Month: July 2019

El Paso del Norte

After what I last wrote, I was stuck for once.  I thought about Sylvia’s long drive across west Texas (I’ve done it a few times; it takes longer than you think) and how it looks like that odd place where she met the Ninon person.  Still, I have already written “road sequences” for this story before… boring!  Done and done!

Saturday late morning, just before noon in fact, in the IV Room, having just finished the Batch, it hit me:  this is one of Director Barrett’s three chief underlings.  She would fly to El Paso to meet with the Mexican diplomats about the coming partition of New Mexico!  And the moment I saw her in a small jet, I knew what Ninon’s True Form was…

Into the night, out of the dark, take to the sky chasing the stars

All that we said, all that we are, waiting to fly, this is the start!

That then gave me the “machine dream” sequence I needed.  A quick stop at a bridge over the dry Rio Grande and an encounter with a Special Guest from “Cursed Hearts,” and our Deputy Director is off to the National Labs in Los Alamos to continue laying plots for the eventual termination of ExComm.

And, I just broke the 30k word barrier!  Woot.

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Cornered

Had today off.  A late start (around 1300) but was able to say down about 1700 words:  Sylvia in her new position, recruiting allies, and with a sudden, unanticipated visitor.  I think she handled herself very well.

I see one more “dream sequence,” which we know now is when she is summoned into the Machine’s world.  Then she sets off to New Mexico.  Things… things go to shit there, I’m afraid.

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Euphoria

I wrote much of this last night on bottle #2.  After Mass this morning and a few household chores I returned to it.  It stank.  Deleted and re-wrote the second half of the dream sequence then was surprised that it was Dorina on the phone and not Thaad.  These machines are like kudzu:  cropping up everywhere you least expect them.

The next day Sylvia has her first full day at her office job.  I know you guys CANNOT WAIT for that dramatic installment…  And for the person who sent me the question:  no, she and Jones do not have a relationship.  I think.

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Hide and Seek

We start to learn a little more about the man who built ExComm:  Clive Barrett.  My mental model for him is a cross between Felicks Dzerzhinsky and James Jesus Angleton.  NOT a healthy combination!

I had planned a slightly surreal soliliquy by Barrett about what-all he’s trying to accomplish with ExComm but it simply would not fit:  the man is too much a monster and the words didn’t work in his mouth.  I’ve already about 800 words after this scene and once I see Sylvia back to her flat I think things are going to take a turn for the surreal.  That’s fine; I have never gone fully surreal and I like to push my own limits with each new book.

But for now, here’s Sylvia talking FTF with her boss.  Cheerio.

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Unknown Knowns

Had today off.  Saw a little of the political dynamic of Sylvia and the OKC politician.  The fact that Ninon, one of the three machines that has never spoken to humans just spoke up made my fingers twitch so much I could barely type.

PS  My use of “Look homeward, angel” is from Milton’s Lycidas.  I’d no idea that Tom Wolfe, whom I admire, used it for a book title.  Another moment when the intarwebs steer you to a place you do not want to be; and, if you don’t prepossess the knowledge, you are led to something wrong.

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A Punitive Lesson

My characters are almost always on the move:  going hither and yon.  Is that because I’m a rather sedentary person?  I’m usually sitting to read, write, or watch an anime or movie.  When I was young, even into college, I enjoyed going for drives, just to see what was over the next hill.

When did I lose that?  And why?

Below the fold, Sylvia gets a summons and receives some startling news.  I’m wondering when the plot will show up…

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A New Republic

As what’s left of the US celebrates so-called Independence Day (Virginia’s motion on independence was approved on July 2nd; the Declaration was adopted by Congress on July 4th) I spend my time alone writing about the Breakup and the new Republic of Texas.  And the horrible steps being taking to make sure that new state survives its difficult birth.

Below the fold, I practice a style of writing called “letter writing.”  Very popular in the late 19th Century and mildly successful in the 20th.  Colleen McCoullough made great use of it in the first two books of her Masters of Rome series, which sold about a billion copies.  Who am I to argue with what works?

I suspect WordPress formatting will bugger this up to a large degree, but I’ll do what I can.  Happy Declaration Adoption Day!

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