Kyle Michel Sullivan's Blog: https://www.myirishnovel.com/, page 250

Just over 12,000 words...

I think I'm going to top off at 40K. I'm into act 2 of the story and while I'm zipping through it to get the structure down, and I'm adding back in characters who will fill it nicely -- Mrs. Rutledge is proving to be complete fun -- I don't think I'll make the full count unless I can figure something more out.

I was going to participate in a writing seminar, this evening (one of the prizes I won as a Top 100 in Table Read My Screenplay) but the guy never showed up. It was a call-in conference style and while I chatted with half a dozen other people for half an hour while waiting, and they were all very pleasant and interested in writing, I was after something that would help me fulfill this story. What a pain...and yet another waste of time.

I may use my train trip to go back through what I've written on BZ, to that point, and see if I'm missing any sub-plots that could be expanded upon. Drew's is still a bit anemic. And I could expand Alex's mother's more, especially since she's angry with her husband for putting her in the position of being the bad guy in the move. That's not to say the other characters are deep with meaning, yet...but there has to be something missing.

I know I'll be doing some serious rewriting once I get this first draft completed.

The Democrats wanted to lose...

I stole this from Down With Tyranny blogspot...and it makes too damn much sense, considering.
Steve Israel Failed Miserably This Cycle

Dozens of House incumbents had only nominal-- rather than serious-- opposition this cycle. But only 32 have no opposition at all. Here's the list with each district's PVI:

• Robert Aderholt (R-AL)- R+28
• Terri Sewell (New Dem-AL)- D+20
• Gus Bilirakis (R-FL)- R+7
• Kathy Castor (D-FL)- D+13
• Ted Deutch (D-FL)- D+10
• Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)- R+5
• Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)- R+2
• Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA)- R+19
• Barry Loudermilk (R-GA)- R+19
• Hank Johnson (D-GA)- D+21
• John Lewis (D-GA)- D+32
• Austin Scott, (R-GA)- R+15
• David Scott (Blue Dog-GA)- D+16
• Tom Graves (R-GA)- R+26
• Richard Neal (D-MA)- D+13
• Jim McGovern (D-MA)- D+8
• Joseph Kennedy (D-MA)- D+6
• Katherine Clark (D-MA)- D+14
• Michael Capuano (D-MA)- D+31
• Stephen Lynch (D-MA)- D+6
• Robert Pittenger (R-NC)- R+8
• Grace Meng (D-NY)- D+13
• Eliot Engel (New Dem-NY)- D+21
• Richard Hanna (R-NY)- R+3
• Bob Gibbs (R-OH)- R+6
• Jim Bridenstine (R-OK)- R+18
• Mike Doyle (D-PA)- D+15
• Charlie Dent (R-PA)- R+2
• Tim Murphy (R-PA)- R+10
• Mark Sanford (R-SC)- R+11
• John Ratcliffe (R-TX)- R+25
• Robert Scott (D-VA)- D+27
You can't blame the Republicans for not fielding candidates against Robert Scott in his D+27 Richmond district or John Lewis in his D+32 Atlanta district. Nor can you blame Democrats for not running candidates against Robert Aderholt in his R+28 north Alabama district and Tom Graves in his R+26 northwest Georgia district. In fact, all of the Democrats with no opponents are in pretty blue districts. The Republicans didn't give away any easy districts. The 2 "weakest" are both Massachusetts districts with identical PVIs of D+6. Obama won Kennedy's district 57-41% and won Lynch's district 58-41%. So... not really competitive seats.

Now, on the other side of the aisle, we have a different story. There are three seats in very competitive districts:

• Ileana Ros-Lehtinen- R+2- Obama beat Romney 53-47%
• Richard Hanna- R+3- a 49-49% tie that Romney won with a handful of votes
• Charlie Dent- R+2- Romney beat Obama narrowly, 51-48%
Ros-Lehtinen, a close friend and political crony of DCCC head Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has protected her in the past, was a member of Steve Israel's Center Aisle Caucus. Charlie Dent was a member of the same centrist caucus composed of Blue Dogs and other Wall Street-owned Democrats and relatively mainstream conservative Republicans. One of the premises is that the members don't oppose each other-- which was certainly a good enough reason for Nancy Pelosi to have not made him head of the DCCC. But she did. And tonight she's reaping the whirlwind-- and so are more rational Democrats and the American people.

When David Broder first wrote about the determinedly centrist Congressional Center Aisle Caucus in 2005, he almost ejaculated for joy on the editorial page of the Washington Post over the sheer civility of the project. I wonder why they didn't make him an honorary member. Broder claimed there were 47 invited members (which later grew to 60), roughly equally split between the two parties, although that membership roll isn't readily available anywhere, almost like it's being hidden. They meet, or met, secretly, in a Chinese restaurant two blocks from Capitol Hill; no joke. The caucus was founded by Republican Tim Johnson (IL) and the-Blue Dog… Steve Israel (NY) with the stated purpose of bypassing Congress' partisan ways.

Applicants for membership weren't admitted unless they recruited companion members from the opposite party. Caucus members avoided lightning-rod issues and focused only on areas that most likely would produce agreement. Under one unwritten bylaw, members vowed never to engage in political campaigns against other members. That's nice… but does it make sense to appoint the person who came up with that chairman of the DCCC? I'll answer that for you-- NO! These are the exact candidates the DCCC should be going after… but regardless of how vulnerable they are, Israel keeps the DCCC off their backs one way or the other. In a rational world, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen would have been a top tier DCCC candidate, but Steve Israel doesn't live in a rational world; he lives in a Center Aisle world and ignores the fact that Ros-Lehtinen is in a blue district that Obama won-- and by a way stronger margin than just about all of Israel's targeted districts. But Ileana gets a reelection free-pass from Israel and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Last year Wasserman Schultz was complicit in recruiting a cardboard candidate, Manny Yevancey, who no one ever heard of, who raised zero dollars and who campaigned exactly zero days. His only job was to occupy the Democratic ballot slot so no one else could run against Wasserman Schultz's and Israel's BBF.

There are 21 seats like this in the House, winnable seats Steve Israel willfully ignored, even if they were much easier than impossible targets in deep red districts where he ran his handpicked Blue Dogs and New Dems. All of these incumbents represent districts where Obama won in 2008 and/or 2012 but where Israel has refused to back the grassroots local candidate or has frightened off anyone from running against his Republican pals:

• NJ-02- Frank LoBiondo- D+1
• MI-06- Fred Upton- R+1
• WA-08- Dave Reichert- R+1
• FL-27- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen- R+2
• PA-06- Jim Gerlach- R+2
• MN-03- Erik Paulsen- R+2
• PA-07- Pat Meehan- R+2
• MN-02- John Kline- R+2
• PA-15- Charlie Dent- R+2
• MI-08- Mike Rogers- R+2
• WA-03- Jaime Hererra Buetler- R+2
• VA-10- Frank Wolf- R+2
• CA-25- Buck McKeon- R+3
• WI-01- Paul Ryan- R+3
• MI-11- Kerry Bentivolio- R+4
• IL-06- Peter Roskam- R+4
• PA-16- Joe Pitts- R+4
• CA-49- Darrell Issa- R+4
• IL-16- Adam Kinzinger- R+4
• MI-03- Justin Amash- R+4
• MI-04- Dave Camp- R+5
Now that Israel screwed up 2014, can the Democrats win back the House in 2016? In theory, absolutely! With Steve Israel, or anyone like him, running the DCCC-- out of the question.

See more at: http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2...

I voted...

Didn't like it, but I did it. I voted Green or Democrat, not one Republican. I refuse to support anyone who supports a party that wants to hurt me, and if you're part of the GOP that's what you do. No two ways about it. Here's their basic platform -- "Republicans...would ban all abortions and gay marriages, reshape Medicare into a voucher-like program, and cut taxes..." That's what you support if you vote GOP.

My conservative Texas grandmother was right -- The Republican is for the rich man. She never once voted for them, and I thought that was silly. Once upon a time. The older I get, the more sense she makes. Too bad she died 30 years ago...or maybe it's better. She'd be flipping out like crazy if she was still around. December 24th would have been her 110th birthday.

I still got some work done on BZ. I'm up to nearly 8600 words...and starting to wonder if I'll make it to 50,000 with this story. I'm close to the end of act one, which is normally 25% of the story. Wouldn't that be funny? Get it done and it turns out as a long novella. Adding the little brother and school crossing guard back in isn't making enough of a difference. Maybe when I get to the Beige Pair from MESSIS...

Those two would be fun...

The opening pages for "Bugzters"...

Kind of a mess...but a beginning...--------------------------------------------Just because Alex Grasley was eleven years-old did not mean he was unaware of what was really going on. His dad may have told him they were moving to Albuquerque because he had a new job. His mom may have insisted they would be living in a great town with excellent schools, so he would be just as happy there. They both may have promised he would make new friends and this would be the last time they ever moved, again. But that's what they had told him when they were moving him from Austin to Seattle, three years ago. No, he finally knew why they were really taking him away from his friends and his home -- his little brother.

Drew was almost seven and about to finish First Grade, even though he had been out of school several days for his asthma. It seemed like his inhaler barely worked, even at the best of times, and after what must have been the thousandth trip to the doctor after yet another attack, Alex overheard his parents say they thought it was because of Seattle's cool moist climate. And the trees that surrounded them. And the neighbors' dogs and cats. But in Austin, they had whispered something about Cedar Fever and the city's humidity carrying too much pollen. And in Boston it was just too cold. It was getting to where it seemed that anything could trigger Drew's asthma, even the fact that he was little and closer to the grass on the ground.

Alex didn't have any trouble like that. In fact, he had not even caught a cold the whole time they'd lived here. Nor was he short enough to be bothered by anything on the ground; he was already halfway between five feet and six feet tall and his father, Hal, was talking about him needing a larger bike to ride, while his mother, Julia, had begun telling him over and over he'd probably wind up six-foot-six, like her father in Minneapolis, and be just as blond. "If you like basketball, that's perfect," she'd usually add.

Alex didn't have any problem with basketball; he enjoyed playing with his best-worst friend, Billy LeGrande...even though Billy liked to cheat. In fact, when Alex had confronted Billy about that and heard Billy respond, "It's not cheating, it's winning, like my dad taught me," Alex had made it a game to see if he could defeat Billy's cheating by not cheating. And he had succeeded a few times. But he liked soccer, more, and as for what to do when he was grown up, he wanted to be a pilot. Then he learned that pilots were usually a bit below average in height so they could fit more easily into the crazy-cool jets they got to fly, so his mom's encouragement only made him too aware of how he probably would never get to be one.

Drew looked like their dad's side of the family -- smaller, stockier, darker-hair, rounder face. People who saw the two boys side by side never thought they were brothers. The only real pleasure Alex got from that fact is that he knew pilots have to have twenty-twenty vision and Drew was already wearing glasses due to a stigmatism, so when the boy said he wanted to be a pilot just like his brother, when he grew up, Alex was able to tell him he could never be one.

Man, it seemed like everybody's life revolved around that brat. What they could eat. Where they could go. Whether or not they got to see a movie all the way through. He'd missed half a dozen soccer matches thanks to trips to the hospital to handle one of Drew's attacks. On top of that, they couldn't have a dog of their own. It was so bad, when Alex came home from Billy's, he had to brush off his clothes because hair from Dimbulb, their Golden Lab, might make Drew start wheezing.

That was the worst, because Billy had asked him if he wanted to take Dimbulb, once, since it was obvious the dog liked him more. No surprise there; even Billy knew it was because Alex petted the dog and played with him. He had come close to jumping for joy, and by the time he got home had already figured out a new name for him -- Azkaban, from Harry Potter. Ban, for short. Dimbulb was a stupid name for a dog, any dog, and while Billy could be okay as a friend, sometimes he was a real jerk and was probably in his jerk mood when he named him that.

But Julia had said, "Nope. Can't. Think of your brother's asthma."

Alex pouted about it for three days. He even complained to his totally best friend and neighbor, Taylor Castillo, about it. She was eleven, too, but she was considered a genius and went to special classes at a nearby college. In her usual way of handling a problem, Taylor had gone online and researched the illness, then tried to cheer Alex up by telling him, "Sometimes they grow out of it. So when he gets older, maybe he'll get better."
"My life'll be ruined, by then," Alex snapped back.

Moving forward, still...

I've got 17 pages done on Bugzters for 3700 words. I've got another 2400 okay words slapped in to carry the story through to the point where the aliens are in the computer; I'll work on making those coherent tomorrow, after work.

It was a struggle, though, to get this far. I had to use my heating unit, last night, for the first time and I've been sneezing my head off all day. Actually worked myself into a headache. I'm going to try and not use it, tonight; it's not supposed to get below 40 and with my windows closed it normally stays fine, inside.

I like being back on normal time. Daylight Savings Time never did agree with me.

I was a jerk...

I found the opening for Bugzters and got going on it, but stopped because there was a meet-up of the local NaNoWriMo writers and I said I'd be there. So I go. It's at a coffee shop not too far from me. I meet a couple of people, but then half a dozen more people show up and we all change locations in the shop and they all break out their laptops...and start writing. Silently. I didn't take my laptop. I thought it was going to be a real meeting. So I left, after an hour, and went grocery shopping.

Seriously, I walked out. Didn't even say goodbye. No one noticed. That is a major violation of etiquette in my world. You always say goodbye, even if you're just there for ten minutes. What's even worse? I don't care. A dozen people spread over four tables tapping away at their projects is not a meeting; it's just herd of cattle munching on their cud.

I came home after the store and made meatloaf, then racked up enough words to make over 2000. All at the beginning. I now have 9 double-spaced pages, and it came out a lot easier than I expected. Oh, it'll need work once I'm done, but I'm still amazed at how it's coming together. I may actually do well, this year.

November 4th is election day, and I dread it. I have this nasty feeling the GOP is going to take both Houses of Congress and we'll have 2 more years of stalemate, down there. Those assholes have done anything they can to make Obama look bad, blaming him for everything from the financial collapse to Ebola. He didn't help himself any by reneging on his promises, continuing Bush's policies on killing terrorists, and kissing Republican ass for so many years, thinking he'd be able to work with them. You can't negotiate compromise with a group of psychotics. It just don't work.

But what makes matters worse is how so damn many Democrats are buying into the idea that Obama's toxic and not championing the things he HAS accomplished -- lowering the deficit, a growing economy, pushing through health care reform, finally taking Social Security "reforms" off the table. Them also apologizing every other breath for things while the GOP ain't apologizing for nothing makes them look weak and indecisive. So millions of Americans will vote against their own best interests thanks to Republican lies and Democrat's wussiness.

Makes you want to puke.

Countdown...

Just under an hour to when I can start writing in Bugzters...and I have no idea how to start the story. I may jump into some other parts and work on those till I can figure this out. I guess it all depends on what age group I'm aiming for. Or not. I'd like to begin with a grabber...but I just don't have one, yet.

Seriously, do I start with Alex lost in space and describe how he's playing a video game with his beat-worst friend, Billy LeGrande? Should I explain why he doesn't want to move, first? I've got four other possible openings and I don't really like any of them.

Of course, that's the most important part of a book. I can't tell you how many novels I pushed through and wound up liking because the opening was great. There are others where, even though the first pages were tedious and I was reading the book because it was a classic, I wound up liking them. But only because I refused to give up.

I'm at that stage of my "career" where I wonder if I've used up all that I have in the way of storytelling ability. There are a lot of people who think you only have one novel in you, yet I've written 33 scripts, 6 books and so many short stories and plays...so I don't know.

Never did, really.

Rearranging the future...

Looks like I'm not coming to California in February. I'm handling the Miami Map Fair, instead. This year, the ABAA is holding the California Antiquarian Book Fair in Oakland instead of San Francisco. At a hotel convention hall in downtown, meaning there'll be no room to do the pack & ship thing I'd been doing the last few fairs. So no need for me to be there.

On top of that, the map fair is the same weekend as California's, and since we have a number of international clients who exhibit there, someone needs to be on site. So...I've got a room set up close by and I'll be in Miami for the third time in my life. Never been much impressed with the place, but maybe I'll run into William Levy, while I'm there, and we can talk about how he was robbed of the championship on Dancing With The Stars.

I'm trying to organize my workspace for the challenge...which will only be where I work for 3 weeks. Seven days will be during my trip to Hong Kong, so I better do better than the average, up front. There's also the possibility of another job, and I'd have to go there on the 30th...so that's only 22 solid days to make Bugzters a book.

Well...I do like to travel. Wonder if I'll be able to get back to London anytime soon? Or Paris ever again? Only way I could afford it is on the company dime.

Still...it's something to strive for...

I should've been drinking...

I wrote the first draft of Find Ray T in 8 days, while buzzed on beer. I wanted to see what would happen if I did that, so I took a week off from work and got it done from start to finish...and the basic structure hasn't changed. Spoiled actor is forced to help the mob (Mafia to start with, shifted to Russian) find a snitch who put their boss in jail and vanished into the witness protection program. Why the actor? The snitch wrote a book about his exploits and the actor played him in the movie version, then boasted he'd met the man to show him the film. Only it was all hype, and now he can't figure out what to do because no one knows where the snitch is, and the FBI won't help.

I played it for laughs as well as action and suspense from the start. Got my characters down pat. Even after workshopping it in a writer's group, it kept its shape. So I know I can do it...when I'm drinking. And maybe thats' the only way. Because I ain't gettin' it done this week, not on Wrecker or Killer Tiger or Death Tiger or whatever the hell it wants to call itself, these days. I need to be building up Bugzters in my brain for the novel-writing challenge, which starts in about 48 hours.

Oh, well...it was a thought. I'm halfway done. Sort of. And I did start late and have to work this week. So I have all my excuses lined up nice and ready to pick from. Only I gotta stop that. No excuses. I was doing it for the wrong reason -- to get my brain clear and keep it busy till November 1st. That's not good enough to make the story come together...and I really know better.

So...now it's set. For me to write free and uncritically, I gotta have a six-pack in the fridge. Not wine; that just makes me mellow and sleepy. And I don't really like whiskey except mixed in with something where I can't taste it. Can you be like Hemingway on Amstel Light instead of Wild Turkey? We'll see what happens when I take time off around Christmas.

Hmm...maybe I'll OD on eggnog.

TOQATM's PSYCHO

Goofy review that gets a couple of points wrong (Ed Gein was in Wisconsin, not Texas; Janet's character worked for a real estate agent, not a bank) but it's still fun...