Pumping Iron – the sequel

September 2, 2010

The first day of working out is easy. You watch the video, follow the steps, and then you go collapse. Easy-peasy. Okay, well, maybe not so easy, if my tweet last night is any indication:

Barely keeping it together. First workout in a long time. So weak. Ah, well. The journey of a thousand steps and all that… #dontpukeplease

But you know what I’m talking about, right? That dreaded second day. You wake up, and everything you worked the day before is weak, stiff, sad, angry, all these emotions, and that’s just coming from my back and chest. I’m looking forward to tonight’s workout, but I’m also kinda dreading it. It doesn’t help that I have no idea what tonight is going to look like.
I don’t think I can get back up on that chinup bar, and I collapsed laughing on the ground trying to do my last set of diamond pushups, so the idea of getting right back into that tonight is just ridiculous. I went down to start, and even though I pushed up, I kept going down. My chest thumped against my fingers and I had to laugh. I guess that’s working to failure. Ah well, I still managed to do some dive-bomber pushups before it was all over.
I haven’t been able to track down an affordable dumbbell set, so I used jars of honey for that purpose last night. It wasn’t enough weight. It helps that I knew it wouldn’t be enough weight, but I do need to get a weight set.
The self-defeatist in me would like to know why this workout regimen is going to work when I haven’t been exactly stellar at keeping with things like this in the past. I would tell that niggling little voice that this is going to work because I understand the price that has to be paid, and I understand what I will gain from it.
No, not the girlish figure. Though, it will be nice to see those results as well.
I have had back pain since I was a teenager. My knees make this celery noise when I go up the stairs (or when I straighten my knees, apparently). I can maintain a reasonably high level of activity for awhile before I get too tired, and I can usually do okay when I play ball hockey, but I want to do more than just that. I want to still be running at the end of the night. I want to be able to help someone move and not spend the next three days wishing I were dead. I want to mitigate the risks for diabetes. And, honestly, I want to push through this mental barrier that I have. I am so scared to push beyond my comfort zone, to see what I can really do if I’m motivated enough, if it’s actually required of me. Can I make it through the 90 days of fitness hell? I think so. Now I just need to know so, and everything will be well.
This isn’t going to become the ULTIMATE BODY-SCULPTING blog or anything, but I will keep it posted with my progress, my regressions, my victories, my pains.
So, here’s some starting information: Body weight: 244.5 pounds
I figure I can lose 50 pounds from that and be healthy. I’m not a small guy, so my goal weight couldn’t (and shouldn’t) be something like 170 pounds or anything like that, but I have enough junk in various areas of my body so that 195 pounds shouldn’t be an unreasonable goal. I’m not saying that will be the goal for the end of this challenge. I wouldn’t even know what to expect out of this challenge. To quote Mr. T, from Rocky III: “My prediction? Pain.”
So, that’s it. Another Summer Blog Challenge is in the books. This is my first completed one, but hopefully it won’t be the last. And hopefully I won’t hesitate to sign up (or even start it up) next year.
I do hope to keep my blog updated more than it has been in the past, though a post per day doesn’t seem like something I’ll be maintaining.
Until more later on,

Liam

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Holy Cow

September 1, 2010

So, yesterday, I mentioned that I was looking into a fitness program that Shaun had mentioned his wife, Lindsay, was doing.

Today, I started that fitness regime in earnest.

Holy cow.

Chest and back, eh? I imagine that a lot more than that will hurt tomorrow. In fact, I might not be able to push myself up out of bed. Push ups and pull ups, and flies, complemented by stretching, warming up, cooling down, and a testosterone-laced host who could probably run through a brick wall.

Last year, I tried a kettle-bell workout that I saw online and gave up after the first workout because it hurt too much.

What has changed since then? Mindset. I will not stop. this workout is 90 days, and I will see it through to the end.

See? That’s me being accountable. Accountable old Liam, that’s me.

Now, if I can get up for work in the morning, everything will be perfect.

Liam

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Unschooling

August 31, 2010

I don’t spend a lot of time talking about our decision to homeschool Nick. I don’t even think about it much. He’s a bright boy, he picks his way, and he is interested in an amazing array of things, about which he knows a lot more than his old pappy, here.

Kim forwarded me a link the other day, and when I read it, it made sense. I commented on Shaun’s post from yesterday, intending it to be a quick bit about P90X, which Lindsay has either started, or plans to start fairly soon. (that’s the subject of another post — or series of posts — another time) and it expanded into a lot of me babbling about homeschooling. So now, I’m going to go into the details and the wherefore of the way we parent.

Attachment Parenting

Kim is a babywearing educator. Basically, she teaches people to use slings, wraps, soft-structured carriers, and all that good stuff, to help a parent to keep their kid close. When I was growing up, it was always a criticism I would hear from my mom or her friends that “that woman always picks her kid up, it’ll spoil him.” Or something to that effect. I dunno. My mom was always responsive to my cries, as far as I can remember. So, when my babies (all three of them) cry or kick up a fuss, I try to see what they’re seeing, try to make it better. Spoil the kid… sheesh. What kind of dad doesn’t try to make things better for his kids?

The Ferber Method

Coming into this whole parenthood thing, I didn’t have much of a clue. I didn’t have any theories, I just kinda sat by and put out fires. I think early parenthood is like that for a lot of people. Of course, I started parenthood with a 4 year old. (granted, I came into his life at 2, and started taking a half-assed parenty role around 3, but still) When Lily came along, I had NO clue. She wasn’t convulsey anymore, and that was good enough for me. But she liked to cry. Do we let her cry it out? That’s what I’ve heard. Then Kim told me to use my brain. Then I did. Kid is crying because it is missing something, something’s wrong, or it’s lonely. When I look at it from the baby Lily’s perspective, yeah, I’d probably cry under those circumstances, too. So, if the baby cries, I respond to her. Kim will tell you all about how the baby feels it is being heard in this circumstance and that is how engaged and responsible people are made. I just used my brain and tried to see it from Lily’s POV. Now, Ferber method people, from what I’ve heard (I don’t like to speak in absolutes unless I have to — anything that’s hearsay, I’ll generally mark as such), believe that always responding to a baby’s cries will lead that baby to cry for everything, possibly manipulating the parents, or bending them to its will. That’s definitely something to be scared of… if you’re the parent of Stewie Griffin. When the baby’s will is milk, sleep, cuddles, and a little bit of attention, I don’t think baby’s will should really be thwarted — at any time of the day or night.

Co-Sleeping

I mentioned to a co-worker, once, that I co-sleep with my children. He said something along the lines of, “Dude, that’s messed up. You’re going to totally mess your kids up!” I asked him why he would say something like that, and he gave me some bullshit line about a study he’d read somewhere once. Or something. (we didn’t talk much about anything after that) This one was a no-brainer for me. When I was growing up, my parents’ bed was a no-fly-zone for us kids. Can’t sleep? Too bad. Go back to bed. Lonely in your insomnia? Stop making so much noise. Go don’t sleep somewhere else. I can see it from my parents’ perspective. They had to be up early, dad didn’t get nearly as much sleep as he probably should have, and they were a couple — they had needs. I remember that rejection very keenly, though, and I resolved back then, and hold to it now, that my kids would never be denied access to my bed. Can’t sleep? Come on in and snuggle close. Lonely? Snuggle in a little closer and go back to sleep. And what of my co-worker’s assertion that I’m going to mess up my kids? Well, if kids knowing they are loved and that their parents are there for them 24 hours a day is going to mess them up, then I guess we’ll just have little freak-kids.

Little Freak Kids

Erm… I mean, homeschooling

Nick was not meant to be confined to a classroom 6-8 hours per day throughout his childhood. He is very smart, and the repetitive nature of elementary school teaching, along with the slowest-student-sets-the-curriculum pace, and Nick’s perfectionist nature all combined to make this decision a lot easier than I made it on myself.

I worried that Nick would not be properly educated at home. That his chances of getting into college were slim to none. That he would have no future. That he would be some homeless bum begging for change on the sidewalk with a sign that said “My parents homeschooled me.” Really, probably not, but it was a huge step. Not just a huge step, but a

huge

step for me as a parent. It took a really bad afternoon of homework to make me see what my resistance was doing to the family. I was being a jerk to my kid, trying to get him to do some stupid homework assignment that didn’t mean anything, didn’t teach anything. It was asking Nick to copy a photograph of a kid with forks hanging from the ceiling. Yeah, like anything a first-grader could do would look anything like a photograph… except that Nick couldn’t accept what he was capable of. He knew that he was expected to copy the photograph and do a good job. And since he couldn’t do a good job (being a first-grader, who wasn’t particularly fond of the pencil at any stage), he didn’t want to do it. Fuck, I’m still really worked up over that day. But instead of getting angry at Nick and his resistance, I’m worked up because I’m embarrassed over how much I let some institution’s arbitrary work assignment get to me, and to my family. As much as I’m embarrassed by that scene, though, it is the experience that allowed me to let go of my preconceived notions of what defines success in life, and brought me over to Kim’s side regarding homeschooling.

Unschooling

Trust your kids. They will know what they need/want to learn. Their interests will drive them down their own path. Don’t be a teacher, throwing stuff at them and hoping it sticks. Be an enabler — a guide on their learning journey. Sounds pretty flighty and idealistic, and I suppose it is, but it has worked so far. Nick isn’t any less socially conscious than any other little boys — more so than some of our neighbour kids. A lot of that is his personality and the way he’s wired, but I like to think that being out in the world on a consistent basis, rather than stuck in a classroom learning about what’s out there, has helped him to be aware of who he is in the world.

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Summer Blog Challenge post #28

August 30, 2010

Jacob’s Story

Snowflake Method History

Just when I was getting ready to cash in and call it a career, I got word that the big boss, the guy who got me into the business, wanted a job done. When it’s him, there’s no question. And he wanted me there, personally, to see to it. That doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. When it happened a couple of days in a row, though, my hackles started to rise. Still, he’d never let me down before, so I didn’t see any harm in it. Until I was staring up at a law man who was looking to bring me in.

Doop Longsleeve saved me, just as the hammer was about to fall. He cleared my name and offered me vast sums of money, and a plot of land outside of town, if I would follow him on a quest for some magical thing. The strange thing is, he offered the same job to the guy who collared me. I didn’t get to find out what his bargain was for, though he seemed pretty keen on earning it.

We made our way through picking up some other guys, but one of them was already with Doop when he came and got Emeril and me. Gary was a good kid. He seemed pretty serious about this adventure, and he was always trying to make sure he was pulling his own weight. Just like my little brother, if I’d had one. He was pretty naive, though. He made a lot of mistakes, so I kinda took him under my wing and showed him the way the world works.

Eventually, we made it to the place where our quest was supposed to end. We had to face challenges to get the artifact. I don’t want to talk about my challenge. Let’s just say they put everything I bargained for on one side, and the magical artifact we were hunting for on the other side, and I failed.

Emeril and I came out of our challenge room to find that the members of the Order for Natural Magic, who had challenged us, were dying on the ground next to a pile of envelopes. Emeril questioned them, and they said the challenges were the only gifts they could give us that meant anything. Didn’t mean anything to me, but one of the envelopes had my name on it, so I tore into it.

Turns out, everything I was scared of losing – money, power, freedom, they were all taken from me by Doop Longsleeve. His agreement, it was a double-edged sword. On one hand, I had a lot of money in a bank in my city, and the plot of land was just as he said it would be. But I was also freshly accused of crimes that I didn’t even commit. No way I could collect that money — or the money I’d squirreled away before chasing after wizards. The other two guys, the barbarian and the knight, they started in on each other after reading their agreement papers, and Emeril broke that up quickly.

We all told our sob-stories — the two others starting up another fight as they learned more about each other — but when Emeril told his story, I could see where it was going. I killed his father to break into the business. It’s not like I wanted to. By the time I’d gotten that far in, if I hadn’t taken the last step, they’d have killed me, no questions, no qualms. So I did it. But now Emeril knew. I had to get out of there. I have no illusions about my fighting ability, and if I were to get revenge against the wizard, I had to survive. But Emeril, you see, he was a step ahead of me again. Lucky for me, he’s more concerned with justice than vengeance, and he was more concerned with seeing Doop brought in than seeing me dead. Plus, he is a wanted criminal too. This wizard didn’t take any chances. Still, Emeril somehow broke up the other two and got them to see that Doop had played them against each other, just as he had Emeril and myself. And I suppose that is true.

Once we’d all agreed that Doop was the target, Gary walked in, not sure of anything. The dead bodies made him start, but he shrugged it off quickly. He said that Doop had betrayed him, and probably all of us, but that he’d won the fight against the god he was destined to tangle with, and that it was over. We took him to Y, where he met with the king and flirted with some princesses. He did okay. Me, not so much. There’s no question that Emeril will kill me once Doop is taken care of. I just have to think ahead and not do anything foolish.

–Gnight

Liam

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Summer Blog Challenge Post #27

August 29, 2010

Emeril’s Story

Snowflake Method History

I’ve been surrounded by Law Enforcement my whole life. My father was a law man, his father was a law man, and ever since, I’ve followed in their footsteps. A couple years back, my father was murdered. I’ve done a lot to clean up my town, but I’ve never been able to solve his murder. Then again, there’s one guy in town, he was slippery. Finally, thanks to an anonymous tip, I was able to bring him in. Just as I was about to put him away for good, we were interrupted by the wizard, Doop Longsleeve. He offered Bonney, the criminal, a pretty sweet deal to follow him on some hunt for a magical artifact. He offered me a deal too. It must have been pretty sweet, so I knew, even without asking, what the deal was. I accepted, knowing that this would help me find my father’s killer.

We took some time getting to the point, but finally we hunted the artifact down to the lair of the Order for Natural Magic. They had these challenges set up. I went into a room with the criminal and were faced with choices. I could almost see my father’s killer. It was almost there. I had to turn away from that and enter a prison cell to get the artifact. None of that made sense, and the killer was getting away. So I turned away from the prison cell with the artifact in it, and ran after the guy I saw. I failed.

After that, the rest of us, minus the kid and the wizard, all met in some courtyard where the fresh corpses of the Order for Natural Magic lay next to a pile of envelopes. They had our names on them, so I figured they must be from the wizard. I didn’t open mine just yet. I waited to see what the others found in theirs. They didn’t seem to happy. Then all the pieces fit. I could never find the murderer, I could never catch the criminal mastermind. Everyone was upset at what they were reading from the wizard. The knight and the barbarian were eyeing each other up. It hit me that I knew who killed my father. Bonney. He was as upset as the rest of them. The barbarian attacked the knight, and all of this made sense. Ride the backs of some monkeys, to get what he wanted, then make them kill each other. Simple. I opened my envelope and was only a little shocked to see that my name was next to a list of crimes that I had supposedly committed. That, along with what I had expected.

Can’t have a bastard like Longsleeve getting everything he wanted, so I broke up the fight and a couple more that happened after everyone poured their hearts out. When my turn came, Bonney looked to bolt, but I expected that and stopped him. His death wouldn’t have meant much to me, but I knew that if we were going to find Longsleeve and make him pay, we would need to do it like a group. So we worked it out. I swallowed my anger against my father’s killer, and we waited for the fallout.

Finally, the kid returned. He told us that Doop had sold us out. We told him we already knew, and with common cause, we left and made our way back to Y, so that the kid could make his report to the only real authority figure any of us could think of.

I owe two people, Longsleeve and BOnney, and nothing is over.

G’night, kiddies,

Liam

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Summer Blog Challenge post #26

August 28, 2010

Gary’s Story

Snowflake Method History

I’m no hero. I’m barely an adult. My father had hopes that I would eventually take over his inn. I wasn’t too keen on that. I was looking into training for the local militia. A man needs to see some action before he settles down into his career. I’ve always believed that. But all of that was derailed when Doop Longsleeve walked into our inn and whisked me away to a life of adventure.

First, we interrupted an interrogation, set the captive free and offered both he and his captor positions on the quest. What quest, you ask? Only a quest to save the world from some mad god whose coming has been foretold for generations. Next, we met up with some clansmen from X, where big things were happening politically. I couldn’t follow it all, but it looked like the clans were going to come together to follow the guy we came to see. He joined us, leaving his son to lead, a choice that didn’t seem so popular. Seemed like they wanted Moraih, the guy we got, and were a little ticked to have to settle for his kid.

Next, we stopped at the royal capital of Y. I wasn’t privy to much that went on between Doop and Sir Samuel, but he came with us. I liked it there – I met two nice girls. Princesses Dierdre and Daphne. Daphne was nice to me. We had a good talk about my destiny. She knows a lot about prophecies, their logic, and she has some magical talent. Her sister, though, what a beauty. We didn’t talk much, but just thinking about the way she looks inspires me.

We met up with the Order for Natural Magic – or what was left of them. They had the magical artifact we were looking for, and they said we needed to pass challenges in order to get it. As far as I know, Doop and I passed our challenge, because they gave us the artifact when we were done.

Doop went to talk with them, leaving me alone. Which was good, because I started getting this nauseous feeling, and images of me losing the artifact. That didn’t feel good. I guess fate decided it was mine, and that I was not to give it up. Doop returned just as the feelings subsided, and we left the others, to travel to the site of the battle. Doop had concerns about their intentions, and I thought it best not to argue, given what I had just experienced.

The battle site really wasn’t too far away. Maybe a walk of a half an hour. When we got there, Doop seemed weird. He offered to take the burden of the magical artifact from me. He didn’t want me to get hurt, and he seemed to figure that the fight could be stopped completely if he had possession of it. The impressions I had gotten in the Order’s lair was all that kept me from handing it over there and then. His face darkened completely and he summoned the god. Let me say that again. He summoned the dark god. Doop. The one who I had thought was fighting against him was, instead, his disciple. Everything I had known was wrong. After exchanging pleasantries, the god and I fought.

I don’t know exactly how I won. All I know is that the artifact knew more about how to fight this guy than I did, and it did its job very well. I couldn’t kill the god. Gods can’t be killed. But he was a slave to my will, and I exiled him, but not before he took his revenge on Doop. Serves the wizard right. Here I thought he was the great mentor, the teacher in my life, and all he wanted was a pigeon he could take the artifact from.

I met up with the rest of the group after the fight – Doop had fled the scene after his punishment – and they were all looking ready to do murder. They were relieved to see me, though. We talked about all that had transpired. Sounds like Doop got them even worse than he got me. But they talked it through, and it seems that everything is okay for now. Not good, just okay.

Some good things did happen. I got a passionate kiss from Dierdre. Weird, though. Some of the talks Doop and I had convinced me that maybe I didn’t feel as strongly for her as I had originally thought. I can’t stop thinking of Daphne. She was the one who sent those impressions to me, warning me of losing the artifact. Two princesses. One hero. Me, a hero. Ha.

–Done with three minutes to spare!

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Summer Blog Challenge post #25

August 27, 2010

Step 5: Doop’s story

Snowflake Method History

I read this morning that step 5 is an expansion on step 3 (getting a feel for the pattern, finally). Basically, it’s a one-page story synopsis for one of the characters.

It’s also something that Randy uses in his book proposals, so the final version of this will hopefully be fairly polished. Eventually. Shut up, it will too.

I figured I would use a first-person perspective for this part of the planning. It’ll be a good change up, maybe help you to hear their voice, learn about them that way, and it’ll be fun. For me, at least.

I’m going to start with Doop:

Over the last thousand years, I had waited. At last, the destined time was at hand, and I would gain possession of the magical artifact that same destiny said would be my undoing. I would sidestep destiny and take mastery over all the world, with the magical artifact.

The players were all in place, and needed only to be collected, which would require a fine timing. First, I collected Gary Thorn, the Child of Destiny. Really, there was no precision in the timing of his joining. But he was the first geographically, so he was the first.

Next, I picked up the two whose futures I had seen to some years ago. The thief, Jacob Bonney, whose career I started so long ago with a simple murder. His counterpart, his captor, the constable whose father Bonney killed, effectively starting Emeril Forte’s career as well. These two had to be picked up at just the right moment, when they were together, and Bonney was unmasked.

The next member was more a matter of location than of timing. The clansmen of X are a nomadic people, though Moraih Jbanow would have that change. His son provided the perfect opportunity for me to pull Jbanow himself away. With his son firmly entrenched as the head of all clans under a new nation, Jbanow was confident that he could step aside for this quest.

Finally, we headed to Y, to gather Sir Samuel Carrington, the brave Lord Protector. He was resistant at first, but I made him see the threat that the newly consolidated clansmen of X represented to his country. With this leverage, and with the opportunity to eliminate a threat before it gained any traction, Carrington was all-too-easy to convince.

Granted, nothing turned out, for these people, the way they would have expected. The interrelationship between Forte and Bonney, their past, their present, provided them with a conundrum. I offered Bonney pardon for the crimes he’d committed before the quest, but he will return to his city to find that he is accused quite inescapably of new crimes, if he survives the wrath of the constable, who traded his services for the identity of his father’s killer.

Carrington and Jbanow share a similar dilemma. Jbanow will have found, by now, that his son was murdered in Carrington’s agreement with me. I wonder, will Carrington survive the first minute of a clansman in blood rage? Will his nation survive the punitive action that must surely follow?

Not to say that these men brought their fates on themselves. All of these events would have transpired, even without their agreement, but they embraced what they thought would be to their benefit, as I knew they would, and as such, I have no remorse for their fates.

Gary, I am conflicted with. He defied me before the God, and then sent Him into exile. For that, I was punished. I could kill him for what he has done to me. I will kill him for what he has done to me. But not without acknowledging that he has bested me once. Not many could boast of that, none alive save he, that is for sure.

I will be back.

–That was fun. It was good to not feel constrained to some four-paragraph structure to tell a character’s storyline. Granted, I have way too many details in there, and it will end up cut to hell in order to be a page long, but I think that I captured Doop’s motivation, his personality, and his plans very well.

Over all, I’m proud of this post. Good for an off-the-cuff, last-minute post when all I wanted to do tonight was play Xbox.

G’night, and flying-spaghetti-bird-speed,

Liam

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Summer Blog Challenge post #24

August 26, 2010

Snowflake Method History

  • Step 1
  • Step 2
  • Step 3
  • Design Edits
  • Step 4

    • Part four edits

    So, last time I did edits, I gushed about the SONY PRS-600 and its ability to mark up files that you have on there. Great, wonderful. But what if you don’t have them on there and haven’t gotten around to doing that yet? Well, if that’s the case, then it’s a good thing that you wrote all those blog posts out by hand, then, isn’t it, so you can mark up your handwritten entries? Yes. So, that’s what I did this time.

    I’m changing up another thing this time, too. I’m going to show you the new paragraphs for each one, and then have a note at the end, describing what I changed.

    No further ado, please:

    The time has come to find the magical artifact. Doop Longsleeve visits an inn in X, where he recruits Gary Thorn, the Champion of Destiny. Gary and Doop gather a prisoner and his interrogator. The group intercepts Clan Jbanow and the head of that clan joins them. Finally, they stop at the Royal Capital of Y, where Sir Samuel Carrington, the Lord Protector, joins them. Their quest takes them to the remaining three members of the Order for Natural Magic, who believe Doop is responsible for the destruction of their order.

    –I cut out a lot of details that weren’t required, in my opinion, for a document of this level. It just wants really high points. It doesn’t want to hear whether a character was reluctant or surprised, I don’t think. If I’m putting that stuff in there, and leaving it in there at this stage, probably I’m focusing in too narrowly and I need to take a further-back approach.

    Expecting a fight, each member of the quest is, instead, paired with another, and led into different rooms, to face challenges for the right to the magical artifact. Jacob and Emeril are paired together, and fail their challenges. Sir Samuel and Moraih are led to another challenge room where they also fail. The only ones to succeed are Doop and Gary who don’t seem to face a challenge. After Doop has a private word with the remaining members of the order, he convinces Gary to bring the magic artifact and leave the others behind. When the others complete their challenges, they find the dying members of the order and a pile of envelopes, one addressed to each of them.

    –Again, I cut a lot of unnecessary detail here. I tightened up the language, so that it wasn’t quite so expansive.

    The remaining members of the group find out the results of their agreements. Sir Samuel and Moraih come to blows, but it is broken up by Emeril. Fights break out again as stories are revealed. Jacob tries to run when he learns Emeril’s revelation, but he cannot get away. The group eventually decides to put grievances aside and pursue Doop and Gary.

    –I tightened up this one a lot, and nothing was lost. This is the one I was so unhappy with, but a couple of days away from it have improved it in my mind.

    While Doop is gone, after the challenge, Gary receives telepathic impressions of danger if he loses the artifact. A short trip later, Doop and Gary arrive at the destined battle site. Doop explains that the artifact will be safer with him, and that this whole fight can be avoided if he has the artifact. Gary, remembering his telepathic episode, refuses. Doop acquiesces and summons the dark god to do battle with Gary.

    –I pulled a lot, a lot, a LOT out of this paragraph. Sure, it’s all detail that I’ll probably need at some point, but I have it, just not in the final-ish version of this step. I didn’t tighten up the language very much on this one, which means that I can probably still go through there and make it cleaner, and maybe clearer, too.

    Doop introduces the dark god to Gary. The god is angry at having to fight, but is ready. he asks if Gary is ready and they fight. After a titanic struggle, Gary comes out on top. Unable to kill the god, he exiles it forever. Gary returns tot he Order’s headquarters, expecting a pile of his companions’ corpses, but finds them waiting for him. The group sets off to Y, for Gary to report to the king.

    –Cut a lot of personality stuff, a lot of detail, changed some wording to make it clearer. Debated on putting in a detail that the god was allowed some vengeance over Doop, but declined at this point.

    Gary and the group return to the royal castle at Y, where they are treated like heroes. Y’s king does not know about the troubles each member has caused or suffered with their agreements with Doop Longsleeve. Gary is greeted by Dierdre with a passionate kiss, while her sister, Daphne, watches on. Meanwhile, Doop Longsleeve, having been punished by the dark god, plots his revenge.

    –I hardly changed that one at all. I did that paragraph a lot more slowly, more carefully than the rest of them. Not a whole lot going on, pretty clear, and it wraps things up.

    What I’m happiest about at this point is how little I felt like changing in order to make it more clear. I felt that when I was cleaning up Step 3, most of the changes I made were to make it so someone who wasn’t me could understand the things I was trying to put out there. That wasn’t the case this time around, and I think I’ll attribute that to some kind of progress. or something, anyway.

    So, there you have it. Step 4 is complete, and for tomorrow, I need to look at what Step 5 even is.

    Until then, have a pleasant tonight, and a glorious tomorrow,

    Liam

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Not Another Story Post

August 25, 2010

So, it’s another night where I won’t be working on my story design. I’m on to edits for part 4, and I haven’t even gotten them into any form where I could edit them, yet. Problem is, I’m tired.

I’m tired when I go to bed, I’m tired when I get up, I’m tired pretty much all day. It seems like I can’t get to bed until after midnight every night, and even when I have a chance and take the chance to sleep in, I can’t. It’s like some weird other form of insomnia, where I can’t stay asleep instead of the usual, where I just can’t seem to fall asleep.

So, we find ourselves with another post that’s putting off the work I said I would do throughout this challenge.

So I guess I’ll talk about the challenge so far this year.

There have been some amazing posts put out by challengers this year. More personal stuff, more introspection, more, well, food than I would have expected. Great stuff. People who were looking for inspiration for the one post they had to do looked inward, and that’s great. It’s more than I can say for myself. I’ve been so focused on this story design, except on the weekends, that we’re almost done the blog challenge and I haven’t really looked up.

So, now I’m going to answer some questions nobody has asked me out loud:

Q: Hey, Liam. What happened with that software you were writing for the challenge? Isn’t it done?
A: I wrote the stuff I had to, in order to make it work, but I forgot about it, and it doesn’t seem worth it to me anymore, so I’ve said “forget it, I’ll just blog, and that will be enough.” So far, it has.

Q: Hey, Liam. How come you’re not blogging about the stuff you usually do? It’s all this story stuff, and I don’t feel engaged.
A: I dunno. This is what I’m interested in, it’s what is driving me, and I’m hoping that people who hit stumbling blocks when it comes to how to use the Snowflake (not that it’s that hard) will possibly be able to find this, and maybe find it useful.

That’s all I have for tonight. I’ll open up the floor to you, my faithful readers. How do you think the SBC is going, this year? Anything you want to say about it?

One more thing: Mad props to Cliff for jump-starting this thing. If Chad had a part to play, too, then mad props to him as well. Hell, mad props all around!

Huzzah for the mad props!

Liam

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Summer Blog Challenge Post #22

August 24, 2010

Snowflake Method History

  • Step 1
  • Step 2
  • Step 3
  • Design Edits
  • Step 4

    • The innkeeper’s son defeats the dark god and learns that, during the fight, the wizard disappeared.

    So, it’s the big climax. Today, we find out that, with liberal use of the magic item, Gary defeats the dark god. That is, once he figures out how to use it.

    Output:

    Doop introduces the dark god to Gary in a very polite and formal way. The god is angry that he will have to fight, expecting Doop to have already removed the artifact from Gary, but is ready anyway. He asks if Gary is ready, and they fight. After a titanic struggle, Gary comes out on top. he cannot kill the god, but extracts a binding promise not to meddle in human affairs again. Gary returns to the Order’s headquarters, expecting a pile of his companion’s corpses, but finds them waiting for him, very concerned. They are cold with each other, distant and quiet, but not with him. The group sets off to Y for Gary to report to the King.

    –Needs more thought — not right now.

    –Anyway, for the end of part 4, I will write the conclusion to the story in paragraph form (even though it wasn’t a sentence in the original paragraph). I’m not sure what all needs to go into it, but I guess that’s what I’m deciding here.

    Output:

    Gary and the group return to the royal castle at Y where they are treated like heroes. Y’s king does not know about the troubles each member has caused or suffered with their agreements to Doop Longsleeve. Gary is met by Dierdre who gives him a passionate kiss, while her sister watches on. Meanwhile, Doop Longsleeve, having been punished by the dark god, plots his revenge.

    –There you have it. The story in a nut shell. The main story flow is figured out. I managed to stick most of what I wanted in there, and despite a bit of a clunky ending that doesn’t work exactly the way I want, I’m sure there will be ample time to iron that out.

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