Nethermore

Well, that’s the longest break that I’ve taken from the blog. Didn’t help that I was in Idaho, which one of my friends has called “information purgatory.”

It seems lately as if the powers of earth and hell are combining against me to keep me from writing Nethermore. Last night when I went up to the college to write, all my favorite writing spots either had people sitting in them already or were being cleaned. After 45 minutes of walking around (yes, the building is that big) I finally gave up, went home, bundled up in a blanket (my roommates like the house cold) and did a little typing before bed.

Things are shaping up. The progress bar will soon show the changes and additions I’ve been making. Right now, the whole story is such a mess that I’m not exactly sure how many words I have. I should be approaching the half-way point on the book–depending on how much I have to cut on some of the characters.

As far as Nanowrimo is concerned, I’ve taken the progress bars down for that one. I didn’t do very well. Again, I blame my own excuses for that. If I had a word for every excuse I’ve used to keep myself from writing then . . . well, the book would be done.

Just got the email today that Ctrl Zed’s latest album Food! has arrived. It’s hot off the press, and I’ll be picking up my copies sometime next week.

Check the Official Ctrl Zed Homepage for an Official Press Release.

Nigel sent me some shots of the actual CD.

These look so cool!

Back in May I posted about how it was interesting how the novel was shaping up. The first scene of each viewpoint established the character in his society. The second scene of each viewpoint established how the character’s personal conflict related to the main conflict. I wasn’t sure how this was working at the time, but now I can report on it.

It wasn’t working. As I’ve been trying to get back into the novel, I’ve been reading what I wrote back in May and the first part of June (can you believe that I wrote 80k words in about a month?) In each case, each character’s first scene is expendable because I infodumped for however-many-thousand words. The second scene was almost always a better introduction–and more exciting too.

What’s more frustrating with the book is realizing how much I’m going to have to rewrite because I kept losing focus of the characters’ goals. The plotlines for some of the characters began to get uninteresting as I accidentally meandered in some of the chapters, seeking for the character’s purpose in the story.

All in all, the book is a trainwreck right now. I went home last night with a headache and a determination. Even though I’m going to have to cut at least half of what I wrote in May, I’m still trucking ahead. There’s still a lot in this book that I like and is spurring me on to finish it.

Associated Press, 23 minutes ago

It’s a strange world out there, and it’s about to get stranger as the Google pac-man has announced its intention to eat up multi-billion dollar corporation Wal-Mart, as if it were a magic cherry.

“I’m sure this will make us invulnerable to ghosts,” said co-founder Sergey Brin of California-based Google Inc. “I get more worried about them every year. Creeping around my house and stuff. Dead stuff seriously gets to me.”

The first change that will be implemented involves new ways to search and buy groceries and household items.

“It’s all going to be manual at first,” said Nicholas St.Ratnick, head liaison between Google and Wal-Mart. “You’ll walk up to a desk in Wal-Mart and ‘search’ for an item you’re looking for, say mayonnaise. An employee—most-likely underpaid and a bit disgruntled—will go to the shelf for you, bring back all the jars of mayo plus other things that we’ve found mayo-consumers are also likely to buy. We hope this will all be automated in the future. You know, like technofied and futuristic.”

When asked if the Wal-Mart name will be kept, Brin said, “We’re dropping both names in favor of a more resonant trademark. After several board meetings, we’ve settled on the name Goomart—I like the way it rolls off my tongue.”

Both Google and Wal-Mart stocks dropped after the announcement.

Two hours of work is only showing 212 words of actual writing on the Nanowrimo word meter. That seems pitiful, but this is my first day back to writing. I actually read through and edited a 4500 word short story called “Robes of the Gods.” Those 212 words count for the final scene of the story, which I wrote tonight.

Otherwise, I’ve been going through Nethermore notes in order refamiliarize myself with the story. Expect progress on that one in the next few days. I’m really getting excited for this book again.

Last night, Jeff showed me a game called Truck Dismount. Place the little 3D guy anywhere on the truck, change the position of the ramps, and the truck speed. The press the Dismount button and watch the truck whip that little dude around. The more damage to the driver, the more points you get. I spent 45 minutes at it, and couldn’t get beyond 55,000 points or so.

Check the online scores–some of these are over 200k!

Find out why seatbelts were invented! What a weird, twisted, fun game!

My brother Phil has posted pictures of an actual copy of Stinky Hobo Stories. Go over there, take a look at the pictures, browse his other posts, and enjoy yourselves. This is one of the best–and funniest– blogs that I’ve seen.

Nigel put together this little masterpiece, complete with Red Panda, the official mascot of Ctrl Zed. Just a little taste of what’s to come with Ctrl Zed as we’re looking forward to the release of Food! and coming up with titles for a potential album next year. That is, if our lawyers can hammer out acceptable contracts.