I dropped the second child off at school about forty-five minutes ago. Since then I’ve been plugging away at my story and drinking my iced tea. My plan was to stop just before 10 and head over to the bank to handle some business. Not five minutes ago I get a call from the wife because she is feeling ill.

I swear… what is so wrong with Dave trying to get in some Dave-writing-time? If it’s not a useless child, it’s a useless spouse or some friend that has an issue that requires me to swoop in and save them. It’s not that hard to glance at the toilet paper roll and make sure there is enough there before you get yourself in a crappy situation.

As of today, I only got about 300 words in. The trouble with getting words down is I have to reload all the dynamics of the story back into my mind, which takes a bit of time, then and only then can I begin to push forward with new material. It’s kinda like RAM in a computer. Other things take up the space in my head until I’m able to sit myself down, without being DISTURBED, and focus on the whole of it again.

UUgghhhhh…

On top of that, my father and stepmom are going to be visiting over the next 36 or so hours. That means I’m not going to get any kind of Dave-time. I know, it’s family, and I should be valuing their time as we are all getting up there in age.

I just need some Dave-time too now and again.

I swear…

Tootles for now.

😛

Back in chunk, some way earlier number, I had Boog suffer a medical incident. Now, with my story being at the 91% or so mark, I’ve brought it back into being relevant for the second time after that first instance.

It was a complete accident but feels so much like it had been penned out.

Penned?

Planned?

Is not penned another way of inferring it had been plotted out?

Who knows?

Either way, I’ve now used it a second time to save my bacon from a troublesome scene that I had accidentally written myself into the corner of.

That is it for now.

The crisis is averted and its time to go pick up the crotch goblins

Tootles all

😛

So after a week or so pause, I’m back to writing again.

I’m stopped chunking out my prior stuff as my review group is only now working on part 24 and the last one I was actively working on was 35. That puts me about a year ahead of them. So with 35 I just kept writing and got about 30,000 words into it. that’s about 7 chunks worth if I break it down. Knowing myself as I do, it could very well expand more as I fill in missing points. So I just called the next forward-moving piece chunk 44. It’s got about 2,000 words in it so far. That puts my overall story at around 200,000 words.

I think I’ve decided to split the book up into three smaller books of about 80,000 words each. The numbers will not be exact as I’ve already got time breaks in mind for where and when I want them to split out. I know that in the first part I will have to add more to it but that won’t be any time soon.

Right now I’m focused on getting the overall story to the 100% mark. Right now I’ve got Boog and Jessica reuniting again and having to work through their current shared crisis. That puts me at about the 90% mark.

What else…

My son didn’t take his meds for a few days over the weekend and oh boy what a little monster he has become because of it. I have had some sleepless nights the past few days.

Next week I’m going to have to put my writing on pause and get to a honey-doo chore that is long overdue. (doo rhymes with POO)

EEK!

People… are flakes.

Do I really need to say more?

I understand people have lives and get busy but to ghost another person for months on end without coming clean to the fact that you are a spineless shell isn’t cool… oh… being a spineless shell is the very definition of a person that ghosts another?

Ahh… my mistake.

People suck.

Better?

😛

I mean what kind of narcissistic dictator do you have to be to throw away thousands of lives just to save your fragile ego? Oh, the same time of people that are shallow enough to ghost others as they are afraid of their own failures?

EEK?

😛

Sorry, I like poking at things that don’t like to get poked at.

POKE!

Snicker

😛

I guess that is it for now.

Tootles all.

🙂

I had to go back and break/rewrite a bit of the Boog storyline to find the time scale that I had created with my Jessica half. So I didn’t make as much forward progress today as I would have liked but at least I don’t have a bit continuity hole it in.

<Beavis voice> I said hole </Beavis voice>

Besides that, I still made even more overall progress today. Which is a good thing. Unlike Dwight.

That is all.

😛

Today is Thorsday.

I’ve always had an affinity for Thorsdays. It was the day of the week that Night Court came on. It was the day before Friday, which makes it a celebration all in itself.

anyway…

I’ve so far walked 3.25 miles, more to come, and have gotten in about 1,000 words in my Jessica storyline. It is now almost 9am.

I really like Thorsdays.

That is it for now.

Tootles all

😛

My Boog storyline, for the day, now stands at 200

My Jessica storyline, for the day, now stands at 2300

So that’s about 2500 words for a few hours of face slapping.

Everything is new material from where I’m at. I’m kind of winging it but I still have a mental outline of where it’s going so it’s not really winging it that much.

Word count so far.

34 chunks at 4,500 words = ~153k

Additional Boog’s storyline overall now sits at 16,500

Additional Jessica’s storyline overall now sits at 13,500

That puts it at about 183k.

EEK!

I feel as if I’m at the 85% percent mark.

So when it’s all said and done I can see myself splitting this thing up into three separate books.

Okay, time to pack this party up and go pick up the kids.

Tootles all

😛

I got in 200 words added to the Boog storyline.

I got in 1200 words in on the Jessica storyline.

So far all of it is new material. Both lines still haven’t merged up with each other but they are close, oh so very close. One group is checking out the carnage left behind by the other.

I now have to quit as I got a call from the school to come in and pick up my teenage daughter.

 
UGHHHhh…..

That is all.

Tootles

😛

I stayed hidden away and got 1,500 & 1,600 in each story arc.

Not bad if I do say so myself.

That’s right baby!

Who’s your daddy?

Guess you got in 600 words in on the Jessica storyline and an additional 400 in on the Boog storyline?

This idiot!

As of right now, they are both within a few hours of each other timeline-wise.

Now I’ve just got to the have the three parties bump into each other and be one big happy cluster. Three? Boog and Jessica make two. What’s with the third? Why it’s the mute character of course.

If you are lost, don’t worry, so am I.

😛

Okay, I need to pack this up this sneak away dave escape and get back to adult things again.

BOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tootles all

😛

Yeah..?

You read that right.

I work from home. I have children living with me at home, they bug me. I have extra children at home, they also bug me. I have a spouse, she also likes to bug me. I have used “I have” an awful lot in this sentence.

Because of Covid, I work out of our guest room. My wife works out of our bedroom. In the guest room, it’s not a true hideaway but it’s close to one as I can close the door behind me. Yes, I’m in here now. The children still barge in for every and all conceivable reasons.

As I’ve stated before, when it’s Dave writing time, it can take about 10-15 minutes to get back into the right mind-space after an interruption. I almost never get that time between each interruption, hence I tend to get very little writing done at home.

My solution? I grab my little laptop and head out into the world to find a place to be left alone. It’s easier to not get bothered when nobody knows where you are. I often find myself frequenting a local Starbucks, McDonalds’, or even one of the local grocery stores that have a little cafe in them. I even have a portable desk that fits around my car’s steering wheel for when I’m waiting for this or that.

That isn’t me in the picture 😉

So… getting back on track here. I happened to be at a McDonalds and had my headphones in, laptop open, and was tapping away like…

Like that…

Some guy comes up and plants himself in the booth next to me. I barely notice and keep slapping my face against the keys.

Kinda like this…

Trust me, once I finish the book I’m currently working on, that image above will make a lot more sense.

Anywho…

The guy tries striking up a conversation. I pause my keystrokes facestrokes and remove one side of my headphones so I can hear him and say, “Hello?”

He starts talking about something that I’ve already forgotten about as it wasn’t life-threatening or immediate in nature. I then interrupt him by saying, “I’m sorry but I’m working on something here and kind of need to focus on it.”

He seems to take the hint, at least at first. I work on finding my focus again. Not a full minute later he’s talking to me again. I reach up to remove one of my headphones again to hear him. Again it’s nothing that needs immediate action on my part so interrupt his interruption and say, “Hey, I’m working on something here and am trying to focus.”

Now you might think that was the end of it.

NOPE!

There was a third and a fourth interruption. At this point, I was starting to shut my programs down and pack things up when another makes his way over. This new person knows my interrupter and those two begin talking.

I glance towards the heavens. Thank you for this small gift and for making my favorite sports team score that point or win that game, you can go back to turning that blind eye to all the real injustices of the world.

Those two keep talking, I find my groove again and keep going for another hour or so before I reach the end of the chapter I was working on. At that point, my mind satiated with the feelings of my accomplishment, I really start packing my things up.

Jump ahead three weeks.

I’m back in that same store, in the same exact booth. Guess who walks in.

Yep, him.

He plops himself down into the next booth again and once more tries engaging with me. I remove one side of my headphones and he says with an anxious look in his eye. “Hey, you remember me?”

I pause time for the shortest of moments right then to weigh my two options. I chose to go with the lesser of two evils in regards to getting more of my facestrokes in. “Sorry, I don’t. Hey, I’m working on something here-”

“You don’t remember me?”

“No sorry.”

“We were both here talking about BLAH BLAH.”

(I honestly don’t recall what BLAH BLAH was anymore.)

I give him a placating smile. “Sorry man” as my nose takes a dive for my screen again.

“You should remember me.”

Reaching up to put my headphone back over my ear again. “No offense, I’m not that good with people.”

He shakes his head in a mixture of disgust and irritation. “When I’m famous you’ll wish you knew me-”

My headphone slapped in place over my ear.

Yeah…

That was as real of a story as I can recall.

The guy was lonely and I feel for him. But it is also not my responsibility to be his means of entertainment.

I’m thinking I need to avoid that location for the next six months or so.

SIDE THOUGHT – Is this what women feel like with creepy guys hitting on them?

Ha! I loved that show. I would have liked to have found a Dan Fielding one from Night Court but didn’t want to waste more than the five minutes it already took me.

Okay that’s it.
Tootles all

😛