Many Miles to Go

Today I wrote a scene that actually got me choked up. It felt good to get those words down and it’s a part that is towards the end of the book, so I feel like I’ve got some direction. Many, it really was a good scene. Part of writing fiction is some wish fulfillement, and a lot of that is redemption for all the hell you put your characters through. It not only gives the reader a payoff but also the characters too.

The only bummer is now that I have some idea of what I want to do and where I want to go with this whole narrative, I can’t help but see how many more scenes I have to write. It feels like even though I have covered so much ground, I still have so much further to go. Not only final scenes with characters like this, but ways to build up to them and get the reader invested in their story. To make me like them or hate them before they take their leave from the story.

They don’t teach this in Creative Writing Class, or at least not the ones I was in. Granted I went to a State college and Creative Writing was the course that filled up quick because it was an easy A. This isn’t easy. When you read a book, you get to know characters and setting and plot and all the other tidbits. But after a while, you have to figure out things like pathos, development, voice, and somehow make it become greater than the sum of its parts. If you can fiddle around with pretty words or artistic methods you might be something that stands out. That’s what everyone is looking for, isn’t it?

Today was one scene.

It beat the hell out of me to write it too, but in a good way. Tonight, I’m going to try to chip away at it some more. Maybe start with the end of a character arc and work my way backwards. There are all sorts of ways to paint this fence. The result will always be the same, but the method seems to change from story to story. I guess it all depends on how it needs to be told.

Today I’m 2000 words in, one scene down, three coffees, one green tea, and one Writer’s Tears whiskey (it’s actually just Jamesons that I decanted into the fancier bottle. Pro Tip!).

The part that takes the most out of you isn’t the idea or the execution. It is sitting down every day to just do the work.

I hope you are getting whatever project you are working towards done. My coffee is getting cold.

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If It Ain’t Broke…

People always wonder why men (and women) are reluctant to go to the doctor. I recently had my yearly checkup and got a call today that they wanted to discuss some of my bloodwork, particularly my cholesterol. I can hardly wait.

The last time I had a checkup, they told me my cholesterol was high, but considering my blood pressure being really good, there was no need to talk about putting me on a reducer like Lipitor or something. Fast forward to a year and a half later of sitting on my ass because of lockdowns, this was almost comically expected.

I’m sure it has been high. And my BP has been high. Well, I’m under plenty of stress.

So, spoiler alert, I’m going to nod and smile and say “Let’s wait and see” regarding meds, because honestly I’m not sold on trusting the science there just yet. What wouldn’t kill me is to get out and walk once in a while. Or ride my bike. Or just not be in the house all day long.

Maybe my reluctance to become dependent on a medication that insurance can be fickle about paying for is a factor. Or maybe it’s that I refuse to believe that my arteries are clogged like I-25 during a Broncos game, because I’m not old! Not yet anyway. Granted I have two pairs of glasses now (one for reading and one for driving) because I was not going to go gently into that good night with bifocals. I’ll just buy pants with more pockets to haul around three pairs of glasses.

This is why people don’t go to the doctor. Because they are just going to tell you that something is worn out or you need to throw pills at it. I’m not a fan of this getting older shit.