Sitting in an English Garden, Waiting for the Sun...

 Monday, mellow Monday! Where to start?

I broke the 50K mark last night, and had the rough draft verified... I am a winner! Check it out...

 Yay for me! Now I get to regroup, and dive back in tonight. So much more to write! I *think* what I'm going to do is get the four storylines to the stopping point I was contemplating, then give it a going-over to polish it a bit, and then post a sample chapter or two on Wagnervana for y'all to read... then I'll move it forward to the second half. That's my gameplan, I think... but it keeps changing all the time, so who knows?

Got some work done today on several fronts, and I saved the world from the zombie hoards for a while as well. I didn't get to walk today... in fact, I didn't leave the house today! It was very nice, actually... when I stay home, I don't spend money, which is always nice to do once in a while...

Who needs to leave the house when I can see stuff like this on my computer?

PLEASE do yourself a favor and click the little "full screen" button when you watch these two videos... they will blow you away, so beautiful...

And this one...

WOW.

Speaking of wow, here's the largest swimming pool in the world, in Algorrobo Chile - another country I don't have any intention of ever visiting...

It covers 80 square acres, and at its deepest point is 115 feet deep. It's filtered sea water, apparently. It cost 2 billion dollars to build and $4 million per year to maintain. But apparently it draws enough visitors to make it worth while. Read more about it HERE, as well as see more cool pics.


Finally, I have the latest offering from the troupe called Improv Everywhere, a New York City based group of performers that stage cool, impromptu stunts and things that always make for great viewing - I'm sure you've seen some of their stunts before... spontaneous musical numbers and flash-mob stuff... they'll infiltrate crowds at public places and, upon a signal, will all do something, like freeze in place, or remove their pants, or walk "invisible" dogs around the city, etc.

Anyway, their latest "stunt" involves a dude who pretends he can't find his seat at the basketball game in Madison Square Garden... he wanders around, holding concessions, with a dazed look, while his cohorts wave their arms and call his name, trying to get his attention... before long, the whole section of the stadium is joining in, trying to flag him down, as he wanders all over the sports arena, lol...



I wonder who thinks up stuff like that? HERE is their website... the same guy in this video - "Rob" - also is featured in another of my faves, the "High Five Escalator"... bah, I was going to link it, but I might as well embed it here too...



Guess that's enough for now.

One final note: I don't think I'm going to do a Movie Quote Contest for December, sorry. Looks like Krista will be our last Contest Winner...

Until tomorrow, remember, I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together...

You Could Have Stopped Me with One Word, but No, You Wouldn't...

Last day of November... are your Christmas decorations up yet?

Another quickie tonight. I wrote on the novel again last night, and it was unlike any writing session this whole month... I knew right were I wanted to take it, and it flew, it was awesome. I was so energized and rolling, I didn't want to stop. It felt great. But when 3:15 rolled around, I knew I'd have to get up this morning by 8am to prepare for church. So I forced myself to go to bed, even though I was wide awake and could have rolled...

Part of it might be the caffiene cycle I'm on... I wake in the morning, tired. I grab a coffee or energy drink sometime in the early afternoon, to keep me awake. It kicks in late afternoon and I roll until way late... then I collapse into bed at about 2am (except last night, as I said... I was firing on all cylinders at 3 and beyond), but I was a zombie this morning, it was brutal. So I grabbed a latte at about 2pm, and the cycle continues... I really should just force myself to bed at midnight and then have no caffeine the next day... try and balance it out.

Dang, you all didn't need to hear that, sorry. That was thoroughly skimmable...I'm free-associating again. Here, lemme post a cute cat clip, to break things up a bit...



In any case, I'm at 48.5K words... I'll pass my goal tonight. Then I will let out a victory roar, and gear up to keep writing daily. I think I'm looking at 100K+ words... probably a lot more... so much cool stuff to add!

Here's the Funny T-Shirt of the Day...

The two most important phone numbers, I suppose...

Here are some nice Christmassy Photos for you, as pleasant filler...

 

Hope you liked those as much as I do. I'm really feelin' Christmas this year for some reason. I hope that means it will be a good one. And by good one, I don't mean "get lots of swag", I mean, hopefully, I'll have some sort of breakthru in one or more areas, personal, spiritual, occupational, creatively, etc.

Lately on Facebook, for my status updates, I've been dropping a Beatle lyric, just to be innocuously vacuous. A friend commented that it was a shame that Christians listen to the Beatles, since they were (in the friend's opinion) a bad influence on society. I guess this gets back into the issue of Christians listening to secular music. Personally, I don't idolize or admire the Beatles for who they were or what they stood for - or at all, really. I know they were just people doing what they felt best to pursue what they loved and get through the day, like the rest of us. I feel no urge to take drugs or get into Eastern philosophy or "love love love" stuff. I just really like their music, as in musically. Lyrically, the songs are a mixed bag (IMHO), but there are many songs that just flat-out are awesome to me.

One reason I bring this up is that I replied to his comment about Christians feeling shamed for listening by saying "Well, I suppose you can color me shamed, then." Today I noticed he'd "unfriended" me. Perhaps it was mere coincidence, I don't know. I wrote him a private message and sent it to him, haven't received a reply yet. But I really do value his friendship, always have. I'd hate to think I've offended him.

That reminds me, I made a comment in jest yesterday at the play rehearsal that was spontaneous and didn't have much thought behind it. It kind of came out wrong, and I could see how it could have been interpreted as a thinly-veiled insult. I hate that I do that - I did that last year, too... make a comment thinking one thing and having it come out wrong and hurt someone's feelings. I wish life had a "control-Z" function, so I could undo stuff like that. I apologized to the person yesterday, and the person assured me it was ok, but still, I feel like a turd.

I guess I need a cookie...

A 35-layer Oreo... dang...

OK, I'm done for now. Gonna go crack the 50K mark, submit my manuscript to get an official word count, and pat myself on the back. Until tomorrow, remember, just pretend you're a janitor. Janitors are never terrified.

Nice Work, Bone Daddy!

 Greetings, y'all. Another brief post tonight.

Meaning, another post I'm writing while wearing a pair of briefs on my head... well, you know how quirky I am...

Rainy day today in normally-sunny San Diego. I loved it. Rain = good. Rain me likey.

Woke up later than normal, prepped for rehearsal, went to rehearsal, left rehearsal, came home, saved the world from zombie hoards for a couple hours, chatted with Vye, and now I blog. After this, I will write - the final push toward 50K.

There, now you know everything about my day! You can rest at ease now. In fact, go ahead and take a quick nap, I'll wait...

Here's a picture Vye sent me a little while ago...

It is aptly titled "Atomic Gas"... I can only assume he had eaten a Bhut Jolokia pepper earlier in the day, and was now suffering stage 3 of the pain as it traveled through him. Poor Vye. If you want a good laugh, google "bhut jolokia" and watch some of the videos that pop up, of people eating one... you want to feel sorry for them, but really, they weren't forced to eat the thing... by the way, some of the video clips (understandably) have some bad language in them, so be warned, if you do watch them.

Oh, what the heck, here's one that's safe... watch the bhut jolokia kick this guy's butt...



I'm not sure why someone would willingly do that to himself. Eating should not be painful. For that matter, watching movies should not be painful... we have many such films in our family's DVD collection... I get intestinal cramps just thinking about them... OW!

I better change the subject...

Here's something Peter might enjoy (since he has an ongoing series on custom-built bookcases on his blog).

That's so cool. How easy to move would that bookcase be?

Not crazy about the color, but the concept is cool...

This bookshelf is guaranteed to annoy half the people that visit... especially those that tend to compulsively straighten crooked pictures on the wall...

See more cool bookcases HERE.

I had an article I wanted to post about dealing with a 55 stone Stingray that some crazy Brit caught, setting a record, but I think I'll just post the LINK TO IT here, and leave it at that. If you dig checking out enormous sea creatures, by all means, click the link. The stinger is 10 feet long! Dang...

OK, I'm going to go write some... have another key scene to write tonight.

Until tomorrow, remember, one more roll of the dice ought to do it...

You Should Be Reading Stories About Bears that Go Shopping!

Got a killer headache going right now, which is frustrating, since I need to be writing. So I'm going to make this post brief, hope you don't mind. I'm afraid that the act of blogging daily is slipping through my fingers, and threatening to fall into that place inside where activities and projects go to die of atrophy and neglect... I'm losing the desire. I'm just being honest.

I have a month left... I think I can make it.

I do have a funny cat video for you, after all this time...



I've posted a bunch of Maru the Cat clips in my time... Maru's owner got a hold of one of those high-speed video cameras, so she could film him and show it in high-res slow-motion. It's odd what people (like me) will watch...



Christmas Play rehearsal Saturday afternoon. I finished the CD with all the music on it, edited and tracked according to Liz's wishes. We'll be able to use it tomorrow during rehearsal, which should be cool. Only a couple weeks to show time! I'm confident we can pull it off. Rebekah and Rebecca are pro's.

Oh, what the heck. I might as well keep with the Cat theme today...

Lol, great costume. Taco cat. Classic.

Among those celebrating birthdays on November 28 are: John Bunyon (1628), William Blake (1757), Ed Harris (1950), and John Stewart (1962). I love John Stewart, I don't care what anyone says. He's hilarious.

Condolences to Havah, whose father died today (Nov 27). Reeling, reeling, tumbling, trying to find your lost sea legs... thoughts and prayers with you, Havah, wherever you are...

I think I'm gonna pack it in and go write. I still have about 6,500 words to write before the 30th. Shouldn't be a prob. Gonna try and fire off two more thousand tonight before I crash and burn.

Until tomorrow, here's to dreams unfulfilled.

I'll Know if you Move, 'Cause I Have the Ears of a Snake!

 "Chocolate" or "chick lit", which one?

Twas a good, traditional Thanksgiving, like I assume all of you experienced... you Americans, that is... let us now give thanks for all our non-American blog friends (meaning, those not currently in America, that I know of...)... Bob, Marky and Peter! You guys rock! Too bad you're not American too... then we could get together and discuss politics and get fat. Actually, you are just fine the way you are, so be proud! I have to make sure I don't offend any of you, in case I'm traveling the world and am in your area and need a couch to crash on for the night... if I offend you, you'll probably wait until I'm asleep, likely weary with jet lag, and then dip my hand in a bowl of warm water so I wet myself...

How did I get on that again? Lemme re-read... brb...

Ah, yes, Thanksgiving. Lots of food, lots of leftovers, lots of good company. I thought I might get some writing done, but I didn't. I worked on the map, though. Ah, and it looks like I'll be able to keep that character after all, don't know if I mentioned that in yesterday's post... that third (an final, as far as I could see) way to reconcile the problems I was having seems to be working. Gone are the airships, Vye.

On a related note, Rebekah seems to be ok with me using her as a character in the story, so when I get to the part of the story where she'll be introduced, I'll go ahead as planned. One of the things I've had to wrestle with is introducing characters. I've had to do it in stages, lest I overwhelm the story with too many people too soon. A few choice characters I'm keeping in my pocket until an appropriate time; Rebekah is one of them. Actually, the other Rebecca is another of them. I'm thinking I'll keep "Rebekah" as a name, but shorten Rebecca's name to "Becca". Creative, eh?

55 foot Python, estimated to be over 100 years old, found in China, while clearing foliage in a remote area for a road. Possible hoax, but it certainly looks real to me. HERE is the link, if you want to check it out.

The great shopping deals are everywhere, even on Steam. They have tons of games available for sale, which you buy and download directly to your HD, which is cool. That's how I got my copy of Torchlight. Anyway, they have some great deals, including the Lucas Arts Collection of 16 games (most of them Star Wars titles) for $50... Logan, go HERE to check out the titles included, you might consider this one. And the one I'm contemplating, the THQ Complete Pack, of 18 full games (and expansion packs), also for $50. Titles are at THIS link.

The problem, as usual, is that buying them doesn't mean I'll ever actually play them. I guess it's like Wifey finding a crazy good deal on some shoes that she might never actually wear more than once, if at all, but they're such a great deal, she can't pass it up. I'd be far better off merely downloading demos for the ones I'd like to play around with, and if they really hook me, buy the full game. Man, the money that strategy would have saved me over the years...

Speaking of holiday gifts, I'm doing my traditional gift-giving strategy with the family again this year. I give them each a $$$ limit on Amazon, and they can drop items in the cart that they want. They track the totals (without shipping, of course) and I simply go on now and then and pull the trigger on the purchases. That way, they get good deals on exactly what they want, and I don't have to wander around at the mall on the 24th of Dec with my mouth open, wondering what last-second, full-price items I should randomly buy them... that was my strategy before shopping online, by the way... it sucked...

Going to work on my novel tonight, and tomorrow. Gonna try and get the main storyline(s) into a good 50K stopping point, and then flesh out the remaining two storylines as much as I can before the 30th. Then I need to decide how to proceed after that. Should I try to find that perfect stopping point, and then polish up that first half, and make it available for general consumption, or should I continue on in first draft mode, and finish the entire story, before beginning the re-write process? Each option has its pluses and minuses. I'll let you know when I decide...

I'm out for now. I hope your weekend is a great one.

I Once Fixed a Door that Wasn't Even Broken Yet...

 
Hello, everyone!

Anyone?

Ah, there you are, I see you in the back there. OK, good, now I can begin...

What? Oh... uh, no, this isn't the blog for Glee fans, sorry. The Wagner Women love that show, though... does that count? No, I've never seen an episode... I tried, though. I sat with them a week or two ago and lasted approximately 1.65 minutes... Hey, I like Gilmore Girls, though... great writing in that show, and it's a girlie show... is that close enough?

No, it isn't quite the same, is it...

Hmm? What do I talk about here in this blog? Well, that depends... I usually post a nice pic or two, like this...

Yeah, not bad. I also post funny pics, like this...

It doesn't mean anything. It's just a picture. Puppets don't do anything for you, eh? Well, how about little dog costumes?

Come on, that's pretty funny, right? No? Ah, well, different strokes, I guess...

How about a funny video clip?





Yeah, legos. Well, it's a recreation of a scene from The Matrix. You know, The Matrix. You never saw The Matrix, are you kidding me? Ah, well, you should rent it, it's awesome. Just the first film, not the sequels.

Well, I also post links to weird stuff I find while web lurking... like this steel velcro...

Why would you need steel velcro? Well, it can withstand temperatures of up to 800 degrees celcius, and can hold between 7 and 35 tons of weight per square meter, depending on if the weight is pulling perpendicular or sliding parallel. Cool, right? Then I post a link to the story, LIKE THIS.

Well, no, I guess you wouldn't really ever need to use it, but it's cool to know that it exists anyway, right?

Hmm... well, I could monologue on something for a bit - usually a whine of some sort... I'll make this one book-related...

Ahem...

So, that Faithwriters Forum thread on using real people in your writing? Everyone posting is universally, strongly opposed to the idea. Everyone says don't do it, even with permission. They say offending the people is unavoidable. I don't get it, but I'm naive like that. Still, I think I'll cut back on the real people I plan on including, and make the bulk of them completely fabricated. I think Vye, Shannon, Abbie and Yanni all are ok with it, so maybe I'll just make it those four and myself, and change everyone else. The more I consider it, the more I see the wisdom in it... if I load it up with real people, and get all of them spot-on but one, and that one person gets pissed, then it would likely spoil the whole project for me... I want it to be a fun, light, enjoyable adventure... I guess people are more complex than I realize.

There, how was that? No, I can't sing it, sorry. Yeah, I know, the Glee thing, I get it. Trust me, you don't want to hear me sing.

Well, I guess I'll speak briefly on my plans for Thanksgiving and sign off. Thanks for sticking around this long. No one else showed...

Going up with the family to my Sweet Mommy's house. The Ruckles are going to go up there as well, with their kids and Ruth's parents. My sister and brother John will be there as well. Should be a good time. If I get any pics, I'll post them. I plan on bringing my laptop to write, but I doubt I'll get to... I have to be social... it's hard to be social when your face is buried in a notebook.

Anyway, that's it for now. I hope you all have a great Holiday weekend. See ya when I see ya.

Dave

Sorry, I'm Lagging Today

Remember that time I decided to play Left 4 Dead with Dimitri for a couple hours instead of writing my blog post for the night? I remember....

I'll write this post later, sorry....

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OK, it is now after 3am... do you know where your Dave is?

I played some L4D with Dimitri until I crashed to desktop about 1 am... then I powered out a couple thousand words on the novel. Still no resolution yet with the character I mentioned in brief. There has to be a solution. Of course, I decided to write some on the main quest group storyline tonight instead, and the night before I tended still another storyline... I'm avoiding the problem storyline, obviously.

Still, I'm officially past the 40,000 word mark, still going strong.

In the post prior to this one, I posted a video of a Beatles song, that was actually just the song against a still picture of the silouettes of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road. Well, the person that uploaded that song has, it turns out, uploaded the entire Beatles remastered catalog as well! His screen name is LennMcCaHarrStarr, and he seems to be associated with TheBeatles.com... he must be someone official - I can't imagine YouTube's censors would let some random yahoo post the Beatles catalog up there, being so anal about copyright infringement the past year or two. In fact, that Mr. Methane video I had posted a couple years back was yanked last week, after a complaint by B.O. Productions, who owns the copyright to Mr. Methane's stuff.

Anyway, it's like having my own Beatles Jukebox. I listened to songs all day today at work. I'll still want to buy the set, so I can get the songs on my iPod, but it's a great alternative source of high-quality Beatles recordings. GO THERE and subscribe if you want. Then we can form a club.



I'm flat-out exhausted and I have work tomorrow. So for now, adios. Until tomorrow, remember, don't let her under your skin...

Though This Be Madness, Yet There is Method in it.

 Hooray for Monday! HOOOORAAAYYY!!!!!

Did it work? Hmm... not quite... lemme try again...

HOOOORRRAAAAAYYYYY!!! for Monday!

Ah, there we go...

Hope your week has started out well... I know it will finish well... turkey on Thursday, left-over turkey all weekend... that can't be anything but good. Don't forget the ham! Ah, I feel a little bit bad(ly?) for vegetarians this time of year... so much good ol' wholesome American meat to eat! Yummay for my tummay!

So, some of you (Vye!) might be interested to know, the solution I thought I'd come up with for that character in my novel is not going to work, for a variety of reasons. I thought I could force it to fit, but it just ain't going. I wrestled with it last night, overwrote a bunch of stuff, and don't have much to show for it... now I'm behind on my word count.

I have one more possible solution to try before I write the character out of the novel. Which is a giant bummer, since I dig the character so much. Actually, if I try the final solution (lol, sorry), and it doesn't work, I might just go ahead and lay out the conflict here and see if any of y'all have any ideas. Otherwise, sadly, she's gone.

Well, there's worse problems to have, to be sure... like this...





That'll ruin your holiday, eh? I guess hindsight being what it is, they should have trimmed the tree down further first, eh?

I don't remember if I posted this chair before... it's a recliner! Just tilt it back onto the legs you want, to adjust the angle. Wild eh? I do not want one though, so anyone contemplating what to get me for Christmas, don't do it...

I have a new love... it is the game Left 4 Dead. I can't help it... there's something about that game. Who would have thought I'd get such a kick out of mowing down zombies... yeah, yeah, I know, most of y'all aren't gamers and couldn't care less... I envy you, in a way. I think I'd be far more productive if I didn't spend the time I do living vicariously through in-game avatars...

Ah, well, while I'm on the game topic, check out this Back to the Future Delorean mod that someone made for Crysis...





I wish I wasn't such a nerd... but I can't help it. I really think that's cool.

Speaking of things that are cool, the first season of Big Bang Theory was on sale at Target for 12 bucks, so I bought it... Wifey and Eldest Daughter both really like it now, too... so shmoove. See, Bob? Your influence is spreading! You'll take over the world before we know it...

I'm done. Gonna go try and pound out a couple thousand words before bed time. Until tomorrow, remember, Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...



I love the Beatles lately...

EDIT

Sorry, one more video for you to watch... skip forward to about the 7:00 mark if you want to get to the part I want to show you... it's live music by John Mayer, filmed with an iPhone video cam... the musicians among us will enjoy it most, I think...



Dang, can you believe that? Uses the fan's iPhone as a slider thingy while it's recording... awsome....

How Does it Feel to be One of the Beautiful People?

Say hello to today's guest blogger! One of my Alter Egos, the one and only Mr. Filler!

Here's another themed gallery of some of the nature pics I've greedily hoarded. I can't help it, I'm a sucker for a nice shoreline shot, even though they are about as cliche as the "single tree in a field, cleverly entitled either 'One' or 'Lonely'."

Without further ado, here is today's cheap and easy post, while I head off to write...

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There. Now your job is to agree to gaze longingly into each picture and yearn for peaceful times, or the 'good old days' or whatever it is people contemplate when they shift into that 'mellow place'.... you know, that mellow place!

Novel Update: Worked through a possible solution to a character problem today... thanks Laythe! I tell ya, I'm thankful for Laythe - he's knows more about my book than anyone else... it's great to have someone to bounce things off of.

Now, whether the solution we discussed will actually work or not, don't know. All I know is that the current approach has hit a snag in logic and common sense. A couple possible solutions leaned a little too heavily on "magic" for my tastes... I was hoping for a more practical solution. We shall see. If I try it and see that  it's lamer than I thought, I'll lay the details out here and solicit ideas from all you smart people that hang out here.

OK, I'm gonna trot off into the moonset. Until tomorrow, remember to type a witty comment here...

Mozart... I Can't Think of a Time when I Did Not Know His Name...

A little fine art for you there, just to make sure you're sufficiently cultured.

Seriously little to report today. I mean, dangerously little. Once you realize just how little of note I have to report today, you might get mildly rankled... just so you know. Prepare for mild rankling...

The Christmas Play is moving along nicely. There are several choice lines/scenes that I can see already will be a great hit. It was a good call to cast Rebekah and Rebecca as the main playas. I don't foresee any problems. Although Melissa Derr had to leave practice a little early - she got a (the?) flu shot and was having a reaction of some kind... looked a little scary. I trust she's ok...

The novel is moving along nicely still. I wrote that "key scene" I was nervous about, and for a first attempt, I'd say it came off pretty dang good. [Dave pats himself on the back, twisting his arm] Ow! Now I need to decide what to write tonight... the aftermath, or one of the other storylines... I'm focusing so much on the main quest group storyline that the others are lagging... in fact, I've written more about Vye/Abbie/Yanni/Dave than I have the other three main storylines put together. Shannon made her first contribution in last night's big scene... I'm stoked to finally work her in as an actual character, instead of an indirect one...

With my first novel attempt (The Master's Program), I divided the story up by chapter, and gave each chapter its own MSWord file, rather than dump it all into one massive file. With this fantasy story, I'm doing it differently. I'm giving each storyline its own MSWord file, and I'm writing them almost as if they were four individual stories. I have full confidence I'll be able to mesh them together into one draft, when the time comes. In fact, I have other storylines to start, and new characters yet to introduce... I didn't want to dump them all in from the get-go... I'm trying to pace myself, so it's easier to write, and (hopefully) easier to read and follow the action... it would be a shame to confuse things by introducing too much from the start.

Believe it or not, the camp slideshow is almost done.

I bought a Beatles CD today... I know, my mom and I plan on buying the complete remastered set for Xmas this year... but I was there, at Target, by the music, and they were all there... and so I grabbed one, just to give me some Beatles to listen to in the interim. I bought Magical Mystery Tour, mostly for Strawberry Fields Forever, I Am the Walrus and Penny Lane. Believe it or not, there is one out-right dreadful (musically) song on the album, called Blue Jay Way... what's up with that?

I guess that's it. The play, the book, the slideshow and the Beatles... that's what's consuming me of late. I guess I'm kind of "in the zone". I feel no desire to dig up randomness, sorry. I'll probably start losing followers... well, I suppose that's for the best. I plan on pretty much stopping after Jan 1 anyway... the worst thing that could happen, at this point, is to be featured on "Blogs of Note", and get hundreds of new followers... then I'd feel compelled by guilt to continue the daily thing -- which has its positive aspects, don't get me wrong. The biggest problem is, like today, feeling empty, as far as something worth reading to share. I'm happy with our quaint little group here. You understand me!

I'll stop boring you now. If you've skimmed this far, I appreciate it. Gonna go write some more.

I hope your Thanksgiving week is a great one. Until tomorrow, ummm... yeah.

Get in There, Before I Make a Dime Bank Out of You!

 Greetings to every last one of you! Yes, I'm including you! You know who you are! Greetings to you as well.

Rug Shop Day today, which was productive, in that I updated both the front page and the rug blog. It's always nice to be productive. Plus, it was Bring Most of Your Family to Work Day as well... and I was still productive! Go fig-ya!

But my fantasy novel is much on my mind. The "Big Scene" I set out to write last night needed a little transitioning to make it smooth... and the "transitioning" turned into a much larger event than I had anticipated... meaning, I wrote until 3am on the transition, without ever actually getting to the scene! I would have continued writing (the inspiration was there), but I knew I'd have to go into work today, so another couple hours was out of the question. I'll hit it again tonight.

On a related note, I'd like your advice...

Someone over in the Faithwriter's forum started a thread concerning the legality/propriety of using another actual person in a novel/story... this person wrote a Weekly Challenge entry that included another Faithwriter member as a character... her entry won first place, and suddenly she was worrying about whether she should have used her or not...

Anyway, I posted this in my reply:

I suppose I should pay attention to the answers in this thread... my current NaNoWriMo novel I'm writing is a fantasy epic that I loaded with just about everyone I know as characters in the book... I even put myself in there. I loved the idea of taking all these people I know, using their real first names, and their accurate personalities, and dropping them into a fantasy adventure... just seemed like fun (and it is)...

I never considered that maybe they'd have a problem with that....

So as a response, a member named Michele posted this reply...

In a nutshell, it's unwise. Even if it's legal, if it's people you actually know, it can get, um, ah, uncomfortable. People can get quite upset with how they perceive how you are portraying them. It can also wreak havoc or reflect poorly on any third party that is hosting your writing (like FWs, etc.).

I say this out of more experience than I care to possess. At the very least, change the names. Seriously. I'm serious.

Of course, this made me think. I never really considered the possibility that some people might not want to be featured in the book I'm writing. I planned on using real first names, and just dropping people, as I saw them, into a completely different environment, and just having fun with it, like role-playing, or acting together in a big play or some such. It's sort of my weird way of honoring the friendships we have, and doing something fun at the same time. The actions I have people doing, and things they are saying, might not be 100% what they would *really* do in *real life*, but I didn't think that would bug anyone...

So the question is, should I go individually to each person I plan on including in the book to see if he/she is ok with it? Should I change most or all of the names? Should I even worry about it? I mean, I'd hate for something I planned to be fun and inspirational actually turn out to be counterproductive, or even detrimental, to the friendships I'm trying to honor...

I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it took a bit of the wind out of my sails... I'm sort of resolved, at least at this point, to continue as I am, at least until the first draft is done. But I covet your advice as well, especially those of you from church that I plan to include... are you ok with whatever I do with the characters that are based on you? Do you want to have an active say in what happens to your character, with the right to veto something if it doesn't agree with you for some reason?

Again, I just looked at it like we're all acting in an epic movie together, I never even considered that someone might not want to be involved...

So that's on my mind.

In fact, I think I'll leave it there for now. No sense derailing things for the sake of random filler. There'll be time for that tomorrow...

Until tomorrow, then, remember the Alamo...

You Lost Today, Kid. But That Doesn't Mean you Have to Like it.

Greetings fellow web lurkers! Hey, don't you have anything better and/or more important to do right now?

Hang on...

[if ANSWER = "YES" then REPLY = "So do I, but I can't help it, I like my blog."]

[if ANSWER = "NO" then REPLY = "Me neither. So let's tell fart jokes. You go first."]

There, now I'm ready for you to answer the question. Go ahead...

I feel bad (badly?) about misleading y'all yesterday... I had no "story" to tell you yesterday. That's what is called, in my business, a "MacGuffin," i.e. "A plot element that catches the viewer's attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction." Often, the MacGuffin is not important, in and of itself, or is vague or undefined - the sole purpose of it is to drive the plot. Both the term "MacGuffin" and the technique were actually popularized by Alfred Hitchcock in the late thirties.

Examples of MacGuffins would be the Indiana Jones stories... the Ark in the first, the Sankara Stones in the second, the Holy Grail in the third and the crystal skull in the fourth. Also, the statuette that gives The Maltese Falcon its title, the dead man's chest in the second Pirate's film, the Allspark in Transformers, and the briefcase in Pulp Fiction, the contents of which were never revealed.In and of themselves, the macguffins aren't important - they serve to move the story along.

So, yeah, the "cool story" was yesterday's macguffin...

There, now you can't say I never taught you anything!

Uh oh, Funny Picture break...

That would also make a great T-shirt, methinks.

I was writing last night, and I came out with a scene that had me laughing so hard as I wrote it, my stomach hurt. I'd post it in here, but you all know that the only thing that can make me laugh that hard is gas-related, so, if you'll pardon the pun, I'm going to pass on posting it here. Besides, I don't know that it will end up in the final draft. Just because I laughed like a madman at 2am writing it (and again this morning as I re-read it), doesn't mean anyone else shares my warped sense of humor...

I'll be writing a scene tonight that has existed in my head in some form from the very beginning of my contemplations of the story, a year or more ago. It is a key scene, really, and I'm a little nervous about it. But I keep telling myself that it isn't important to get it right the first time, but to get the secene down in any form. Just get it down on paper, and worry about polishing the heck out of it later.

Hmm... I better post a funny Star Wars-themed picture...

There, that should make Logan happy...

In case you missed this video, which Abbie posted in a comment on yesterday's blog post, it is quite impressive... sort of a blending of ballet and acrobatics....





Give it about a minute or so to get awesome. One of those clips you just kind of watch with your eyes wide and mouth hanging open. I'd watch ballet more often, but normally, I just don't get the "point"....

BUAHAHAHAH!!!

O_o

I had the most amazing Scrabble endgame yesterday against Mike Dillinger... He was winning up till the end, when he left me the perfect hook to drop a bingo on him and go about 70 points ahead, basically sealing the win. Afterward, I had one letter left, so Mike had his last play. He actually dropped a bingo as well, across the bottom of the board, for 110 points and won.

In fact, lemme go grab a screenie, hang on...

See, I hooked WRITING on the end of NAIVE for an 81 point play. Game over, right? 70 point lead, no tiles left? Boom! Mike drops DUALIZED across the bottom for 110 points, and the win. Game over. I was amazed. So cool...

Anyway, that's the end of tonight's post. Gonna go hunker down and write The Scene. Wish me luck. Of course, by the time most of you read this, I'll be done writing it (hopefully)...

Until tomorrow, remember, Germany has declared war on the Jones boys...

Fine! Be That Way!

OK, so there was this one time when... what? You don't want a story just yet?

Well, what do you want? A White Ninja comic? Well, ok, I guess, hang on, lemme grab one...

There, how's that one? Good? OK, cool. Now, you're not going to believe this story... so I was--  what? No story yet... Sheesh! What do you want this time? A funny video?

Hmm.. well, not much out there at the moment... there's this one, where a guy accidentally nails his (girl?)friend in the head with a boomerang...




Probably didn't score any points with that bonehead maneuver... does that work? No? Dang, ok, lemme look around a bit more...

Well, here's a clip of a baby deer frolicking in a water hole, since you're such a softie...

No? Hey, you didn't even watch it! What, I'm taking up valuable blog space here trying to cater to you, and you're being difficult! Be more specific, will you? What do you want *exactly*, so I can get back to my story?

Music? OK, fine, here's a YouTube clip someone assembled, which is a medley of his 20 favorite Beatles songs of all time. It's a great list, actually... watch it this time! Ok?



There, the Beatles are always awesome. I can't wait to get me some remastered Beatles...

Now, this morning, I was going into work and-- Oh, come on! What now?

Legos... are you serious? You want a story on legos? Good grief! OK, fine, I'll post a link to a story on legos, but then, it's storytime!

OK, here's an artist that gave up a career as a lawyer to build lego sculptures, which he sells for thousands of dollars...

Click THIS LINK, and go look at his lego sculptures... some of them are amazing...

OK, now... back to my story...

Wait, now you're leaving? Hey, hold on! I gave you everything you wanted! You can't leave, I have a story to share! Just gimme a couple minutes, I promise it will be worthwhile! It's a funny story! It---

Fine, leave, see if I care.

I'll just save my story for another day, and post my Mr. Methane video instead, since no one's here...



There, that'll show you... I thumb my nose at you! I'm not your performing monkey! You can't just order me around and expect me to jump! You can smell my feet, for all I care...

Oh, whatever. I'm going to go work on my novel...

:(

EDIT: What the! I got an email this morning from YouTube notifying me that they removed my Mr. Methane video because of Copyright infringement, based on a complaint received from B. O. Productions, which is Mr. Methane's company! I can't believe it! Anyway, I find it ironic that after two years on YouTube, they pulled it, right after I posted it to my blog... ironic coincidence, eh?