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Transfiguration (2020) from Universal Everything on Vimeo.
He would not stop.
Most thought it was rage. Some thought it was pure spite and malice.
He was coming. He would not stop.
They tried the physical to no avail. They called in all the wizards they could find. They cast, the chanted, they threw magic. There was fire. There was acid, there was stone. There was anything and everything until pure chaos was the result.
He would not stop.
They cajoled, they pleaded. They wailed and moaned.
He would not stop. He could not stop. It was not rage or spite or malice at all. It was love and it drove him onward.
Artist: Jong Min Lee – https://www.artstation.com/jongminlee
“This is clearly my next evolution. I am a troll, I belong on the interwebs…”
“No. Please. Just put the phone down.”
“But the screaming goats…”
“No.”
One of my favorite authors once said, “I don’t have a muse, I have a mortgage”.
I struggle with this constantly. I really am a mood based writer. It’s terrible because there are times when something springs forth from my forehead as if a Greek god headache has produced something whole and complete. There are other times when I simply can not force myself to sit at the keys and work.
I think that’s a significant part of this. It IS work. There is time and effort and a willingness to give up a piece of yourself to the consumption of others. It is draining to me. I’ve heard of others that are energized by the completion of some piece of their art but when I am finished working on something like this I am spent. Pouring out some of myself onto a page is a challenge, but I really do love to tell a good story.
I’ve got a story that’s been “in production” for a quite a long time now. No, not the 2 novels that I’ve been so called writing for a decade now. A story. I know there’s a seed of a good idea in this story, but it’s just not working.
Today I think I caught a little of the right mood. I listened to a scary story. I know – sounds childish to say it that way, but that’s what it really is. It’s a scary story. There are a large number of other scary stories where I found this one. The particular scary story I found happened to be ‘Take a Walk In The Night, My Love‘. It’s from the podcast Pseudopod as presented by Escape Artists ~ folks who deliver some genuinely excellent content all the time. I mean consistently over years. Go, support them.
I’ve never been good at telling a scary story. I’ve got an excellent handle on the ridiculous. That’s easy, I just have human interaction, mess it up the way I normally do and then write that down. Easy. Scaring somebody? Scaring somebody is a far more challenging concept ~ at least to me.
So here, on a bright, sunny summer afternoon I sit behind the keys and attempt to tell a scary story. I’ll let you know if it turns out to be as scary as I hope.
The desire to soar like an angel was overwhelming. Driven to madness by continual failure to achieve the glory of divine flight extreme measures were needed. The faithful would see. The faithful would understand.
I shall soar in the light. I will bask in glory.
Love the purity of my being.
The tipping point.
All the struggles, all the sacrifice to get here. Her past was as ruined as the temple where she stood facing the oracle. Now, in that moment she hesitated. There was no going back once the question was asked.
Could she go forward?
There was a time when sleep was a refuge, a safe haven. Go there. Hide there. Rest there to come and battle us again. No more.
We have found you.
We are coming.
“Why
my lady?”
“Because
we must.”
“No
harm shall befall you. Let us go.”
Programming note: Writing is still hard.
I’ve seen a ton of posts about all the time that some people have on their hands these days. I’ve seen posts, some joking, some serious about how much some people accomplished in the past when under quarantine rules. I’ve seen numerous posts about how one should feel about all this time, your personal level of anxiety and how much work you should get done.
A friend of mine posted an update on how much had been written during this time of not leaving the house… and questioned its value.
Writing is still hard.
Extra time at the keyboard doesn’t change that. Some people might not even get extra time at the keyboard. Some people might not be able to take it. I am extremely lucky to still be working. I am on the same hours / schedule I was before the modern plague hit the world. I still can’t sit here in front of the machine for 12 or more hours at a time. I reserve a great deal of time for work here on my computer – the day job kind.
That is not to say that other projects are still lagging. Quite the contrary actually. I’ve been chipping away at things little by little. The biggest boon to me is the reduction in travel times along with the reduction in number of meetings. There are no places I have to go, no drive time involved in going there. Very few people clamoring for my attention. that has made a certain amount of focus easier for me, so I’m getting more writing done than I have in a while.
That is not to say that it’s good writing. There is a lot of anxiety floating out there and as I have stated in other posts, the panic can and will rub off. I’m hoping that as we adjust to the way things are right now that the new schedule will allow for even more work to get done.
In the end – writing is still hard. IF you’re creative and you’re struggling – that’s OK. If you’ve got scads of free time and you can make a go of it – then you go! Get cracking and make something awesome. If you’re not a maker, be a consumer when you can. Authors, freelancers, small businesses are all going to undergo changes in the coming months. IF you’ve got the time, dig up a new author or a small press and see if you can find something you like.
Hopefully I’ll be able to pull my bits and pieces together and keep forging ahead.
Continuing the flash prompt series.
She ached.
She hurt because she knew.
She would do it anyway.