November 27, 2008

Zeppelin Controls

In The Autobiography of Ziggy Swift, Ziggy gets the opportunity to fly a Gnomish Zeppelin. In order to get my head into one of the scenes, I’m trying to envision what controls would be at his disposal. Here’s the list so far… any additions? move forward move backwards move up move down turn left turn right landing gears elevator music selector running lights landing lights take off lights head lights tail lights blimp lights- ones that are on top of the blimp windshield wipers camel lights – in case you’re transporting a camel water pump emergency cargo dump ejection seat rejection seat (like an ejection seat except it throws you straight into the ground with no parachute) emergency break anchor up/down fire suppression system gas suppression system Kobold suppression system theft deterrent – press the button and it launches a rock in your face Anti-turtle system Bottle opener Zombie detection window heat shields Thermometer Altimeter Speedometer Wind speed Wind direction Moon phase tracker hand warmers shields- two bucklers that can be “raised” on the front of the ship

November 26, 2008

bzzzzzzzzt

Rationale: Regular Haircut (me): $15 Regular Haircut (Ian): $10 Tip: $4 ———- Total:$29 Remington Shortcut Electric Razor- $29 ———- Total:$29 It’s paid for itself, and it will save me $30 every 3 months from here on out. I never really liked my hair anyways.

November 25, 2008

BAM.

muahahahahaha.

November 23, 2008

An Excerpt, Pt 3.

This one comes from Ziggy’s interview with Cobbwocket brothers for a job as a Swarzrok, which was a gnomish word that he didn’t understand. “So you want me to fly this thing?” I asked, still trying to wrap my head around how essentially a boat tied to a large balloon would work. “Yes- we’ve had… problems,” Lumbert said, answering before his brother could. “It’s difficult to convince potential clients that our method of travel is safe and secure.

November 17, 2008

You thought I was kidding.

This is day 4.

November 17, 2008

Public Service Announcement

Do Not Have Kids If: You value sleep You value your marriage You value not living paycheck to paycheck You value your sanity Cause right now Ian is fucking all of those up. Jackie walks out of the room, or even acts like it, and he starts screaming bloody murder. We tried letting him cry it out, but no, an hour later he was still going. Right now I’m thinking tomorrow- wait, today- I’m just going to go to work and not come back.

November 9, 2008

50,000 words!

So I crossed the 50k word finish line 9 days into NaNoWriMo. How did I do it so quickly? Have a great, well developed main character in mind Spend October writing an outline- a gigantic, 12 section outline with 10 bullets under each point that covers 6k words and has a glossary containing all characters and locations mentioned in the book and a 10 word description of each Take the first week of November off of work Have an understanding spouse who gets that you are compelled to do this.

November 8, 2008

An Excerpt, Pt 2.

This one comes from later on in the story. Andy was dumbfounded that I was stupid enough to pour bricklayers mud into a trough and then take a bath in it. I wheezed the word ‘soap’ and he laughed. He chipped most of the stone away and was able to stand me up straight while he got some of the stone off my back. After a while he had to stop because his chisel was dull.

November 7, 2008

An Excerpt.

Kibbel clamped his hands over his eyes and trembled. In the distance the wagon creaked and groaned as the off-kilter hoofbeats of the single horse plodded forward at full speed. Slowly, the creaking and groaning grew louder. “OH GOD IT’S COMING RIGHT FOR US! RUUUUUUNNNNN!!!” I screamed and pushed Kibbel. He screamed as well and ran north as fast as his legs could carry him. I ran behind him a bit and gave my best impression of a dragon roar, causing him to scream and run faster.

November 7, 2008

Heck of a run so far

So I’m 31k words in and nearing the end of the first week. I’ve done 2.5 of the 12 sections of my book. Jackie is taking off for the weekend so I expect to get another 10-15k words over the next few days. It’s funny laying out ziggy’s story… so much to tell, so many loose ends to leave.