David G. Cookson's Blog, page 23
November 21, 2017
The Non Competitive Basketball League
New NaNoWriMo 2017 Excerpt...
The Colonists all showed up, clad in their Snuggies and sat in the outdoor arena carved out of bedrock of the side of a hill on the West Side of the Colony.
The game, apparently, was like a form of basketball…but with larger hoops…
The hoops appeared to be lower than standard regulation hoops.
The courts were made from spongy playground material.
And everybody traveled. Nobody bounced anything.
No referees.
There was no defense to speak of. Everyone just walked the ball in and threw it up, uncontested. If a player missed the shot, a player on the opposing team would help him to make the shot, and it would count for that team. They would shake hands and congratulate each other.
“Excuse me,” I said to one of the cheering fans next to me in the bedrock stands. “What are we watching here?”
“It’s the NCBBL. The Non Competitive Basket Ball League.”
"The Non Competitive Basket Ball League?”
“You’re new here, aren’t you?”
Read Pain Center: the Novel, my last NanoWrimo Novel.
http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
The Colonists all showed up, clad in their Snuggies and sat in the outdoor arena carved out of bedrock of the side of a hill on the West Side of the Colony.
The game, apparently, was like a form of basketball…but with larger hoops…
The hoops appeared to be lower than standard regulation hoops.
The courts were made from spongy playground material.
And everybody traveled. Nobody bounced anything.
No referees.
There was no defense to speak of. Everyone just walked the ball in and threw it up, uncontested. If a player missed the shot, a player on the opposing team would help him to make the shot, and it would count for that team. They would shake hands and congratulate each other.
“Excuse me,” I said to one of the cheering fans next to me in the bedrock stands. “What are we watching here?”
“It’s the NCBBL. The Non Competitive Basket Ball League.”
"The Non Competitive Basket Ball League?”
“You’re new here, aren’t you?”
Read Pain Center: the Novel, my last NanoWrimo Novel.
http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
November 19, 2017
Shovel Duty with the Free Nappers.
I'm writing a novel about napping. You tell me how it's going.
“So…you can’t go more than three hours without needing to nap? Is that correct?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” I said, walking along with him at a leisurely pace through the facility.
“How long has this been going on?”
“About a year now,” I said. “I haven’t been able to keep a job since this happened to me.”
“That is unfortunate. But lucky for you: there is no judgment here. We at the Nap Colony are Free Nappers. We nap when we want, the work gets done whenever. All we ask…don’t go out past the great barrier on the perimeter….I’m not sure why, really, it’s just a silly rule we have.”
“So…what do you guys do all day out here?”
Winston smiled. “It’s a utopia. We make things work by sharing the load. It’s egalitarian. But it’s also done by seniority. You would be on the bottom, should you join us for any length of time. But right now you are on a probationary period.”
“So what do I do?”
He smiled. “You get shovel duty. When you need to nap, just nap. No one will judge you for walking off. Just walk off. No one cares.”
“So what are we digging for?”
"Shoveling is a good way to build strength, and a good way to get tired. And it’s the best way to get holes.”
“So…you can’t go more than three hours without needing to nap? Is that correct?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” I said, walking along with him at a leisurely pace through the facility.
“How long has this been going on?”
“About a year now,” I said. “I haven’t been able to keep a job since this happened to me.”
“That is unfortunate. But lucky for you: there is no judgment here. We at the Nap Colony are Free Nappers. We nap when we want, the work gets done whenever. All we ask…don’t go out past the great barrier on the perimeter….I’m not sure why, really, it’s just a silly rule we have.”
“So…what do you guys do all day out here?”
Winston smiled. “It’s a utopia. We make things work by sharing the load. It’s egalitarian. But it’s also done by seniority. You would be on the bottom, should you join us for any length of time. But right now you are on a probationary period.”
“So what do I do?”
He smiled. “You get shovel duty. When you need to nap, just nap. No one will judge you for walking off. Just walk off. No one cares.”
“So what are we digging for?”
"Shoveling is a good way to build strength, and a good way to get tired. And it’s the best way to get holes.”
A World That Conforms To Their Own Beliefs.
NaNoWriMo Novel Excerpt
“Anyway, these people are kind of like you. They got tired of their lifestyles being questioned, so they formed their own colony out in the woods. Word has it that this is a place with no nap judgment, where that is a thing of the past, of the waking world.”
“They just…nap?”
“Well…not JUST napping. But it is considered a nap centric institution…under the giant umbrella of People Who Demand a World That Conforms to Their Own Beliefs, where judgement for lying down in the middle of the day is no longer considered an act of sloth or laziness, but is an act to be celebrated in defiance of societal norms. I think you would fit right in with your little habit.”
“I prefer 'Condition.' ”
“Whatever. It’s seriously not important. I don’t know why you think it is.”
My last Nano Novel is Pain Center: the Novel and is averaging 3.15 on Goodreads.
http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
“Anyway, these people are kind of like you. They got tired of their lifestyles being questioned, so they formed their own colony out in the woods. Word has it that this is a place with no nap judgment, where that is a thing of the past, of the waking world.”
“They just…nap?”
“Well…not JUST napping. But it is considered a nap centric institution…under the giant umbrella of People Who Demand a World That Conforms to Their Own Beliefs, where judgement for lying down in the middle of the day is no longer considered an act of sloth or laziness, but is an act to be celebrated in defiance of societal norms. I think you would fit right in with your little habit.”
“I prefer 'Condition.' ”
“Whatever. It’s seriously not important. I don’t know why you think it is.”
My last Nano Novel is Pain Center: the Novel and is averaging 3.15 on Goodreads.
http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
November 18, 2017
Evil Undercover Boss
Nanowrimo rolls on...
"The Old Man was…is...notoriously authoritarian. He doesn’t trust his employees to actually do their job...and maybe he’s right. He has his hand in everything. He is rumored to have a whole closet full of disguises and a covert team who do his makeup so he can pose as another employee…Except unlike Undercover Boss, he doesn’t reward the people at the end of the experience with cash or a promotion or a scholarship for their kids. He fires them. Or worse. Anyway, He is big on the hollow slogans, and is directly responsible for the placement of all the affirmation signs that famously dot his company’s walls..."
"The Old Man was…is...notoriously authoritarian. He doesn’t trust his employees to actually do their job...and maybe he’s right. He has his hand in everything. He is rumored to have a whole closet full of disguises and a covert team who do his makeup so he can pose as another employee…Except unlike Undercover Boss, he doesn’t reward the people at the end of the experience with cash or a promotion or a scholarship for their kids. He fires them. Or worse. Anyway, He is big on the hollow slogans, and is directly responsible for the placement of all the affirmation signs that famously dot his company’s walls..."
November 16, 2017
All my characters try to kill themselves.
Imbued. Imbued.
Meaning to permeate with ideas, emotions, et cetera.
What a strange choice of word for Brenda to use.
I was out for sixteen hours again. It was every bit as terrifying as the last time. The nap grew and grew and got out of control, and got away from me. This is twice now that this has happened. It had never happened before, and now it’s happened to me twice.
Who is the next one to go down?
Who is the next one that fails as a human? As a decent human?
I’m getting to the point where I’m looking at degrees of bad behavior and wondering, “Aren’t there degrees of this? Can’t I look the other way on some of these while violently opposing the others?” I guess not. I guess it’s all the same.
It’s only getting worse for me.
I can end this.
I can uphold writing tradition.
This too, won’t pass.
I can end this.
I will end this.
Pain Center: the Novel is a good book I wrote and you can buy it. http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
Meaning to permeate with ideas, emotions, et cetera.
What a strange choice of word for Brenda to use.
I was out for sixteen hours again. It was every bit as terrifying as the last time. The nap grew and grew and got out of control, and got away from me. This is twice now that this has happened. It had never happened before, and now it’s happened to me twice.
Who is the next one to go down?
Who is the next one that fails as a human? As a decent human?
I’m getting to the point where I’m looking at degrees of bad behavior and wondering, “Aren’t there degrees of this? Can’t I look the other way on some of these while violently opposing the others?” I guess not. I guess it’s all the same.
It’s only getting worse for me.
I can end this.
I can uphold writing tradition.
This too, won’t pass.
I can end this.
I will end this.
Pain Center: the Novel is a good book I wrote and you can buy it. http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
November 14, 2017
The Company Party
More from my NaNoWriMo Novel
I kind of knew that voice….flashes of memory were starting to fill themselves in.
I remember a lab. A boardroom.
The company party….
I was so drunk….
I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t stand.
I was almost going to be sick right there…
I thought I was going to die, if not from being sick, then from the prospect of having to talk to all these people. I almost collapsed when I felt someone catch me to keep me from completely going over.
“I’ll get you home, sir. We can’t let them see you like this.”
It was her…
It was Reena.
What kind of madness would bring such loyalty to someone like me? What was it about me that made her protect me, not once, but many times over?
My last book continues to wait for you to want it bad enough... http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
I kind of knew that voice….flashes of memory were starting to fill themselves in.
I remember a lab. A boardroom.
The company party….
I was so drunk….
I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t stand.
I was almost going to be sick right there…
I thought I was going to die, if not from being sick, then from the prospect of having to talk to all these people. I almost collapsed when I felt someone catch me to keep me from completely going over.
“I’ll get you home, sir. We can’t let them see you like this.”
It was her…
It was Reena.
What kind of madness would bring such loyalty to someone like me? What was it about me that made her protect me, not once, but many times over?
My last book continues to wait for you to want it bad enough... http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
November 13, 2017
No Nap........
From my book about a compulsive napper...
Ideally, it’s nice when a decision you made seems better and better as you go along, as opposed to regretting it every minute. But it’s not a perfect world we live in, is it?
The irony, of course, is that I myself have become a compulsive napper, one who needs to get it in before I can function. It’s scheduled time that needs to fit into a window before disaster hits. And nap shaming is a real thing that we encounter. Ever wake up confused and ready to call out of work because you mistake 5 pm for 5 am? I did it once on a Friday when I had the weekend off. Came this close to reaching for the phone and apologizing before I realized my mistake. It was epic.
Read my last book. it's pretty epic.
http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
Ideally, it’s nice when a decision you made seems better and better as you go along, as opposed to regretting it every minute. But it’s not a perfect world we live in, is it?
The irony, of course, is that I myself have become a compulsive napper, one who needs to get it in before I can function. It’s scheduled time that needs to fit into a window before disaster hits. And nap shaming is a real thing that we encounter. Ever wake up confused and ready to call out of work because you mistake 5 pm for 5 am? I did it once on a Friday when I had the weekend off. Came this close to reaching for the phone and apologizing before I realized my mistake. It was epic.
Read my last book. it's pretty epic.
http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
November 12, 2017
These people took the most pathetic stand ever for a man who licks the devil’s ball sac.
“Reena…?” A man’s voice...
Who the hell was this?
I held still, barely breathing. How long would this person knock? Who was this person? Did he know I was here? When would he go away?
“Reena? I’ve missed you. Where’ve you been?”
Who WAS this guy???
“Why won’t you come to the door???”
Don’t answer the door for anyone.
It’s dangerous out there.
Bad men want to hurt you.
Bad men who want to take you down…
In spite of all that, I found myself getting up.
And walking over to the door…
Don’t answer the door, don’t answer the door, don’t answer the door…
And I opened the door…
Read Pain Center, my last Nano Novel! http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
Who the hell was this?
I held still, barely breathing. How long would this person knock? Who was this person? Did he know I was here? When would he go away?
“Reena? I’ve missed you. Where’ve you been?”
Who WAS this guy???
“Why won’t you come to the door???”
Don’t answer the door for anyone.
It’s dangerous out there.
Bad men want to hurt you.
Bad men who want to take you down…
In spite of all that, I found myself getting up.
And walking over to the door…
Don’t answer the door, don’t answer the door, don’t answer the door…
And I opened the door…
Read Pain Center, my last Nano Novel! http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
November 10, 2017
Pro Management Asinine Platitudes
A blurb from the NaNo book...
Something about this inane exchanged triggered something in me. I don’t know where it came from but all of a sudden I found myself saying all these pro management things that I didn’t even really agree with. They were asinine platitudes that I had heard before but no one ever believed.
“You’re at work! You’re here to work!”
Words I didn’t recognize. A sentiment I didn’t know. Feelings I did not know that I felt.
“Anything worth doing is worth doing well! Taking pride in your work is taking pride in yourself!”
“What’s this guy’s problem?” somebody in the crowded coffee shop said aloud.
I didn’t know, I didn’t know…I didn’t know what my problem was. Or what caused me to stand up in the middle of what I was doing and say these things in front of strangers, any one of which might somehow connect me with Hartsburg, with the bombing which was still under investigation, I imagine...
“You signed up for this! If you don’t like it, get another job! Get another job! Get another job!!!”
Read a full book that I wrote which you can find off of the links on this site!!! Pain Center: the Novel!!!
http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
Something about this inane exchanged triggered something in me. I don’t know where it came from but all of a sudden I found myself saying all these pro management things that I didn’t even really agree with. They were asinine platitudes that I had heard before but no one ever believed.
“You’re at work! You’re here to work!”
Words I didn’t recognize. A sentiment I didn’t know. Feelings I did not know that I felt.
“Anything worth doing is worth doing well! Taking pride in your work is taking pride in yourself!”
“What’s this guy’s problem?” somebody in the crowded coffee shop said aloud.
I didn’t know, I didn’t know…I didn’t know what my problem was. Or what caused me to stand up in the middle of what I was doing and say these things in front of strangers, any one of which might somehow connect me with Hartsburg, with the bombing which was still under investigation, I imagine...
“You signed up for this! If you don’t like it, get another job! Get another job! Get another job!!!”
Read a full book that I wrote which you can find off of the links on this site!!! Pain Center: the Novel!!!
http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
November 8, 2017
The 16 hour Nap.
A new excerpt of No Nap! So Cranky! (my Nano Novel.)
“What’s the matter?”
I opened my eyes to see Marlone and several members of the staff standing over me.
Something wasn’t right…
“Sir… you’ve been here 16 hours.”
“What?”
“You slept past the alarm. We’ve been trying to wake you up for hours. We were beginning to worry. You weren’t moving at all.”
16 hours? That wasn’t a nap anymore. That was a full on sleep. That was a double sleep. I can’t even imagine what that was going to cost.
My condition was getting worse…
Order my last book, Pain Center: the Novel! It's a great cheap Holiday gift for someone!
http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
“What’s the matter?”
I opened my eyes to see Marlone and several members of the staff standing over me.
Something wasn’t right…
“Sir… you’ve been here 16 hours.”
“What?”
“You slept past the alarm. We’ve been trying to wake you up for hours. We were beginning to worry. You weren’t moving at all.”
16 hours? That wasn’t a nap anymore. That was a full on sleep. That was a double sleep. I can’t even imagine what that was going to cost.
My condition was getting worse…
Order my last book, Pain Center: the Novel! It's a great cheap Holiday gift for someone!
http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
