Bit of a Slow Down

Printed out what I had of this chapter and gave it a solid edit.  Easier on my back, but takes a lot longer this way.  Though its a lot funnier seeing pages covered with red pen than doing everything on the computer.  Maybe I'll take a photo of one and upload it for you lot, so you can see the absurdity yourselves.

New version of the chapter is much better, really like it.  Great humor, hits some more important character points.  Once I get back to it that will take up to the midway point of the novel.  We  just went over 400 manuscript pages or about 110k words.  Technically, I suppose I could release it as its own novel, but you'd hate it since it doesn't really have an ending.  I mean, it would, since there's a key event at that point, but there would be no resolution whatsoever for our plot lines.  It'd be like just reading the FM5 school story as its own book.  Pretty frustrating, I imagine.  I got complaints about the FM5 school story as it was, back when people couldn't instantly get the conclusion in FM6.  This would be about ten times worse.

This week is getting destroyed by doctor appointments, but after August I (so far) have September and the first half of October completely free.  The second burnination might be a go in October, so that might change.  Of course, if it does happen and it works as well as the first one did, then my work pace could drastically improve!

But for now, I'm just trying to get through the heat and the doctors and then we have 30 clear days to chill out.  Although, it's Fresno, so it will still probably be like 98 degrees even in September...

As for entertainment...I read two more Naomi Novik novels, "Spinning Silver" and "Uprooted".  Preferred "Uprooted".  Great read.  "Spinning Silver" had some great ideas too, but it has multiple first person POVs that gets really funky at times, and some of the end is from POVs that are very passive and only added near the back half and I found it frustrating.  If you're going to read any of her work, I'd still point you towards Scholomance, but Uprooted is just a small step behind.

Watched The Bear, very good.  Will give you anxiety like no other show I've ever seen.  I don't usually recommend anime because I know its not many people's cup of tea, but Summertime Rendering is very much worth a watch.  It's in DisneyPlus/Hulu jail, but it's a complete story with only the one season and it's a fantastic ride that I can't really tell you about without spoiling the many, many moments of WTF and Holy Fuckballs.  I suppose I can say that both the heroes and the villains are gloriously intelligent and constantly one up each other in a way that normal living, breathing people would.  They figure things out and then they use it to totally screw you over.  There is an English dub for people who absolutely can't handle subs, no idea if it's any good however.

GOTG 3 great, Secret Invasion stanky balls...

And of course:  THE PREM IS BACK!!!

Return of the Mini Teases

Feeling slight better and writing a tepid but not insignificant 10k words a month, so let's get a little more upbeat about progress being made again!

"As long as you don't remember what I was doing under my desk."  Earned me a laugh.  Closed one box and opened another.  Nope, that was the sex toy box.  "How's your vibrator doing, you need a new one?"

"WHAT?!?"

I picked two up and tossed them back into the other room.

"Oh my God!"

"How about dildos?  You a dildo gal?"

"Don't you dare throw a used dildo in my direction, King Henry Price!"

"I'm not a monster!  They ain't used...I think.  The vibrators are definitely not used, since they're still in their packages.  You know how much those things are worth at this place?  Especially during evaluation week..."

Better Ideas Can Be So Soul Crushing

Part of it was a better idea, another part was the writing just not being that good to start with, but I threw 3000 words worth of work into the trash bin yesterday.  Before...that's like a day, maybe two days worth of work, with the new normal it's more like a week.  So...it hurt.  I just feel kind of mentally crushed today because of it.  I do think the book will be much stronger for it.  It's not some major huge altering change, but...it does focus this one chapter a lot more.  It's something King Henry would very much do to someone and I think you'll all enjoy it...

It's also made me realize I need a chapter split.  War to End All Wars has by far the most chapter splits I've ever experienced moving from Outline to actual Novel before.  Some of this is the total session count being limited because they carry across the series, so I really stuffed them ful.  Another part of it is just me typing something like "KH has Breakfast with Welf/Hope+Old Mancy Crew to Antagonize Them" into the Outline that turns into a 10k scene by the time I end up writing it.

I have a very good sense on the session I'm working on now and it actually is OBVIOUSLY the midpoint of the novel, so we finally got there, kiddies!  Feel like I'm starting to get a handle on the story and the characters and what's going on.  I can see the end on the horizon as long as everything keeps improving with my body.

Pain wise I'm starting to feel not totally horrible.  I can very much over do it and I can't lift anything and sitting here typing still has an upper limit before my back starts screaming, but its a lot better than I've felt in the last 18 months, that's for sure.

The biggest problem right now is probably the heat.  At a certain point, you have so many 100+ days in a row, you just don't have the energy to think.  Yeah, the AC does its best to make things survivable, but it doesn't always feel like the kind of life you can tolerate.  75 degrees at 3AM is probably the worst part of the Fresno summer.  You can't ever open those doors because what's the point when it's going to be 80 degrees before you even have breakfast.  You're just stuck inside, no fresh air, muggy, judging if your cat is really cute enough to keep on putting up with his fish farts for another day.

One of these days I'll have enough, Sherburt!!!

July 25th Edit:

Longtime commenter Treydog (and new to the beta team for Everlasting Dilemma) threw his hat into the ring and published his first novel on KDP.  I can't speak to quality because he just sprung it on me out of nowhere and my TBR pile is a disaster at this point with like full unread Hobb and Abercrombie trilogies just sitting there judging me, but I do know it's YA...so...not as much cursing as the King Henry Tapes, I'm guessing.  Epic fantasy as well and Welsh-ish? names...so...we have established that I am not good hype man!

However, I know how miserable it is to get views as a new KDP author, so here's the link for you to peruse:  Challenge Accepted by Stuart Maher and Peregrine Anish

Blurbage:

The time for heroes appears to be past. Over 20 years ago, Trey ard Sliath and Serene na Ridire defeated the greatest threat their world had ever known. Then, they settled down to raise their families.

What do you do if you are a child of one of those legendary figures? Especially if you are naturally talented with weapons like Serene's daughter, Athynae? Or unable to use a sword at all, like Trey's son, Athlain?

And what happens when you discover that there are still enemies to confront and threats to be faced?

For Athynae and Athlain, there is only one answer. Challenge Accepted.

It's Hot

Just still slowly experimenting and doing what work I can, resting the back and wrists as I need to.  Tramadol finally got approved and its helping a lot with me getting around and not being in PAIN pain so much as SORE pain for huge chunks of the day.  Fresno summer is here, looks like 100+ for the rest of July.

Started the last scene of this session.  This is pretty much the midway part of the novel.  So...if you remember the way the school stories worked in FM5 and FM6 as a kind of double feature, this is similar.  First part takes place at the beginning of the school year and has lots of set up and then we rush forward and the second half takes place later in the year (this time around the Winter War) as everything wraps up.

Don't have to see the spine doctors again until the end of August, so more info then on Burnination #2 hopefully.

Outside of that, everyone enjoy your summer!

Early Experiment Results

Still feeling generally better than I have been over the last couple years, if a sore and beat up generally better.  My first attempt at typing was on my back in bed with a detachable keyboard, first completely horizontal and then on my left side.  Managed 1000 words that way and finally finished a scene that had remained in statis for over a year, but I was very uncomfortable the whole time and couldn't walk at all the next day.  Well...I could stagger to the bathroom and the microwave, nothing else.  Followed by zombie shuffling the day after that and my 80-year-old-man impersonation the day after that.  Spiked my pain like 4 points at least.

Experiment #1:  Failure!

1k every five days while I'm in tons of pain in-between just isn't going to cut it or is a situation I'm willing to enter into.

So last Friday when I no longer felt like one of the walking dead, I tried another idea I'd had, which was to lounge in bed and just text everything out on my smart phone's note app.  It's slower than the real deal, obviously, its going to take more editing once it hits the word processor, but...it seems to be sustainable pain wise.  I've written 4000 words this way in the last week, Ceinwyn and Plutarch are currently having quite the conversation with King Henry Jerry Spingering on the sidelines...is this the first time they've really had a scene together?  Can't remember, might have to look it up.

It's not 100% (and Mad Scientist Mode is impossible), but it's closer than anything I've felt since before I hurt my back.  I'm rusty and my writer's mind is struggling to return and War to End All Wars is still an indulgent monster, but...

Experiment #2:  Progress!

Going to keep with this for now and see how it goes.  Been staying away from the computer (either reddit scrolling or card gaming) and just reading a ton of books in bed as my main form of entertainment just to save my back. (btw totally recommend Naomi Novik's Scholomance Trilogy, especially for fans of the magic school aspect in the KHT.  One warning I would give is that the inner monologuing is A LOT...and that's coming from ME.  But I'm loving it so far halfway through the last novel, does a lot of the same things I'm trying to accomplish theme-wise with the KHT, granted in a very different way, also the main character El has aspects of KH and Val thrown together into one person that makes me smile for...reasons...)

Tramadol order is still fubar and still weeks until we know about when the next burnination can take place, so that's where we are for now.  But, ya know...4k words a week or more as I get back into what groove I can manage...that's something.  Still have the dictating setup to try out too and I want to give a go at rigging the detachable keyboard up so it's almost like a vertical triangle where I don't have to turn my shoulders and wrists to type and see how that works.  That's really one of the main differences between texting and typing outside of finger-usage, so it's an idea...

But for now, going with what we got and finally some progress!*

*remember that progress can implode along with my spine at any moment and temper your expectations accordingly!

June 28th Edit:  wrote 5k more and then the back imploded. :(  Did finish the scene.  Will move on to the next when my joints chill out, hopefully in a few days.  This novel continues to vex me for reasons beyond my ills and pains...each session/chapter is averaging about 20k so far.  By my outline I have at least 6 left to write...math is not on my side...