Category: canon

repetition

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I think it’s time I got more serious about writing and exploring kindness.

See, The Mungk took me to a dark place because I was thinking about trauma, abandonment and isolation the whole time. The Conflagration of Boor and Aghast made me angry, because tapping into the outrage machine and felt helplessness of modern politics can’t help but do so (also, didn’t help that Trump launched his reign of terror).

Father Lightning is, at its core, an exploration of kindness. So rather than bogging down in anger and hopelessness or despair, it was meant to re-centre me, and re-focus on compassion and empathy and treating people with kindness and respect.

But here I am, thinking about anger and trauma, again.

Going forward, no more pain and anger (well, some pain and anger).

The primary focus of this blog will be kindness, and everything that goes along with it.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 2195 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Time For A Tiger, Anthony Burgess (when I started reading this, I thought it might be about an actual tiger, or a tiger as a metaphor for Malaysia near the end of British rule, but nope - a Tiger is a warm beer, and our protagonist spend most of their time not wanting to do anything but stop what they're doing and go have one.  Weird premise, Burgess.  I mean, I understand the sentiment, but weird thing to focus a book on.)
Comics: Voodoo/Zealot: Skin Trade 1, Zealot 1, WildC.A.T.S. 23, Team One/WildC.A.T.S. 2
Music: Five Songs And A Cover, Foo Fighters

funny how that works

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You wake up, things seem like they’re going tickety-boo, and then all of a sudden, it’s three o’clock and you’ve only done distracted things and shit for other people.

And yet it seemed like you had so much time.

If that ain’t a metaphor for a wasted life, I don’t know what is.

This workin’s for the birds.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 2028 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Time For A Tiger, Anthony Burgess
Comics: Wildstorm Rising 2, Grifter 2, WildCats Adventures 10, WildC.A.T.S. 21
Music: Five Dollar Bob's Mock Cooter Stew, Mudhoney

that was kind of rude

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Like, the whole thing about Father Lightning is me exploring the nature of kindness, in the same manner I explored the concept of dualism in The Conflagration Of Boor And Aghast and trauma in The Mungk.

I don’t think I’m doing so well. The point of kindness is not that you’re a doormat; it’s also not to only be kind to those to whom it’s easy to be kind.

True kindness understands that sometimes the kindest thing is a direct truth; true kindness understands that sometimes, even those that would seem to deserve it the least are the ones that may need it the most.

It sets boundaries by shedding light on the reality of a situation; it understands that sometimes, in that enlightening, we may need to cast aside judgment.

I’m not sure I’m doing a very good job of that.

In this, I must be better.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 2337 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Pebble In The Sky, Isaac Asimov
Comics: WildC.A.T.S. 18-19, WildCats Adventures 6, Warblade: Endangered Species 3
Music: The First Four Years, Black Flag

storm shakin’

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I make notes on second draft while a rat terrier shakes uncontrollably in my lap, and the sky rumbles above.

I don’t know what traumatized her so, but man, poor girl.

We love you, Sofi. Sorry about the weather.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 1349 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Pebble In The Sky, Isaac Asimov
Comics: WildCats Adventures 3-4, WildC.A.T.S. 17, Grifter: One Shot 1
Music: First Ditch Effort, NOFX

relaxed achievement?

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It’s weird what a massive burden having a clear to do list on a regular basis can do for one.

Portugal (and subsequent crushing depression) really put me far back; being able to do some of the things I’ve pushed off from day to day feels really good. Like more relaxed.

Getting ahead.

Progressing.

Progress, not product, am I right? (First draft done.)

Target: 1500 words
Written: 2674 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Liza Of Lambeth, W. Somerset Maugham
Comics: WildC.A.T.S. 0, WildC.A.T.S. Trilogy 1-2, WildC.A.T.S. Sourcebook 1
Music: Fingertips, They Might Be Giants

he is risen

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Oh, wait. That’s just the pornography.

(Or the scene I just wrote in Father Lightning.)

Target: 1500 words
Written: 1596 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Legend Of Bagger Vance, Steven Pressfield
Comics: Gen 13 v4 25-28
Music: Fight Club Original Soundtrack, Various (best band ever, this Various.  Such range.)

strokin’?

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I’m re-reading the scene I wrote yesterday and I have questions about my mindset.

For example, I used the word dude instead of dug, and referred to someone getting on their hands and knees as being on “all floor”.

I might be glitching out.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 584 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Legend Of Bagger Vance, Steven Pressfield
Comics: Gen 13 v4 21-24
Music: Fever To Tell, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

good friday

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You know what? It was a good Friday.

Time off, time to write, time to read and play video games?

I’ll fuckin’ take it.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 1428 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone , J.K. (don't call me Joanne) Rowling
Comics: Gen 13 v4 13-16
Music: Ferment, Catherine Wheel

productive end of march

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I mean, look at that word count. I haven’t hit three thousand words in a day in a long, long time.

I’m proud of me.

At least today.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 3043 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, Tom Wolfe (like Hunter S. Thompson, Thompson were into status and name dropping and not drugs and rebellion.  Got a bit repetitive in his descriptions - how many times can you refer to bouffant hair, or his weird obsession with women's butts, or tits pointed straight up like a torpedo in launch?)
Comics: Gen 13 v4 2-5
Music: Feelin' Kinda Patton, Patton Oswalt

welp, botched the fuck out of that

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Yeah, a pivotal scene and I wrote it like a ninth grader, or a cop show writer.

Grabbing someone by the lapels and screaming, “Where is he?”, like my main character is fucking Mel Gibson or Clint Eastwood, when he’s more like Buster in Arrested Development.

Jesus, I’ve let my family make me watch too many episodes of Tracker – my writing is now devolving as a result.

(For the record, Tracker is shit. The only time I was even remotely interested was the UFO episode, because I thought they might be pivoting and turning into something good, like the X-Files. Sadly, they’ve never mentioned it again.)

Target: 1500 words
Written: 2666 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Code And Other Laws Of Cyberspace, Lawrence Lessig (like, I see good points, but his pro-corporate copyright stance is distasteful, and his insistence on interjecting the government into everything is as well.  He claims to have made a point or taken a stance in there somewhere, but other than saying, hey, this is an issue (and it was, back then), I don't really see much of a stance on anything, other than we need more government or the magical mystery market will solve the problem, like some kind of divine hand.)
Comics: Gen 13 v2 65-67, GenActive 6
Music: The Fat Of The Land, The Prodigy