Author: Writer guy

Hold that thought

Writer guy

Tonight I get to sleep in my own bed. That sounds strange, but it’s true; my parents return from their trip in a few hours.

On the writing front working off site has impacted the output a bit, although I did manage to squeeze out some pages at my parent’s PC, so it wasn’t a complete time drain. Considering the dogs like to jam their noses in my side whenever I’m seated, even 5 pages is a man vs. nature type of victory.

Lesson for me, I’m just more productive working at my favorite desk and chair, but a stark departure in environments need not be an insurmountable obstacle.

Hound Attack

Writer guy

My parent’s hounds are on steroids, Dianobol, Decanol, some kind of bol for sure. If they aren’t ingesting some kind of doggy growth hormone then they’ve been spending far too much time hitting the weights because last night we witnessed super dog strength.

Picture this, a hot muggy night; the Wife is dressed in heels and evening attire piloting 170 combined pounds of dog. I’m riding shotgun armed with a plastic bag full of nasty stuff. We round the corner, casa de Parents easily within our grasp. We could smell how close the house is, if not for the plastic bag. After a brutal half mile struggle the only thing on my mind is ditching the bag and collapsing in bed.

Now the real wrinkle; there’s a dog right in front of my parents house, chilling with its owners. Curious, the hounds of hell dash across the road, hauling the Wife in her traction free high heels behind them. The third dog freezes, paralyzed at the sight of the flying beasts.

Just as the hounds reach terminal velocity and leap from the street up onto the curb, the choke chain that connects the two dogs on a single leash catches on a metal Stop sign post, halting the dogs mid stride. This solves the immediate problem of the hounds eating the third dog, only now we have 170 pounds of dog wrapped around a Stop sign. Eventually we untangle them and everyone goes home unhurt.

But tragically, there was one assault victim last night, for the sign post is now the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Restless

Writer guy

Remember when it was OK for a child to sleep in a parent’s bed? I’m 31 and the last time I slept in my parent’s bed was…well last night.

Since my parents are out of town and they are owned by two very large foxhounds that both follow rigid medication schedules, Mom suggested that I sleep over and tend to their pets.

Problem number one with this, the wife works in the other direction so it’s impractical for her to stay with me. Problem next, the bed is massive. On the surface perhaps that’s not a minus, but while the bed is the size of fricking Nevada widthwise, in terms of length the bed resembles Rhode Island forcing my feet to hang over the edge all night. The cramped, achy sensation resembles a hang over with none on of the pleasant memories.

On the plus side, the sound of the dogs barking at 5am cut my suffering short. Foxhounds are neither equipped with a snooze button, nor responsive in anyway to any pleas to be silent. They also don’t do bribery and require walks at unholy hours of the morning.

Besides that though, the hounds of hell are fantastic.

Whatever happened to the classics?

Writer guy

OK, despite my best efforts the first draft of Velocity is not done. Grrr. My projections called for Mid May, yet I’m not even 1/4 done, if even that far.

Why did the draft timetable slip so much? Hopefully for the right reasons. Based on some feedback received about the Ridge Runner, a 6th draft is in progress. 1st person is out, 3rd person is in.

There’s a bunch of caveats that come with the perspective shift, but essentially it boils down to this…

1) When I started the Ridge Runner, my sense of narration and description were weak which hobbled the story. Since my strongest suit at the time was dialogue, it made sense to go that route, forgo descriptions and dive headlong into 1st person. After writing more than a million words in the last eighteen months, my writing improved. It’s time to take advantage of that development.

2) The subject matter demands a certain balance between the characters. 1st person perspective has a tendency to dampen all the other characters, thus weakening the conflicts. To compensate for this, usually stories in 1st person are either tremendously funny or tremendously tragic. All well and good, but the subject matter of the Ridge Runner begs a more serious tone. Confessions of a Shopaholic Tracker this ain’t.

3) 3rd person is the best way to build suspense ( in my opinion ). Being close to the material, the story works best as a psychological thriller, rather than a next generation detective piece.

So that’s the holdup. Must return to my pages now…