failure
I’m actually afraid to go to the counts this week…
Mon: 1035 FAIL
Tue: 2179
Wed: 1156 FAIL
Thu: 1222 FAIL
Fri: 1530 FAIL
TOTAL: 7122 FAIL
How is Tuesday my victory day? I hate Tuesdays. Like seriously, Tuesdays are the worst!
Anyway, sorry I didn’t post this all on Friday, but it’s been a fairly busy weekend and I’ve been trying to beat the living hell out of the rest of my cold so that I can get back to actual work on my book. I’ve also got books I need to critique and so I’m basically behind in every aspect of my life, hence the horrors of those numbers above.
So, for now I’m going to close this post because I’m posting an “adventures” post today and still have 2000/2000 words to write and two chapters minimum of people’s work to critique (plus one short story!) so I’ll be going now…
Bishop
Mon: 1035 FAIL
Tue: 2179
Wed: 1156 FAIL
Thu: 1222 FAIL
Fri: 1530 FAIL
TOTAL: 7122 FAIL
How is Tuesday my victory day? I hate Tuesdays. Like seriously, Tuesdays are the worst!
Anyway, sorry I didn’t post this all on Friday, but it’s been a fairly busy weekend and I’ve been trying to beat the living hell out of the rest of my cold so that I can get back to actual work on my book. I’ve also got books I need to critique and so I’m basically behind in every aspect of my life, hence the horrors of those numbers above.
So, for now I’m going to close this post because I’m posting an “adventures” post today and still have 2000/2000 words to write and two chapters minimum of people’s work to critique (plus one short story!) so I’ll be going now…
Bishop
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Coughing II: The Return of Cough
I hate to go into more detail about being sick (as it might make this part of my blog seem like nothing but my whining) but really, that's all that's going on right now so...
Last night was fun! If you read that line sarcastically, then good. If not, go back and read it again and emphasize the exclamation point as much as possible in your head. Or out loud, provided you're either alone or don't care what those around you think about you talking to yourself. It's okay, I'll wait.
Okay, so last night my cough had been well contained with cough medicine, a substance I worry my body is growing a dependence on, and I was feeling pretty good. Riding high on wings of wax, I flew high up to the sun, feeling that if I was doing so well, I should be able to stay up a little later. On any given work night, I stay up until around midnight, sometimes one. I work nine-to-five and get anywhere from six to seven hours of sleep. Yes, I know I'm supposed to get more, but video games. So last night I stayed up until 12:30, and decided to try and get some sleep.
Bishopette and I are sleeping separately. No, we're not fighting, it's just that with both of us sick we temporarily decided to put me up on the spare mattress (note: not a full bed, just a mattress) until the coughing we each have subsides. And I'm glad we decided this because...
When I went to bed, my throat began to tickle. It started as a "tee-hee my throat's tingly!" and quickly descended into "every breath causes your mouth to feel like and your brain to believe that there's a spider in your larynx and so it will immediately force you to cough and dry-heave uncontrollably until you vomit."
And that's what happened. It was awful, even breathing through my nose made me cough sometimes. And then, but by the grace of whatever unloving deity dominates this realm, my nose became too congested to breathe. So someone wanted to make sure my throat received the proper tickling it deserved. Needless to say, I was up until three in the morning, possibly later. I'm supremely exhausted right now and I'm sucking on a coca-cola like a baby's bottle, praying that someone comes into my office with an IV drip of epinephrine. Or whatever substance stops my throat from tickling.
Last night was fun! If you read that line sarcastically, then good. If not, go back and read it again and emphasize the exclamation point as much as possible in your head. Or out loud, provided you're either alone or don't care what those around you think about you talking to yourself. It's okay, I'll wait.
Okay, so last night my cough had been well contained with cough medicine, a substance I worry my body is growing a dependence on, and I was feeling pretty good. Riding high on wings of wax, I flew high up to the sun, feeling that if I was doing so well, I should be able to stay up a little later. On any given work night, I stay up until around midnight, sometimes one. I work nine-to-five and get anywhere from six to seven hours of sleep. Yes, I know I'm supposed to get more, but video games. So last night I stayed up until 12:30, and decided to try and get some sleep.
Bishopette and I are sleeping separately. No, we're not fighting, it's just that with both of us sick we temporarily decided to put me up on the spare mattress (note: not a full bed, just a mattress) until the coughing we each have subsides. And I'm glad we decided this because...
When I went to bed, my throat began to tickle. It started as a "tee-hee my throat's tingly!" and quickly descended into "every breath causes your mouth to feel like and your brain to believe that there's a spider in your larynx and so it will immediately force you to cough and dry-heave uncontrollably until you vomit."
And that's what happened. It was awful, even breathing through my nose made me cough sometimes. And then, but by the grace of whatever unloving deity dominates this realm, my nose became too congested to breathe. So someone wanted to make sure my throat received the proper tickling it deserved. Needless to say, I was up until three in the morning, possibly later. I'm supremely exhausted right now and I'm sucking on a coca-cola like a baby's bottle, praying that someone comes into my office with an IV drip of epinephrine. Or whatever substance stops my throat from tickling.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Major Failure 05/12/2014
Well, this is depressing... let's go to the counts:
Mon: 2008
Tue: 488 FAIL
Wed: 0 FAIL
Thu: 2141
Fri: 0 FAIL
Total: 4637 FAIL
My first weekly fail. Sigh. The reason for it is my sickness. I've been just plain exhausted and barely able to do my essential work at my job, so writing has gone by the wayside this week. I'm still coughing relentlessly and when I'm not coughing my body is trying to tell me to go to sleep immediately. So my waking time is either my body churning out coughs of death or is trying to not be awake.
So the hell continues. Today (Monday, because I was too dead to even post anything on Friday--I even took that day off work, which I HATE to do) I'm halfway through the day and I'm running on three and a half hours of sleep and haven't written a thing yet. I plan on trying after I finish this post, but I worry that I'm just drained right now. And unfortunately, that's really all I have to say. My brain's just fried from not getting rest all weekend, so I'm just going to sign off. Worst. Week. Ever.
Bishop
Mon: 2008
Tue: 488 FAIL
Wed: 0 FAIL
Thu: 2141
Fri: 0 FAIL
Total: 4637 FAIL
My first weekly fail. Sigh. The reason for it is my sickness. I've been just plain exhausted and barely able to do my essential work at my job, so writing has gone by the wayside this week. I'm still coughing relentlessly and when I'm not coughing my body is trying to tell me to go to sleep immediately. So my waking time is either my body churning out coughs of death or is trying to not be awake.
So the hell continues. Today (Monday, because I was too dead to even post anything on Friday--I even took that day off work, which I HATE to do) I'm halfway through the day and I'm running on three and a half hours of sleep and haven't written a thing yet. I plan on trying after I finish this post, but I worry that I'm just drained right now. And unfortunately, that's really all I have to say. My brain's just fried from not getting rest all weekend, so I'm just going to sign off. Worst. Week. Ever.
Bishop
Thursday, May 8, 2014
First Adventure: Coughing
So, as promised, I'm adding some snippets of my own life and mental insanity... here's the first.
My wife, Bishopette, is a teacher. This means that every few months she comes home with fresh germs from her students (who I'm sure are lovely, but I picture them as walking amoebas at this point--usually with cigars hanging out of their mouths, spreading pestilent fumes) and offers them to me by way of "breathing." I'm not sure why, it could be an immune system that was tempered by my childhood of swimming in a lake by my house that was (and is) comprised of 98% duck poop, but I only get sick about once or twice a year.
It's that time of the year!
Bishopette has had a nasty cough for a few weeks now, and her's has become a full-blown flu. I'm seeing the opening ends of it, meaning that I have SO MUCH fun coming toward me. I'm already coughing and spewing strange globular substances when I do, and my coworkers have taken notice of this. The reason they have taken notice of this is because the five of us that make up the IT department share an office with desks strewn about, and being five computer nerds... our social skills are greatly lacking. This means, at any given time, the noise level in our office is approximately -5 decibels. Any higher and we scurry away under our desks and hug our computer towers for protection.
So when I started coughing and wheezing, I caused a minor disturbance. One of my co-workers, who we will call Rico (I'm naming people in my life after characters from classic science fiction novels), had some cough drops readily accessible at his desk. By "readily accessible," I of course mean "had five different flavors and brands in his desk drawer". I was offered one and I took it on Monday, when my coughing began.
As I mentioned before, computer geeks like us sometimes have poor social skills, so throughout this whole week, I have been coughing and choking without really realizing that everyone around me is being made to listen to this noise:
"Huacccck! Chuuuaaaaak! Yuuugggghhhhhrrrrk!" Every five minutes. Rico, however, has noticed.
He constantly has reminded me throughout the week of his arsenal of cough drops by taking a few ever-so-silently from one of the bags and chucking them across the room like bolas. The resulting impact onto my brain reminds me of the noise I'm making ("Grrrrraaaaaauauuuccchcchchckckck!") and I sheepishly unwrap the cough-drop shrapnel and suckle at it, weeping silently as I remember why I have so few friends. Okay, that last part was a little dramatic.
I have some pretty awesome friends.
My wife, Bishopette, is a teacher. This means that every few months she comes home with fresh germs from her students (who I'm sure are lovely, but I picture them as walking amoebas at this point--usually with cigars hanging out of their mouths, spreading pestilent fumes) and offers them to me by way of "breathing." I'm not sure why, it could be an immune system that was tempered by my childhood of swimming in a lake by my house that was (and is) comprised of 98% duck poop, but I only get sick about once or twice a year.
It's that time of the year!
Bishopette has had a nasty cough for a few weeks now, and her's has become a full-blown flu. I'm seeing the opening ends of it, meaning that I have SO MUCH fun coming toward me. I'm already coughing and spewing strange globular substances when I do, and my coworkers have taken notice of this. The reason they have taken notice of this is because the five of us that make up the IT department share an office with desks strewn about, and being five computer nerds... our social skills are greatly lacking. This means, at any given time, the noise level in our office is approximately -5 decibels. Any higher and we scurry away under our desks and hug our computer towers for protection.
So when I started coughing and wheezing, I caused a minor disturbance. One of my co-workers, who we will call Rico (I'm naming people in my life after characters from classic science fiction novels), had some cough drops readily accessible at his desk. By "readily accessible," I of course mean "had five different flavors and brands in his desk drawer". I was offered one and I took it on Monday, when my coughing began.
As I mentioned before, computer geeks like us sometimes have poor social skills, so throughout this whole week, I have been coughing and choking without really realizing that everyone around me is being made to listen to this noise:
"Huacccck! Chuuuaaaaak! Yuuugggghhhhhrrrrk!" Every five minutes. Rico, however, has noticed.
He constantly has reminded me throughout the week of his arsenal of cough drops by taking a few ever-so-silently from one of the bags and chucking them across the room like bolas. The resulting impact onto my brain reminds me of the noise I'm making ("Grrrrraaaaaauauuuccchcchchckckck!") and I sheepishly unwrap the cough-drop shrapnel and suckle at it, weeping silently as I remember why I have so few friends. Okay, that last part was a little dramatic.
I have some pretty awesome friends.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Trying Creepy 05/02/2014
Another week down! Let's go to the counts:
Mon: 2146
Tue: 2120
Wed: 2057
Thu: 2133
Fri: 2288
Total: 10744
Woo! No failures! Then again, no days broke past the 2500 mark, so that's a bit of a bummer. But, either way, here we are.
I'm enjoying working with 1-week posts, I get to write more about what's going on and I feel like my posts are more substantive. If you want, you can still check in everyday and pretend I'm here with you, blabbering on about writing. Anywho, this week, I've gotten to a nice point in book 3. I'm just under 47,000 words in and I've got the characters in some stick situations. This third installment has a bit of a horror element to it. It's designed to be darker and (hopefully) scarier than the other two books. The part I'm writing now is the beginning of the frightful element. I've been told by some of my beta readers that I'm good at writing suspense into the narrative, and I think at the very least these scenes will have enough tension to keep the reader wanting to turn the pages. I hope they're 'keep the lights on at night' scary, but I don't think I've got enough experience in horror writing to actually master that quite yet. So for now, creepy suspense is my goal.
I like to think that I dabble in some new things with each book, I guess it's part of trying to discover my favored writing style, but its also just because that's the story I'm seeing in my head at the time. I'm nothing if not honest with portraying the exact tale that my head wants me to tell. So, here I am, trying to be a little scary and hoping it works, all just because it fits the story!
See you next week!
Bishop
Mon: 2146
Tue: 2120
Wed: 2057
Thu: 2133
Fri: 2288
Total: 10744
Woo! No failures! Then again, no days broke past the 2500 mark, so that's a bit of a bummer. But, either way, here we are.
I'm enjoying working with 1-week posts, I get to write more about what's going on and I feel like my posts are more substantive. If you want, you can still check in everyday and pretend I'm here with you, blabbering on about writing. Anywho, this week, I've gotten to a nice point in book 3. I'm just under 47,000 words in and I've got the characters in some stick situations. This third installment has a bit of a horror element to it. It's designed to be darker and (hopefully) scarier than the other two books. The part I'm writing now is the beginning of the frightful element. I've been told by some of my beta readers that I'm good at writing suspense into the narrative, and I think at the very least these scenes will have enough tension to keep the reader wanting to turn the pages. I hope they're 'keep the lights on at night' scary, but I don't think I've got enough experience in horror writing to actually master that quite yet. So for now, creepy suspense is my goal.
I like to think that I dabble in some new things with each book, I guess it's part of trying to discover my favored writing style, but its also just because that's the story I'm seeing in my head at the time. I'm nothing if not honest with portraying the exact tale that my head wants me to tell. So, here I am, trying to be a little scary and hoping it works, all just because it fits the story!
See you next week!
Bishop
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