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bylinebree

Still Seeking the Dream
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A little over a week until a major writers con, and I'm still plugging away to finish the DRAFT of this ms. 118k in now...thought I'd be done by now, too, but nooo. The end is bugging me...what is wrong with it? I'm staring at the chapter of people dying/being rescued/decisions being made/love declarations and am unsettled. There's so much work after this. But for today, I am slugging down energy drinks and dithering with the ending of this book.
 
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Brightdreamer

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A little over a week until a major writers con, and I'm still plugging away to finish the DRAFT of this ms. 118k in now...thought I'd be done by now, too, but nooo. The end is bugging me...what is wrong with it? I'm staring at the chapter of people dying/being rescued/decisions being made/love declarations and am unsettled. There's so much work after this. But for today, I am slugging down energy drinks and dithering with the ending of this book.

Endings are tough. Just remember that this is a draft - anything and everything can be refined later. (When in doubt, look back to the beginning of the book. What ending best mirrors that, or answers the first question you asked? Go with that, at least 'til revisions.)

Well, looks like two relatives have picked up my cold from last week. So I'll be shopping for cold material (kleenex, meds, probably juices) in addition to the usual dinner option replenishment, and I may or may not have a sneezy, coughy co-rider tagging along in the car. Oh joy, oh rapture...

My task list from yesterday got partially complete, at least. Rolled over a few items, and one - the camp logo sketching - just plain is gonna take as long as it takes. But I'm pretending it's progress so I don't feel like a total loser.

Off I wander.
 

CreativeHeart75

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Reworked a poem this morning. I am browsing the forum at the moment but I need to go have some lunch and take care of some of my other obligations, i.e. vacuuming. I have to work this evening so I need to get a move on. Hope everyone out there in the world is having a great day today! ;)
 

clek25

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Setting aside my current novel turned completed project returned WIP and starting a new. As sad and scary as it is, it's what my gut is telling me to do.
 

Keithy

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Just finished digging a big lump of concrete out of the lawn. It's about a cubic foot and I think it was once a base for a linen line pole or something. Took three days to get out!

Now for a coffee.
 

JCornelius

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Apparently a creative team of Russians decided to make an Avengers/Fantastic Four flick, based on the idea of a secret Soviet super-soldier project, natch., on a $5 million budget, and now it's out on the screens and goes by the name of The Guardians.

I'm so going to watch it tomorrow. I suspect the actors will be wooden newbies, the screenplay will be on the same level, but the effects and camera work--there I'm really, really curious what can be whipped up on a budget like this when there's enthusiasm.

fypf5u.jpg


(Today is for the blessed new season of Samurai Jack. "Gotta get back, get back to the past!")

*EDIT UPDATE* Watched the film. The fight scenes are world class; the women are gorgeous beyond gorgeous; the men are dreamy; the plot is soulless derivative crap; the acting is of the more wooden type direct-to-DVD level; the effects are Marvel-film level circa the year 2000, now in the glorious future way cheaper to achieve.

Verdict: If the Russians turn into a direct-to-DVD/TV film superpower that produces modified Hollywood knockoffs, that'd be great fun.
 
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BenPanced

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(Today is for the blessed new season of Samurai Jack. "Gotta get back, get back to the past!")

"How else? Good ol' Celtic magic!"

Right now, I'm finishing up lunch, which consists of ONLY THE MOST AMAZEBALLS SUSHI! It's also potluck day at The Day Job but I have a long, ugly history with potlucks at The Day Job, so I usually sit them out. BUT WHO CARES BECAUSE SUSHI!
 

Brightdreamer

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Just finished digging a big lump of concrete out of the lawn. It's about a cubic foot and I think it was once a base for a linen line pole or something. Took three days to get out!

Ah, yes - digging concrete out of the ground... did that at my late grandpa's old house a summer or two ago, when we had to move his old mailbox holder (an airplane propeller embedded in concrete.) Didn't take three days, but it took three people with a shovel and pickaxe - then we had to roll it across a busy road. On an incline. But it's done, and hopefully it never has to move again.

It's another rain-and-sun-without-rainbows Wednesday, and I didn't get much sleep tonight, so it's catching up to me after work, here. (Gotta limit my chocolate intake today... I think that's what kept me up. That, and my brain is evil and refuses to shut down when it's supposed to. For some reason, it's completely reverted to my "normal-for-me" sleep schedule and resents getting up at work time, so it's decided it won't sleep at all on work nights.) I have a list of things I need to do before I let myself play Titan Quest again, but be danged if I'm having more than enough trouble just staring at the computer without nodding off...

Off I wander.
 

cmhbob

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Sigh.

Just got done breaking the news to our kids (7 kids, aged 11 - 21) that we're separating. Almost 23 years. We both brought a bunch of baggage into the marriage. It was my second, and the first didn't end well. She was young and naive about a lot of things. Neither one of us communicated well, especially in the beginning.

We've been in counseling for 18 months, as long as we dated. Both couples and individual. But when your therapists start saying, "We're running out of tools to try," maybe it's time to reconsider what you're doing. As we worked through everything, it finally became clear that the water that had passed under the bridge of our lives together was so caustic that it had eroded the foundations beyond repair. Counselors can't always keep a couple together, just like doctors can't always keep a patient alive. Sometimes the best they can do is to help you realize when it's time to let things go, and help you do so gracefully. I told the kids that we saved the relationship, but couldn't save the marriage. My wife said it's better that we go out like this, communicating well, and on decent terms, than the way we were at each other's throats 18 months ago.

So we're going out with a whimper, not a bang. We've already agreed on property, and I've already got a place to live lined up.

I'm 51 years old, and I'll soon be living on my own for the first time in my life. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I know it's for the best, but it still sucks.
 

JCornelius

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/.../

I'm 51 years old, and I'll soon be living on my own for the first time in my life. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I know it's for the best, but it still sucks.

Starting over after 50 is increasingly a thing in our civilization and some would say one of its perks. I have seen men (and women) become their healthiest, happiest, and sanest, after what you describe.

Sometimes fate unites you with a spouse in order to create and raise wonderful children, not in order to be together forever. When that's the case, once the program is fulfilled it’s time to move on, and concentrate on one’s own actual happiness. And health, and body, and generic enjoyment of everything. Sometimes it takes some work before this cognitive and behavioral shift kicks in, but after that--baam!

Divorcees have told me, “Life only starts getting worth living after 50.” And, after the obligatory period of one night stands and attempts to marry the next person who smiles at them, once that's over with and they calm the heck down, they all seem to end up with partners who love them just the way they are. This time not together to raise children or to promise someone the world, but just to be together.

(Some don't even want that either. Some just decide to make do with their circle of friends and the occasional one night stand or friend-with-benefit-stand and appear to be fine with that.)

Good luck:)
 
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Brightdreamer

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I know it's for the best, but it still sucks.

Ten words that sum up most of life... Sounds like you're both on the same page as to where you both need to head from here, at least.

Well, I poked at the task list, with partial success on 3 out of 4 items. (The fourth is just gonna have to wait - it's fighting me too much right now.) Got a little game time in to unwind with; Titan Quest is my favorite hack-and-slash for stress relief, and so far I'm liking what I see of the anniversary edition updates. (Well, except for losing all my progress on Titan Quest Gold... I was halfway through the Epic run, almost up to Legendary, dang it... may try manually moving one of my save files to see if that does anything, but from what I'm reading enough may have changed to make old saves unstable even if they could import. Probably not worth it.)

Guess I'll head off to do some reading before bed. Just started Book 3 of the Expanse series, Abaddon's Gate. Seems a slight bit more stretched than the previous two, insofar as sticking in new characters before getting back to the main storyline, but I'm still turning pages.
 

ManWithTheMetalArm

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Sigh.

Just got done breaking the news to our kids (7 kids, aged 11 - 21) that we're separating. Almost 23 years. We both brought a bunch of baggage into the marriage. It was my second, and the first didn't end well. She was young and naive about a lot of things. Neither one of us communicated well, especially in the beginning.

We've been in counseling for 18 months, as long as we dated. Both couples and individual. But when your therapists start saying, "We're running out of tools to try," maybe it's time to reconsider what you're doing. As we worked through everything, it finally became clear that the water that had passed under the bridge of our lives together was so caustic that it had eroded the foundations beyond repair. Counselors can't always keep a couple together, just like doctors can't always keep a patient alive. Sometimes the best they can do is to help you realize when it's time to let things go, and help you do so gracefully. I told the kids that we saved the relationship, but couldn't save the marriage. My wife said it's better that we go out like this, communicating well, and on decent terms, than the way we were at each other's throats 18 months ago.

So we're going out with a whimper, not a bang. We've already agreed on property, and I've already got a place to live lined up.

I'm 51 years old, and I'll soon be living on my own for the first time in my life. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I know it's for the best, but it still sucks.

Ah man, sorry to hear about that. :( I've never even had so much as a girlfriend, but I can't imagine what going through that is like.

As for me, I'm trying to work on a couple final papers, but I'm just tired and worn out from both school and work. Gotta' love end of semester fatigue.
 
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Brightdreamer

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Thursday exists, evidently. Just wanderin' through doing the post-work/shopping decompression thing. Don't mind me...

Weather's springlike for now.

Work was a thing that occurred. Shopping, again, occurred afterwards. (Didn't want to shop, but when everyone else used up the medicine you needed at 3 AM and didn't bother telling you, you get to go to a store again. What fun... not.)

Off I drift...
 

Violent-E

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I am just about to leave to hang out with a mate, before my appointment later on.
Should be fun as usual.

Also I made a new signature and avatar today and am wearing it proudly! (as I write this) :)
 

Taylor Harbin

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Finally got to give my wife her wedding anniversary gift: we went to see The Lion King at the Fox Theatre! It's been way too long since either of us got to see a good show on stage and it really did live up to the hype. But, of course, one can't help but feel a kind of unspoken challenge to bring one's own creation into the world.
 

Brightdreamer

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And it's Friday.

Work was light, but we still didn't finish due to gremlins in the final hour. I probably should've hit a store on the way home, or maybe the car wash (my car needs a scrubdown bad, plus I gotta get the new tabs on and I prefer doing that after a wash), but I have had it up to my eyeballs with shopping my way home this week.

I have a few things on my to-do list, so I ought to at least attempt those before goofing off in Titan Quest again.
 

Wahara

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I've decided to come up with a different masterpiece. They say the best writing advice is to really make your own experiences come to life in your work. I enjoy writing fantasy, but in my opinion, high fantasy isn't really the best medium to do that, so I started from scratch with an urban fantasy. I'm excited about it, and I already think it's going to be immediately more powerful to the reader. :)
 

Brightdreamer

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Dang, it's almost noon? What happened to Saturday morning?

Time flies when insomnia screws up your sleep schedule... didn't fall asleep until after 4 AM, round about the time I was deciding how much longer I'd lay there before giving it up as a bad job. So I overslept, but I don't feel particularly rested.

Got another to-do list in front of me. Want to attempt at least half the items before I let myself boot up my game.
 

Keithy

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About to make dinner, so that means peeling potatoes. I've been "about to make dinner" for half an hour.
 

Brightdreamer

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Another sunless Sunday follows an exceptionally wet Saturday.

Still sleeping cruddy... nice and tired right up until I crawled into bed. Dang it, brain, stop messing with me!

I did lousy on my to-do list yesterday, so today I need to do something about that, though I expect to be hauled out to a store at any moment.

Away I go.
 

Keithy

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Done so much today: cleaned the house, did some gardening, cooked dinner (as usual) and then... did some editing!

After yesterday's lethargy and introspection, I decided all the above would not do themselves.