Day Ninety - Nearly to the first big milestone, Required 247500, Achieved 244010

Getting there again, the world is better, various organising has been done and the day today was not so very terrible as the week before.

I'm going to be doing Camp Nanowrimo this month, figure if I keep up this pace, I'll be able to run away with it, but it means I need to do another story over and above the ones I'm already doing, or you're not really into the spirit of it.

So, there are two stories currently running around in contention

1: Oceans of Stars (working title), in which a team of astronauts from earth find themselves in an alternate universe where space travel in galleons is entirely possible, walking the plank means a very very long drop, and they're definitely going to need a bigger boat.

2: Beyond (Working title), in which powers far beyond those of normal men are a common occurrence, but those who have them find that they've lost a little something in the gaining.

And sorry to everyone for posting a chapter ahead in the shift, won't happen again...

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Eighty Nine - Sometimes adversity makes you work harder... Required 244750 Achieved 240705

Being faced with a massive backlog this morning was both terrifying and invigorating, the day continued as it had yesterday, but this time the words were there.

I wish there was a secret I could share, sometimes the words are just there :)

New project starting next week, thinking not to start it on April first though, no one will believe it...

But then I don't think anyone believed this till I started doing it...

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Eighty Eight - Darkness Falls - Required 242000, Achieved 236307

Off the back of an already crap week, the weekend turns so frenetic that I can't get pen to paper the whole day, and on top of that, the clocks go forwards today, so I lose another hour (which is why the post is coming in now and not an hour from now...)

So, it's dark and getting darker, I'm sure I'll catch up, but every day is precious and I've had four mown down this week alone. There is a single reason why the wordcount has suffered as much as it has and I'll come to that in a future post, when it's over...

Another update on shift this evening, because I'm ahead with shift and not with world war.

Give me some ideas people, I could really do with the inspiration at the moment...

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of no writing, and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Eighty Seven - It is my hope that such weeks do not happen often - Required 239250, Achieved 235113

Because between the conventions I organise, the writers group I'm in, and a whole bunch of other things that have hit the skids this week, I've somehow started my weekend on a positive and ended on a negative...

So, dig deep is the key and hope that this does not continue.

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Eighty Six - Very long week - Required - 236500, Achieved 233906

So a few tons of things to be done, and the word counts been suffering as a result, but there's tomorrow and more still to be done.

And one less convention to be run in the meantime :)

So

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Eighty Five - Required 233750, Achieved 232502

All there is to it :)

More tomorrow when time is on my side

This is John Dodd, you know the rest...

Day Eighty Four - Sometimes time with family is called for - Required 231000 Achieved 229889

So we went to see the new Robocop film

Interesting...

On it's own, not a bad film, but it does lack something when compared to the original, can't quite place it, but something about it just didn't gel well. The actors do their part well enough, but you don't feel for murphy in the same way as you did in the first film (We'll just skip over Robocop 2, 3, and the TV series...)

So, another update for the Shift and there'll be more tomorrow

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, thinking that Robocop around here would be a PCSO wearing a metal bin with a NERF gun, and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

What with World War Wolf getting interest, I saw this on kickstarter

The Wolf, A graphic Novel

And backed it immediately, beautiful idea, love the concept, and as he's writing about lupus b'stards having a go, I have to sympathise...

Day Eighty Three - Undead Comedy and Wolves at War - Required 228250, Achieved 228341

Long day today, but the handwriting thing is really really paying off, last couple of weeks I've been a few hundred, sometimes a few thousand words down by the end of the weekend, not so now!

Still World War Wolf Today and a small comedy piece from earlier about zombies...

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Eighty Two - Sometimes a quiet night in is called for - Required 225500, Achieved 225766

Especially when you have an excellent writing day and end up ahead on one of the days when you should be behind...


Update on the shift to follow


So, off home to have a quiet evening in without writing for once...


This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Eighty One - Handwriting is your friend... Required 222750, Achieved 221549

Day Eighty One - Handwriting is your friend... Required 222750, Achieved 221549

Which would be Eighteen Hundred words without a single one typed, all while working, no dereliction of duty, just writing between calls...

I am liking this...

Another Update for World War Wolf, and I need to write the next chapter now because the next is due in two days...

Still, late, and I'm done, promised the wife a back rub (and for the last four days, time to deliver...)

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Eighty - After a very long week, back where I should be, Required 220000, Achieved 219871

Just in time for the big shifts again, but now I'm writing in the books as well, I feel significantly more comfortable with the targets that I have to meet.

All about finding a way to do what you want to do without compromising what you need to do...

But more on that tomorrow

Update on the Shift this evening, and as always

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England ,Wherever you are...

Day Seventy Nine - Been a hard week so far - Required 217250, Achieved 215280

But I'm still ahead on a few things, even though the week has been mostly meetings, phone calls, and dealing with things that have nothing to do with writing...

Such as, when you have a single charger for all your gadgets, try not to leave it at work....

When you buy a printer, make sure that it can print black copies even when you have no colour in the colour cartridge (Note to anyone thinking of buying a HP printer, Caveat Emptor, they don't let you do this, requiring that you buy lots more ink when you really don't need it...).

And Conventions, lest we forget conventions, one is okay, two is a push, three is a problem and four...

Well, in the accent of Frank Underwood, four may just be pushing a little too far...

Still, things to be done, mustn't complain :)

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Seventy Eight - Busy busy busy - Required 214500, Achieved 211742

Every second wednesday I visit my good friends Sue and John Wilson in Derby, that's why I'm late back, but better late than never.

And all those who haven't played the new OGRE game, get a copy, it's as good as anyone ever remembers it :)

Short update on shift and more to follow tomorrow.

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Seventy Seven - Does Preparation count as wordcount? Required 211750, Achieved 209382

Another hard day at work today, ended up staying behind so those left at the end of the shift didn't get crunched by the flow of things, we don't get paid for it, but damn it, you can't leave a man (or woman) down.

Still, while doing everything else, I was writing, more things for Oceans of Stars, which is likely to be one of the books that I start when I'm finished with Shift and World War Wolf.  The question for today, is does the preparation for the books count towards the wordcount that I'm doing?  I'm still writing, building the worlds even though I'm not yet writing about them, and it's all ideas and concepts that I have to put together before I can write about it, so...

Does it count?

Let me know

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Seventy Six - The Written word - Required 209000, Achieved 206190

In terms of writing, not a great day, the Expo had a system failure yesterday that caused a raft of overbookings to be done in the RPG world, which has eaten my entire day of productivity to begin to put right.

However, while I was working today, I was also writing by hand in the notebook I carry, a scan of which I include underneath this.  So there's 971 words available there that I wouldn't have otherwise managed if I'd been trying to type them.

The question is this, are people interested in seeing how ideas form in my head (and on the page) with images like these?

Let me know

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Seventy Five - The trick on weekends is to write the thing you've been thinking about all week - Required 206250, Achieved 205219

Because when you're writing about something that you've already planned out and have in your head, the words get down your arms to your finger so much faster...

So, lessons learned :)

Still, bit of a short update today, another chapter on World War Wolf, but we'll be back to normal service from tomorrow.

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Seventy Four - 200k... Required 203500, Achieved 202221

And to be fair, nuff said on that score.

Productive day, but nowhere near as much as I'd like completed.

However, I am liking the new Titanfall adverts on TV...

Life, it seems, is certainly better with a Titan...I may yet be tempted to get it...

Another update on Shift this evening, and I'm waiting on a few ideas for stories from people.  This is not to say that everyone else can't suggest something, and I could always do with more ideas.

This is John Dodd in the Socialist republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Seventy Three - It's been a busy week and no mistake, Required 200750, Achieved 199514

So close to Two hundred thousand and yet...

It's been busy this week, between all the conventions and a variety of other things, not least of which being that I'm not going to be making it to Gencon this year thanks to a variety of things, to which I'll be apologising to at least one of my good friends (Looking at you here Mr Tideswell) for which I'll have to make it up to you at a later point.

Still, the world goes on, and another update from World War Wolf Today

This is John Dodd in the socialist republic of south yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day 72 - Sometimes many jobs get in the way of writing Required 198000, Achieved 196024

So I've got several jobs, some I do for the money, some I do because I want to, and some I do because I love them and I think that they make things better, not just for me, but for others as well.

One of those job is organising games at UK Games Expo, and that's not a small job, there's a lot of email, a lot of organising, and a lot of trying to persuade people to turn up for the love of the hobby (like me really.), I also write for a few companies, and in my spare time, I write for here as well.

This week has had a lot of work in it beyond my day job, which is keeping trucks on the road when people break them, which happens more times than you'd believe, but at least the work is varied.  Hostile often, but varied...

So I'm a few thousand words behind, and that's on the days when I'm supposed to be forging ahead, so it's not shaping up to be a brilliant week, but there's things afoot, and things to do more of, and more on that later...

Another update on Shift this evening, things are speeding up...

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Seventy One - Thoughts for the day - Required 195250, Achieved 193481

Would it be a good thing to post ongoing difficulties/bonuses that help/hinder the day when writing, just so others can compare what's been going on in their own writing lives?

I'm curious about this, because by nature I'm a very reserved person, don't do much for publicity, don't put my life out there, and certainly don't discuss issues, but I wonder if it might help others if they knew that somewhere, other people are having similar problems.

So, tell me on the blog, tell me on facebook, let me know the thoughts and I'll change the posts according to what everyone thinks.

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Seventy - Sometimes days can be hard, Required 192500, achieved 191000

Everyone's got a day job, and most people have days that are trying, today was such a day...

I shall not speak of where I work or of the people in question, but I was met today by such ignorance from one of the clients that had I been in the same room as them, I would have been doing time...

So, it's likely that in a few days, when the things I wrote today come up, they'll look a bit more angry than normal, good for something being annoyed is.

Another update from the Shift, the plot starts to thicken...

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Sixty Nine - Endings and Beginnings - Required 189750, Achieved 189155

But it's been a good day in many ways, and I'm not far enough behind that it's causing me a problem.

Thanks to all those who've been calling in with ideas, I'll certainly use all of them and they'll be up here in time, quite what time I don't yet know, but time none the less :)

A bit of a rocky road in World War Wolf today, and things progress from there.  Interesting that I'm writing two chapters of Shift to one of WWW, because I refuse to put a chapter of WWW out there without both parts of it, so by definition they're twice the length.

Still...

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Sixty Eight - Long Shifts and few breaks - Required 187000, Achieved 186457

Some days you get a break, literally, some days you really don't, some times the interruptions flow fast enough that while you've got time in between them, it's not enough to get going on something properly.

Today was such a day, the jobs didn't stop coming all day and as a result, didn't get much done through the day, made up for it somewhat this evening, but still at a bit of a loss.

Not enough to make a serious dent and certainly not enough to prevent me from catching up tomorrow (Presuming this doesn't happen again anyway.)

and I just got something accepted by big pulp (www.bigpulp.com), so all is well with the world :)

So...

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Sixty Seven - Help in many places, Required 184250, Acheived 184371

It's good when writers share what they know, it makes it easier for other writers, and I'm not just talking about the cookie cutter advice that's been repeated a thousand times over, but the advice that comes from actually having written things, not just having read about how to write things.

So thanks to Shanna Germain for her advice on a few things, I hope to one day be able to return the favour.

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Sixty Six - The days are not so short, and the words are falling now, Required 181500, Achieved 181722

Still ahead, and still going strong, there's more words done than are listed above, but I have to edit them, so until I'm happy, the wordcount is staying with the words I'm happy with.

Been a good day today, there's a number of things occurred, not least of which is the website for Wyntercon has gone up

www.wyntercon.co.uk

Expo continues to go from strength to strength, and all in all, it's been a productive few days.

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Sixty Five - I appear to be leading the wordcount.... Required 178750 Achieved 179174

And even more fantastic, I have something called followers...

This is something I'm not very familiar with, so until someone pointed it out yesterday, I wasn't aware that there's 41 people around the world all watching what I'm typing...

Really quite cheerful about that, it means that all the effort is paying off :)

So, for all those following, ask for a story, I'll get it done and put it up, no problem :)

And if you're just reading, send me more ideas, decide what I should be writing next, tell me what you like, tell me what you don't like.

and as always

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...

Day Sixty four - nearly didn't make it back in time, required 176000 acheived, 175500

Went to visit friends, should have posted update before I left and circumstances and roadworks delayed me in returning

So quickly, before midnight arrives and pumpkinhood approaches...

Still here :)

More tomorrow

This is John Dodd in the socialist republic of south yorkshire and goodnight england, wherever you are :)

Day Sixty Three - An Equilibrium is gained, Required 173250, Achieved 173273

Back on target...

Nuff said

All those reading, get me more ideas to write about :)

This is John Dodd, Invictus, In the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, God Bless...

Green Doom on the high Seas... Requested Story for Catriona Marie Thomas

Green Doom on the high seas...

We wait under the decks as the pirate ship comes alongside and hooks clatter against the hull, pulling us close.  The first mate unlocks the cage I’m in and points towards the stairs.

“Get up there and see what that is,” he says, one hand on his sword

He’s killed too many of the other slaves in the last year for me to have any illusions about what he’ll do if I don’t...

I walk to the bottom of the steps and there’s the sound of tiny feet upon the deck above me. A thin voice with a reedy tone to it echoes down the steps.

“I have no intentions to harm you if you come quietly and bring me that which I desire.” The accent is spanish, but spanish as delivered by someone trying to imitate the accent, not a native, “You have the word of the Dread Pirate Froggerson.”

I glance around the side of steps and see a frog stood on the top step dressed in a long (at least six inches) cape and wielding a sword that looks like a needle with a hilt. I lean back around the corner and look at the rest of the crew.

“It’s a frog...” I say

“A Frog!” The first mate looks at me like I’ve gone mad and I glance back around the steps just to make sure that I haven’t, then nod at him. He barges past me and draws his sword.

“I warn you,” the frog leans back and presents a lean profile “I will not stand for physical violence against my person.”

The first mate goes charging up the stairs, there’s a thin clink, as of a sword against a needle, then a gasp and a thud sounds as the mates body falls to the floor.

“I have no desire for further bloodshed,” the frog speaks again, sheathing its needle, “Please, come upstairs where we can parley.”

I walk up the stairs to the deck, the mates body is on the floor having been pierced through the throat by a needle.  The frog is now stood on the quarter deck, it walks down the stairs by the banister and perches on the end of the rail, the tiny frog feet clad in black boots the size of my little finger.

“He underestimated me,” The Frog looks up at me from under the brim of its wide hat “You would do well not to follow his mistake.”

“Who are you?” I look over to the ship where the crew of the ship, all human, watch impassively

“I am the Dread Pirate Froggerson,” The Frog doffs its hat and bows at the waist “I am here to take your goods for my prize.”

“But you’re...”

“A Frog?” It looks at me and places one hand on its sword hilt “Oh I’m more than a Frog, I’m a Pirate queen and the best spellcaster on the high seas.”

“A spellcasting pirate queen frog?” I look at the flamboyantly clad Amphibian stood on the deck of the ship in disbelief. “Well for one, there aren’t any pirate queens, only pirate kings.”

“Ah, and there you would be almost correct,” It hops across to the rail and walks along “Until a short while ago, there were only pirate kings, and none of them were frogs.”

I look around the rigging for a second to see if any of the other pirates have made their way on board, but they’re all resting their arms against the deck of their own ship

“Now,” the frog hops lightly over the hook to the next part of the deck “About your cargo.”

“We’re not carrying anything of value,” I gesture below decks “Only a load of wheat and a few boxes of metals for a private charter.”

“It is the metals that I desire,” The Frog gestures “They hold the solution to my present condition.”

The look on my face must be obvious

“Have the others bring the metal up,” It looks at me “and I’ll entertain you with the story of how this came to be.”

“Bring the metal up,” I call down the stairs “All of it.”

The frog hops across from the deck to the top of the stairs, the distance more than ten feet but it clears it effortlessly.

“So,” it says “A month ago I was raiding out past the Dansyrian shoals and I came across a ship manned by the sorcerers of Nyration.  I despatched their guard and engaged their commander in a battle of spells, skilled he was, but not so skilled as I...”

“And that’s why you’re a frog now...” I say quietly

“Careful...” It pauses and raises one tiny hand to point at me “You do not want to risk my wrath.”

“No” I raise my hands in surrender as I look at the rest of the pirates “I don’t, please go on.”

“As it happens, the spell that caused my current misfortune was cast by me, but I was unprepared for the physical defences that he’d put in place.” The Frog shrugs “He was wearing a coat of Mesgan silver under his robes, a cheat for any true mage, but then he wasn’t a true mage.”

“Mesgan silver isn’t any good against weapons,” I say “It’s too soft for anything except jewellery.”

“But...” the frog pauses as the sound of the crew coming up the stairs echoes up “It is perfect at reflecting spells cast at those wearing it.”

“So you turned yourself into a frog?”

“I’m the greatest spellcaster on the waves today,” It resumes walking “Only a spell cast by me would have any chance of affecting me.”

“So it turned you into a frog?”

The frog nods slightly as the box is brought up on deck

“How does that explain you going from being a pirate king to being a pirate queen?”

“Well...” The frog sighs “When I cast the spell, I didn’t give any thought to the type of frog I was turning someone into...”

“And...?”

“This particular species of frog is one of the ones that changes gender if it finds itself in completely the same gender company, and here I am surrounded by men.”

“Unfortunate.” I look at the box “Is that all you need?”

“Almost,” The frog says “I need for a volunteer to hold the metal while I cast the spell again, now I leave it to you to decide who that will be.”

I don’t like where this is going

“And if we refuse?” I ask

“You know very little of spells, do you?” It pauses for a second and gestures at the box “It is not possible to cast spells upon yourself, the laws of magic prevent you from affecting yourself, otherwise we mages would all be immortal and beautiful.”

“So we’re just going to put the metal between us and you?”

“You have to be carrying it, the spell will not work against a non living target,” The frogs tone turns strict, as if explaining to a child “No harm will come to you, it is merely a restorative spell.”

“And we believe you because?”

“If I had wanted you dead,” The frog points down to the body of the first mate “You would be dead.”

“Alright,” I open the box and pull out a thin sheet of very light metal and hold it in front of myself

The frog mutters a few words in a language I don’t understand and the skies darken for a second. There’s an incandescent flash and the frog is replaced by a woman in her early thirties with the remains of the frog outfit at her feet.  She looks down and picks up some rigging cloth from the side, winding it around her shoulders. 

“Something went wrong?” I put the metal down and look at her.

“Curious,” The woman speaks, her voice still carrying the same accent “The spell should have returned me to my true state.”

“And yet you’re still...”

“Indeed.” She looks up at me with curiosity

“Well, you have spent your whole life dressing up in frilly costumes and surrounding yourself with men...” I muse

“Careful...” She looks over at the rest of her crew “Bring the box and the metals on board”

The pirates take the box back to the other ship and the woman pauses to look back at me.

“Of course, I could always use another crew member,” she says “Particularly one brave enough to stand in front of me and not flinch.”

I look at her and then back to the ship where I’ve been captive for more than a year, then back to her again.  She nods.

Why not...

Day Sixty Two - I'm not coming up with these things, you lot are... Required 170500, Achieved 169846

And so I placed a callout yesterday to get more inspiration

Someone asked for something about a Transgender Pirate Mage who'd been turned into a Frog...

Ask, and you shall receive...

And another chapter of Shift...

Come on people, I can do this :)

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, and Goodnight England, wherever you are.

Day Sixty One - A question of what comes next... Required 167750 Achieved 166181

Got more typing done last night after the post, got a lunch break today, and got out on time to do more catching up.

Barring all manner of catastrophe tomorrow, things are looking good for an on target run

The question today is what story to commence when both The Shift and World War Wolf are finished

There are several possibilities

One is a space opera following a family of ranchers who ply their trade in the galactic plains

Another is a slightly darker story set in the aftermath of the fourth world war, and the struggle to reclaim the world.

Yet another is a fantasy story set in a world that has been thirty years in the making, when an ambassador knight is sent to a far away land to make peace with things that don't know the concept.

I've got some more, but if anyone out there's got an idea for something that they'd like to see made into a reality, drop me a comment and I'll see what I can do.

As always, anyone wanting to get regular updates, let me know, anyone wanting off, let me know

This is John Dodd in the socialist republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, wherever you are...

Day Sixty - What a difference a lunch hour makes - Required 165000 Achieved 161810

Today was not as as bad as some of the last few weekends were, managed to get some works done in the middle of the day and polished them off this evening.

Good to have a few chapters in reserve :)

So, good day all around

This is John Dodd in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire and Goodnight England, Wherever you are...