Order of Operation

So I'm going to keep this up but I think I'll be updating as I can in the following order

Saturdays - Podcast-Every week I can.  I hope to do an audio book for Forever West and that alone, every other week would supply two years worth of podcast...if I can afford it....so far so good.
Tuesdays and Thursdays - Scripts - Starting a new one this week, writing two more this month..then? Dunno...maybe slashfic in script form?
Mondays - Rhomnibus - Mondays whatever little thing enters my head, Terra, Fairy Tales, Written for but not at Naked City, the 500, whatever....has to be SOMETHING here in Miami....
Mondays - Writing Status, maybe once a month maybe more often, endorsements shouts, praises, what I'm reading
Wednesdays - Heliotrope.  I wanna write 200K worth of other short stories and cyclopedia articles for it....have to put it somewhere.
Fridays .....er....um.....Non fiction stuff.
Sundays - NOT that second podcast that started strong with grandmas stuff and then just sucked....maybe like....hmmm...maybe a link to neat podcasts for people to try or other free stuff......not a bad idea and easy to do......

[Script] Legacy of Hope - Page 1

Legacy of Hope

A Script by Tom Drake

Summary: An elderly grandmother has been betrayed and institutionalized by a greedy assistant, who wants to control an artifact of power and guide the destiny of her heir and grand daughter.  She gets out.  And there is hell to pay.

Andrasta Gobaith - Grandmother and wielder of gwalch marwolaeth, an artifact of extreme power. 

Hobbes Ciellgwd - Stewart to the Gobaith line, and thief.  But a very very rich thief thank you very much.

Anastasia Gobaith - A grand daughter who has grown up knowing nothing but what Hobbes has told her of her legacy.  About to learn of gwalch marwolaeth.

Mordenkainen Slipknot - Right hand of Hobbes and supposedly in charge of bribing the head of the institution where Andrasta has been kept.  Oops.

Dr. Mindle Parsley - Head of a mental institution that has just released a lot of mental patients due to its massive budget cuts.

 

Three Mice That See

There was, according to the same demented fairy tale book that the blind man in the french quarter will show me, but not allow me to take, some details on the origins of Mr Kind, Mr. Necessary and Mr. Right.  Flipping through this volume, it looks like something exceptionally large and clawed tore off the original cover of the work, and that it had been replaced by something that was either vellum or very thick construction paper with a title in magic marker that just said "Stories."

Before the great houses, there were many fairies and many godfathers.  But what many people fail to realize, is that among pure fairies, as compared to the royal "abominations" that currently rule outer fairy, there are certain rules that always apply, no matter how benevolent.  They must be invited, or have a reason to believe they are invited, to have their full power.  To fail to invite them is to create ill will.  Indeed, even the sparkliest and most 'good' fairy will often go incredibly dark when they have been offended in some fashion or other.

So when there had been a year after the birth of the Cinder Princess's first daughter, the failure to send an invitation was a big deal.  It might have been a dark turn for a family that her fairy godmother did not want to hurt.  She waited, longer and longer for the invitation to the Glistening to appear, but the day came closer and closer; and still no invitation came.  The godmother even 'happened to meet' the royal carriage on the road where they exchanged pleasantries, and all seemed well.

All was not well.  In fact, all was decidedly not well in the slightest.

The mouse was the one who finally caught on.  The slow dumb one that wore the red cap and spoke with a stutter.  No one took him seriously.  There were very few magical animals in those days, so few could understand him but he could understand people.  And when he heard her muttering under her breath reluctantly about what she might have to do, he forged an invitation and signed it, in very bad English and sent the invitation on the west wind.

The Fairy Godmother got the invitation and was delighted.  She arrived and blessed their daughter, resplendent and with the approbation of all in attendance.  She was godmother to their line for seven generations before the last of their line made some incredibly dubious decisions, but that is another story.

The most important part of this tale is that the mouse in the red shirt was blessed, that from time to time, great and sageous mice would be born to his line, until one day three mice that had the Sight would be born, one would see what needed to be done when no other could see it; the other would see the good in others beyond mortal ken and figure out how best to bring it out; and the third would see the truth in all things more often than not, so long as his pride did not prevent him.  These three mice were indeed born and in the Heliotropic Book of Fairy Tales one can learn how Mr. Kind, Mr. Right and Mr. Necessary became lynchpins in saving outer fairy from itself.

Part 2 - I Odysseus

Rereleased for Christmas, part 2 as read by Bernard Setaro Clark

Check out this episode!

[Script] Unfood - Page 44

Kendra barely manages to restrain herself from getting angry. KENDRA What is what? GOVERNOR Well, this looks like your lucky day. It looks like someone has posted your fee. KENDRA Wait. What? GOVERNOR Someone has paid for your entire bill. Including an additional amount for the medical treatment. In fact, if I’m reading your new credit rating right, you’re both quite wealthy. Nothing earth shattering of course but still. KENDRA So...we can go? GOVERNOR Yes. The transport will be taking both of you. You might want to pack your belongings. Kendra searches around the rather barren shack. KENDRA Um. Yeah. No thanks. Kendra hugs Aaron as the camera pans to a wide shot of the shack with the transport landing near both of them. -Fin

[Script] Unfood - Page 43

43. SCENE – EXT – SHIP – SPACE The tech’s ship departs. SCENE – DAY – SHIT WORLD – SHACK – EX Aaron collapses from exhaustion. KENDRA Aaron! She picks him up and takes him into the shack. SCENE – DAY – SHACK – INT Kendra lays Aaron on the table. She goes over to the comm unit and enters a code. GOVERNOR Yes? KENDRA Aaron is sick. He needs help. Quick. GOVERNOR It’ll cost you. A lot. KENDRA (beat) How much? GOVERNOR Well for top of the line evac, plus medical treatment, we’re talking about more than you make in a year. A lot more. KENDRA How much. GOVERNOR Ten years. At least. KENDRA Let him....let him...(beat) Fine. I’ll pay. GOVERNOR Excellent. I’ll send them right away. Oh. Wait. What’s this?

And so here we are....

A month later.  The earworm of "Greensleeves" pounding through my head after TC amused himself "Triple Dent Gumming" many people over the weekend.  I volunteered for this duty at the beginning of May when a portion of TC's soul literally died.  It's been an exhilerating and exhausting series of events.

I was so burned out myself after a few failures in late October that it was only at the urging of the remaining shards of TC's soul that I wrote Heliotrope with TC's flesh and willpower channeled from the after life.  If that sounds like a convoluted mental exercize to be able to write something, you're not kidding.  Though I am mixed on the results.

Word count, under the right circumstances, is easy.  Yesterday, flying back from San Francisco, I considered how much we could do if we only wrote consistently at half that rate, multiple blog posts, multiple short stories and novelas.  But there are some restrictions.  Our material is always rough, too rough for utility.  We can submit it to gatekeepers, but without paid editing, it is an abomination.  But that much capital for everything we could write is simply beyond us.  And what about paid advertising?

The other conundrum is that I really enjoy this when I'm not burned out by the repeated failures.  The realization that the book tour indiegogo was not happening and would never happen.  The understanding that this was a years long commitment and that if we wanted to do this professionally, unlike most it would take a considerable investment.  Was it even worth it?

The year has had some amazing successes and failures, but they are to be expected.  Heliotrope at this stage of raw words seems about the third best of the six...GMVZ and Forever West are better.  Heliotrope has too many in jokes and personal truisms, but is still worth salvaging.  Indeed, any novel except likely Precyber will be paid, illustrated, edited and made into physical form for our own library at least.

The question remains on the podcast and paid advertizing.  Credit card debt and children are expensive propositions, and while TC wisely chose the better choices of moving to Miami and setting up the Ricks household there, it has been expensive and will severely limit funds.  Funds in this sphere remain entirely speculative.

So what does that mean? Well, at the moment we're not sure.  But Heliotrope does open up a whole new world of fleshing out.  Not a game, but maybe a very expanded edition with notes and other short stories associated with the core novel.  The blog has the advantage of being free without the expectation of editing.  And I wrote 50,000 words in one month for a fairly good novel.  With enough editing, it can potentially become a very good one.

The podcast has been going for two years now, mostly of apparantly crappy sound editing on my part; but I am learning and Grayson isn't THAT expensive.  So I will likely continue that at least until GMVZ is finished.  Do I make it biweekly after that? Something else? I have vague ideas of it as a platform but I lack the standing to attract folks for it very easily.  It is a vanity project, but one I take very seriously and it has resulted in some awesome things for those who can deal with the sound quality.

The future of my writing is unclear, save that I shall continue doing it and that I have high hopes to put out a great deal of content on this blog.  Beyond that, it will depend on funds that can, to be blunt gentle reader, wasted.  Which for several months won't happen but employement is likely in the future and the backup material on the podcast is nearly dead so that will likely continue for at least a while.

Still, I have seen amazing things happen, including my personal enjoyment of the audiobook of I, Odysseus even if others...don't share my agreement or enjoyment thereof. ;)  Regardless gentle reader, interesting times are ahead, and I shall continue to refine my limited gift, since consistent application over time often yields interesting results.

I shall likely provide a new sechedule of content or attempted agenda tomorrow or more likely Wed.

Adieu.