Sunday, August 7, 2011

Cracking the Whip

If you know me, you might know that this past year, I've been a co-chair for a local sf convention. For 3 years before that, I was a staff member. Even when I had 2 departments to handle, it didn't keep me from writing. I might not have done as much as I wanted in the month surrounding the convention, but I wrote a few hundred words here or there. Things are different when you are an inexperienced chair trying to learn the ropes!

I have not written a word on any of my stories since mid-June. The convention was 2 weeks ago, and I am still finishing up the paperwork, even as I wonder how to make next year's convention better. I will still be a chairperson next year, and the year after that. This convention has a 3-year term for co-chairs, and that means I might have 2 more years where I won't write for 2 months. I'm hoping it doesn't, but I try to be realistic.

My characters have been patient, but that patience is wearing thin. Last night, I couldn't fall asleep, because of that 'unknown monster' I mentioned recently. I haven't found time to research possibilities, but I clearly saw it attacked by both the werewolf and the vampire. The attackers were hampered by an uneasy distrust and an inability to communicate. But eventually, the monster was killed, and the pair tries to figure out how to destroy the body, since even its blood is dangerous. There is no way they want that body to fall into unscrupulous hands, so they decide to burn it up.

But the vampire is unfamiliar with matches, the werewolf left all his belongings behind when he changed into a wolf, so I got stuck on how they would start a fire in the middle of the night. I fell asleep.

As those characters described it, that monster was a diseased and deranged mutant. That seems like a cop-out to me. I really need to get that research done. I need to crack the whip on myself ... just as soon as I get this final report done for the council that gave our convention a grant.

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