Richard Raley's Blog, page 8

?Hopeful? March Update

February was the best month I've had since my spine exploded.  Pain is down.  Progress is up.  Still can't type much or sit in a chair--no Dune 2 on the big screen for this geek!--but I can totally put in three 1-2 hour sessions every other night on my phone's note app.

Meaning I've written 20k words in the last three weeks.  Yay!

Still on the same session.  Boo!

Splitting the novel looking more likely than ever.  Eek!

Have set the decision date on that to early June, since I'd like to have new content out in whatever form by October and I'll need a few months editing and the cover people also have a wait list of about the same time.

Thinking title wise we'll go with The Foul Mouth and the Seismic Semester.  I will say, that it is rightly the most school focused story I've written.  Not just AT the Asylum, but you really feel PART of the Asylum.  There's tests, there's clubs, there's jokes and pranks and magic and random encounters with Constructs and Fairies and Giant Fucking Wolves.  And so many characters who usually got pushed to the side before.  There's several Asa scenes!  It finally happened!!!  Jessica and Quinn have dialogue.  OMG!!!

Also, when I was working on the last session, which is the true plot midpoint, the idea of splitting it felt really bad.  Like...worse than the first Dune movie bad.  That's it?!?  Give me more sandworms, bitches!!!  But working on this session and knowing how its wrapping up, it feels like a much fairer endpoint and a satisfying emotional payoff that will launch us into a very confrontational Winter War.

So I'm more content with the split now.  Totally expect reviews shitting on me for it.  But maybe not rioting.

Still...won't decide until June.  If I pump out 100k in the next few months and it looks like I can wrap the whole thing up as a MEGAZILLA monstrosity, we'll do that instead.

Or my spine could implode again...

I take everything day to day at this point.

Doctor wise, I have two appointments this month.  One is the MRI on my cervical spine they're finally getting done.  That's still where the worst pain is, right in my C7 spine area.  Just like a fucking knife right in there gouging bone as it twists around and around.  If they find something serious we might be talking fusion or whatever other surgeries they might try.  That happens and its quick, won't be a lot of writing done while I recover.

Will be once I am recovered though...

And chairs.

I miss chairs!!!

WtEAW Tease: Guess the Speaker Edition

 "I have no desire whatsoever to actually know what you did to the stupid eagle!"

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Here's what we'll do.

Since you're all flailing about and I am a kind, caring author, this one time we will extend the scene to make it easier.  But from now on I will only extend the scene when one of you guesses correctly!

--------

"I don’t dare let you run wild around theschool…creating Mancy knows how much mayhem. Dingle’s already come to my door for three weeks in a row, screechingover whatever you and your Singles did to her eagle."

I opened my mouth again.

"I have no desire whatsoever to actually knowwhat you did to the stupid eagle!"

Mouth closed.

WtEAW Tease: Guess the Speaker Addition

 "I have no desire whatsoever to actually know what you did to the stupid eagle!"

Like Riding A Bike...Into a Bush

Back at this writing new material thing as of Monday.  Popped out 2500 words on the phone.  Figure I'm halfway done with this session.  Spine seems to not be going crazy yet.  The biggest problem yesterday was my brain turning into total mush.  I still don't know how some authors (claim) write every day back-to-back.  I've almost always been a one on and one off kind of guy.  Some of yesterday's malaise is probably because I'm so out of shape, but...editing, rewrites, all that, 16 hour days for a month straight, I'm fine; but actually spewing creation out on a blank page?  Mush brain the next day for sure.  Sometimes longer.

So I'll be trying some more tonight, since I am currently in Vampire Mode.  One of those awkward moments where I spent a great deal of mental energy imagining the scene before and after this one with multiple scenarios and outlines, but only have a brief descriptive line here and...what the bleep ya gonna do, RR?

December Evals.  Montage?

That's what I get to work with.

Damn you, Past Richard!

Small Victories

I only have one doctor appointment this month.  It's also this week, so I'll have three weeks straight of nothing but writing and editing time.

YAY!!!

Granted one doctor appointment can make about a dozen more, but I will be actively spawn blocking...since I am very doctored out after nine procedures last year.  Given that the burninations use one of those constant x-ray machines so they can see into your spine real time, I'm a little surprised I haven't gotten any super powers from all the radiation.  Not even like...super spit.  Or a glowing asshole...

.

.

.

I checked.

[CLICK]

Also the 49ers are in the Super Bowl.

Not that they've won the Super Bowl since I was eleven, but, ya know...third time is the charm and all that.

Unless you're the Bills...

Or the Bengals...

Anyway, pain is as good as its been in two years.  Long as I take breaks I can type on and off into the laptop.  100 pages inputted with 30 to go.  Although not all pages are equal and some of these last 30 are redder than a Game of Thrones wedding.

So, yeah, nothing much to report.

Being industrious like.

Two Weeks Post

Started to feel a lot better.  Actually wasn't as bad this time around, mostly because so many of my nerves had already been beaten into submission, I'm sure!  But, yeah...can do some light typing now.  Maybe fifteen to twenty minutes before I need a break.  Still can't lift or reach or have anything at all touch my upper spine (so sitting in a chair is still pretty impossible), but...another big improvement.  Been plowing through the pages I printed out for editing.  Think I have maybe 20 left.  Over 100 finished.  Typed 45 or so into the computer.  Some of the parts I've already edited are pretty pristine, but every time I get to a section I ignored and haven't gone through yet...man, does that red cover the page!  Oh...I can also hand write with a pen again, though unless predictive handwriting software improves more than it current is or I win the lotto and can pay for someone to do the typing for me, that's probably still a limited avenue of getting work done.

Next up will be a readthrough of the 7k I already have for this chapter and then finishing the second half of it.  There's probably 6 to 8 chapters left to write.  Anywhere from 300 to 500 pages.  If I do split it, and again I won't make that decision until we're later in the year and I see where my progress is at and how my spine is holding up, I'm pretty sure I know how to do it now in a way that isn't totally sudden and shitty.  Still be a lot resolved in the second novel, but I don't think it will be as bad as I feared.  Desired result is still huge monstrosity, but...we'll see!

Medical wise...it's a waiting room to see how long these RFAs last.  They say six months to two years and the first one was a little over ten months ago.  The other thing, is that because they're working in the cervical area instead of the thoracic spine, I haven't had an MRI up there, so they want to get that done too.  If they finally find some compression or a serious herniation, that might mean surgery finally (but also might mean a more permanent fix!).  If the insurance is nice and they just agree, that's just one quick appointment.  If not...they'll make me do physio therapy again and I will want to fucking die for about a month before they discharge me again.

Other than that, I'm fully engaged on writing using the smart phone and editing up a storm on paper and typing in maybe 5 pages a day max!  Eventually it will be finished!  One day...probably before Martin finishes TWOW...might be bigger than TWOW too since King Henry is such a gabby fuck...

Extended WTEAW Tease

Currently editing about 120 pages I printed up to have something to do while I heal up.  Thought I'd share some!

A whole weekend to myself.

No more inevitable crises.

No more petty squabbles.

Every teenage dream, adolescent nightmare, and allthat happened in-between.

Just me and my ol’ stomping grounds.

Unchained.

Too hot for TV.

Bigger, longer…wait…nah, still six inches.  Uncut? Nope!  No elephant trunk covingthis boy’s pee-hole!

Consider the King Returned, Bitches!

Where the elf women at?!?

Ain’t any. Not outside of some randy collectable cards Russell Quilt keeps lockedup in his desk drawer.  Miss Fosterprobably ferreted them out and burned the smut by now.  No, Sweetie, don’t do it!  Fiona Flamecrotch is worthy fifty dollars!  Mrs. Quilt, rather.  Somehow my epic bachelor party with thestripper bus hadn’t derailed proceedings, so I suppose randy elf cards ain’tgonna lead to divorce neither.  Been overa year of newlywed bliss from how Quilt talks and scuttlebutt says they took along vacation a month back to try to sew their first little bundle of patchwork.  No word on if they succeeded or if randy elf cardswere used to help the process along.  I’mnot wearing those ears again, Russell!

I mean, even if elf women did exist, nottoo likely they’re letting my short ugly ass see that grade-AAA immortal elfcoochie anyway.

Dwarf women?

Fo’ sure with the dwarf women!

Not talking little dude kinda dwarf womenneither.  Talking the kind that’sstockier than Romanian shot-putters and hairier than any Armenian girl everexisted, even Khloe Kardashian.  Dwarfwomen, the original gold diggers!  Look atthe bushy beard on that one!  You see thebraided nipple hair tassels she got going? And that trunk!  Look how muscularand square it is!  Forget cushion forthe pushin’, give me ridges for the grippin’!

Burnination 2B Done

Enter two weeks of a screaming shoulder, aching muscles, and bed lounging.  Finished the chapter I was working on, plus 7k into the next one, btw.

Not Gonna Tempt Fate With Good News Claims

But...7k written in the last week.  Including a trip to the dentist that's had me feeling sore as hell the last three days (chairs, car seats, and generally my spine being pressed against any material that isn't a bed are my biggest enemies still!).

For comparison, through the massive struggles of this year with pain, plus getting all the burninations and procedures done, I wrote a rather pathetic 25k in total.

HUGE improvement.

Right on the edge of the halfway point.  Then we're time skipping to just before the winter break and then the next chapter, the Winter War starts.

Loving every minute of writing again, even if I'm having to do it on a stupid phone.  Million times better than not writing at all!  Am looking forward to giving typing a try post the C7-T2 right side burnination in a few weeks however.  Actually, I'll probably need a month for it to work...so say start of February-ish?

Also, we have to see how my body/back handles the marathon of finishing this novel.  7k a week is solid, but I need about fifteen? more weeks of that to finish.  Plus Edit Hell...will NOT be able to put in the usual 20 hour days for a month straight I  pulled before, so that could take much longer.

Burnination #2 Part B

Second week of January I'll be getting the right side done C7-T2.  Left side feels a ton better now.  Still have some muscle weakness in the wrist and fingers so I'm not able to abandon my trusty wrist brace quite yet and typing might not feel like someone is slamming a knife repeatedly into my left shoulder now, but it's still uncomfortable.  I typed about ten pages of edits in a few days ago and it took about three different sessions with breaks in-between.  Maybe some of that is the right side leaking over and all that pain will dissipate after this is done, maybe I'll need some physio to build the muscles back up, but considering before the procedure doing something like that would've had me whimpering for two or three days, it's a huge improvement already.
Also I went out to the doctor and grabbed some groceries after yesterday and...I'm just kind of sore instead of wanting to die right now, so that's also pretty huge.
I've been writing a pretty good amount on the phone.  More than I could before.  One day I literally just predictive texted my ass through a whole scene setting up two different back stories I've been looking forward to share for years.  Up to 117k words now.  Or 425 manuscript pages.  Still working on the big halfway point moment (2015 Camping Test).  Big problem is...how do you make it interesting while KH can't actually take part in it?
Going to see how it plays out over the next few months, but if this keeps getting bigger and bigger I might just split it, publish what I have, and have the War to End All Wars half (2016 Winter War) be a second novel.  Or maybe I'll just publish a thousand page monstrosity, we'll see.  If I split it, I'll piss off people that want a "full story".  If I don't split it, I'll piss off people that think it's too long.  If I hack 1/3 of the novel out in editing, I'll feel horrible about killing my beautiful babies.
Really no winning.
So I'll just do what I want, neener neener!