Writing: 1,081 words

Sep 20, 2011 15:23

I'd been waiting to write this scene for a long time.

Originally, the object of Operation Persephone was a 1992 Ford Taurus that Michael was going to "repossess" from Michelle's ex-boyfriend in Atlantic City. I even planned for Michael to stash the vehicle in a storage unit in northeast Philadelphia until the heat died down.

Over time, the infeasibility of that narrative thread became apparent. So within a couple of years, the codename Persephone stopped being applied to a car, and became attached to a much smaller object of much more sentimental value. I've known for almost ten years now just what that object was, and just how Michael was going to find it, and just how he was going to go about retrieving it.

Last night, I finally got to write that moment. And I'd be lying if I pretended that it wasn't immensely satisfying to describe Michael's reckless act of violence on the sixth floor of the parking garage in Camden. After nearly a decade, I thought the scene might wind up feeling anticlimactic - thought there was almost no way it couldn't, given how much I'd built it up in my mind over the years - and I was thrilled that I was wrong.

I wrote that scene all the way up to the moment when Michael discovers the Shelby's deadly surprise, and I stopped there. That's going to be another gratifying moment to savor, and I want to save it for another night. And incredibly, I wrote 1,081 words in just 152 minutes during a break I took in between transcribing the video of my new assignment. That brought my total manuscript up to 105,465 words, and banked 81 words that I applied toward Sunday night's Call of Duty marathon.

I guess it's probably obvious by now that I decide how many banked words to use on a particular night off based on how many words I bank in my next writing session. For instance: I had a balance of 3,000 words when I took off Sunday night, but instead of using an even 1,000 words to bring the balance to an even 2,000, I waited until after Monday night to settle on a number.

Then I tacked Monday's 81 banked words onto the thousand for Sunday night to make made Sunday's use 1,081 instead of 1,000, which took the balance from 3,000 to 1,919, but brought the balance back up to an even 2,000 after Monday's writing was added in. It's a sort of retroactive advance on my own productivity, but only after I've actually banked the additional words the next day.

So, strictly speaking, I worked at all three of my jobs yesterday. I was at the Credit Union from 8:30am to 5:30pm (or, technically, from 7:45am to 6:35pm), then I transcribed from 8:00pm to 10:00pm, then I wrote from 10:00pm to 12:35am, then I transcribed again from 12:35am to 1:00am.

In other news: Don't Ask/Don't Tell has finally been consigned to the trashbin of history, where it belongs. Anyone brave enough to willingly put his or her own life at risk in order to protect the fundamental freedoms that form the basis of this Republic should have the chance to and be commended for it. Good on them for putting their love of country above all else.

I don't care if they're as gay as a hummingbird, and I don't care if I know about it. I wish every gay man all of the happiness in the world with the man of his dreams and every gay woman all of the happiness in the world with the woman of her dreams. I thank every one of them for their public service and selfless courage, particularly against the ignorance of too many in this country who would condemn them for an inherent, unchangeable, and ultimately insignificant aspect of their personalities.

If you have a problem with gays in the military, consider that these men and women are willing to defend your freedoms. What kind of American are you if you're not willing to defend theirs?

dadt, writing, tdobm

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