Monday, August 29, 2011

A Brief Synopsis

Chapter: 20
Page Count: 248
Word Count: 133,500
Nemo's Bounty: 998,000 Commercial



"The chief encumbrance one faces when rocketing at a preposterous speed around really any of Takioro Defederate Station's famous three Rings is not geographical - were one to judge by the sheer architecture of the Second Ring, as a pertinent example, they'd be hard-pressed to find a simpler circuit. A basic quadrilateral shape, with rounded corners for easier banking, identical to its two counterparts, would theoretically make for an ideal vehicle course. The true difficulty with traversing Takioro at speed, particularly the Second Ring, especially during the Yarba New Year, specifically on Day Three, was the pedestrian element."

This week, I done punched procrastination in its dumb head.

Last Monday, I established a new and rigorous schedule for the novel - 3,500 words a week or bust. Effectively 500 words per day, with some flexibility for off-days, assuming I made the lost progress up sometime during the week before the deadline. I don't know precisely what crept up my ass this week, but I DESTROYED that goal, as you mathematicians out there may have noticed. 6,5000 words this week - I didn't once miss my goal and five of these seven days I doubled it. If I somehow maintain this blistering pace, I'll be done before October's half gone. Seriously.

Now, for those of you just joining us, I suppose you might appreciate a brief synopsis of what this so-called novel of mine is even all about. Without further ado:

Hull Damage is a science fiction/crime caper adventure story about a motley crew of up-and-coming space pirates, their perpetually malfunctioning spaceship and the gangland bidding war that arises around their exploits. Set in the lawless frontier of a galaxy more-or-less devoid of central government but brimming with crime and those that commit it, the novel (so far) features weightless strip clubs, bounty-hunting reality television stars, harrowing blockade runs, inexplicably exploding chemicals, dangerous alien jungles and more gunfights, barfights, boarding actions and broadsides than one could realistically cram into a novel this size.

I'm hoping to be finished, as I said, before Halloween, but check back here every now and again for updates on both this and the Star Wars RPG game I'm currently DMing, set to have its next session this Wednesday.

Here's hoping I can continue this insane word count!

Until later.
- T

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Dog Problems


Chapter: 20
Page Count: 237
Word Count: 127,000
Nemo's Bounty: 998,000 Commercial



"Whatever the case may be, after a fortuitously well-aimed shoot shot and a six second skyrocketing ride twenty-two years too late to turn his spacer's stomach, Two-Bit Switch seeks nothing less than to track the Captain down, ascertain the truth and potentially boot him in the nuts."

I've been dogsitting and maybe, in the near future, literally dog-sitting.

A friend of mine's mother (with whom I've developed an odd rapport) has been out of town twice in the past two weeks and for an honestly exorbitant-on-my-part fee, I've been caring for her house, her mail and her dog - Nicolas, a one-foot canine that I'm told is some breed of terrier but I suspect of being little but a bark-machine.

He's barking right now. He was parking one minute, one hour, one day, one week ago. If he's done anything but bark or shit/pee/upchuck the carpet during both of these gigs, I've yet to witness it.

I understand. He's a dog. They bark. Especially terriers, evidently, and, truth be told, when he barks to be let outside, because he hears something outside, because he's hungry or because he can't find me, I
might be irritated, but I understand enough zoology to rationalize it. He's an animal. He has one means of communication and that's barking. Annoying, yes, but reasonable.

But Nicolas barks without impetus. He's standing here in the living room. Staring at me. Barking. He doesn't need to be let outside - I just brought him inside. He's literally barking for no discernable reason. If placed in a vacuum, with no outside stimuli, he'd still goddamn bark and after thirteen days, it's become fucking untenable. This is the human equivalent of your roommate walking aimlessly about your house yelling "Hey! Hey! Hey!" At least when Navi does that, there's a Deku Baba or something to fight.

It's reached the point where, as I was standing in the garage doorway while he was barking instead of the DIRE URINATION NEEDS he'd previously communicated to me, my lizard brain entertained notions of throwing nearby rocks at him. Dead serious. This dog has made me a monster.

On the other hand, I've been working, at least. Two thousand words written yesterday. Which is something, I guess. I'm scarce five pages from the end of the second act and, from there, only seven chapters and two interludes (effectively eight chapters) until she's finished. Her first draft anyway.

Then I'd have a novel. And possibly a dogskin hat.

Until later.
- T

Introductions and Other Such Palaver (Part Deux)


There.

I've made my official relocation from the formatting cesspool that is LiveJournal and back to Blogger. As I've also set up a Google+ account this very morning, I am a little concerned that Our All-Pervasive Overlords may have too many fingers in my pie (which ought to be taken out of context as much as possible), but nevertheless, the blogging must continue.

For those of you reading this that aren't previously familiar with me and found my listed biography less than helpful, my name is Timothy J. Meyer and I'm a Minnesota-based unpublished playwright, optioned screenwriter, lapsed-podcaster, actor-of-circumstance and aspiring novelist. Two of my plays have premiered at the Minneapolis Fringe Festival (2006 for Burning Bridges and 2008 for adjective), another (a commissioned adaptation of Pride & Prejudice in 2007) at Becker High School. Three of my screenplays have been produced in the Fargo/Moorhead community (Hades, The Writing and Petty Crimes) all in association with Dan Glaser of Clever Lever Pictures and a fourth, entitled Safety is currently in development in Los Angeles. I'm the director, writer, producer and editor of The Endless Night, a science fiction audio drama podcast (currently on hiatus) from An Art Lawful Productions and I'm local stage and screen actor, though generally only when pressed. I've appeared in several local productions, as well as the aforementioned films Hades, Petty Crimes and a lead role in the 2009 black crime comedy Pinching Penny, available on Amazon, VOD and retailers this October 11th.

Which brings me to the novelist-aspirant portion. I'm currently in the drafting process for a science fiction novel, based on the podcast series, tentatively entitled Hull Damage. I'm currently less than a handful of pages from achieving the novel's unofficial two-thirds marker and will probably be taking a shot hiatus from the daily grind to brainstorm and bounce ideas about the final third and one could probably expect something of an exhaustive discussion of the novel itself there.

Otherwise, I'll post excerpts and updates on a hopefully weekly-ish basis and realistically on a biweekly basis. I'll most likely ruminate on the novel, side projects, what I'm reading, what I'm playing, the various tabletop RPG campaigns I'm engaged in and eventually, when the novel's completed, the harrowing world of modern publication.

I hope to find Blogger somewhat more welcoming than LiveJournal, though I remain uncertain about developing a readerbase so, if you like my work, do what you can to spread the word!

Here's me corpse on Twitter

Until later.
- T