"Turn it down, hipster"

No writing tonight, and no writing update, but I leave you with this. The Death Wish trailer re-cut for our modern times. For those who are faint of heart, it contains swearing.

My favorite line: "No, it's a right-now coat!"

Writing update: Nov 29 edition

Just numbers tonight. I didn't start writing until 11:00, which means it's now late and I am tired. Though I feel like I'm having to force myself to stop. I'm in the middle of an exciting (to me) scene, and it's hard to not just keep going. I can feel the novel winding down. This scene, another big character scene, and then some mop up. I'm guess by this weekend I'll be done with this draft. Crazy. I really didn't know if I had it in me. And maybe I still don't. I guess it could all implode before I finish.

Anyway, here are the numbers:

Daily word count: 1405 (novel)

Monthly word count: 34,647 (26,630 novel, 5,790 story, 2,227 new project)

Novel word count: 98,131

R.I.P. Leslie Neilsen

Also, weekend numbers.

Just this morning I was talking to to my wife about Police Squad and some of the hilarious devices they used in each episode to satirize detective shows at the time. This evening I was saddened to learn that Leslie Neielsen, the star of Police Squad and Airplane! and, of course, Forbidden Planet. Nielsen was one of those lucky actors who got to have a second act to his career. (I know that F. Scott Fitzgerald was mostly wrong when he said that there are no second acts in American lives, but, as far as actors are concerned, he was mostly right.) A handsome dramatic actor as a young man, Nielsen was given the opportunity to reinvent himself when he starred in Airplane! There was no looking back.

I remember seeing Airplane! in the theater, which seems impossible now since I was only ten years old at the time, but that might say something about how I was raised. Regardless, I know I didn't understand everything I was watching, but I knew it was transformative. That movie was the benchmark against which I measured all comedies for a very long time.

I'm going to look on amazon.com now to see about buying Police Squad on DVD. If you haven't seen it before, I suggest you do the same.

And here are the numbers:

Daily word count: 3,266 (1,049 novel, 701 story, 1,516 new project)

Monthly word count: 33,242 (25,225 novel, 5,790 story, 2,227 new project)

Novel word count: 96,726

Friday's numbers

Sorry that I'm posting so little besides my daily numbers and the occasional video. I feel like all my free time is spent doing other writing and it's sometimes hard to muster up a decent post here. And I'm not sure when it'll let up. New and interesting things keep cropping up and I can't seem to say no to them. It's not a bad problem to have.

I'm thinking of setting myself a goal of one or two large, juicy posts a week. The rest would just be the filler that you've come to expect, of course. We'll see if I can manage that once I'm done with the draft of this damned novel.

Which brings me to today's numbers:

I started making notes on a new project and I'm going to throw those numbers into the mix, mostly because it's writing I'm doing and I think those numbers should count toward my goal for the month. So there. Also, I made no progress on the short story today.

Daily word count: 1,897 (1,186 novel, 711 new project)

Monthly word count: 28404 (22,608 novel, 5,089 story, 711 new project)

Novel word count: 94,109

It's like a Thanksgiving present to myself

My wife and I decided to stay home today rather than travel to see family for Thanksgiving. That meant it was going to fall to me to make a Turkey and all the trimmings. That's just how things go in the Kreutz Gallardo household. I'm fine with it. I like to cook, and I'm good at it, so I really don't mind. But I had made myself a little crazy over the last few days because I'd never made a turkey before. I think I devoted more time to researching roasting techniques than I have on any piece of homework so far this semester. (If my advisor is reading this, that's hyberbole!) I'd also never made stuffing or from-scratch giblet gravy. Even more time spent researching.

But you can all rest easy, everything (except the stuffing) came out fine. Great, in fact! Not to toot my own own horn, but I think that turkey ranked up there with the top five turkeys I've ever eaten. And, because it was just the three of us -- and one of us is a two-year-old -- we have tons of leftovers. Yes. And it may have gone well, and not been as difficult as I imagined it would be, but I was still confined to the kitchen all day. And the last hour was a mad dash to make sure everything came out at roughly the same time. The point I'm trying to make here is that I felt the need to indulge myself. I'd suggested renting a movie, but my wife didn't feel up to it.

So I wrote. I made a public statement on this forum two days ago that I would be taking Wednesday and Thursday off from writing. That, I can now tell you, was a lie. I am apparently in a place where writing is something I do when I want to treat myself. Who knew I'd ever get there? I feel like mI'm a long ways from the days when staring at the blank screen would just about reduce me to tears. And I may very well get back there again, but I'm enjoying it while I'm able.

I just wrote 1,000+ words on the short story I'm writing. I'd been experiencing some frustration with this story. I had a beginning I liked, and I was pretty sure I knew where I wanted it to end up. It was that pesky middle part that I couldn't figure out. Well, t seems to be coming together now. Hopefully I'll wrap it up the first draft over the weekend.

And now I'll give myself another Thanksgiving present and send myself to bed.

That photo, by the way, was taken by my wife and is of my son regarding the thing that kept his dad from playing with him all day long.

Here are today's numbers:

Daily word count: 1,073 (all on the short story)

Monthly word count: 26,508 (21,419 novel, 5,089 story)

Novel word count: 92,923 (unchanged)

Just the numbers

I'm going to be taking off tomorrow and Thursday from writing. I'm far enough ahead that I just want to enjoy Thanksgiving. And, of course, I need tomorrow to actually prepare for the enjoyment of Thanksgiving (I'll be preparing my first Turkey, etc). It'll be nice, and I'll be back at it starting Friday.

I stopped writing last night at the end of a chapter. I then realized that when I started writing today, I'd be starting on what I believe will be the last chapter of the novel. I know that I wrote a while ago that it felt like the ending was receding away from me, but lately I feel like I need to slow myself down -- that I need to not rush the ending. The whole process that's gone into writing this thing has made me feel crazy at times, I tell you what. Anyway, I'll write more about that later. You know, after I actually finish writing the damned thing.

For now, here are today's numbers:

Daily word count: 1,284 (all on the novel)

Monthly word count: 25,438 (21,419 novel, 4,016 story)

Novel word count: 92,923

Mostly numbers, but also a video

I took the weekend off from writing and read a book for homework. I got back to it tonight and I realized how being away from it for even two days makes me feel sketchy. Aw, well, it was unavoidable.

As to the video: It's been more than a year-and-a-half since I last wrote about Jenny Owen Youngs. I still listen to her music quite a bit. And today on FaceBook, I saw that it's her birthday today. (More than likely, it was her birthday yesterday to you since I'm posting this just before midnight.) I posted songs of hers on Twitter and FaceBook to celebrate, but I thought I'd post a video here. This is Ms Youngs's cover of the Nelly song, "Hot in Here." It's a hoot and a half and I think it still manages to showcase her amazing voice. I hope you like it. Oh, I should probably warn you that it contains some adult language. You've been warned.

And now, here are the numbers:

Daily word count: 1,914 (1,412 novel, 502 story)

Monthly word count: 24,154 (20,138 novel, 4,016 story)

Novel word count: 91,639