May 2020 Challenge - Write Every Day!

Woolly: I am living vicariously through your effective editing. I'm very much in the messy state right now

Layla: Dunno about you but I'm waking up so early right now because of the stupid sun (and the gulls). Hope you get some rest.

Taylor: Ah, I'm glad. A good night's sleep can work wonders!

Six pages today, which is alright given I spent a large amount of time de-clogging my fountain pen. Can't believe it's the last week of May. My original target of 50k is, LOL, not gonna happen.

Six pages sounds awesome!

I failed to go back in to chapter 21/22/23. Instead pulled out an old short story to work on.

Hopefully I will be raring to go on the chapters tomorrow.

April & Layla - well done on your pages of work.
Taylor - same for you.
Woollybear - yeah, it's a bit of a struggle right now. See below.

OK, I've done a bit on Dustworld over the last couple of days: 342 & 347 words. We're near the end of the gunfight with the bandits: several dead and Rodney has a repeating rifle! Etia is dubious about these newfangled things.

Regarding Fishy tail. Um, I think there's another huge revision of what I've done so far. I'm doing too much of Kaylee discovering the secret criminal organization and being believed instantly. Instead, I'll have the secret US maritime agency know about it. Scales and tails, I'll get the darned thing right eventually.

research

spy novels. I'll let you guess which ones.

non-writing

Shopping for the prisoners.
Busy busy, really tired again

keep swimming, somehow.

April, congrats on those 6 pages. (I’m trying to get up before the sun. I really love being awake when the world (well the birds in particular) is waking up)
bear, congrats on writing today!


Day 25


On the way home I saw a hawk eating some kind of unfortunate song-bird. It was perched on a streetlight, showering feathers down while all the small birds around were squawking and cheeping. Probably the deceased/dinner was the Mr. or Mrs. of one of those spectator birds. Animal Planet in your own backyard.


WIP - added some words
R/SC - some people responded to my housemate ad, so I responded to them . (I didn’t get any responses for weeks, I think)
BP/$$ - my main job, 11.5 hours

Day 24 - a bit lower in word count, not quite half a page longhand. Maybe more than 150 words but less than 200
Day 25 - did better, about 2/3 of a full page. Another 300 words, probably more than less

I meant to do more today but got distracted by weed-pulling. It's getting too late so I think I'll just read for a change. Tomorrow the bad guys kidnap the witch and escape in the good guys' truck (vampire superspeed makes them effective pickpockets). Luckily coyotes are skilled at hotwiring.

Tomorrow the HVAC guy will be coming over to discuss my purchase and installation of an AC unit. I won't be sweating my way through summer this year!

Pterofan said:

Luckily coyotes are skilled at hotwiring.

Click to expand...

Must be this new generation of coyotes. They not just shopping at ACME anymore

My folks were visiting over the weekend. Stayed up late last night and slept in today, so my routine was thrown out of sync. Only wrote a few paragraphs, but at least I beat Resistence.

Back to work today, so I’m returning to my pre-pandemic schedule; less than an hour of writing time. Got just over a page.

Day 26 - only did about a quarter of a page this morning. I'm trying to talk myself into adding more words to that. Maybe during TV time tonight.

Layla - I should have been more specific. My character's a coyote shifter, so he's in human form when he hotwires the car. The difference between him and his human partner is that he knows how to hotwire cars in the first place, and won't hesitate to apply that knowledge when it's needed. That, and his ability to shapechange into a coyote.

But now my brain's gone off on a tangent. I've written about some, shall we say, uncommon shapeshifter types, like chickens and rattlesnakes, but never a roadrunner. And I've got all these coyotes milling around... Gahhh! See what you've done?

Keithy--that sounds like a good plan with Fishy. Agency all around and whatnot. I need to bone up on your dust world efforts since you seem more keen on that one generally speaking.

Layla--Congrats on the progress. I'm trying to read the breadcrumbs about your housemate situation. Don't tell me, I will sort through it. It's like a puzzle. There is a summer chair involved, and keeping the place cleaned and ads. Not sure how many rooms you are renting out, and if some of the common rooms are shared. Working on it.

Taylor--sounds like you are chugging along, even with work starting up again. Commiserations on the need to plug out one sentence at a time, and well done on slogging through.

Pterofan--Oooh. A roadrunner shifter. Yes. Friend of mine is writing shifters. There is so much grist in the animal world. So much to play with. I also love that you are pulling weeds. One of our tomato plants is outside the kitchen window this year so we get to estimate growth every day while washing dishes. The crazy thing is like an inch taller every day.


Me: Made it! I dreaded chapter 23 and parts were rocky indeed. BUT it is better now. And 700 words shorter, hurray. Chap 22 got a read through as well, and it's looking readable. Tomorrow I will re-read all of 21-22-23 and that will take most of the day but maybe with a little time left to move on to chap 24.

If I can actually make it through chap 25 by the end of May, I will have made all three goals for the month. Wowza!

Also worked on the open to that short story, and that will go to critique group tonight.

Non-writing--I dunno. Did some internet promotional stuff, a little housework, a little yard work. When it cools off a bit I will rotary-mow our patch of grass.

Congrats on the 2/3 page Ptero
Excellent, Tayor
** Missed you yesterday, Keithy (I think there are occaisions we post at pretty much the same time) Congrats on your 600 words.
& congrats on more words, Taylor
Ptero, promise me you'll work some ACME product in there somewhere? “Are you still buying that stuff?” “Well, they’re the only ones who deliver in the desert”. (Sorry, I can’t help myself.) Congrats on 1/4 page, you got some words down
bear, congrats on all that editing


Day 26


WIP - some words
R/SC - wrote a housemate email
BP/$$ - job, 11 hours

Word Count 1081

Taylor - Gregory is still a small town and lack of funding likely is the reason. I’m spoiled anyway. My hometown is small and rich with an awesome museum, which has given me permission to reproduce any pic or info I need for my blogs. Sorry, I don’t know a trial lawyer. Good luck.

Research - The sound rain makes against a wagon’s canvas cover. All I could find was pitter-patter and rush and roar of a storm. So, I asked my facebook friends. Rhythmic thumping or tapping, one described. It was what I was looking for. I wanted the actual sound of it, but I’m going with what she said until I find something I like better. Wagon train chores. Pack horses and bridles. What year did horses start wearing shoes (400 BC). Habitat for flame azaleas in Georgia.

Woolly - Congrats!

April - Progress!

Layla - YaY for words.


I’ve had a rabid case of writers block and I-don’t-give-a-damns. But I lifted my nose above it today. It was like pulling teeth. Gah. I finally broke through it and am pretty proud of the final product.

Cindyt said:

Word Count 1081


Research - The sound rain makes against a wagon’s canvas cover. All I could find was pitter-patter and rush and roar of a storm. So, I asked my facebook friends. Rhythmic thumping or tapping, one described. It was what I was looking for. I wanted the actual sound of it, but I’m going with what she said until I find something I like better.

Click to expand...

If you really want to actually hear the sound of rain on canvas, I suspect that the closest thing to a covered wagon would be a large tent. I don't know where you are, but if there are places selling or renting tents, or setting up marquees for fairs or shows, you might ask them if they have a test tent you could check out in the rain. For that matter, got any friends who camp? Or have boats or trucks with tarps?

frimble3 said:

If you really want to actually hear the sound of rain on canvas, I suspect that the closest thing to a covered wagon would be a large tent. I don't know where you are, but if there are places selling or renting tents, or setting up marquees for fairs or shows, you might ask them if they have a test tent you could check out in the rain. For that matter, got any friends who camp? Or have boats or trucks with tarps?

Click to expand...

I'm deaf.

Thanks anyway, Cindy!

i finished Chp 12 and cut it short. Need to know more about pre-trial maneuvering and that’ll have to wait until I can consult someone. Onward to the preliminary trial.

Cindyt said:

Research - The sound rain makes against a wagon’s canvas cover. All I could find was pitter-patter and rush and roar of a storm. So, I asked my facebook friends. Rhythmic thumping or tapping, one described. It was what I was looking for. I wanted the actual sound of it, but I’m going with what she said until I find something I like better. Wagon train chores. Pack horses and bridles. What year did horses start wearing shoes (400 BC). Habitat for flame azaleas in Georgia.

Click to expand...

I found this YouTube vid that has rain against a tent canvas; something that might help?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3a4jA0jfrk

You can also adjust the rain sounds against a tent canvas (you're supposedly lying inside a tent):

https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/campingRainNoiseGenerator.php

Woops, forgot to post yesterday ...

Taylor: Great job finishing Chap 12.

Cindyt: Ah, excellent work beating that block! Have a chocolate cookie/biscuit of your choice in the 1k club

Woolly: Awesome! You can do it!

Layla: I saw a magpie eat a fly today. Not quite the same thing I suppose ... Yay for words!

Keithy: Good luck with your revisions!

5 pages yesterday, 4 and a bit so far today ... the story is finally moving, thank god.

WOOT! Will check in proper later today but I did it! read through chapter 21-22-23 and all three are now read-able. I had to crow somewhere quick. They all still need a load of work but I'm glad to have them coherent with the overall arcs. And I lost 1600 words overall, which is good, went from 7800 for the three chapters down to 6200. Manuscript overall still hovers around 107,000 words.

I've pasted chapters 24 and 25 into a fresh word document and will attack those next, but first it's time to get outdoors for a little fresh air and exercise.

Snitchcat said:

I found this YouTube vid that has rain against a tent canvas; something that might help?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3a4jA0jfrk

You can also adjust the rain sounds against a tent canvas (you're supposedly lying inside a tent):

https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/campingRainNoiseGenerator.php

Click to expand...

Yeah, but the problem is I'm totally deaf. I do have a couple of onomatopoeias sites, but none include rain.

Day 27 - another shortie, about a quarter of a page. I had to go get fingerprinted this morning for the Census job. The FBI must work fast, because an hour later (according to the timestamp) I got the email telling me I passed the background check and to fill out several forms (direct deposit info, that sort of thing). Training will be at home on the laptop, due to the virus, so I'd better learn how my camera works.

Also, brain's decided to fiddle with the new story idea. It's a coyote shifter and a roadrunner shifter who meet while jogging. He tries several tricks to "catch" her so they can go on a date, but she's flirty and elusive. I knew right off the coyote would be the guy, but had to decide on the roadrunner, since I write both MF and MM. In this case female seems to work better, because we all know a man chases a woman until she catches him (heh).

And he doesn't buy from ACME--he owns the company, or a very similar company with a name that can't get me dragged into copyright court. I don't know if Warner Brothers' lawyers are as nasty as Disney's, and I don't want to find out. This is all Layla's fault. If there's trouble, she can bail me out of jail.

Cindyt said:

Yeah, but the problem is I'm totally deaf. I do have a couple of onomatopoeias sites, but none include rain.

Click to expand...

Ah, sorry I didn't see your reply first before posting. My bad.

To me, rain on tent canvas is a series of rapid hollow taps that produce a "dap-dap-dap-dap-dap" as the (what I call) primary raindrops hit the stretched canvas. The rhythm varies according to how intensely the rain falls. To me, it goes "dapdapdapdapDAPDAPDAPDAPdapdap-dap-dap-dap-DAP-DAP-DAP-DAP" and reiterates.

The second level of raindrops are sharper stabs of "taptaptaptap-tap-tap-tap-tap-taptaptap" (and any other variation thereof).

At the third level, I find the raindrops aren't that individually distinguishable; instead, they blend into a soft "tsssstssssstsssststss" (a hiss with a "t"?).

The fourth level, I've found, is a low-pitched drumming, like "dap. dap. dap. dap.". How quick is dependent on the intensity of the rain.

Hope this helps a bit.

It's been quite a difficult and busy couple of days. So driveby.

683 and 382 words done on Dustworld. Etia and Rodney have arrived in a different country, hoping to find allies and not be recognized.

I've done some research for fishy tail (actually, it was almost a waste of time) but I need to do some serious thinking about where (and how) to start it. I am still eager to write it, but get it right. When I get writing again, I will ease back on dustworld.

research

speed and range of spearguns, and reloading time.

non-writing

everything! (sigh)

keep swimming.

And an occasional rumbling roll of thunder, which perhaps one believes they feel in their bones.

Layla: Thanks and congrats and thanks for pushing ACME on Ptero, YES!

Taylor: There is a part of me that really enjoys digging into the minutiae of some historical or procedural event, but it can suck up days, yeah? Good luck with the trial research.

April: That's not moving, that's pelting and racing. Well done!

Ptero: I am grinning. I love that your comps are 50 Shades and Looney Tunes.

Keithy: Congrats on the combined 1000!

Okie Doke, I didn't make it back into chapter 24/25 but I did manage to work through last night's critique comments on the open to another short. That'll go to a different group Saturday. Deadline tonight. Maybe I'll post in SYW.

Tomorrow: Chap 24/25.

Snitchcat said:

Ah, sorry I didn't see your reply first before posting. My bad.

To me, rain on tent canvas is a series of rapid hollow taps that produce a "dap-dap-dap-dap-dap" as the (what I call) primary raindrops hit the stretched canvas. The rhythm varies according to how intensely the rain falls. To me, it goes "dapdapdapdapDAPDAPDAPDAPdapdap-dap-dap-dap-DAP-DAP-DAP-DAP" and reiterates.

The second level of raindrops are sharper stabs of "taptaptaptap-tap-tap-tap-tap-taptaptap" (and any other variation thereof).

At the third level, I find the raindrops aren't that individually distinguishable; instead, they blend into a soft "tsssstssssstsssststss" (a hiss with a "t"?).

The fourth level, I've found, is a low-pitched drumming, like "dap. dap. dap. dap.". How quick is dependent on the intensity of the rain.

Hope this helps a bit.

Click to expand...

It's okay. I'm not offended. I don't usually broadcast it, and people don't remember. Some people in my own family forget. Lol. Anyway, your reply is just what I was looking far especially the one in red. Thank you so much!

Cindyt! Good 2 C U!! & back thru the block in stellar form . Congrats on that 1081
Nice work, Taylor
April, I was wondering where you were, too. Congrats on those pages
Great revision, bear
Ptero, I’m rubbing my hands an cackling. My scheming has paid off at last. (& congrats on the 1/4 page
Congrats on the Dustworld words, Keithy (& much feelz about that beginning)
bear, processing crits is not small potatoes. Congrats on hat work




Day 27




WIP - added words
R/SC - walk in the woods & some running, chores (I just want less chores in my life…), wrote a housemate email.
BP/$$ - part-time job, 5 hrs