I couldn’t resist doing a post for this food. Although, I do have a love/hate relationship with popcorn. Tastes great. I love regular, chocolate drizzled, caramel, and everything except movie theater buttered. On the other hand, I once bit into a piece of popcorn that wasn’t fully popped and my tooth broke in half. It was on a Sunday, so I couldn’t get to a dentist until the next day. I’m much more careful now. (All images found in Google Image Search.)
This week didn’t go as planned. Started by me feeling off on Monday, but thinking it was just a little cold. By the evening, I was in bad shape and ended up having to take two days off to recover. Got tested for everything, so it was just a cold. A really nasty one that led me to learn two things:
Anyway, that curb-stomped my Pokemon Go outings for a bit, especially since it’s cold and about to get worse. Next week is frigid with even negative temps Tuesday morning. We’re getting snow tomorrow too, so driving will be a pain. This annoys me a lot because I learned last year that fresh air helped me recover from disease quicker. I can’t do that unless I drive to the mall and that’s not exactly fresh with all of the people there. I’d have to wake up early to get there before the stores up and only mall walkers are around. I don’t think that will help me much.
I was hoping to get some editing time since my son had late nights at school due to his All County Chorus concert, which was last night. So, I was happy for the moments of clear-headedness and energy. I managed to get through 2 chapters between naps. That leaves me with 5 to go and the icy weather this weekend gives me a great chance at finishing Darwin & the Demon Game. I’ll have to print more of Darwin & the Beast Collector before work on Tuesday, but that shouldn’t be an issue. I have a meeting on Tuesday anyway, so I could push it until Wednesday.
To be fair, I don’t know how my chances are this weekend. The snowstorm tomorrow afternoon gives me time. I have to run errands this morning and will try to get at least one chapter done. With the bad weather tomorrow, I want to get the Pokemon Go event stuff done today, but it isn’t much. I could even do it while grocery shopping and getting money for next week. Monday is going to be a mess, but I have a morning appointment. I might just leave early to do mall walking and then hop over to the appointment spot, which is nearby. That gives me the afternoon. Need to make time for watching the new season of ‘Castlevania: Nocturne’ too. Really have far too much to do even though most of it gets seen as useless hobbies or drivel.
Honestly, the Pokemon Go, puzzles, Lego, and finishing TV shows seem to be filling a void that used to be where writing ruled supreme. That’s the garnering of victories and senses of accomplishment. Since I barely have the time and focus to write or edit, I’ve been doing these things. I keep telling myself that I can jump back into real writing instead of editing once certain situations change. Could be years for that, but I do know that I’ll get more free time at that point. Maybe I shouldn’t expect to finish writing 2-3 books a year and be happy with one until more free time appears. It’s possible for me to finish all of the editing by the summer, which means I can start writing Darwin & the Joy Path after school is over. Fingers crossed, but that’s a long shot where I know for certainty I can accomplish things on the initial list of non-writing hobbies.
Next week is mid-term week for me and my son, but I only get him for a little bit of time on Tuesday before the weekend. It’s all up to his mom this year. I will have my hands full with field trips with our students and figuring out what to do with the two hours afterwards. I considered bringing my laptop and type in some edits, but I might want to save that for when I get home. This is why I want to print out some chapters of the next book and tackle that. It will all depend on how busy things are and if I can find any quiet space. It could make more sense for me to simply socialize and dig into the books when I get home. Going over my schedule really drives home the fact that there are only so many hours in the day. Less when it’s friggin’ winter. December through February has always been my least productive period, so I probably shouldn’t keep beating myself up over the whole thing.
Goals of the week:
This post originally went live on April 24, 2024.
Google Image Search
Being a single father, I think about the father/son relationship a lot. Mostly because I’m always hoping I’m doing right by my own son. This gets tougher when I see fiction maintaining the ‘stoic father’ ignoring the son’s issues until they explode or not having the father be in there at all. It can get even worse with adventures because the father tends to die at some point. Come to think of it, fathers are fairly common sacrificial characters if they’re in the picture at all. Anyway, here’s some ideas on writing a father/son relationship in fiction.
Hello SEers! Last year was a writing struggle, so I spent most of it editing. In this new year I plan to reset and get back to basics, or what has …
Writing and Poetry Revisted
Minions from Despicable Me
(A fun little poem about ghosts and dancing. Enjoy.)
Starry skies are set abuzz
Killing all but a lonely echo
Evil rises in moonlight dim
Leaving their shadowy tomb
Ears of vapor listen for the concerti
To tell them when to dance
Once it starts, the dance is endless
No ghost will resist the magic
Summoning all without flesh
A night of fun in the spectral gala
Making the world of death idyllic
Before the sun begins its daily arch
And ends the ghosts’ euphoria
This scenario does give you a lot more personality leeway than the previous one. I want to see if leaving it more flexible will be easier than making people be in a very strict role. So, here we go again.
Scenario
You are the caster (wizard for new people to my blog) of an adventuring party, which has gotten itself pulled into a large conflict. Now, you find yourself standing at the edge of the battlefield while your warrior allies have rushed into the fray. Your friends have mixed in with the enemy forces to try and disrupt their ranks enough to create a clear path to the evil fortress. It appears to be working since the opposing army has split with the chaotic orcs running wild on one side of the battlefield and the more disciplined lizardmen holding their positions on the other.
Being a battle caster, you have a long list of spells that can be used here. Most of them are area of effect, which means you could hit your allies. Yet, these are also the ones that can bring a quicker end to the violence. You do have a few that can enhance your allies, which allow them to fight harder and longer. Unfortunately, these also create fatigue after they fade, which would still require that the battle end quickly.
So, what do you do?
Virtual Book Blast For Savage Land Book 1, Endangered Species (with a shoutout for Book 2, Badlands) Jacqui Murry writes wonderful books about life …
Guest Post – Jacqui Murry – Savage Land Series – Endangered Species and Badlands
This post originally went live on August 10, 2022.
Matrix
One of the most common tropes in fiction is the ‘Chosen One’.
This is a character who is destined to go on the adventure and, many times, win. This trope traditionally removes all tension once it’s revealed. It’s only in the last decade or so that authors began having it that they lose to trick everyone. I even stated many times that the champions in Legends of Windemere were destined to reach the final battle in some form, but not necessarily win. This still treats the ‘Chosen One’ in positive terms with very few negatives. So, it isn’t that different.
Now, what if you make it clear that the ‘Chosen One’ isn’t a gift, but a curse?
This isn’t that hard to demonstrate even if the character is unaware of how much of a negative this status is. Look at the following possibilities:
There are plenty of other ways to show how the ‘Chosen One’ is cursed. It all depends on the world, author, and type of destiny. Think about how even characters who can’t be physically harmed can still be hurt emotionally and mentally. The burden of having so much on your shoulders and not being able to hand it off can grind nearly every hero into the dirt if written correctly. This is internal damage over time, which won’t be unnoticed until it’s a really big issue. Also, this types of blows are harder to shrug off because potions and spells aren’t really able to repair that damage without psychic manipulation. All because a character was unlucky enough to be born a ‘Chosen One’.
Greetings once again. Beem Weeks back for my first post of 2025. This month I want to look at the sea of social media. As writers and creative sorts,…
Navigating the Sea of Social Media
Legends of Windemere 