Day: February 26, 2021

That (10 minutes) come ’round at last….

The word of the day is Megillah (long involved story or account, or everything involved in what is under consideration)

The Whole Ball of Wax

Tracy knew he didn’t like Sarah the moment he saw her with Abdu. He’d come upon the two of them sitting on a bench facing the reservoir in Central Park. Abdu was pointing at something beyond the fence; a bird or something else splashing at the slick surface of the water. She wasn’t looking at what he was pointing to. She was looking at Abdu and she was smiling. To think back it was that smile which set him at tension. He’d been jogging, a hobby he picked up from Abdu–one he’d gotten good at, if anyone can be considered good at jogging. When he saw her toothy smile he came to a dead stop. It wasn’t one of those moments where you see a person and the smile stops at a point short of their eyes. This smile curved past her eyes; through them and on up to the temples. It was a shark’s smile, a wolfish smile, and the first thought that lanced through his head was, “What the hell is she doing to my friend?”

With some effort he got his feet moving again and approached the pair. He slowed again when he was close, feigning surprise. “Abdu?”

“Tracy, my friend! I thought you were still in bed!”

Tracy nodded and said, “I thought that too–I mean I thought you were in bed. I was just getting an early jog in.”

Tracy kept his eyes on Abdu, he struggled not to glance at the young woman who was now, clearly, staring at him. He didn’t want to guess at what thoughts lived behind that stare. Abdu said, “This is Sarah. We just met earlier on the trail. She–“

He hesitated, sharing a conspiratorial look with the woman before finishing. “I guess you can say the short version is that she fell down.”

Tracy couldn’t imagine how Abdu could just meet someone and already there was a long version, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

Came up a little short of the ‘suggested daily wordcount’ today, but I hit a really good stopping point. So, I stopped. I have a handful of chapters to work through tomorrow to get the basics of this draft in place before I start painting inside the lines and turning this into a prized novel. Or at least a decent novel. I’m excited about this project for the most part. There are parts of the story where I feel it needs work and more thought, but overall I have a strong sense of characters and plot and where it is going and the story is worth telling. Equally important: I’m writing on a daily basis again and feeling good about putting words on the page and firing up towards my deadline.

More and more I think about how much I want writing to be a part of my life. The degree to which everything else is a part of the life is still in flux. Ultimately, the goal is to have me and my partner living a life where we are doing cool stuff and I get to write and play games while she keeps doing the cool stuff or her own stuff (or plays games or writes right alongside me, though that seems highly unlikely).

These days the typical day involves several hours at the page and a few more at the console to break it up. I like the impact gaming has on writing. I like not thinking so much and just reacting and clearing space mentally to get back on a good page. It works for me. This is becoming my process. Of course, I start with the games and maybe I ought to switch things around to start with the words. That is, at least symbolically, a positive pathway.

The more I do this and sit down to reflect on it, the more I feel I am on the right path in regards to the words. Things are going well in that sense. I can preserve that part of things and be happy.