Author: Matt

Development diaries, 1-15-2015: ALL THE DISEASES

R. is sick. The symptoms appear to be a frothy mix of stomach bug, pinkeye, and ear infection; the Internet would suggest these can all arise from a viral ear infection, which would make the antibiotics the doctor prescribed yesterday possibly worse than useless. I learned of this at about noon on the 15th, so I’m stalled… Continue reading Development diaries, 1-15-2015: ALL THE DISEASES

Development diaries, 1-14-2015: Out of the Tungsten Kid’s camp alive

I wrote 500 words yesterday. Combined with the 800 I still owe from last week, that put me 4900 words behind. 4900 words divided among the 13 writing days remaining in January is 374 per day; round it up, and I’m at +400, or 5100 for today. A quota I did manage to hit today,… Continue reading Development diaries, 1-14-2015: Out of the Tungsten Kid’s camp alive

Development diaries, 1-13-2015: How do I take these hours seriously?

Today’s challenge: I’m starting writing at 11:40. I’ll quit by 2:30. Then it’s a dentist appointment, then pick up the kids, then nighttime routine. The challenge is not “How will I make quota?” I’m not writing 4600 words in the next three hours. I mean, if it happens, that’s great, but I do plan on… Continue reading Development diaries, 1-13-2015: How do I take these hours seriously?

Words 1-14-2015

They drew up, at last, to the edge of the mine, a few hundred feet from one of the wide earth ramps that had admitted the great stone-wains to and from the depths. Hasina sat and dangled her feet from the edge, kicking her legs out once. Esker hesitated a moment. Hasina looked back with… Continue reading Words 1-14-2015

Words 1-13-2015

It was not until they could see the strip mine’s blotchy shadow begin to creep down from the horizon that Esker began to speak, still staring straight ahead. “The five of us would take food and water and come out here for a whole day,” he said. “Not when it was too hot—we knew better—but… Continue reading Words 1-13-2015

A brief note out of sequence

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the words I meant to write last night after the kids went to sleep have been replaced with a blitzkrieg campaign by my proxy ruler, Cyrus of Persia, against the Japanese, Aztec, and Roman civilizations in quick succession. The hostilities stretched into the wee hours of the morning, but all three enemy… Continue reading A brief note out of sequence

Development diaries, 1-12-2015: None of you fuckers loved me enough to tell me

Spent most of the weekend indoors with the kids, although they got out a bit on Sunday afternoon when it was warmer. My son R. is 15 months old—old enough to get into, over, or around almost anything, young enough to have at best a schematic sense of what one does not do if one… Continue reading Development diaries, 1-12-2015: None of you fuckers loved me enough to tell me

Words 1-12-2015

“Know in your bones you will,” said Esker. “The Nine, Epseris, what have you got against the damned girl?” “She’s nothing to me,” said Epaphos, “but if I must die, I’d rather be killed by you. That’s the Tungsten Kid out there. There might be a few runes stupid enough to use achrom in their… Continue reading Words 1-12-2015