On Writing & Storytelling: TGIF! The Endpoint of Chapter 11, Scene One is in Sight

Late Morning, Friday, August 4, 2023, Lithia, Florida

“I believe someone made a grievous mistake when summer was created; no novitiate or god in their right mind would make a season akin to hell on purpose. Someone should be fired.” ― Michelle Franklin

Ah. Another summer day is here, and another work week is ending.

This being Florida, and this being August, I don’t think I am surprising anyone when I say it is another hellishly hot day here in the Tampa Bay area. We’re in the Deep South, in the subtropical zone, mind you, so to expect anything different in the climate department would be silly.

As I start this, my 1,210^th post on A Certain Point of View, Too, the temperature is 87°F/31°C under sunny conditions. With a barely blowing east-southeasterly breeze of 2 MPH/3 KMH and 66% humidity, the heat index is 95°F/35°C. As the day progresses, it will get hotter; the forecast for today calls for sunny skies, less than 10% chance of rain, and a high of 95°F/35°C.

Not surprising, I know. But I hate extremely hot weather because it totally kills any residual desire I might have to go out, get fresh air and some sunlight – for the Vitamin D effect – and maybe see other people and socialize, even if it’s just to say “hi” to a neighbor. I used to do that in my former neighborhood in South Florida as recently as the spring of 2016, even though I usually waited till the sun was setting and the temperatures were beginning to come down a little. (Of course, when I left Miami, I did so in April, and it was not as hot then as it would have been had I stayed there till August of 2016.) I miss that aspect of my old life, you know?

Action This Day

Because I adhere to a schedule that mirrors the five-day business week, today is a working day for me. That means that after my rest break, I will work on Chapter 11, Scene One of Reunion: Coda. I think, honestly, that I am close to finishing that bit of the story – I know how it is supposed to end because (a) it is one of the few instances where I drew from my experiences as a 12^th grader at South Miami High School in the spring of 1983, and (b) the scene is an expansion of a plot point I introduced long ago in Reunion: A Story.

Since I know the endpoint for the scene, and since I sense I am about to reach it, I have a good feeling that I will complete Scene One for Chapter 11 today. Because it is based on pre-existing material (and also because it is almost complete), I know how my characters feel, and at least one line of dialogue from Reunion: A Story will recur, both because of its prominence in the earlier story and its significance to my protagonist/narrator (or, as I like to call him, my “I-Guy”).

Whether or not my workday is long or short depends on several things, not the least of which is how much more I add to the scene. I don’t believe (as I write these words, anyway) that there is much more that I can add without making Scene One overlong, so I think that completing it should not take more than two hours – depending on how fast the ideas leap from my brain to my fingers, and on how much copy editing I do on the “new words” I add in the process.

If I still feel capable of writing after I put the finishing touches (at least, in the context of a “first draft”) on Scene One, I might begin work on Scene Two of the chapter. I do want to finish this version of the manuscript by September 15 – I don’t believe Reunion: Coda will be finished in time for a September 2023 release, all things considered – so if I am “on a tear” and simply can’t stop writing because my Writer’s Mojo is in fine form, fine. I’ll write as much as I can and then get into “weekend mode” so I can take Saturday and Sunday off.

Anyway, we’ll see what develops after my rest break.