writing the story-meeting the challenge

follow "Himshee"

5-15-10 - the challenge begins.  I chose to write about a wasted mind based on an article I wrote for my writing class.
"the  mind taker" was posted on my "blog taters, maters, words and water"

5-15 thru 5-19  (Sat...Sun...Mon...Tues...Wed... I published my daily update to the story

Thur...5-20 ...  today is my birthday....happy birthday to me...published day 6 of the challenge and edited day one and day two.

Fri...5-21
edit page three..write and publish seven..7 days with 7 pages complete 2368 words....decided to buy i pad as my reward if I complete the challenge...now I can't quit.

Sat...5-22...
edit page four, five, six and seven....wrote and published eight...pre-write thru 19..form plan for direction of next several pages.

Sun...5-23
edited and published nine. (nine pages complete and published. 3246 words.
still on schedule

Mon...5-24 
continued to prewrite, edit and outline story... noted thoughts and ideas.
completed ten and then forgt to publish but I did finish the page so I am stilll
on schedule.

Tues...5-25
published ten and completed and published eleven.
thoughts changing…new ideas emerging
Sedona, Arizona coming into my thoughts.
Finding out how important it is to have an outline
and a basic story complete before writing the full story.
This effort rapidly becoming just the outline for a real book
I hope.
I realize I need to use this as the outline.
still... I am getting a page a day and more
         
decided to change name of story...thinking seriously about 'Himshee'
I am not sure but I do not like..."six page mind"
the story grows
 did change the name  to"Himshee"
rewote part of part one.
 Maybe I will change the again.  Who knows?

Wed. 5-26-10..
published twelve...finally figured out that I need a new post every day
or readers will not realize I am publishing daily.  update first posts.

Thur. 5-27-10...
wrote, edited and published thirteen.  Contined to work on direction of
story.  Struggling on how to end.  need to find something good.

Fri.    5-28-10...
edit and publish fourteen...still looking for a path to the end

Sat.   5-29-10...
write edit and publish fifteen....ideas for story direction bubbling

Sun.  5-30-10...
publish sixteen.  Edit one as I have decided I need to redo one to get the
                       story to have an ending.

Mon 5-31-10...
publish seventeen. 
Edit one again.  I think I found a bridge between the
the real world and the world of 'Himshee'.
Seventeen pages complete..over 6500 words.
the challenge continues...so far so good.

Tue  6-01-10...
publish eighteen...thoughts beginning to find a tunnel for the ending.
seems blah and not exciting...will have to figure a way to keep it moving.
Editing all chapters, adding...deleting...changing phrases and word
relationships.....the words go on

Wed 6-02-10..published nineteen ( a little early...tues. night) ...
worked on ending and twenty.  have not  created any interest. 
no comments so assume no readers.  oh well...whats new
in the world of  blogging....bloggers to busywriting their own blogs..
learning that I need to create something people are interested in...
maybe a bus. blog....hey want to start a  business...ask stan...maybe a better or
catchier name...got any ideas???
However, the challenge continues...
more than half way thru....am sure
there will be an ending...how good?????

Thur  6-03
published twenty - the deal.....internet went blank right after I finished. 
Could this be an omen to quit?...a word from the god of writers to cease and decist?

Fri  6-04      
Published twenty-one...had to publish from work as the god of the internet converses
with the god of writing about my ability to write.  Waiting for a decision. 
If they decide against me I hope I don't get zapped with a meteor from outer space.

Sat 6-05
Published twenty -two..Still publishing from work as the bickering gods cannot seem to
make a decision about me.  At least they haven't blocked me work computer.  had to drive to work on a Sat. to publish.  I am really trying to achieve my goal..9 more days to go.  I am still having problems bridging reality with non-reality.


Printed out full story on paper and ended up with 46 pages but that includes the full story that I written so far.  I am rewriting and editing as I move forward,  I have fond several typos as I read printed page.
I believe it is easier to edit after printing and also reading it aloud seems lead to changes in the flow of the paragraphs

Sun 6-06
unable to publish but did complete the page a day challenge.  did not want to go to work just to publish what no one is reading.

Mon. 6-07
forgot my memory stick and did not publish on Mon but did complete the writing

Tues.6-08  published twenty-three, twenty-four and twenty-five.  Edited twenty-six...ready to publish..
continued writing story ...pre-writing planning...found myself in a  Nebraska prairie cafe talking  to the farmers daughter

Wed - 6-09..published day twenty-six and continued writing story...a headless man is created under the green lights of the prairie.

Thurs - 6-10..published day twenty-seven...story beginning to evolve into something deeper...murder on the prairie...who's the killer...can I find out?...beginning not to like the title 'Himshee'...as the story evolves my mind keeps looking for a bettter title....we'll see...so far I have met the schedule..I have enough to fulfill my page a day but I know I still have to write an additional page per day in order to complete the challenge.  I wrote 2 pages this AM but will write more tonight....couldn't wait until I finished the challenge to buy my IPad....bought it last night but forced myself to write 2 pages before I played with it.  Cost me a thousand bucks so I hope I like it.

Fri. - 6-11...published 28...an Indian folklore tale looms...researching has sent me into the ralm of buddism, dharma, the sutras and Hsu Yun...can the spirits of the plains indians unite with buddism or they realy connected in more ways than we know?...still thinking of a title change. Still on schedule..challenge almost complete...the story is growing beyond the challenge...maybe there is a real book here.

Sat. - 6-12...published 29...the farmers daughter...developing a question..creating an idea..planting a seed..I have no idea where it's going.

Sun. - 6-13...published 30... almost finished with the challenge.  story still growing and developing...the spirit of my ancestors flowing from the hoodoos of Utah to the green lights of the Nebraska prairie...one more day to go to complete Weronika's challenge...maybe six months or a year or maybe longer to write the full story...the challenge ends as the story really begins...

Edit twenty-seven...found I had a problem with time frame...tried to establish the story was taking place in the late 50's or early 60's but found myself googling information for my prairie spirit.  I had to rewrite twenty-seven and edit out googling.  I doubt that it created a major problem since no one is reading the story.  It is interesting because I am actully glad no one  is reading it.  When I finish the 30 day challenge I am going to leave the story on the net for a few days to see if any one is interested and then I will remove it from the net.  However, I will continue the story and try to sell it.  If I succeed I will post a great big "YAA..HAA...HAA....GOOD FOR ME

Mon.  6-14...published final day of challenge..completed and met the challenge.  The story will continue...what happened to the "headless trooper"?...what doe it mean to the story?...how does it affect me?....what is my connection to the headless trooper?

Tues  6-15...published another page and my good friend Connie read and commented.  she informed me that someone has been reading my story.  thank you Connie....I am really pleased.   tomorrow I rent a room and begin a first name friendship with the headless trooper.

Wed. -6-15...did not publish..personal problems..small earth quake casue water heater leak...had to clean up and repair.

thurs. - 6-16...published another page...strting to stumble for words and how to write them...need to learn how to make the transition of thoughts be sensible.

Sat. - 6-19  Published another page..getting  harder..changed some ideas..needed to partially change direction to stay away from the offending the Indian and the spirit.
am finding there is a delicate area in the American Indian Heritage that I was unaware of.  I was headed for something that has to be rethought and maybe rewritten.

Tues. - 6-22  Published again..difficult to write and concentrate because world cup soccer is on during the time I like to write.  The story is moving but slowly.  Decided I need to go back and edit a lot.  need to ad some life to the writing and develop more characters for the prairie.

Sun. - 6-26  Published..taking longer to publish but publishing longer pages.  during the 30 day challenge I was keeping the pages between 250 to 350 words.  Now I just break when I feel it is a good time and I am adding some graphics.  Also, I am going back and editing some of the ordiginal posts.  found several typo errors. also have have revised a few lines but I an not going to do any major editing until I finish or think that I am finished.  then I will do my first complete edit.  I hope to do 3 or 4 complete edits before I try to get it published.
Discovered I am starting to lose some continuity with charactors. got part of the story confused mixing up Tom with his parents.  had to rewrite a full page.

next  I start to learn about being a investigative reporter....

Fri. - July 2...Yesterday I published 2 more parts of the story.  Considering on changing the name to "Prarie Lights".  cannot find a book with that title on google so it may be alright to use it,  gave up on being a reporter because I couldn't figure out what was worth reporting in a Los Angeles newpaper about life in the winter on a Nebraska prairie.  Maybe I should have arrived in the summer but for soem reason I made it winter.  This whole story seems to have an undercurrent that I cannot figure out.  I just made up the green lights of the prairie but when I googled the subject there have been actual green lights.  Other weird things have come up.  My daughter called and told me I needed to read the "Alchemist" and she has no idea that I am writing this story.

Mon. July 5 - read "The Alchemist" and I didn't care for it.  really a children's fable and it did not give me any insight or ideas into my story.  Also, whenver someone suggests I read a book I always wonder what the reason is and if I read the book will it change my story direction and will I be stealing ideas or even worse committing the unforgivable "pledgerism".  I am not really sure where the two break apart.

More on my struggles with "Himshee".  more and more I am not happy with the name.  I am struggling with the story.  I have "worded myself" into a corner.  I have put the writer into a small prairie town and now I am struggling with dialog, characters, direction and an ending.  maybe I shoulld write and never have an ending and change the name to "prairie soaps".

But, at this point I am going to redirect the story, have an outline and an ending and the rewrite the story.

this will be a major re-write and I am going to chane the name.  I am thinking seriously of "Little Cafe on the Prairie".  not really...that is a joke I can read to myself if I ever read what I am writing. the next of this story or my second rewrite I will start with the name "Prairie Cafe". 

1st....the first part or original part about college, wasting my mind and the city, etc. will become a dream that I am having while doing a story about our spiiritual being. 

2nd ..the time frame of the story will be the late 1950's during the rise of the hippie movement.

3rd... the whole story will take place in a cafe/bar in a small Nebraska town.

4th...I will develope characters
                  the cafe waitress, cook and owner (of both cafe and bar)
                  the bar maid and bar tender
                  motel owner
                  gas station owner
                  grocery store owner
                  barber/hairdresser
                  depot lady (also postmaster)
                  the deputy
                  the two farmers

I am not sure if I will post the new story.  I do know that I will not longer post to "Himshee"

July 16...have sstruggled withedits and rewrites.  I am on my 4th edit and rvision.  I have restarted the story by changing the sequence of events.  I introded the "headless trooper: in the first part of the story to peak the intrest of anyone I am trying to get to publish it.  changed my charactor to a writer.  weaving oringal story plot as a dream into a writer trying to solve the mystory of a headless trooper.
                 

Read the full story of   'Himshee'