Episode #160: A Noun, A Verb, An Adjective And An Adverb Met In A Book Of Prose

My personal bookcase, featuring books that I was able to salvage from the basement flood of 2021. Sadly, the books show in the first two shelving units on the left and and the one on the right, is a wonderful 30 volume reprint of Civil War memoirs from the now defunct Time-Life Book division, of which one is missing in action.

Now, onto a smaller and pithier state of the written word.

After pounding out about 207k words (haven't transcribed the last chapter yet), I have finally finished volume 2 of my trilogy, with the place holder title of Hot Mess. I overshot my originally planned January completion date by roughly 3 weeks, but it was well worth the wait, in my humble opinion.

The main reason why I wanted to stop was twofold: one, I wanted to get back on track on republishing my novella entitled "A Taste Of Pain". I wasn't too thrilled about a few things, most notably the content (fleshed out a little while also changing the p.o.v.); the title as well as the cover. I did spend part of 2021 reworking, but put it aside when I started on my current project; and two, I have a few plot-lines {about 5(?)} that I need to properly conclude in the third volume, so that's gonna take some time for me to develop.

I have two things left to actually do with this current project before putting it aside: one, some editing/note taking. I have to do some initial pen editing and some detailed note taking because it will probably be the summer/fall before I can actually apply all of the edits made, and you know as well as I do, that referring to notes made jogs your memory easier than it does sitting in front of your computer with a vacant look and drooling like Homer Simpson; and two, I think it'll be easier for me to write that 3rd volume if I write a short {HA!} 49 chapter synopsis that I can refer to because, to be quite frank, referring to a 49 chapter synopsis will be a thousand times easier than trying to page through 2 full three ring binders and a half of a 3rd in order to find a particular point in the story.

The story: the original plot to the story was a basic trope-person gets kidnapped by a nefarious person and people who may or may not be related to the victim chases after the kidnapper to presumably rescuer the victim. But in order not to make it incredibly dull/monotonous, we added a few....things to the mix.

1} The victim was a man kidnapped by a woman who was sent on a mission by her Queen to retrieve said man. Possible reason, matrimony.

2} The people retrieving said man are his current and ex-wives, along with the current wive's ladies-in-waiting. Current wife may or may not be a member of royalty.

3} Plot twist the first through the third: the woman doing the retrieval is a member of planet community called "The Pod"; her foster son is part of the retrieval team as well as Cerberus, ye olden dog who guards the gates of a land very south of here.

4} Plot twist the fourth: a member of The Royal Entourage, who doesn't want to see their power diminished, tries to stop the retriever from completing her mission; sub-plot twist, he was intimately involved with the retriever from another lifetime.

5} Plot twist the fifth, so far: the two ladies-in-waiting made a side deal with the queen of The Pod to make sure that the man would be delivered in one piece, in exchange they would obtain power and prestige, by gently sabotaging the rescue mission.

So...yeah, I have these major plot-lines/plot twists that I need to continue fleshing out, plus I have to decide on how I want to story to ultimately end: on a high note, on a low note, or somewhere in between. Overall, the story is not for those who are one, easily offended or two, legitimately triggered. Yes, I do recognize legitimate triggers {personal trauma of some kind} as opposed to the faux triggers that far too many people claim that are harmful {ex. words, thoughts, ideas}, so ultimately when the final product is down, I'll probably put some kind of warning on the covers.

I do apologize for the wordiness of this post, but I did want to share the fact that these two volumes took me about 10 months, mid-May 2022 thru mid-Feb 2023, to complete, handwritten to computer. It weren't easy, but I think doing it this way is the wave of the future for me. No hardcore Internet to distract me, only the smartphone for research, which in turn allows me to properly concentrate as well as to more flesh out the story. Plus, with how bad my hands now are, I can print faster than I can type or voice to text type.

And remember, tax season is upon us, and for the first time ever, I envy how smoothly the Canadians and the British do their taxes.

{c} 2023 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved