Musings & Thoughts for Wednesday, August 2, 2023, or: Persistence in the Face of Adversity

  Midday, Wednesday, August 2, 2023, Lithia, Florida

“This morning, the sun endures past dawn. I realise that it is August: the summer’s last stand.” ― Sara Baume, A Line Made By Walking

Hi, there. Well, here we are at the middle of the workweek (and the second day of August). As I begin this, my 1,207^th post here in A Certain Point of View, Too, it is an unsurprisingly hot high summer day. Currently, the temperature outside is 89°F/31°C under mostly sunny skies. With humidity at 62% and the wind blowing from the north-northwest at 3 MPH/5 KMH, the heat index is 97°F/35°C. Today’s forecast is almost a repeat of yesterday’s: this part of the Tampa Bay area can expect a high of 93°F/34°C and scattered showers – some of which may turn out to be thunderstorms – may be around throughout the afternoon.

On Writing & Storytelling

“The month of August had turned into a griddle where the days just lay there and sizzled.” ― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

Since today is a working day for me, after a rest break I will resume work on Scene One of Chapter 11 in Reunion: Coda.  As much as I hate to admit it, it’s going to be a case of playing catchup, because yesterday was not a highly productive day. I didn’t sleep well on the night before last, so the only writing-related stuff I did yesterday was to discuss a promotional video (a trailer of sorts, if you will) for Reunion: A Story, the novella that kicks off the Reunion Duology, with my friend and filmmaking colleague, actor-director Juan Carlos Hernandez. We exchanged – via email – ideas about what the trailer might look like, and I provided Juan with an excerpt from the novella that is suitable for the voiceover on the video’s audio track.

I’m still tired from Sleepless Monday night, and I will be starting to write much later than I’d like after my mandatory rest break, so I am not sure how much copy I will produce today. I hope that once I get started, I will find my “Writer’s Mojo” once again and, at the very least, write at least 500-600 words. I’m hoping that I’ll hit the 1,000-word mark (half of Stephen King’s personal daily word count goal), but at this point, I will gladly take 500-600 new words.

As long as I get something done with the manuscript today, I will be…content.  

“You see, in my view, a writer is a writer not because [one] writes well and easily, because [one] has amazing talent, because everything [one] does is golden. In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway.” ― Junot Diaz, [Becoming a Writer/ The List, O Magazine, November 2009]