If NaNoWriMo was a baseball season, this would be my mid-season slump. Just check out my graph…
Why the sudden decline? Several reasons:
- My wife and I traveled to Yankee Stadium to see our alma mater, Ithaca College, crush our arch rivals, Cortland University, in the annual Cortaca Jug football game. Let’s go Bombers!
- I have a cold (probably from the game).
- I’m stumbling on my story.
Not struggling—just stumbling. I’ve completed three of a planned five parts of Remembering the End, but part four is giving me issues. Still working through them on my way to the right draft.
Here’s a bit from my work-in-progress. It’s from the part called “Summers in Hell”:
Hell is cold.
The wind cracks your bones, the snow falls when it wishes, and the old fires stand frozen on the tundra, locked in snapshots of dancing ecstasy.
Hell is cold.
The demons live in igloos. Every day, they fish beneath the ice for the souls of the damned, and every day they nab the same tortured people on their serrated fishing hooks, pulling them up all blue and drenched and sputtering. They roast the souls over fires until they’re crisped and blackened, and then the demons eat them with a side of baked beans and Bob Evans mashed potatoes. In Hell, the meals are always the same.
Overnight, the seven suns of Hell set and the demons retreat to their igloos. Their fires freeze and the holes they drilled ice over, and when they emerge from their igloos at first light, they do it all again. They catch the same damned souls, roast them, eat them, day after day after day, forever, eternally.
Hell is very cold.
Now if that doesn’t make you hungry, I don’t know what will.
Oh, and It’s Still Gizzvember
Yes, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is officially my new favorite band. They’ve played the soundtrack to my writing, whether it’s bluesy boogie, hard rock, or heavy metal. I’ve listened to all 23 of their studio albums, and I’m now working through their live bootleg catalog. My wife is loosing patience with the constant Gizzard playing around the house, so I suppose I’ll have to scale things back eventually.
Side note: When I was proofreading my last email, my computer pronounced “Gizzvember” as “Jizzvember,” which was concerning.
How About You?
Overall, it’s been a fun, if hectic, November thus far. Are you doing NaNoWriMo? If so, let me know!
Kyle A. Massa is a comic fantasy author living somewhere in upstate New York with his wife, their daughter, and three wild animals. His published works include three books and several short stories. When he’s not writing, he enjoys reading, running, and drinking coffee.
