Okay, it\u2019s enough.\u00a0 I\u2019ve watched my last screaming progressive video.\u00a0 It\u2019s not fun anymore.\u00a0 And I\u2019m good with the Trump cabinet picks and his agenda.\u00a0 Honestly, that\u2019s his problem.\u00a0 He\u2019s responsible for avoiding weasels and psychopaths.\u00a0 That\u2019s what we hired him to do.\u00a0 Every once in a while it will be interesting to note how that\u2019s all going.<\/p>\n
I will admit I\u2019m watching very intently the madness in Ukraine.\u00a0 Apparently, the neo-cons running the war have decided to start WW III before they are physically dragged out of office.\u00a0 And, I assume this is also the case for the Pentagon.\u00a0 So, I can\u2019t say I\u2019m done with Ukraine because it\u2019s not done with us yet.\u00a0 But I restrict my attention to a few daily checks on some YouTube channels that cover the war.\u00a0 So, until the mushroom clouds blossom over Dunwich I\u2019ll take a watch and wait approach.\u00a0 Which is about as much as I can logically hope to do.<\/p>\n
So, what does that leave for me?\u00a0 Well, as I\u2019ve been reminded, I\u2019m supposed to finish up that book.\u00a0 And, lo and behold, I have been doing some work.\u00a0 I put together a list of changes and additions to round it up and I\u2019m rereading it to find any weaknesses or mistakes in the story.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve recognized a few.\u00a0 Connors\u2019 role in Iraq needs to be clarified and justified.\u00a0 After all mega-billionaires aren\u2019t usually strolling around forward operating bases of a war zone as if it were Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n
And I have to inject more personality into my main characters.\u00a0 This means I have to invent scenarios where they interact beyond strategizing how to pick off evil intelligence officers and their goons.\u00a0 And, heaven help me, I might even have a relationship break out between Connors and Grace.\u00a0 It would tie up some loose ends and add to the emotional interest in the story.\u00a0 And so, I\u2019m looking at those things.\u00a0 But what I\u2019ve noticed is that when you start a story by the braille method (that is, without a somewhat detailed outline) it\u2019s hard to tack an outline onto it once it\u2019s gotten beyond a certain point.\u00a0 It\u2019s like an off-the-rack suit that doesn\u2019t quite fit in a bunch of places.\u00a0 Trying to make it fit requires a lot of alterations.\u00a0 And some of these alterations feel awkward or rub the author the wrong way because they seem antithetical to the way you originally saw a character or an event.\u00a0 It\u2019s a very uncomfortable activity.<\/p>\n
What it\u2019s made me aware of is that starting a story with a good road map ahead of time is an invaluable asset to finishing the story.\u00a0 So, the lazy lout in me says, \u201cWell, put this story aside and start another one from scratch with a good outline.\u00a0 But I know myself too well.\u00a0 That\u2019s terrible advice.\u00a0 What needs to be done is to bite the bullet and put in the work and wrestle with the problems until they\u2019re resolved in a creatively satisfying way.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to try to do.<\/p>\n
What it will require me to do is put a few hours in every morning to get it done.\u00a0 And that\u2019s few hours every morning that won\u2019t be devoted to reading the news and political stuff.\u00a0 Well, I guess the world will survive with me at half strength.\u00a0 You folks may notice a certain slackness on the site but I guess it can\u2019t be helped.<\/p>\n
Anyway, let\u2019s give it a try.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Okay, it\u2019s enough.\u00a0 I\u2019ve watched my last screaming progressive video.\u00a0 It\u2019s not fun anymore.\u00a0 And I\u2019m good with the Trump cabinet picks and his agenda.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1289,1263,4,6],"tags":[76,1290,265,4484],"class_list":["post-31384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-fiction-by-me","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","category-sff","category-trump","tag-fiction-writing","tag-my-fiction","tag-science-fiction","tag-the-american-archipelago-book-1-the-sniper"],"yoast_head":"\n