This piece came to me tonight in a moment of personal turmoil. It will require more than a night's thought to complete the piece. Boil it down, a "perfect storm" of marketing, a sense of American entitlement, and corporate greed have culminated in the death of the American dream through a combination of complacence, perceived need, and persuasive marketing. We of the 99% are merely lambs to the slaughter, destined (in their eyes) to fatten the 1%. And it's our own fault for not recognizing that red fact.

In a departure from the 2YNP, I've been concentrating on the scenes that have come to my head since this idea first entered my head. The departure is not complete, though, since lesson four deals with conflict and as all writers know, conflict is the driver of the story. Thus, I'm incorporating the conflict lesson with my scene ideas. As I define the conflict in my scenes, I will be better able to define the overarching conflict that will define the story as a whole. I think, at this point, my biggest challenge will be to refrain from or redefine cliched conflict. Working on it.

I mentioned in July of last year on the blog that one could get a common and uncommon set for relatively cheap. Since then, I've purchased many of these, but have also spent much money catching up on the rares and mythics. In my estimation, I have probably spent more on the rares than I would have if I had purchased the complete play set without mythics.

Think of it this way. Currently, play sets are available at the following prices (Common-C Uncommon-U Rare-R Mythic Rare-M):
Cx4 - $7
CUx4 - $35
CURx4 - $350
CURMx4 - $900

I guess one has to decide one's financial capacity in acquiring the cards of a particular set, but it seems to me that the CURx4 option is the most economical. In any case, for the individual card player, purchasing any level of complete play set is more economical than purchasing packs, boxes, and cases to fill out a play set. Best of luck.

When I read Lesson 3 of the 2YNP - Theme - I stopped dead. I have scene ideas running around my head. I have a working title. I have characters and character development. I have basic character interaction. I have basic settings for the scenes. And I have all of it in my head. Then my head hit a wall when I was asked what my theme was.

What is theme? Boil the story down to one word and you have theme, so the sages say. But there are so many words. I ran into this wall, or more appropriately a thick, soupy fog where I couldn't see what was ahead on the road. So I put it on the back burner throughout the day where my internal storyteller could work on it without my knowledge. An odd concurrence happened from the time I read the assignment and the time I worked it out.

The concurrent event happened to be an early Mother's Day dinner with my wife and four in-laws. It is a complex relationship with my in-laws, but I love them all. I also have complex relationship with my child's mother, my ex-wife. And as the discussion turned toward my child and her mother, something clicked regarding this story.

When I came home today and read the assignment again, the events of the day meshed with the assignment on the back burner along with the stuff about this story that is running around my head and I came up with a viable theme. The theme of the story is love and the boundaries by which love can be broken.

Theme can be a malleable thing, but I felt good about this beginning.

2YNP WC - 409
Novel WC - 0

Yesterday, I eliminated the 2YNP (Two Year Novel Project) as a topic. I took all of the material on the blog and assigned it to the story it was supposed to support. In turn, I have begun using the 2YNP as a background thread in my posts to each particular story. Currently I'm working on Big Rock Reunion and at the bottom of the posts, I submit a 2YNP word count (background word count following the 2YNP) and a story word count (actual words written to be used in the story). I think this will work better considering the subject of the 2YNP is an item subject to change.

I got through the first two lessons of the 2YNP last night. I revised my answer to the second lesson today. I also started on the third lesson - theme - and hit a minor snag. I have ideas about scenes and characters and settings, but I haven't really thought about the theme for the story yet. It caught me off guard a bit when I couldn't immediately answer this question. Clearly it affects the entire direction of the story and is something that can't be "flip". I will have to give THEME some in-depth thought.

2YNP word count (WC) - 210
Novel WC - 0

It's been so long since I logged in that I forgot my password. Just wanted y'all to know that I started writing again.....today. I have a relative that has been through some desperate times. I recently visited that relative and ideas started hitting me like BANG! BANG! BANG! This story will be unlike my other ideas; instead of being a fantasy based story where it's all made up in my head, this story is set in our world and in our time. I feel like a barrier has been broken.

I will be putting all of the tools at my disposal to use, but I want everyone to know that I've started the 2YNP at Forward Motion, a course I took in it's inaugural iteration and subsequently purchased when it became available so I could have a hard copy of the lessons. I can tell you that the purchased version differs quite a bit from the online "alpha" version I took in 2004-5. It has become a very useful tool. It is also only one of many tools I have accumulated over the years that I will be employing.

The new project is tentatively titled "Big Rock Reunion", but I will refer to it most commonly as BRR. I don't want to give out too many details yet, but I have a passion here with primary characters, motivation, setting, several scenes, triumphs, and tragedies. And it's only been on the back burner for less than two weeks. I have a feeling that this flame will stay alive. Wish me luck.

I have been going over some notes of a story I was passionate about. I'm not sure the path I want to take with this story, as I have established two paths in the past. However, I did run across the lessons that I had been doing with the Two Year Novel Project (2YNP). I do think that reconnecting with the 2YNP, a program I participated in the first time it was presented and subsequently purchased, will help me with the challenges I face with this story.

Another thing I have is a significant history of researching this story. I do believe that my previous notes plus the 2YNP and the free lessons given on Holly Lisle's website, in the distant past, will help me see the path this story needs to take. What I really need is to find the PASSIONATE thing about this story that will let it flow from my fingers. I need to sort out the good from the bad in this story and work from there.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

On genetics. I am not wired to interpret the emotional interactions of people and the repercussions of those interactions. My wife is and channeling her plus reading stories I truly enjoy, I see how my storytelling falls flat. How do I overcome this emotional ineptitude?

Holly Lisle (link to the right) talks about channeling dreams - nightmares - to help solve issues within the rough draft, but I remember about one dream a month. The only nightmares I've ever had were when I was young. They were recurring nightmares like I was the front bumper of an out-of-control car that missed the corner and went smashing through the forest. I did have vivid dreams when I was taking Chantix (a stated side effect), but they weren't nightmares, rather they were adventures through unearthly lands.

Anyway, I'll have to figure out a way to teach myself the emotional interplay between humans and how each action has a ripple effect of reactions through each person associated with the original action. I could really wrap and twist this around, but I'll stop this part here.

On blame, I haven't written a word of fiction for a couple of years. I may have dabbled here and there, but nothing coherent has flowed from these fingertips for a significant period of time. The blame lies with me. I haven't taken the time to connect with my stories. Furthermore, I haven't even taken the time to practice, even for a few minutes a night. I've had a few good ideas that have been floating around in my head for a decade, but I've never realized those ideas to completion.

Clearly, I need to re-dedicate a portion of my free time to my fiction writing. More difficult, getting in touch with the emotional interactions between people and how those people react, plus the ripple effect of those reactions. The first thing, though, is getting back in touch with my story ideas. So, I will make a list of goals before year's end and post them. Wish me dedication.

I've been going over my posts of late (=0) and realize I have disappointed myself and anyone who still checks in.

I also came across an article in a magazine to which I subscribe where the pacing, engagement, and mastery of diction caused me to stop and read it again. I think it was in my June (yes, JUNE) edition of Scientific American, which I read this past weekend.

I need to find that article, but I think I put into the recycle bin. It resonated with me; not necessarily the piece, but the writing. Which leads me to thought.

I am contemplating my resolutions for the new year and this (plus extended family) is a significant part of them. I'll revisit this topic after the new year. Thanksgiving to New Year give 14 hour work days in my line of work, leaving little breathing-room.