It is completed.

  I finished the book at 11:25.  I then did frantic typo correction and a few minor tightens.  At 37,707 words it's a long three day novel. 

As usual, I think the ending is a little rushed.  I sort of planned for it plot wise.  The ending of the world in the book, is a but rushed.  I wanted to capture a sense of things falling apart.  Of things spiraling out of control.

I guess we'll see if people like it.  Aside from a bit of an abrupt ending, I think it's pretty coherent.

I hope I did what I set out to do.

I think I can expand this book to a full novel almost without trying.  So much got left on the floor.

Thanks for following along, those who did.

Thanks to the readers who helped me catch my typos.

Thanks to +Gayleen Froese for tolerating my utter uselessness as an actual person for the weekend.

Good night.  If you want to read it, you know where to find me.

Six years or 3 hours from the end of the world.

   I just hit 1980. 

  The Super-Human age is almost finished.

  I am going to be right down to the wire on this one.

  If I'm lucky, I'll have time to do a quick read for errors.

  I doubt it.

Well, we can all pack it in.

   I've just written the greatest paragraph in human history.  Literature can stop now.

I explain that I do.  Gorrilavia is a small city located on an island off the coast of Madagascar.  It shifted to our world from an adjacent parallel Earth as a result of an experiment gone wrong.  Their science, even in the thirties was a thousand years ahead of the world, and they decided that they would wall themselves off from the rest of the world to avoid contaminating our culture.  Also, they were talking gorillas.

Also, I'm within spitting distance of 30,000 words.  And I saved my anecdote.  

Good times.

Omigodomigodomigod

   I have 10 hours left.  I hope this manuscript is tight because I have no goddamned idea if I'll have time to fix typos and stuff.

  I have so much story left to tell.  I'm cutting things left and right, trying to use the minimum I need for the plot. 

  I have a plot now.

  I think this book will be frighteningly easy to double in length should I choose to.

Bedtime, part 2

  I finished Part Two, and have about 2,000 word in on the third part.  The really HEAVY part of the book is over, and we're back to optimism and heroism.

 I think the move from wacky golden age into noir and then into wacky silvery age is fun.  Writing the silver age and the "relevant" seventies is going to be fun.

 I think I can bring this book in on time.  I think.

I had to cut a sequence that breaks my fucking heart.  I may try to transplant it to the third part.

There is definitely a plot to follow, and this pleases me.

I still, as I say, am not sure that it's a good book, but it's very satisfying to write.

I need to sleep now.

So much work tomorrow.

20,000 words

  I just broke 20k.  I think it's the halfway point, or just past it.

  Earlier today, I was worried that it was wandering.  Now I worry that it may be too focused.  There is, at this point, absolutely a narrative.

  Colour me shocked.

  My outline, not so much being followed.  I had a sort of moment of story clarity that changed a few things.

  Also, I think I'll be writing straight text pieces about these characters for the next several months. 

  It's a big canvas story.

  There are a lot of casually mentioned details that could be enlarged upon.

  It might be better if I don't.  I don't know.

 Some years I am afraid of running out of story.  Some years, I am afraid of running out of time.

This is one of those latter years.

Soda, then back at it.

Progress Update

   I got to a bit of a late start this morning.  I had a lovely breakfast with +Gayleen Froese , and then picked up a few items at the mall.  I seem to have come down with a cold, but it's minor, and I'm on it.

The writing is not at the pace I would prefer.  I'm writing about the Second World War, and I am nearly at the end of it now.  The post-war period is what I am most comfortable with, and that should come quickly.

This part of the book is ugly.  War is ugly, and the war for the superhumans was uglier than most. 

I am, however at what I think is nearly the half way point for the project.  I think my book may go as long as 40,000 words this year, which would be something of a record for me.  I expect to go to the wire.

I've had some feedback on the first part of the book, and it's been pleasantly favorable so far.  I think this book is less of a mess than most of my 3-Day books have been.  It's tighter, and maybe more focused.

I'm just worried that, as oral histories do, it's wandering. 

I'm in the second act, and second acts are hard.

Thanks for checking in.  I'm gonna go hug a dog and a roomie or something and then get back to it.  I would like to do another 8000-10000 words today.

Bedtime

My hands started to hurt, so I took a break to read and tighten what I'd written.  I changed a name, and fixed some typos.  It's a very tight manuscript so far.

I think that, as an oral history, the plot is a little less direct than many readers will expect.  It's a mood piece, and a character piece primarily.  I think I'm starting to be okay with it.  Im still very much in need of feedback. 

But not nearly NEARLY as much as I am in need of sleep.  I'm bushed.  I'm gonna put on a film, and fall asleep to it, with my little dog grumbling next to me.

Brain Melty.

   Okay, so that's the first section done.

   As is my custom, I have no idea if this is readable or interesting to anyone who isn't me. 

   If you are interested in reading the first 11, 000 words, let me know.  I'd appreciate any avaliable feedback.

  I'm about to enter the dark crunchy heart of the book, before coming out the other side to daylight again.  Sunday is always the darkest day, for some reason.  Your mood hits the low point, you start to despair of ever finishing.  So, if I'm gonna be in that kind of mood, I may as well deal with with second world war at that time.

  So far I am following my outline fairly closely.  I have removed one character, and folded his story into someone else's, and I think it's for the best.  Perhaps if I expand this story at some point, I'll add that character back.  One thing about this kind of a story, is that there is always room for more interviews.  I am trying to do as few as I have to to finish this story on time.  For better and worse, I'm sure.

I am so smart.

   I just locked myself out of the house for about an hour.

   (long slow clap)

   Back to it.

Progress Report Day 1 so far

Well, I'm done with the pulp adventurers now.  It's time to talk to people about how they got their powers and introduce my Superman clone.

Progress is good, and I like what I've done so far, I think.  I'm on pace.

Time to stretch my legs, and comfort my heart-broken Papillon, who is locked in a crate to restrict his movement as he overcomes a slipped disc. 

As usual, a late start

I slept 7 hours and have frittered around for an hour and a half.  The automatic garage door opener seems to be buggered up.  I can't figure out what's wrong with it.  It's likely simple, really, but I'm fucked if I know what to do.

Anyway, we will have to make do without for a few days, unless inspiration strikes.

Back to it.

Book underway

It is 2 am.  I'm 2,300 and change into the book.

It's flowing fairly easily, and I'm having fun so far.  All good thing.  I've no idea if anyone will enjoy.  I never do.

If anyone wants a look, let me know.  I'm always happy for feedback during the work.

More tomorrow.  Sleep now.

Okay. 2.5 hours to go.. crisis averted

    My laptop keyboard was being hinky, and today the e and w both gave out completely. 

   And so, witness the power of this fully functional wireless solar keyboard.

   I'm having a little trouble getting used to it, but I'll get there.

One More Time

So, it's six hours until the contest starts.  My outline is completed (it's loose, and I'm still tweaking).  I know better than to make it very detailed.  In the heat of the 3-Day, it could well go out the window.  It always has before.  I vowed, though, not to assy this again without one.

My book is Strange Adventures: An Oral History of the Superhero 1925-1986.

It's split into four parts:

1. Secret Origins (1925-1945)
2. Reverse Alchemy (1946-1961)
3. Silver to Twilight (1962-1985)
4. Distant Memory (1986-present day) 

I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with this one.  There's a plot, and it's pretty simple but I think it's nifty.  Mostly, though the book is personal reminiscences of the people who were there for that brief little 60 year window when super-powered men, women and other flew and fought and strived to change the world.

It's also about how we coped with losing them, and carried on.

So, it's ambitious, but not overly complicated.  This has been my bane. 

Okay.  Back to it.  I'll be posting semi-regularly this weekend.  Feel free to keep up as I do.  Or not.