Guns & Magic

by David Michael

Stevie looked at her forehead in the mirror and poked the small spot of bruise that remained. She winced. The bruise might be smaller, but it still hurt. The bruise on her right elbow looked much the same way. And the scrape on her shoulder seemed to be healing quickly, as well. White scar tissue had formed under the scabs, contrasting with the tanned color of her skin.

Not as tanned as it would be by the end of the summer, though. And maybe she would get enough sun to wipe out the scar, as well. One could only hope.

Her ankle still hurt. She had noticed that when she walked barefoot from her bedroom to the bathroom. The good news seemed to be that the pain had been reduced to a dull ache.

VN:F [1.9.1_1087]

Horse Girl – 408 words (chapter 4 total: 3308)

Chapter 4 is definitely finished now. I’ll get it posted later today.

My writing got shortened today. A combination of a late start and the need to get to the tag agency today, complicated by snowfall and a lack of faith in the city to keep the streets clear. So chapter 5 will commence tomorrow.

-David

Horse Girl – 1253 words (chapter 4 total: 2896)

I stopped just shy of ending chapter 4. I’ll finish it off tomorrow, and get it posted. It should be right about 3000 words. The shortest chapter so far. Looking at the outline over the weekend, I realized that both chapters 4 and 5 are likely to be short-ish. So I might have chapter 5 finished by Friday, as well.

And I was thinking yesterday how I’m 4 chapters in and, so far, Stevie has never once actually ridden a horse. Poor kid.

-David

Horse Girl – 1215 words (chapter 4 total: 1643)

I decided that I would up my daily quota to 1200 words. For this week, at least. That nets me 6000 words per week, a 20% increase. So maybe I can get this novel done before spring. If 1200/day works out (i.e., doesn’t cut too deeply into the rest of the day), I’ll see about pushing on to 1500 words per day. It’s entirely possible, come the last 1/3 of the manuscript, that I work on nothing else. But until then, I’ll try to keep the novel writing integrated into the other stuff I’m supposed to be doing.

Why the rush? Because I still need to revise The Summoning Fire. I had planned to do that in February. Now it looks like it might be March. And I had planned to be revising and submitting short stories, as well. Starting a novel in January seems to have pushed that off, as well.

It’s enough to make me think I’m avoiding getting stuff submission-ready. Yes, that would mean I’m writing a novel as a procrastination tactic. Bizarre, neh? That’s a new one on me.

-David

Execution: The Guillotine, the Pendulum, the Thousand Cuts, the Spanish Donkey, and 66 Other Ways of Putting Someone to Death by Geoffrey Abbott.

I finished a semi-thorough “first read through” of Amber Diceless Roleplaying late last night.

And I gave up on Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword by Seymour Martin Lipset. I think the book has some fascinating information about and observations on American politics (why the US Constitution’s electoral process almost mandates a two-party system), religion (voluntary sectarianism versus a state-run church), et al. But it’s rather dry. Very dry. And since the book is a collection of independently published essays, it gets repetitive. Just because the author gave you a detailed review of a topic in Chapter 1, doesn’t mean he won’t give you nearly the exact same detailed review of that topic in the next chapter–and then probably yet again in the chapter after that.

-David

PS I thought I posted this on Saturday. But there’s no sign of it…so I must not’ve. Here it is. Again.

by David Michael

Stevie’s ankle improved over the afternoon, after a shower and sitting still while unpacking, her leg held straight in front of her on her bed. But her ankle still made her take the stairs down to supper very slowly.

“Are you going to take all night, Stevie?” Dad called out from the dining room.

Stevie made herself stand up straight at the foot of the stairs. “Coming,” she said. Then she forced herself to walk normally. After two painful steps, she settled for limping as little she could.

Half of the long dining room table had been cleared, and three plates set. Dad and Blake had already taken their seats, leaving the seat farthest from the door for Stevie. She suppressed a groan, and tried not to limp too noticeably around to her place.

VN:F [1.9.1_1087]

Amber Diceless Roleplaying. I took a break from American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword by Seymour Martin Lipset to prepare for possibly playing in an Amber campaign tomorrow.

American Exceptionalism isn’t the easy book to read. It is, therefore, rather easy to put aside for a few minutes/hours to read something else.

-David

Horse Girl – 1071 words (chapter 3 total: 4368; chapter 4 total: 428)

Another chapter down. Only 12 more to go.

I’ve said it before, and I’m saying it again: Writing a novel takes longer when you only do 1000-ish words per day. I know I’ve also said something about upping my daily quota. Maybe I mean it this time.

-David

Horse Girl – 1043 words (chapter 3 total: 3725)

Hmm. Chapter 3 might roll past 4000 words after all. It’s a lot of dialogue. I can’t help but wonder how much of it I’ll be editing out later. I try to adhere to my favorite bit of writing advice: Don’t be boring! But this quantity of dialogue makes that a challenge. I’ll have to see what it looks like when I do the first real edit, before posting here.

On a (possibly) more positive note, I think I’m getting inside Stevie’s head more now. That is, I think I can think like her more accurately. Which will probably have an interesting effect on my day to day interaction with other adults…

-David

American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword by Seymour Martin Lipset.

Ultimate Ironman by Orson Scott Card was much like cotton candy. Pretty and puffy and … when you’re finished (which happens much too soon), you realize there was never really anything there. The illusion of content. The reality of cavities. Meh.

-David