Musings & Thoughts for Wednesday, September 13, 2023, or: Reaching a Writing Milestone, and Grappling with Chapter 11…Still!

Late Morning/Midday, Wednesday, September 13, 2023, Lithia, Florida

Hi, all.

So, it’s Wednesday (Hump Day) already, huh? Wow…and on Friday we’ll be in the middle of the month. (Yikes!)

Tempus Fugit indeed.

Here in the Tampa Bay area, though, it seems as though summer didn’t get the memo that it’s already meteorological fall, cos it’s still mercilessly hot and sticky outside. As I write this (at 11:03 AM EDT), the temperature beyond the house’s walls is 87°F/30°C under sunny skies, but when you factor in the 5 MPH/9 KMH breeze blowing from the west-northwest and humidity at 69%, the heat index is 99°F/37°C. The forecast for the rest of the afternoon calls for mostly sunny skies and a high of 93°F/34°C.

As I said yesterday, the only good weather news – other than there are no thunderstorms in today’s forecast, at least – is that Hurricane Lee will not hit Florida or much of the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S.

Looking at the storm’s projected track and “cone of uncertainty,” it does look like the state of Maine might be in Lee’s path if it veers a bit more to the left or if the Coriolis effect takes too long to push the now-Hurricane/future Tropical Storm Lee to the right and off to sea. Since I do have friends up in New England who might bear the brunt of the storm’s winds and rain and their effect on land (such as flooded roads and mudslides and whatnot), I fervently hope that it does not hit Maine. (I don’t want Lee to hit Canada, either, but since the steering currents are keeping Lee from turning to the east-northeast before it hits land, it looks like our neighbors to the north won’t be able to avoid a strike on their shores.)

On Writing & Storytelling: Nearing the 50,000-Word Mark (And Yeah, I’m Still Grappling with Chapter 11’s Third Scene)

“Novels are about exploring unexplored territory in the human experience or, at least, drawing new maps of old lands.” ― Carsten Jensen

Well, on this 13^th day of September in Anno Domini 2023, my plan for the day is to keep working on my novel, Reunion: Coda. I’ve been doing this for nearly six months now, and with 10 chapters done and two-thirds of an eleventh chapter behind me, I have no intention of quitting now.

Yesterday was not exactly one of my more productive days, at least not in the adding new words to the manuscript category. Coaxing details to a story out of the ether, even if they’re derived from an earlier story – as Chapter 11 is essentially a “fleshing out” of a plot point mentioned in Reunion: A Story – is not an easy task, not even for a guy who has been writing since he was a kid. My Tuesday was vexing because as hard as I tried to add new material to what I wrote on Monday, my creative well was…dry.

I did do some editing and revising, though, and in the process, I learned – thanks to the use of the Word Count functionality in Word – that the “master document” with the first draft of Reunion: Coda contains 49,240 words – including, of course, the ones on the title page – in 117 pages. So, if I can add just 760 new words, I will reach the 50,000-word mark soon, regardless of whether the third scene in Chapter 11 is finished or not.

I will, of course, be taking my midday/early afternoon break soon, and I am going to do my best to be on “Write New Words Today” mode instead of “Shit, I Need to Edit and Revise this Damn Manuscript” mode when I return to my desk to work. 

So, wish me luck, my friends. I’m going to need all the positive thoughts you can send me!

And, until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.