Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
20 December 21 December 22 December 23 December	Making some adjustments to “The Lambdon Wager” to render it more submittable. More preliminary work for that stupid idea I mentioned last week.	Submitted! Appropriately tiny progess.	OMAS Arte Italiana Moonman M2  Pelikan 140 Platinum PKB-3000	Krishna Pakeezah Diamine Writer’s Blood Pelikan Blue-black  Herbin Poussière de Lune

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Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
6 December 7 December 8 December 9 December	Opening a campaign which will culminate in a Kickstarter campaign… and ideally somewhat thereafter a short story collection.	The journey of ten thousand stadia begins with a few hesitant and uncertain steps. And what could be sweat or tears. Hard to tell.	Sheaffer Saratoga TM Snorkel Pelikan 140 OMAS Arte Italiana Parker 65	Skrip Jet Black Pelikan Blue-black  Krishna Pakeezah Quink Permanent Turquoise

If anyone out there is shouting “What the hell are you thinking?!” they may rest assured that I can’t hear them over the screeching of my own internal critics. Updates as they develop… which given the careful approach to this unknown country I’m adopting, will probably not begin until Mid-January.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
31 May 1 June 2 June 3 June	Blinkin’ work duties. The Curidas page.	Too much. Go ahead and click the link!	Pilot Vanishing Point Platinum Curidas Pelikan th.INK OMAS Arte Italiana	Namiki Black Platinum blue-black Herbin Vert de Gris Diamine Honey Burst

Oopsie

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
24 May 25 May 26 May 27 May 28 May	Queen Victoria’s birthday The decreasingly over-ambitious, increasingly time-anxious edit on “Legion of Candles”.	Some lounging I suspect would not have amused her majesty. Under the limit!	OMAS Arte Italiana Sheaffer Imperial Triumph Platinum Curidas (still picture only) Pilot Vanishing Point Pelikan th.INK	Diamine Honey Burst TWSBI Royal Purple Platinum blue-black Namiki Black Herbin Vert de Gris

So, yeah… no entries here at all last week. I had to apply my time to the scraping down of the story… and more time than that. Victory came as the light faded from the sky on Friday– the final count was 4951 words (1305 below the last time I called it finished), AND YET the story still made sense.

This may explain a couple of previous rejections.

To explain the next rejection, I decided to change the title at the last moment. I made sure that this change was not only on the title page, but also reflected on the page headers (look up Shunn format, if you’re curious) and also in the name of the file. BUT NOT in the email’s title, which still had the old name. So, a lot of work followed by pointing a gun at my own foot– perhaps I’ll miss.

A quick bit of film to make up for Friday’s absence. This week should be more sensible, although who can really predict… the future?

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
17 May 18 May 19 May 20 May	The decreasingly over-ambitious edit on “Legion of Candles”.	16 of 19 pages covered in red ink, so almost ready to hit the keyboard.	OMAS Arte Italiana Pilot Vanishing Point Sheaffer Imperial Triumph Pelikan 140	Diamine Honey Burst Namiki Black TWSBI Royal Purple Monteverde Malibu Blue

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
10 May 11 May 12 May 13 May	A story best thought of as carb cleaner for my writing engine. A probably over-ambitious edit on “Legion of Candles”.	Nine pages! Needs to be under 5000 by month end, currently… 6008. *gulp*	PenBBS 500 Pelikan 140 Pilot Vanishing Point OMAS Arte Italiana	TWSBI Blue Monteverde Malibu Blue Namiki Black† Diamine Honey Burst

Yes, indeed; production! I won’t tempt fate by proclaiming myself cured, especially with a story I don’t expect to ever see the light of day, but there’s a glimmer of optimism to be seen.

†You won’t actually find this on the linked page (yet) but… I mean, it’s black ink. One is very like another.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
3 May 4 May 5 May 6 May	A very little work on the website	Most of the stuff I’ve been saying I’d update.	OMAS Arte Italiana Sheaffer Balance Craftsman PenBBS 500 Sailor Pocket Pen	Diamine Honey Burst Diamine Writer’s Blood TWSBI Blue Jentle blue-black

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
26 April 27 April 28 April 29 April	“Willful Murder” (working title). Something I’ll present tomorrow	4 manuscript pages (again?!). Simultaneously more and less effort that you’d think.	PenBBS 500† Pelikan 140 OMAS Arte Italiana Sheaffer Balance Craftsman	TWSBI Blue Monteverde Malibu Blue† Diamine Honey Burst† Diamine Writer’s Blood†

† So, clearly I didn’t get any updates on the site on the weekend. I got distracted by the possibilities of…

OK, it’s a little circuitous. My wife acts, and since the provincial government chased film production out of the province a few years ago, she’s been concentrating on the stage. This outlet to her creativity was somewhat stifled by the current plague, since live theatre is exactly the sort of thing the phrase “super-spreader” was invented for.

The theatre has decided to push on with the new season, though, and my wife has been cast in a leading role. How this? They’re presenting Sorry, Wrong Number in its original format– a radio play. I will, of course, offer a link when the play goes public; the “no public gatherings” command has been turned into a disadvantage, as local theatre goes online and global.

I’ve been on the fence about getting a (somewhat) decent microphone, and this has pushed me over the edge. Our Yeti Snowball arrived this week… but that’s just the catalyst. Since I’m having trouble wringing words out of my head, I’m spreading out into other media.

…and I’ll roll some of that out tomorrow.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
19 October 20 October 21 October 22 October	Not a sausage.	As much nothing as one man is capable of.	Sheaffer Sovereign II OMAS Arte Italiana Pelikan P1 Waterman Crusader	Herbin Poussière de Lune Edelstein Olivine Diamine Bilberry Namiki Blue†

What’s this? No progress on anything?

No. I’m in a stressed state, as are we all, and I thought I would give my brain a little time off. The little Twitter items are still happening, and being collected at my other establishment, and of course there’s bits of stories developing like yeast colonies all over my brain… at least, I’m pretty sure that’s what they are, and not actual yeast colonies.

†STILL no sample on the site yet, and it may go another week yet.

It’s What’s Inside That Counts

A thing that a lot of writers get stuck inside their heads is “I must keep my ideas secret, lest other writers make off with them!” This even though we all know that there’s only (variable but small number) stories in existence.

Apart from a very few seriously unique notions that need to be sprung on an unsuspecting world, like, “How about zombies, but fast?”, most of us stop worrying about that. We still keep ideas to ourselves, because (a) they’re often a little embarrassing, and (b) blabbing about them before they’ve fully gestated is a good way of killing them.

Others stealing the ideas, though? I’ve seen some big name authors shout WHO CARES?! at that, because no two writers will tell a story in the same way. Case in point:

I will make an exception to the preceding for film adaptations of The Three Musketeers. Unless it’s “In Space” or “set in the Cars universe”, you’re utterly wasting your efforts when the 1973/74 diptych exists.

Today’s pen: OMAS Arte Italiana
Today’s ink: Edelstein Olivine

ps: I haven’t mentioned it here (apart from the automated side-bar reference) but over on the writing site, I’m archiving creepy nanofictions which I emit daily on Twitter.