**Story** BICHOK Eternal

***This is the first of the Flash pieces that will soon be the majority of posts here. It was written on 13th September, then edited by me one last time on the 16th.  I have sent it to a friend, John Barrett, for more editing, but he hasn't gotten back to me.  It may change depending on his feedback.  ***UPDATE 18 Sept.  John has gotten back to me on several points.  I agree with him on all counts, but alas, I'm going to let this story stand because I don't have the time to revise it.  I should also add that this story came from a writing prompt from the wonderful guys at http://www.writingexcuses.com/.  The prompt was "something strange that happens that prevents a writer from finishing a book".

Anyway, enjoy.

  Andrea sat just as she had been instructed in her writers group; Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard.
And she sat. And she sat some more. Every few minutes, the keys would click furiously as she typed. Then she would sit, consider the words she had just written, and very calmly press the enter key on her keyboard twice. She knew better than to delete anything, even the most abject failure.
  Andrea's epic fantasy had everything, all the little bits and bobs which were necessary to create a convincing and entertaining realm in which to escape modern life. Her characters were meticulously developed, her plots were solid and tightly formed, and all of her settings were beautifully detailed and realized. She was on her third revision, and the group finally thought she was ready to find an editor.  However, they said, there was one scene that needed to be reworked.
  Everyone knew, they all agreed, what a Gorgon looked like. Their agreement notwithstanding, they unanimously felt that her description of the snake-haired monstrosity needed work.
  So there she was, practicing the BICHOK principle, staring at the screen of her laptop with absolutely no idea how to re-word her description. Swiftly, she switched windows and reread the offending description, looking for something that might help her figure out why it was so bad. Short and succinct, it did not make a show of itself, just as a description of a minor bad guy should in her opinion.
  Sighing, she minimized the word processor, opened up her Internet browser, and keyed "Medusa" into the search field. As she sifted through the search results, filtering out websites showing piercings and roller coasters and other things disturbing and impertinent, she finally happened on a site containing only pictures. These she studied, making mental notes of angles and colors and details that would assist her in accomplishing what was turning out to be a completely odious task.
  Maybe her writers group was too picky. After all, this was her first novel, so it wasn't like anyone was expecting it to be perfect. And that's why one got an editor anyway, wasn't it? In fact, she was beginning to suspect that some of the members of her group were just jealous of her skill and her talent. Most of them had never even finished a book, let alone one with such a broad and sweeping scope as Andrea's.
  No, that was just frustration talking. Those people were her friends, and they would take just as much joy from her success as they would from selling their own works.
  Information overload soon took hold, and her mental notes became notes jotted on a pad of paper. She honestly didn't think she had done this much research for any antagonist in her book, not even the main villain. And this Gorgon only had a very small part to play. It just seemed like an exercise in futility.
  As she clicked back over to her word processor, she happened to glance at the time in the bottom corner of the screen. Her burbling stomach agreed with the clock. It was way past her lunchtime.
  One quick car trip and a burger and fries later, and she was back in front of her keyboard. At some point on her drive, inspiration had struck, and now she typed like a mad woman. All of the minutiae she had written down finally gelled into something brilliant. She wrote for a full hour without stopping, and when she finished she felt absolutely certain that she had nailed it. She couldn't wait to paste this new description into the scene. It would take tiny bit of tweaking, but with minimal work, it would fit perfectly.
  She closed her eyes, stretched a bit to ease an ache beginning in her back, and smiled. Her writers group was going to be blown away.
  She scrolled to the top of the document and began to read. Two lines in, she knew it was just as good as she had thought. The details were splendidly rich, and in her mind's eye she could see the scales glisten on each individual snake that sprouted from the head of the beast. She could hear their dry, rasping rustle as they moved against one another. The beautiful, full-lipped mouth full of sharp fangs and forked tongue was so vivid, her heart began to beat a little faster. And the eyes, oh the eyes. The weight of that stare pushed at her, and she could feel a sudden slowing of her heart and a creeping lethargy entered her body as she read her description of those accursed green orbs. Her lips once again twisted into a smile as she thought of the reaction of her friends as they read her words.
  At least, her lips tried to twist into a smile.
  Come to think of it, she couldn't make her finger work on the down arrow either. Strange. She tried to sit up straighter, but found she was unable. Her heart frantically tried to beat out the cadences of terror, but it just continued to slow. Panic raked shivering clawed fingers down her spine.
  Oh, she had nailed it all right. She had written probably the most perfect description of the fabled Gorgon that ever was. And now, her words were turning her to stone right where she sat, butt in chair, hands on keyboard.
  Great, she thought, now I'll never finish my book.

Churning out Hims

Not dated.

This is what it looks like when I fall asleep with my headset on. I could write a hundred thousand words a day if I could just say something besides "him"...

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Progress Report

Dated 11th September

Remember, today is the anniversary of an event that changed the world. That’s all I’m going to say on that subject.

I've made fair progress this week on my novel. Not excellent, not really even good, but fair. I seem to have found the point at which I become disenchanted with a project. It's come a little earlier in this project than it sometimes does but a little later than with some other projects. In order to try to combat the desire to move onto a new project, I have decided to take the advice of the gentlemen on the Writing Excuses podcast and focus on specific scenes that I know are coming up in the future. What this will do, hopefully, is allow me to work on different aspects of the project rather than plodding through from Chapter 1 through the end.

I've also been kicking around the idea of purchasing some character development software. Ideally, it would be something that would assist me more in being able to quickly add flesh to a character than in actually creating my character for me. I'm sure there are some writers out there who think that using this kind of tool might in some way detract from actually writing, might make a writer lazy. In some ways, I feel there might be validity to that. I for one am nothing if not lazy. However, as with any and every job I have ever had, the maxim is that one should work smarter, not harder. Therefore, any tool that assists me in doing my work in a more intelligent manner--and enables me to do said work flat on my back as I am doing right now--is to be added to my collection posthaste. All kidding aside however, tools that increase my productivity are invaluable, since I feel like the slightest thing can negatively impact whether I feel like doing anything at all.

In the interest of another project that I have set up for myself, my Delving the Roots project, I have downloaded an e-book reader to my BlackBerry. As soon as I can work out some authentication issues on the eReader website, I will begin reading such classics as 1001 Arabian Nights, War of the Worlds, Dracula, and several other free classics that are available on that particular site.

That's about all I have tonight. Perhaps they'll finally get my Internet back in functional order in the next day or so and then I can post all of these blogs.

CL

Reading List

Dated 10th September

Not a lot to put in this week. I probably mentioned last week that I had finished Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. I also mentioned yesterday that my list of things to read has just exponentially longer what with my new project being a visit to the roots of the genre. As of right this second, the only book I'm actually reading is Elric Stealer of Souls by Michael Moorcock. Moorcock's Elric is, as I've mentioned before, the model antihero. To any of my younger readers who have yet to read any of Moorcock's work, I highly recommend beginning with any book that stars Elric.

Apart from this single book, I'm not reading much of anything. I am, however, listening to the Writing Excuses podcasts. Yet another project that involves Brandon Sanderson. That guy seems to be everywhere these days, and I hope one day to be equally as involved in the writing community as he is. He has become one of my heroes.

CL

BlackBerry Bull Session

Dated 9th September

So, as some of you may know, my wife and I both recently got new BlackBerry Storms. I don't think Anne likes hers. For such a dainty little thing, she tends to fatfinger her buttons quite a bit more than I do. Apparently. Also, she likes to mash the keypad with her face. Not sure what this accomplishes, but she assures me it's very frustrating. But really, all kidding aside, I think there are a few applications that we need to download for her that will make her experience much more enjoyable. I'm having a blast with mine. I had a first edition BlackBerry and let me tell you folks, I hated hated hated that phone. It was the most straightly worthless piece of modern equipment I have ever dealt with. It was worthless as a clock. It was worthless as a calendar. It was worthless as a phone. It didn't even have a camera. The interface was about as intuitive as jabbing an ice pick in your own eye. Although, to be fair, I did have one favorite game on that hunk of trash platform. It was reminiscent of the old Asteroids arcade game. That was my nowhere-to-go nothing-to-do entertainment for the entire time I owned the phone. Once it almost got me kicked out of the airport in Salt Lake City. I almost threw the damned thing on the floor and stomped it into a pile of electronic detritus during a major psychotic episode because the moronic device had caused me to miss a flight. Well, the Storm is a brilliant piece of equipment. There are a few things that could be improved, but so far, the ones that definitely need improvement have applications written to make said improvements. Now, these applications are not free for the most part. This is a bit frustrating, but since the phones themselves were free with our rebates and et cetera, I don't think it's a bad thing to spend a few dollars to make them exactly what we want them to be.

Now to address the iPeople. Yes, I want an iPod. Yes, I think the iPhone is cool. Equally, I think that all you iPeople paid way too much for your iProducts. Apple Corporation has notoriously been extremely proud of their merchandise. One might almost call it too proud. In fairness here too, the prices of Apple products have been coming down dramatically, and they may not be as bad as they once were, but I guess I'm just going to hold a grudge about the whole trading on their coolness factor thing that they have done. Also, I think they would have been way cooler if the Mac had not just decided that it was going to be a clone of the PC that ran OSX or whatever the latest is. Tightly coded, virus resistant, say what you will. It's still just a PC now.

Well, kind of got off subject, there. What a shock, what a surprise.

CL

Note to Self (formerly Storm of Another Sort)

Dated 8th September.

Always, always, ALWAYS begin a new document, rather than overwriting the last already saved document. Now we'll do yesterday's post again. Stupid of me not to click "Save As" instead of "Save".

Anyway, night before last there was a tremendous thunderstorm during which two pieces of equipment in camp were struck by lightning. This caused our Internet to be knocked out, which is why I have yet to post this.

As an aside, I don't think I have adequately expressed how annoyed I am that I have to redo this post.

Yeah.

I have recently begun reading a bit of Michael Moorcock. He has rereleased some of his Elric of Melniboné stories, complete with commentary. I remember having read some Elric books earlier in my life, possibly junior high or high school. Moorcock's tales I recall as having been quite good, with Elric being a brilliant, quintessential antihero. They were dark, gritty, moody. They were also wholly unique in my experience to that point. Something about the syntax of the books always struck me as strange though. I think Moorcock was the first writer I ever recognized from his writing style as being British. Also, the stories were written in the 60s, so the audience was somewhat different.

And what, you ask, does any of this have to do with projects? Well, this reading has been the impetus which tripped me into my next project. Moorcock recommends that all fledgling writers of fantasy pay a visit to the beginnings of the genre. I feel that an excellent idea. I'm not familiar in any great depth with any fantasy older than Tolkien. Perhaps delving the roots, as it were, is a good plan. So, the project is this: I plan to read as much early fantasy as I can in the next year or so. It will have to be worked in my regular reading/writing/work schedule, which is decidedly willy-nilly. Regardless, I feel confident that only good will come of it.

CL

The Return of Internet

Well, I finally have Internet again. What follows will be a chronology of all the back posts that I have yet to get on here.  Incidentally, ignore the schedule posted below as it has been changed quite dramatically.

CL