Random Stuff and Protests

Read another novella in the 'Standing by the Wall' book by Mick Herron. Another satisfying tale and this one some old favorites, including Jackson Lamb and Molly Doran.

I jumped onto reading the how to 'Write a Suspense Thriller' by Paul Tomlinson. This is a book that was recommended during a thriller writing course from WMG Publishing. I bought the book at the time but never got around to reading it. I’ll try to read a section per day for the next two weeks.

I’ve also made the decision to get the Lifetime Everything subscription at WMG because I’ve found so many of the classes to be helpful. My mentor is co-owner of WMG, so it keeps everything all in the same ecosphere.

Last night I started a brand-new story. I was stuck on the long story I was writing for all last eek and just felt like I needed something new for a little while. I’ll come back to the longer story later. Sometimes it’s good to let things stew in your subconscious for a period of time and let it maturate.

I wrote around 2000 words last night of fiction and that felt good. Some of it was done through dictation and some of it was through good old-fashioned typing. I wanted to tell a certain type of story for a while, and I thought last night was the time to give it a try. It may not turn out in the end, but it isn’t wasted time. Writers like all other artists need to be able to play and experiment. Practice is time well spent.

Like this blog for example. I know my ability to write one of these is still in the crude stages. I read my mentors blog, and she can make almost anything sound interesting and present it in a professional manner. Again, this is all practice for me and a form of specialized torture for anyone who reading this.

Tomorrow, we were invited to brunch at our friend’s house for brunch to celebrate my wife’s birthday. I am going to be up late doing a marathon writing session to get my time in the chair and word quota. And yet I think I will still try and get up early again today.

I managed to get out of bed just after 7:30 am, after only about 5 hours of sleep. I woke feeling great and not exhausted. And what reward to did I treat myself to? Bacon, eggs and toast with a steaming cup of vanilla earl grey.

After hoovering my breakfast up, I brought a tray of the same so the Mrs. could start her day with breakfast in bed. Is there anything better breakfast delivered to your bedside? It was a nice way to start the day. Relaxing. And tricking my brain and body that good things happen when you get out of bed early.

I continue to experiment with writing instruments and techniques. Today I started this blog by typing on my phone using a foldable keyboard. I was waiting for my wife to dry her hair so we could watch a show together. I hope to use this otherwise wasted time more productively as time goes on. It might be getting 500 words written as a passenger in a car or while waiting for a movie to start. The distraction free writing device I backed on Kickstarter is supposed to ship next week and I am hoping it can fulfill that mobile writing role. I let you know more when I get and I’ll do a full review.

This week I added a third streak category to my life that I am tracking. The first streak was this very blog which I have written consecutively since October 6^th. The second was to write 2026 average words per day, averaged per month for the whole of 2026. I missed one of the days early on and had a slow start. But I have written something everyday since January 1^st. That never happened before taking on this challenge. It helps motivate me to overcome all the barriers that might stop others from writing. The streak demands your commitment and your presence.

What is this new streak? The third I’m adding this week?

Reading.

This one should be an easy one to implement. I like to read. There are days where my eyes feel tired and it would just be easier to watch the television instead. The main difference this week is that I am tracking whether I picked up a book and read. Just a little box to check on my daily to do list.

One thing I never seem to have to check off is watching TV or YouTube. YouTube is my free university for things I never even knew I was interested in. And TV is just easy.

A new show we watched this week is ‘Steal’ starring Sophie Turner of ‘Game of Thrones’ fame, playing Sansa Stark. As the name suggests it is a high stakes heist. It seems well made and has good actors. Giving the first two episodes my seal of approval.

My mentor was talking about the ‘Stranger Things Ending’ and how she ultimately found it unsatisfying. She’s a master storyteller, so her standards are very high. I think her main issue was that the show had more than five separate endings. She also didn’t think it was effective to show the character in the future at the end. 18 months later…. For example.

The ending should let us know that by its very nature, that the kids are going to be alright and if they aren’t we can see why. I mentioned in a previous blog that I watched the special Netflix made about the making of season five. It seemed clear in the documentary that the Duffer Brothers were crunched for time. In the previous seasons they had the story locked down before filming started. In the last season, production was under way and they had to write the script under pressure while also doing all the filming things they were needed for. With sets having to he constructed well in advance, I can only imagine the amount of stress they were under.

I am willing to give them a little leeway on the finale even though it might make most people feel like it was a bit of a let down.

I managed to finish watching the interview with Dean Koontz I mentioned yesterday. In total, it was almost two hours long. Dean seemed to enjoy being interviewed by this fellow who asked some good questions. Some of things Dean said reinforced my own experiences with writing and others surprised me. I wasn’t aware of his nightmarish childhood. Nor did I know he claims to have experienced things that might be called supernatural or at least unexplainable.

Dean talked about letting a story take the reins or even letting a character direct the story. This is something I have experienced when writing. It’s a very odd sensation when a fictional character you created starts arguing with you.

“That never happened.” Or “I would never say that.” You get the point. There often comes a time when it feels like you aren’t writing the story anymore, just recording an event. That’s when it gets fun. You are just there to enjoy the ride at that point.

He talked a bit the authors he goes back to time and again and what he learned from them. Emotion from Dickens, Language from T.S. Elliot and character from John D. MacDonald were a few of the authors he mentioned.

He talked about building suspense and how he slow writes to get a better story, allowing his subconscious time to fill in the blanks or come out with less obvious plots.

All good stuff. I imagine I will watch this again at some point in the future. (See yesterday’s post for the video link).

It was heartening to see all the protestors taking to the streets in Minnesota and New York. With temperatures in the minus 15 degrees Celsius it took some fortitude to be out there. Here in North America, we aren’t as prone to going out and protesting. I suspect that is because the USA and Canada are young countries compared to almost everywhere eels in the world. The older nations have won and lost their rights in the past. They know they need to stand up to protect them. Your rights can protect you, but they can’t protect themselves. They are under attack constantly. Rights are an inconvenience to the people who seek power and wealth. So, bravo to all those who braved the cold to stand up for themselves and their fellow countrymen.