10 Minute Rule

There is a house deep within the Aladusan forest where a woman dwells. None know her true name. All that is know is that she has been in that house for as long as the forest has stood. She is known as the Stonekeeper. Those who visit her do so only twice in their lives, for to visit more is to bring great misfortune.

To know the lore of the Stonekeeper is to understand your true self. On your first trip to this sacred place you must bring a stone. It cannot be too large of a stone, for she is old and appears frail, and must hold the stone for a time. On your journey you must keep the stone on you at all times less the magic find you untrue and fail. This has happened only four times, but those times were enough to promise the truth of the ritual, or the emptiness of the bearer.

When you arrive with your stone, knock twice and step away from the door. She will open it in her own time. When she is ready to recieve you, be courteous and answer all of her questions. Follow her ritual precisely. It is a simple thing that she asks, and the reward can be greater than all your imagination. She will ask you to spit on the stone three times. Then you must put it in a bowl she will retrieve for you. You will see many such bowls throughout her house. Once your stone is set, she will ask you to slice your hand and bleed upon the stone.

Then you wait.

I cannot tell you how long the wait will be. You will feel it end. It may be months or years. I waited seven years before my soul told me to return for my stone. When I arrived there was a crystal in my bowl, the size and shape of what I’d left. Others say they’ve received rubies and even diamonds. What will you get?

Is all writing formula? Surprisingly, nobody has ever asked me that question, but it is one I ask myself constantly. With methods like the 120 beats, the three act structure, the hero’s journey, the alchemical method, and more, it is easy to deconstruct stories and series and pick out the formulaic bits with ease. Obviously all writing is not formula, but so much of it i that when you see a thing that breaks the formula you notice it–maybe even call it experimental.

So, does that make formula a bad thing? Not really, no. Formula is a useful way to construct a tale so long as you are not sticking to the book step for step and you are telling character-driven stories that feature story worthy individuals who change over the course of your tale. Think of the formula as the backdrop on which the story is written, and feel confident enough to deviate when you see fit as a writer.

You can also look at formula as a way to figure out what is missing in a story that feels like it does have holes. I’ve been using the beats for this latest novel as a way to recognize what I am missing in it. There is definitely something missing, and I’ve been able to get on to the scent of what by going back through it and figuring out what beats I didn’t hit when I wrote it up initially.

That’s the last part: Write freely first. You will find that these formulas are often skeletal in nature and what you do naturally often fits neatly into their framework. This is why it is effective for me to go back and look at a beat sheet after the fact and fill in blanks. I’m not writing to the beats but using them as a way to understand structure and what readers unconsciously seek out in story.

I’ve been invited to the Madden closed beta for Madden 24 franchise mode, ostensibly as an apology for how badly I got screwed twice in losing franchises to a bug in the system. This is a positive step forward (and an easy one) for Madden, because it allows the people who love franchise mode and were most impacted by how crappy it is to provide serious feedback on the game mode as it is prepared for a new season. It also gives me one heck of a jumpstart on understanding any new mechanics to be developed. I want to love franchise mode. I want to have the experience of managing a team from an owner’s or General Manager’s (this is not an option as a stand alone mode right now, but it could be) perspective. I want deeper control in the draft process as well as in the contracting process.

All of this has me thinking about the NY Giants and the choices left to be made in real life. One huge choice is how to deal with the Leonard Williams contract, which ends after this upcoming season. I bring this up because the contract contains a void year, which, if you didn’t read the article at the other end of the link, means it isn’t a real contract but a cap hit that accrues regardless of whether the man plays for the Giants in 24 or not. If we don’t resign, we still have a 6 million dollar cap hit. If we DO resign, we have the 6 million hit PLUS whatever hit is based on the contract. This is a very difficult thing to work into a video game, but I wish they would try to do better with understanding and interpreting the cap stuff. Right now it is basic. It isn’t as bad as the draft stuff.

The draft stuff is basically what happened when EA’s NFL team got a hold of EA’s CFB team’s notes and copied them. The setup feels like college and doesn’t reflect the complexity of the NFL scouting system, how private visits (there are 30+) and other phases of the process work. I want it to work. I want franchise to actually feel like we are building something and how we choose to build truly impacts the game. I want teamwork settings. I want it to feel like I have a larger role in developing an organization than setting box seat prices and finding a 99 speed WR post draft.

I thought this was going to be a Waiver Wednesday post, which is further evidence of Gibson’s soul delay. Despite having returned from Japan days ago, my soul is still at least a half day ahead. That makes it Wednesday in a weird kind of way. I’ve yet to catch up with it or even get a proper night’s sleep. It is hard to imagine living this way. I had a conversation with a guy who works crew for these types of long haul flights and he seemed entirely fine with the transfer back and forth between days. I suppose it is a thing that takes practice as well as a shifting state of mind.

What has been effective for me over the last few days is finding a time and space to write. I’m not doing four hours a day yet, but I am ramping up considerably and planning out my days and weeks and setting goals and getting ready for a highly productive summer. I’m excited to be back to writing more or less full time. I am working on three major projects–two of which are novel length and third is a 15,000 word project I picked up to write with two other authors. I’m hoping that will be the easiest of the three, because it is entirely right up my alley. With good scheduling I’ll have time to do all of these things, get my 110 levels in Apex and participate in the Madden 24 beta (more on that tomorrow). These are the solo things in my life. The rest is entirely about living life well with my partner. After all, it is her summer too.

I don’t alway remember my dreams, but occasionally I have some crazy whoppers. Last night, as I continue recovering from what William Gibson described as ‘Soul Delay’ I dreamed a weird little dream about, well, everything. It started out normal. I was on a city street in an Asian country that may have been in Japan (but wasn’t primarily Japanese in any real way). My partner and I walked into a store in order to do some light shopping. We weren’t there for more than a minute before the place was robbed by a crew toting AR-15 style assault rifles. This is where it gets strange. We hop behind a counter and the tiles below it give way, causing the people around us to plummet into darkness, but land on a narrow bridge far below ground with nothing but more darkness to either side. There are people on that bridge clawing their way up towards the new arrivals and the new light as if they’ve been seeking that light their entire lives. However, they are on some sort of conveyor on this bridge that keeps them moving forward towards… I don’t know.. We didn’t fall.

So, it keeps getting weirder. The heist is foiled by some kind of shape shifters who kill the gun-toting folks and then try to kill everyone in the store. We escape. We find ourselves on the streets of this country trying to blend in, which we do not, and running from the shapeshifters. All the while I feel like the key to everything is whatever was going on way below ground that we saw–that we were never ever supposed to see.

My mind is a mess of story. I think that I’ve done myself a disservice by not writing–freewriting–every single day to get these stories out and make some sort of sense of the world as I interact with it. That is what dreams are: Windows into our personal confusion. I’m not sure there is a great story in what I posted above, but I can guarantee I could turn it into a decent run of Secret Wars/Skrull Wars. I’m not yet 50, and I have a crap ton of good story left to tell. I ought to be letting myself tell it–even if nobody pays me upfront.

This is a blog about spaces–writing spaces to be specific. I’ve watched my (side of the) office deteriorate into a messy collection of papers and books that should be attended to at some point in the distant future, but always should be attended to at some point in the distant future. Clutter is chaos. For some there is order to their own chaos but for me there is not. I feel like my desk is a constant representation of my mind, which is to say, sloppy and bearing only the slightest hint of organization. As is one’s space is one’s writing and writing life, so I find that it is important to share this tidbit.

Clean your spaces, people. Seriously. The one surefire way to be productive is to be organized. I’ve long talked on having the right tools for the job, well an organized space can be your greatest tool and ally. Know where everything is. Have a clear sense of a schedule and a plan of attack for how long it will take to do what you need to do as a writer. Most major market novelists operate on a 6-12 month schedule, which requires BIC (butt in chair) on a daily basis and a daily schedule that you keep to unerringly.

That’s all for the ranting. I’m about ready to go back to writing ten minute fiction for a while.

Home.

When I stepped on that plane I knew I wasn’t going to be satisfied being back here. My kids are here. My job is here. That’s all there is for me. I lack the friendships to lock me to a place. I am, and have always been, quite portable. Unfortunately, being here causes a fair amount of drag on my life, love, and happiness. I blog constantly about being unhappy in the home life, and after every trip that hard wall comes down faster and faster. Heck, we didn’t even get to adjust to time differential before everyone around us slipped back into their normal and made it feel like we were both the help, and extra people hanging around their space.

Oh to feel comfortable in your own home.

Some Thoughts:

1. People make a huge deal about LeBron being 39. Well, Udonis Haslem is about to turn 43 and has played in the league for 20 years. Man is still going… unless he finally retires.
2. Forever Companion may be the creepiest lonely person tool outside of the movies. I’m going to need to have an AI blog, but now is not the time.
3. Time to start thinking about the next iteration of tech upgrades, and what I need out the tech a well as what are the needs of the family including what can be passed on.

I am writing this blog from my newly acquired iPad and very slick) keyboard. While in Japan I realized that I needed an IPad. Specifically, I realized that an IPad fit neatly in the remaining space I had in these planes. I do not know why planes appear to be offering less space, but I annoy operate a `3 inch MacBook in the space provided. Yet with the iPad and the keyboard I am use fine. 

The keyboard is slick. I bought a foldable keyboard at a place called Bic camera an it makes me feel like a hacker. It sits neatly on the space in front of the iPad and folds away neatly and sleekly when not in use. 

 On the other hand, the IPad was a miss. I should have either waited and purchased used on amazon or forked out the additional hundred or two for a newer model airpad. As it stands, I overpaid badly for an IPad 9, because of a language barrier and me not realizing that the sweet model I had all picked out was actually a SoftBank product that, acoriding to them, wouldn’t be fully functional in the USA. So I took it on the chin and bought a fallback model because I was already too deep into the process to want to to back out. There are a lot of words for what this is, but I will settle on stubborn. 

Obviously, this is a first effort. If the rig proves worthwhile, I might upgrade and hand it down to a kid next year—but I am pretty sure the only way I move on from the keyboard is if I find a backlit model. Heck, maybe this one IS backlit and I

Be yet to unlock that secret… 

The moral is this: Enjoy the things you have, and do not dwell on how you might have gotten them cheaper. Every bit of life is story and this bit of tech has an interesting one now.

Technology in my opinion is about advancing human ease and shifting reality to a state where we are more productive, powerful, and exploratory as a species. It is meant to accompany and accelerate humanity. I feel like Tokyo does a wonderful job integrating tech into daily lives in a seamless way, which looks and feels nearly invisible in its application.

in short, Tokyo tech is subtly cool and makes life easier. Case in point in my argument is the technology for the blind. All of the sidewalks contain yellow textured bumpers that are easy for blind residents to follow. Additionally the street corners and tops and bottoms of escalators are loaded with tech that makes a specific sound — often a bird call that isn’t like any other bird. These indicators mean that you can navigate the city without sight. Furthermore the trains all contain displays which share station information in up to 5 different written languages in addition to speaking in both Japanese and English. This is not hard to do, but requires a desire to use tech in this way—to use tech to make the world more accessible. Isn’t that what we should want?

I want to start this one by saying that my mid-kid (11th grade) got his first college football offer. It is a big moment for him and the start of really good things moving forward. I see more offers in his future–especially if he is able to excel in camps this summer against premium talent. He’s 16 now and coming full into his confidence and athleticism following the setback of a knee injury. Big things ahead.

Moving on.. Let’s talk about the NFL. We can start with the upcoming (likely) sale of the Washington Commanders from a scumbag owner to someone more in line with the outwardly suggested values and ideals of the NFL, but I don’t want to go there yet. Instead I want to speak on the topic of hype. It is the hallmark of professional sports. We build fanbases with hype, we use hype to fill stadiums, and we get very loud about it in the preseason when every team has a chance to be the team. Now is the time where the sportswriters are talking from a positional of supposed knowing (read: opinion) about how teams ought to be ranked. Mind you, we haven’t really even started pre-season OTAs. However, these writers are in the know about which teams are gonna be fantastic and which will not. I can tell you from a coaching perspective, until you put the pads on–until you are staring across the field at the opposing squad with the final seconds of week three trickling away, you know nothing.

Week 3 is a specific statement, because we’ve seen teams interact with various other teams and can get a gauge of how they are built and how they are playcalling and how that all adds up to a level of ability. Late season surges are almost always a result of schedule or people returning from injury. Generally you see that stuff pan out early on.

I’m running out of time here so I’ll sum up with this: It is way too early to crown division champions. Here is what we know: Some very good teams stayed intact while others got even better. The schedule is going to make this specific season more competitive than last and for the NFC East especially, it is going to be a much tougher road. But I don’t know… I’ll tell you in week 4.