The June Challenge - 28 Days Later

I couldn't resist the reference in the title...

Well, here we are at the end of June, and for 28 straight days I have written at least 750 words. It's been fun overall, and challenging at times. I'll explain.

I'm not a professional writer. I write, but like so many other aspiring writers, I work a day job that I'd rather not. But everyone has to start somewhere, and I don't really regret having the job that I do because it's afforded me the ability to a) live, and b) buy the Wacom Cintiq, which cost the equivalent of many, many, many cases of beer.

So, the writing challenge has put me into the habit of writing every day, and I'm coming to the realization that, if I'm going to consider writing as a job, which I should indeed, then I need to be able to write everday.

No. Matter. What.



Mr. Neil Gaiman lends a hand

                                           

There are days when I've burned through words and blown past the seven-fifty mark. There have been days this month when I really haven't felt the spark, and I'm sure there will always be those days, but if I twiddle my thumbs whilst awaiting the muse, I'm not going to get much done. A creative professional needs to be able to create every day, no excuses, and it's way more of a challenge to do it well than I thought it would be.

I've also discovered that I have a very short attention span. I feel compelled to open a new web browser every five minutes and see what's going on in the world. And so I'm getting into the habit of taking out my wifi adapter when I'm sitting down to write. Sorry, mulititudes of Facebook fans, you'll have to wait.

So, I have two days to go, and barring any extraordinary occurrences or misfortunes, I should succesfully complete the June challenge of writing 750 words every day.

But why stop at 750? is what I asked myself, and downloaded 2K To 10K to get some tips on the best ways to write, well, more. I'm about halfway through so far, so perhaps at the end of July, I can give all you lovely people another update on whether or not I've been able to increase my productivity.

In the meantime, I've submitted a short story to a pretty cool writing contest at The Cult of Me, which was brought to my attention through my friends at Pyschopomp and Artifice Comics. Perhaps I'll share the story if I don't win, which is highly likely that I will not, considering the level of creativity out there, versus my chowder-headedness.

Check out the links, as there's some really cool stuff all around.

Until next time.
Tim.

How the Red Wedding Broke TV

Tim here with a touch of non-Seven Stars commentary.

Dave and I are headed to Niagara Falls on Sunday, not for a romantic getaway, but for the Niagara Falls Comic Con. We'll post our thoughts and hopefully some pictures afterwards.

But I wanted to talk about something from last week that I've been mulling over constantly in my head.

The Red Wedding.

My boss, as it happens, is also a big Game of Thrones fan, but hadn't read the books, and we had a lengthly conversation on the Monday following the episode. He made an off-the-cuff remark that was more insightful than I think even he realized at the time: "The Red Wedding broke television."

Spoilers from here on out.

Did the Red Wedding break TV? In a way, I think it did, by setting the bar for shocks and character deaths at a new height. Any other character death on any other TV show seems merciful compared to what the Starks (and we, as viewers) endured.

Part of me wonders how any show, or even Game of Thrones itself, could possibly outdo that particular scene. I'm sure I'll watch some shows where some unexpected stuff happens, but I have a hard time seeing anything approaching the sheer level of horror that people experienced with the Red Wedding. And I even knew it was coming, and I'm still aghast almost a week after seeing it.


Now, time to go from a high to a low.
After seeing how great a show can be makes me a little irked at another show that I've struggled to keep up with:
The Walking Dead.