A BRIEF INTRODUCTION: Hello there! I’m Tess, a writer of dark urban fantasy stories, and you’re about to read an experiment of mine. The experiment is to see how long I can keep a decent log of my writing life as I write the first draft of my third book--and to see whether that log has any entertainment value. You could think of it like a captain’s log...but it’s almost definitely less exciting. Hope you enjoy!
11/25/2019
982
Sunday was, expectedly, a family day. My mom made us a lovely brunch, then my partner took a nap while I went to visit with my dad, and one of his friends whom I hadn’t seen in a very long time. It was nice to see him again, especially since, given how infrequently I come back here, I wasn’t sure I ever would. And I’ve always felt he was a really good influence on my dad. My dad is one of those guys who’s pretty self-assured of his intelligence and superiority--and this particular friend has always been ready and willing to challenge him, which I think brings out the best in both of them.
Then I closed out the day with mom, my partner, my brother, and his partner. We all went to Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Gardens--which is an absolutely wonderful light show at one of the coolest places in St. Louis. PICTURES HERE!
After that, we got Imo’s Pizza for dinner, which is the best pizza in the whole world DO NOT AT ME.
Then at 3am my dad woke me up to tell me he’s going back to the hospital. The extra bummer here is that I was going to take my dad to renew his license this week--it expired in June and he only had until December 12 to renew it without having to take all the tests over again.
So, since I wasn’t taking Dad in to renew his license anymore...I did some writing. And watched some TV with my mom, of course.
11/27/2019
717
On Tuesday, went on a walk with Mom and partner and did some yoga. I had some odd soreness in my pectoral muscles--possibly from the plane, or sleeping on a different bed, or possibly from using my mom’s leaf blower in the yard without stretching. So anyway, did a bunch of yoga and felt better. Then had my mom watch the ENTIRE series of Fleabag, because I think it’s one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
Then the partner and I drove way down south to visit with one of my high school buddies--one of the few still here in St. Louis. We try to do some kind of reunion every once in a while, but it’s tough with so many of us spread all over the country--so this year, it was just the two of us. And we had a good time! Got some Mexican food and watched Cabin in the Woods--shockingly, the first time I’ve re-watched that movie since my very first viewing, which is mainly shocking because I loved that movie when I saw it and I’ve always meant to watch it again but just never have.
(vague spoilers for Cabin in the Woods ahead)
In case I have somehow avoided making this clear in this log...I love Joss Whedon, problematic fave-ness and all. I just love his writing, always have and always will. Buffy is pretty much my very favorite thing. And Cabin in the Woods, written by Whedon, is no exception. Damn, that is a well-written movie. But I can also maybe see why I didn’t go back to it--it’s a satire of horror movies, but it’s also itself a horror movie. And in typical Whedon style, he really makes you love the characters before they get brutally murdered--so even though the movie is both fun and funny, it can be a bit of a tough watch. Every time, I know I’m gonna fall in love with these smart, funny characters...only to watch them die. But that is, of course, the point. Whedon partly wrote the story because he hates the idea of “disposable” people, which is an idea that crops up in a lot of horror movies. He doesn’t want you to see these characters as disposable. He wants their deaths to hurt you. And, for me, he succeeds.
I have thought about trying to make myself write some outright horror, if for no other reason than to get myself more accustomed to writing character deaths. It’s a necessary skill for a writer, and it’s something I still struggle with. Of course, like Whedon, I don’t think anyone should feel disposable. But it makes it so hard to kill them off, doesn’t it?
So, anyway, that was yesterday. And today I worked on the finale some more! I think it’s coming along rather nicely, though I did have to go back and clean up some details.
Finales are fun.
End of Thanksgiving week. Not sure I really want to punish myself by adding the sad week total. It wasn’t really a work week, anyway.
-Tess
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Alternately, if you’ve never heard of The Choronzon Chronicles before, but you think you might check it out, you can find the first book right here: Shadow Summoner.
This is my mom, taking a picture of me, taking a picture of her.