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Post by papaof2 on May 23, 2019 19:18:01 GMT -6
When "In the Dark" finishes posting - just three more chapters - I will be working on a new story because my muse has gifted me with the first 3000 words of the next story - in the past 48 hours! Don't get excited, that kind of gift is often an indicator she'll be running off for days in the near future. When she came back the last time, she mentioned somebody named "affect" or "effect" or something like that and said I could learn more about him on this forum. I wasn't aware there was anyone here who wanted an orange-eyed, green-haired muse but there have been some strange characters mentioned over time...
We shall see if she stays or goes. If she doesn't stay around, it'll be a waste of a good start on a possibly interesting tale.
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Post by 9idrr on May 23, 2019 21:23:04 GMT -6
When "In the Dark" finishes posting - just three more chapters - I will be working on a new story because my muse has gifted me with the first 3000 words of the next story - in the past 48 hours! Don't get excited, that kind of gift is often an indicator she'll be running off for days in the near future. When she came back the last time, she mentioned somebody named "affect" or "effect" or something like that and said I could learn more about him on this forum. I wasn't aware there was anyone here who wanted an orange-eyed, green-haired muse but there have been some strange characters mentioned over time... We shall see if she stays or goes. If she doesn't stay around, it'll be a waste of a good start on a possibly interesting tale. Good news, sir. Uh, you might get word to your muse, though, that if'n she's headed West, Reno's about the last safe stop. Much further than that and she might be gettin' onto the land of the ol' guy with the voodoo dolls... Then again, there's a great big upthrust hunk of granite in this area and the Indian legend has it that infertile women need only to rub their bellies on the rock and it'll enhance the chances of pregnancy. Maybe we need a bunch of little muses to spread out to all the writers here, huh? |
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Post by papaof2 on May 23, 2019 21:29:08 GMT -6
When "In the Dark" finishes posting - just three more chapters - I will be working on a new story because my muse has gifted me with the first 3000 words of the next story - in the past 48 hours! Don't get excited, that kind of gift is often an indicator she'll be running off for days in the near future. When she came back the last time, she mentioned somebody named "affect" or "effect" or something like that and said I could learn more about him on this forum. I wasn't aware there was anyone here who wanted an orange-eyed, green-haired muse but there have been some strange characters mentioned over time... We shall see if she stays or goes. If she doesn't stay around, it'll be a waste of a good start on a possibly interesting tale. Good news, sir. Uh, you might get word to your muse, though, that if'n she's headed West, Reno's about the last safe stop. Much further than that and she might be gettin' onto the land of the ol' guy with the voodoo dolls... Then again, there's a great big upthrust hunk of granite in this area and the Indian legend has it that infertile women need only to rub their bellies on the rock and it'll enhance the chances of pregnancy. Maybe we need a bunch of little muses to spread out to all the writers here, huh? And some writers at unnamed locations who have leventy dozen unfinished stories? |
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Post by 9idrr on May 23, 2019 21:45:31 GMT -6
We can only hope that where there's a "Will" there's a way, right?
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Post by willc453 on May 24, 2019 5:21:57 GMT -6
Hey, thought someone was talkin' about me for some reason. Musta had a boink. The Shadow, chapter 37, is on page 7.5 with the boys dealing with Annabelle & Gingers rape accusations. They figure if it's good enough for God, it's good enough for them. It "should" have 8-9 pages total for that chapter. MAY BE out some time this weekend. Will also be working on the boys bringing the girls to their families during Thanksgiving time for the first time, though don't know if it'll be in 37 or not. What's happened is I'd be writing on 37, then something occurs to me, so I go back to add stuff, which sometimes ends up with me adding even more stuff to a chapter. With the boys soon to be graduating from college, they'll have a lot more time on their hands, so they're going to be submitting their D&D modules to Gold Coast while also attempting to create their own 3D monsters for possible mass production. And of course they do need spending money, so they'll be helping "their" FBI agents, along with Interpol from time to time.
Been flitting back and forth adding to other stories (2nd American Revolution & Forgotten Hero's) while looking up info on places like the military's Presidio language institute, what ever happened to.... along with RC cars, chemistry and crossbows. And Henry's got a .22 caliber rifle like the Winchester 30-30, but it can be loaded from the side or down a tube. It shoots .22 shorts, long & long rifle ammo. Of course I need one to make my stories more authentic, right?
Watched some Youtube videos on mouse tails and from what I saw, they're so deadly that if you even dangle one near a body of water, the trout and bass will leap out of the water to attack it. I bought every color available (and 2 packs each) just in case the trout/bass are racists towards certain colors. Still waiting for Dads estate to be settled and looking at used class A motorhomes via Craigslist. Now looking at one of those inflatable pontoon boats that I can throw in the back of the truck or stash in one of the compartments of the motor home. And the VA in Pennsylvania called earlier this week about Dads G.I. insurance money. Seems it never got to sending me the paperwork to claim it, something that should arrive no later than next week. That by itself is more than enough for the motorhomes I've been looking at.
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Post by 9idrr on May 24, 2019 21:27:51 GMT -6
You know, if you took the right kind of mushrooms or similar goodies, a guy might be able to make a really good deal at Burning Man, at least 'til the seller came down and realized how little he got from you for a nice rig.
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Post by papaof2 on Jun 19, 2019 15:34:48 GMT -6
I was correct about my muse flitting away. Three weeks later and she was gone. Did get another 6000+ words from her but the story's just starting to get interesting. Haven't gotten a request for the sunburn potion, so I guess she's not at the beach. No charges on my Amex so she's living on someone else's $$ or she's gone native back in Museland (palm-thatched hut, fresh food for the picking, showering in the warm rain using soapwort flowers as soap).
The next muse auction is still on for Denver (July 17-21) so I have reservations at the Hampton closest to the stockyards - the muse auction is held in one of the old cattle auction barns there. If I am forced to get a new muse, be aware that it's like getting a new puppy and while the initial training can be relatively short (sometimes including housebreaking, as these are wild beasts), tapping their creative abilities can take anywhere from six months to two years. If the two years sounds like waiting for a dog to get out of puppyhood, you're correct - it takes about that long. I've been posting as the stories are created, so there is no stock of unposted tales to cover the potential drought. You'll just have to go back and read some of the longer stories or switch channels and read JDY or someone else.
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Post by papaof2 on Jun 20, 2019 19:59:44 GMT -6
Speaking of the devil has unearthed him her. No information about where, why or with whom, just that she's back and is there any dark chocolate. The dark chocolate I could provide in two forms: dark M&Ms and Milano cookies with double dark filling. Wonder if someone got word to her about the Milanos? Whatever, she provided a chapter last night and part of one today so she's off to a good start.
Still not enough story to start posting as I don't want to hear MOAR when/if she disappears again. I'll wait until there's an end in sight before I post.
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Post by papaof2 on Jul 7, 2019 13:09:49 GMT -6
Putting my reservation for the Muse Auction (Denver, July 17-21) on the fridge seems to have worked - at least for now. My muse has provided three chapters over the past couple of weeks (not her best story production, as it's a little below average) but I'm waiting for at least an outline of the rest of the story before I start posting.
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Post by 9idrr on Jul 7, 2019 20:12:14 GMT -6
Whenever she becomes recalcitrant, remind her about the mean ol' guy out West with the voodoo dolls and hat pins.
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Post by papaof2 on Jul 7, 2019 21:50:30 GMT -6
Whenever she becomes recalcitrant, remind her about the mean ol' guy out West with the voodoo dolls and hat pins. I could tell her that, but I don't think I've ever mentioned her piercings. Remember the days when it seemed every female had a charm bracelet with people and pets and hobby stuff on it? Remember how those jangled when they moved their hands? That's the sound my muse makes when she's on the stairs - whether headed up or down. Then there was the time she tripped on her over-sized ankle equivalent of a charm bracelet and tumbled down the last six stairs - sounded like a 14-year-old doing his first cymbal solo ;-) Not sure if the voodoo doll and hatpins would even get a second thought from her. For now, I do have a few notes to work from, so I'll be patient as long as she's providing a chapter a week. Of course that means January or later if this story is close to typical length... |
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Post by 9idrr on Jul 8, 2019 20:34:04 GMT -6
Uh... can she work faster but make the story longer?
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Post by papaof2 on Jul 8, 2019 21:18:03 GMT -6
Uh... can she work faster but make the story longer? Probably not :-( As long as she keeps going at the current pace, I'll start posting when/if the story gets to 20 chapters. At that rate, I might only have to listen to a week or so of MOAR at a time. |
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Post by papaof2 on Jul 11, 2019 12:35:48 GMT -6
Well, I got over-confident the other day and made up a title page for the story and danged if my muse didn't pick that day to disappear again! It has my name on it, not hers, because there is no Alt-XXX way of creating those characters in Word. It supports other languages but not Musian and even if it did, the Musian keyboard is even more complex than the Japanese Katakana keyboard: www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/products/make/wasd-87-key-katakana-custom-mechanical-keyboard.htmlShe has a special edition iPhone with a fold out version of the Musian keyboard and even with that keyboard being six times the size of the phone it's like typing on your typical phone in portrait mode. babelfish.com isn't up to the translation, although the original yellow bablefish from "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" may be able to do that. The translation from Musian to human (language doesn't matter) is done with a purple otherfish which the muses provide to those who need their input. Why "otherfish"? Because it's for the less capable "others" who can't sleep-learn the language overnight (most of us). I'm not giving away any writing secrets here, because the otherfish is capable of shapeshifting - the most popular shape is some form of glasses frame, sometimes using the otherfish to replace one temple (proper name for the piece over your ear). You know that concept is perpetuated by writers, as even in entertainment ("Murder She Wrote") the author always has glasses on when writing. An actual chapter posting? In a few days. Maybe. |
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Post by willc453 on Jul 11, 2019 15:44:09 GMT -6
Well, that mean old guy out west has been busy. Because there's been sssoooo many new stories being posted, haven't wanted to over tire anyone's eyeballs with mine. The Shadow is now at chapter 41 and to be honest, thought for the longest time I had already posted 39 & 40. 41 is also growing, so it may slop into chapter 42. The boys graduated from college, so now they THOUGHT they'd have the summer and the rest of their lives free to pursue their dream of working for Gold Coast. The parents of those four meet each other, the boys spend their first Thanksgiving and Christmas away from home....with the girls folks. The boys help out stemming the tide of illegals entering the U.S., dealing with Democrats in California, getting involved helping a school chum and his buddies who were quite busy in "the sandbox" as a Navy Seal. Yep, all sorts of good stuff. Finished chapter 5 of The 2nd American Revolution and sitting on 7 in case I want to add more mayhem to it. 4 is around 4-5 pages and is going to be a 2 parter. 6 is 3-4 pages, 8 & 9 now have characters and basic story outlined. One will be California, the other....either Chicago or New York City. Not sure which. Have a nice day.  |
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Post by 9idrr on Jul 11, 2019 20:12:38 GMT -6
That's all right, us po' folks here will just have to wait... and hope... sniff... snuffle... whimper,,,
I guess beggin' won't get us anything any faster?
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Post by papaof2 on Jul 12, 2019 19:46:40 GMT -6
Still have another chapter to create before I start posting. I've been working on this since the end of May - when the last chapter of "In the Dark" was posted. 30 days in June plus 12 days in July equals 42 days or 6 weeks. With my muse being available less than half those days, I'm surprised that the story is as far along as it is...
Working title is "Keep the Cool Inside". If you see that in "Stories as they are written", then I've started posting. Meanwhile, I have some "honey do" to take care of - one of the kids has a small vented fireplace in the family room of her house with a gas fire starter but allergies make wood fires a no-no. I found a small set of unvented gas logs (they also work in a fireplace with a chimney, whether the damper is open or closed) on the free section of Craig's List and I'll get to do the exchange (gas logs in place of starter) next week. Not likely to get much writing done when I'm cussin' some incompetent builder - and you know I'll find something that's not Kosher ;-(
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Post by papaof2 on Jul 22, 2019 11:48:36 GMT -6
It's probably just as well that I didn't start posting the next story immediately - my muse left me in the middle of a chapter a week ago and I've made no progress since then :-(
Oh well. It was a nice premise even if I never finish it...
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Post by 9idrr on Jul 22, 2019 20:59:25 GMT -6
Hell, sir, with as much as you've given us already on this board, I think you deserve a bit of a rest anyway. Nobody here's gonna pressure you. Take all the time you and your muse need. None of us would ever think of rushin' such a fine, talented writer as yourself.
Uh... is there more story yet?
Where's the next part?
Isn't it done yet?
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Post by papaof2 on Jul 22, 2019 22:09:06 GMT -6
Meanwhile, I'm working on "honey do":
installed gas logs for one daughter - the placement of the gas line for the starter in the wood-rated fireplace and the location of the input to the gas logs meant the plumbing required two elbows, three nipples and a union. She's pleased but I tripped when installing the firescreen and fell back on the carpeted concrete slab floor. Nothing broken, but I still have some places that don't want to move or be touched ;-)
I'm formatting some other stories for Kindle publication (Just Another Voicemail, The New Old Homestead).
And I've been building the new (to me) laptop for monitoring the solar generator charging system. That was put in place less than an hour ago. Maybe this laptop won't succumb to a lightning strike a couple of blocks away (killed all four of the USB ports on the previous laptop). I am buying the cheapest PC that will do the job adequately - this time that was a Dell D620 for $60 delivered plus $5 for a new key for Windows 7. Reasonably inexpensive since they've become "consumables" :-( The ancient Dell Vostro that's my backup for monitoring struggles to run the monitor software and while it seems indestructible, it's not powerful enough to run a browser while the monitor software is running. It's several years older than the D620 but it just won't die ;-) It's not first choice for use because it can no longer charge the battery so it needs a small UPS to keep it going if there's a hit on the power...
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Post by papaof2 on Jul 25, 2019 15:25:53 GMT -6
It's suddenly May in July - the temperature is 83 and the humidity is 36% so I'm out doing yard work.
"Keep the Cool" is still stalled mid-chapter but my muse - or maybe it's the somewhat younger red-haired 'cousin' she dumped on me this week - is providing inspiration for a story based on a 10 second vignette over the weekend. (They don't look or sound anything like each other - I wonder if she's delegated her baby-sitting job to me?) So far, that story's in Chapter 3 but I'm not expecting much, considering the level of muse inconsistency I've been experiencing. Maybe one of the stories will pan out. If not, the vignette is at least good for a short-short story...
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Post by papaof2 on Jul 29, 2019 21:47:15 GMT -6
The 'other story' is progressing better than I expected, with 4600 words in the last 24 hours - great, except for the toll on my hands. Where's that ibuprofen bottle? The other muse is a very quiet little creature but I'm beginning to think this story is her inspiration and not my previous muse. Guess I need names that humans can pronounce for both of them. "Liz" is the last syllable of the original muse's name and the first two syllables of the newer one's name are "Lee Ann".
I get the feeling that Lee Ann likes spending time in the same room with me (I guess that might be because it's where the dark M&M's are) but she's been doing the kid thing of upside-down with her feet on the back of the sofa across the room (she does wear shoes and socks, unlike Liz, and she removes her shoes in the house, so no dirty footprints on the sofa). Those positions are also part of what makes me think Lee Ann is younger than Liz, along with the occasional silly grin popping up over the arm of my recliner or her doing a contorted backbend over the laptop so her face is upside-down in front of mine. A bit startling the first time, but now I just smile and say "Hi, silly girl" and she grins and goes back to reading on the sofa (upside-down, of course). She's making good progress on the Harry Potter books and has asked about Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles". However, if I can keep her around, I might get another story completed. If I find that I am baby-sitting a younger muse, I'll consider a completed story good payment because she's much less capricious than Liz.
If my readers are happy with the story in progress, I might invite Lee Ann on a permanent basis. Not sure how that works, as Liz sort of invited herself and then got unpredictable. Do muses have "teenage" years? Do they go through the equivalent of puberty? Neither Google nor Yahoo could provide anything authoritative about either question...
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Post by 9idrr on Jul 30, 2019 20:35:58 GMT -6
If it means more stories more often, I'm sure must of us hope that you'll find a way to keep both muses around and happy.
As for muse behavior, that sounds like the basis for a dot-gov grant proposal. Just write one up off the top of your head, send it in and wait for the money to arrive. :^)
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Post by papaof2 on Jul 31, 2019 2:02:06 GMT -6
But that dot-gov stuff requires ID - and some of us would rather not raise our SAMs and Raufoss-loaded .50s above the basement until needed ;-)
Certainly sounds as valid as studying the sex life of a snail. You could probably do that with one picture a minute until they finished and run it at normal speed for a quickie ;-) That should probably be in the iMom thread...
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Post by papaof2 on Aug 1, 2019 21:05:02 GMT -6
Not sure how we got onto the topic but Lee Ann (my current active muse, dropped off by my previous muse Liz when she tired of baby-sitting) is part human. She's not sure of the genealogy but maybe 10%? Anyway, her blue eyes give her away if she's not wearing red contacts (purple eyes are "normal") and she'd be shunned by most of the 'purebred' muses. She's given me 6,000 words in three days and they would shun her? Liz occasionally did 2,000 words in a day but those were few and far between and never three consecutive days of it. This has been a continuous stream of words almost every time I sit down to write.
I asked if there was anything special Lee Ann would like as a reward and she asked if she could hold my hand when we go to the store or if I'd kiss her goodnight on her nose or forehead. She said that physical contact is something from her 'human part' but that she understands why the humans she sees are always doing little 'touching' things - even if it's just a mother pushing the hair out of a child's eyes. She's always wanted that but asking for it would have revealed her to all as not a purebred and she thinks I'm wonderful for taking her in when she's not a real muse. I think she may be the best muse I've had in several years and I'll be very happy if she stays with us a long time - that might also please some of my readers ;-)
Does her smaller stature indicate that she's even younger than I originally thought? It's not like there are 'Height and Weight by Age' charts online for Musian children. I thought that maybe she was small for her age because muses are generally smaller than humans of the same age but maybe she really is the eight or nine I wondered about initially. Whatever, if a little attention keeps her happy I'll be glad to do that, especially when she's been so prolific with the current story. Will she stay around to complete this story? I certainly hope so. Even if I am the only one who can see her on the sofa with her feet on the back, her head hanging off the seat and book two of 'Harry Potter' in her hands (upside-down to me but upright for her), it makes me smile a little each time I look her way. It's been a long time since we had one this age in the house and I'm enjoying it.
Liz popped in just long enough to tell me that she'd rescued Lee Ann from the holding pens at the Muse Auction because she's her quarter sister (No, I don't know how they do that and I'm not sure I want to know unless I start writing some serious sci-fi) and couldn't let her go to the usual low bidders who use up the semi-bastard muses and throw them away. She thought Lee Ann would 'click' with me - so far she's been right. That explains what happened to my reservations for the flight to Denver and at the Muse Auction. Who knew an old guy would be rescuing a fair maiden that less than 1% of the population can see?
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