Dan and Ciss (their names so far) are back in the giant Wardencliff Tower-like building for another commercial shoot after being picked up at school. Hoping Schoop isn’t getting into too much trouble after being called in and not getting a customer!
Doing so many things this morning I didn’t write down the WPH or timing, just updated the stats on the right. Hoping to knock out a couple of more Survivalist Log entries this afternoon after everything else…
This is going to be a short story from the original book through the eyes of the last “survivalist” near the Meadow. Too small to be a book in it’s own right, I’m going to publish it here on the site as weekly episodes.
This version is geared like the original book – kind of Zombie-Lite: Same pale pallor, less than half the squishy drippy bits. I’m going to put them all onto one page so it can be read through like a story once it’s finished, but will make a post under the category “Survivalist Log”. If you know of a better way to do this, leave a comment, I’ll be glad to set it up differently if I get enough feedback.
Without further ado, click on Survivalist Log
Squeezed in a couple of hours with a couple of interruptions for Easter egg hunting and some diversions for the younger one while our eldest slept in some. Dove back into gradeschool for some inspiration for a conflict. Had to name one of the minor characters and the name of one of the main characters finally surfaced, will now have to go through and replace “the boy” with “Dan”, but may wait until the first draft is finished. “The girl” has a tentative name of “Ciss” (sis), but we’ll see what happens.
About two hours of writing, give or take, at 500 WPH.
26692 / 42000 words. 64% done!
My current writing is braided around work, feeding the kids, getting them to do or helping them do their homework, house chores, dog walking and other necessities like sleeping and feeding myself. Right now writing is a secondary part of my life, a passion instead of what brings food to the table and keeps a roof over my head. Thoughts of a second income producing “trading time for money” option nudges me, but instead I press on, brown-bagging it and keeping shoes that should be replaced for just a little longer, making small minor trade-offs so I can keep going.
There are days when I think the “story well” has dried up completely; when new ideas don’t arrive at my beckon, other days ideas flood in like our cellar when the sump pump decides to quit.
I’m finding during the mornings I can squeeze out about 500 words, sometimes the evenings allow another 400-500 words between everything else that typically pops up.
My point is: don’t despair if you can’t create a set time to write, write some each day, whenever you can. I picked up the chain again with by getting up one half-hour earlier each day, which allows me approximately 3500 words per week. To create a novella that puts me at 15 weeks (40,00+ words) or a short novel at 20 weeks (at 70,000 words). Another tactic is to review the next story beat before I go to bed, and once I finish my morning writing to allow my inner-muse/subconscious to mull over what to do.
To summarize:
With that, we find Samuel and Lou have gotten closer to Lou’s goal of finding a ham, though Lou has never conversed with his dinner before, and the well laid plans of humans sometimes have unintended consequences.
We’re at 25651 / 42000 words. 61% done on Samuel’s next adventure, though my pomodoro timer is currently fighting off zombies with the help of my daughter and her planting tactics, so I’m not sure what the words per hour are.
Been away working on other projects and came back to find out what Samuel was up to. After meeting the Zorphans Samuel once again concedes to Lou’s quest and they look for the source of the scent of meat.
Up early, hoping to squeeze in 30 minutes. Was able to do this, but woke up my lovely bride by leaving the light on… (oops).
23,629 words, 56% done!