Part-time prevaricator
Writing about writing.
“The first draft is you telling yourself the story.”
—Sir Terry Pratchett
Well, I’ve got a first draft written. After all’s said and done, “There’s Nothing Good at the Top” clocked in at 19,850 words.
Continue reading “Draft 1: done”
I love to read, but I don’t have a problem abandoning a book if it’s not doing it for me.
I found a book in the library’s science fiction section, a title I’d never heard of by an author I’d never heard of. I checked out the first couple pages, I read the author’s bio—apparently the author’s “name” was a nom de plume for an award-winning writer of thrillers, trying their hand at SF. OK, I thought, I’ll try it. It’s the library, it’s not costing me anything.
Continue reading “Did Not Finish”
It appears that my current work-in-progress (title pending; current working title is “How Quickly We Forget”) came to me in a dream just over a year ago. Just for fun I took a snapshot of the git commits[1]nerds gonna nerd,[2]speaking of nerds gonna nerd: apparently tac in Linux will spit out a text file in reverse order, the opposite of cat on the project, and here’s what I’ve done so far (no spoilers that I know of):
#, which is my preferred notationUpdate, Dec. 19th: a month later, here’s the next batch of commit messages:
This year I’d like to:
My “week” is a little truncated this year—I’ll be here for 5½ days, roughly—but I’m planning to make the most of it.
Header photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash.
Footnotes
| ↑1 | It looks like the weather might cooperate. |
|---|
I had a dream the other night that I was writing a story about a tower, a wooden tower like you find in national parks at scenic outlooks, but every step on it was a day. If you came down the stairs too quickly you’d find yourself back in time.
When I woke up I held onto it, tweaked it, made it more logical. I’ve started on a first draft, because a gift in a dream is still a gift.
The tower had three hundred and sixty-five steps, but one of them—it was never clear to me which one—was about 25% higher than the rest. My best friend Riley, who went missing for a week and a half in the summertime and then showed up claiming he’d tripped on the way back down from the top, told me over pie and black coffee in the Chicken Chef that I should always watch my step.
“On the tower,” I said, “or everywhere?”
“Everywhere, but especially on the tower.”
Another day, another bike ride. This was about 16km, and started at the coffee shop, where I noticed I was that weirdo who wears a Slaughterhouse-Five T‑shirt but reads Bluebeard.[1]A Vonnegut book is a Vonnegut book, though.
Then I noodled around town for a bit, and out into the countryside, where I took photos of a tree…
…and some hydro lines.
Then back into town, where I saw—
Look, I know some of you can’t wait for Pumpkin Spice Cable-Knit Sweater time, but I’m not ready to let go of summer yet. So this little cluster of yellow leaves felt particularly cruel, at least to me.
Ah well. So it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut[2]Full circle. would say.
Yesterday’s big thing was a 20-km bike ride. I took my camera along and snapped a couple photos; the bison up above and the signposts below, which reminded me of the Watson Lake signposts we saw on our trip, decades ago, to Yukon.
I also finished reading “The Metamorphosis”, and it was, well, Kafkaesque[1]As you’d expect..
Today’s plan: writing some sections of one of my stories; reading some Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut (I’m about 5 chapters in and he’s got some interesting things to say about art; I also wonder if Michael Swanwick lifted a few names[2]Like “Mintouchian” and “Gregorian”. from the book for characters in his novel Stations of the Tide), and probably another bike ride, since the weather seems similar to yesterday. I need to inflate my bike’s rear tire, though, before I go.
And if it’s clear tonight, as the forecast suggests it should be, I think I’ll gather up my cameras and tripods and go find a big, open sky with a Milky Way or other nighttime delights.
What did I bring to this year’s writing retreat?
And now I’m about to start cooking supper, finishing off the quite bitter[1]At least it’s got cool can art, by GMB Chomichuk. A Necessary Evil (which is definitely an IPA), and planning out tonight’s writing. (Ghosts? You bet. Starships? Absolutely.)
Footnotes
| ↑1 | At least it’s got cool can art, by GMB Chomichuk. |
|---|
This morning, on the radio, the very first news story I heard was about how the provincial English exam got postponed[1]Or canceled, who knows. because they had, to use Manitoba Education’s words, “an issue regarding necessary permissions to use materials.” And I laughed.
Continue reading “The “The Two Seasons” incident”Footnotes
| ↑1 | Or canceled, who knows. |
|---|
Hoo boy, I haven’t done one of these in a while.
Yep, I’m a mentor again. Good luck to us both.