Let's Just Back Up Here

Good night. At least I consider it a good night. I slept two hours in a row between 1 AM and 3:30 AM. It really made a difference. Caught a little more, spread out. Good enough, though.

So let's rewind a bit. After making a concerted effort yesterday it looks like I'm not going to tumble into the meaning of that book on story structure. It doesn't look like it's going to happen for me. I just don't understand how that is going to help put a story together. If she gave some examples I might have a chance but this is one of those subjects that I run into that I cannot understand. The reading sounds like clever clues, but that's no what I expect from a book and there's no other material to look at to clarify it. Then I go back and read a couple chapters of On Writing by King and I think, wow that's very accessible.

Man oh man, my fingers are not working today. It's as if they're swollen to three times their normal size and I hit all the keys around what I'm shooting for. They are not flowing today at least so far. I just finished my oatmeal breakfast. It may be the Tibetan choir I've got droning next to me. That may have been part of it. We'll see. I put on Factory now. Maybe that will spur me to greater industrial output.

So if it's not the format structure that I'm needing then I must look for tips. I understand the beginning middle and end, I don't think my mind is helped too much being overly structured. Until I'm capable of understanding the more hoidy-toidal concepts of writing I will have to struggle along using King and the other things I know.

There are places in the world of information that are completely opaque to me. I can not seem to grasp them no matter how hard I try. It's very frustrating. On the other hand, maybe I'm not ready for the information yet. Maybe I don't understand enough about the basics to form a framework that makes more information useful. We'll see.

For now, I just need to type to limber up those old phalanges. I think the industrial sounds are making a difference in the way I feeling. Also, I'm trying not to raise my fingers so far off the keyboard when I type. It would be very helpful if I could cultivate the skills of touch typing. Oh yes, I'd be ready for my career in the fast-paced world of stenography.

Jack Vander Beek - Court Stenographer. What kind of life would that be? Maybe a story there, but I'm not obligated to go after it. Thank God. No, I'll just slog along through the little stories I can put together for now. Three act structure- Chase him up the tree, throw rocks at him, Let him climb down.

The character arc. Everything's fine, I'm the king of the world. A 400-pound bale of cotton falls from the top of the riverboat rail and crushes my leg. Oh shit, the surgeon is drunk and cuts it off before I can protest. Then--- I learn to hop and decide to write my memoirs of working on the river and I become beloved by the people. I find out that I'm better off with my loving family and the writing. End of arc.

More later,