Behavior is formed by environment.

Quote by rolandlytle

I hope everyone is doing well. Do any of you find that, as you write a story, the characters quickly take over and start writing the story themselves?

That happens to me often. Usually in dialogue - when chracters start talking, I lose control of what they say.

Pitching my novel to three agents at the beginning of October, at a writing conference. I've never pitched anything before! I don't expect to get signed or anything, but you gotta start somewhere. It's good practice.

Hope everyone is well! I left a bag of M&Ms for you all to nosh on.

Quote by Mendalla
Weird thing is, this began as a project just to get myself writing. Now it seems to have taken on a life of its own and I'm finding it hard to pull away to work on other projects. There must be some kind of emotional resonance between me and these characters (besides the father, there's their church's minister and a bunch of the daughter's friends).

Yeah. I wrote a crappy novel last year, and it bummed me out. I took the characters and the town and just started messing around, and came up with something I think (hope!) is better. You never know when and how inspiration strikes. The muse is so fickle....

Good luck on your project!

Quote by gillianleeza
Jeff, I wonder if it is the same med I take for sciatica nerve pain.

I'm almost sure it's the same thing. I'm glad you are lowering your dose. That memory loss thing is frikkin scary. It does seem to be temporary, though.

I hope everyone is well. I just finished the second draft of Mr. Novel. I think some celebratory drinking may be in my future tonight.

Happy three day weekend to all of you, except the Canadians, whom I'll wish a happy two day weekend.

!sreehC

My eclipse pic from last week.

Quote by rolandlytle
Hi Jeff. Needed medication can affect your life in hurtful ways.

I think it's mostly worked out. Very scary experince, as i am sure you know.

One of the many cool things about baseball is that any given night you can watch history happen. Pete Crow Armstrong is a force of nature (I dont' know much about th other guy).

!prac eht ezeiS

Quote by rolandlytle
my mental fog has been rolling in from the sea of dementia a lot lately.

Nice to hear from you Roland. That's a pretty powerful metaphor. My heart goes out to you, my friend. Drop us a link here if you write/publish a story here, I'd love to read it.

My memory issues are strting to fade. It appears to be a med thing, from a drug I take for neuropathy. I'm taking much less now, and I think it's helping.

Nothing else new here. Writing, baseball and telescopes.

!sreehC

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic

No, I didn't die...real life got me again, the asshole.

And who is Sean????

Good to see you back regardless.

I poked my head in at another website yesterday. The more things change, the more the say the same. In other news, finished the second draft of the novel! All that really means is that I start the third draft today.

Hope this finds everyone well.

Pretty quiet in here. I see some freeze-dried Folger's in the back, let me go make a cup. I brought rice crispie treaps!

Block party on my block today. Should be fun, though there will be some rain. Looking forward to the hot dogs. I hope someone wants to play wiffle ball besides me.

!ecaeP

My teams are 1 - Mets, 2 - Rockies, 3 - Cubs, 4 - Red Sox. I'm fearful there will be no baseball next year, with the upcoming strike.

We went to Rockygrass for my birthday this weekend. Insanely fun. Talia took me out to a nice steak dinner last night for my actual birthday. It has been a nice few days. Back to the same ol', same ol' today.

Quote by Mendalla

He's baaa-aaack. Actually, we've got both a sequel to Godzilla Minus One titled Godzilla Minus Zero and another Legendary Monsterverse Godzilla x King : Supernova coming. The Legendary movies seem to be leaning into the old Godzilla vs. approach of the Showa and Heisei era Japanese movies, except with Godzilla and Kong as a team. Meanwhile, Godzilla Minus One went back to basics with Godzilla stomping the hell out of postwar Japan and looks to be continuing that with Minus Zero. Of course, the thing that made Minus One standout was its handling of the human characters, with a dramatic story of a pilot with PTSD from World War II and a woman he befriends to help raise an orphaned child amidst the rubble after the American bombings in the late stages of the war. Godzilla is almost a plot point rather than the focus.

The teaser for Minus Zero:

I loved -1 and look forward to -0 greatly. I'm less attracted to the Zilla/Kong movies. I haven't watched much of Project Monarch, but it has some interesting lore too.

I anyone watching Couples Therapy? It sounds like another dumb reality show, but it's really interesting. It tries to recreate the vibe of actual couple's therapy sessions. Talia and I are hooked.

Quote by rolandlytle
I am excited to learn that NASA is planning an Explorer 3 mission. It will be a mission specifically to explore the heliosphere, where Explorer 1 is presently located. The Explorer 3 mission will reach the edge of the heliosphere five times faster than Explorer 1 did, using the Sun to slingshot it at a much higher speed. It is years away, but I love the idea. I am genuinely thrilled by the prospect!

It's a very cool mission. Seems like the more we learn bout the sun, the weirder it is.

Sorry about your bad morning. That used to happen to my wife. It's scary, I'm so glad you had your phone, and the good sense to use the map. I'm also glad you have relatives to help you. There's an app called Life360 where relatives can know the location of your phone - that might be a nice back-up. At any rate, I am glad you are safe. Stay well!

Nothing new here. Starting the second draft of the novel. It's a LOT of work. Playing with the telescope at night, which improves my sanity.

!sreehC

Quote by rolandlytle

I hope everyone is well. I brought some red velvet cupcakes and mint tea with me today.

I wish I could watch the All-Star game tonight, but I only have streaming services. I spent about $180 on MLB.com/ESPN to watch every game this year, but the fine print has screwed me over. It does not include blacked-out games based on geography or other contracts. Major League Baseball sold exclusive rights to FOX for the All-Star Game.

I have been outlining a dramatic family storyline and will probably start writing the story later this week. While outlining the story, the antagonists seemed so stupid, with no emotional maturity or self-awareness. When I talked to my son, he reminded me that most people today do stupid, foolish, and selfish things. Maybe it will be more realistic than I thought. I am basing it on a real occurrence that I have personal knowledge of.

Hey, Roland. I'm in the exact same position as you: I sepnt $180 for baseball and they black out the All Star game. Billionaires run the world.

Glad to see you are at work on a new story. I like that you are pushing into realism.

Days are super hot and dry here. I'm just starting the second draft of the novel, and it looks like SO MUCH WORK!

!yad eht yojnE

I have a iPad, and like it, but I'm otherwise pretty Android. It's more tweak-able.

If you were to discover a bug inside your house, would you rather it be a spider, or a bee?

CDs. Though I'll just rip them onto my lap top and listen from there.

Laptop or tablet?

Quote by Meagananne1986

Warm Summer Rain. More romantic to me. At heart, I'm a simple girl.

Uber/Lyft or Self-Drive in a major city?

Uber! I've driven in NYC, Chicago and LA. Never want to do it again. In NYC, I'd choose the subway. I LOVE the subway.

Cassette tapes or 8-track?

Swimming. I love to swim. Water skiing is too fast and loud for me. (Boy, I sound boring.)

A sunny summer sky or a warm summer rain?

Quote by gillianleeza

Amen, Roland. Happy Fourth to you and yours.

Storms are rolling through here, so not sure how that will affect the celebrations down on the Mall. Maybe it will drown out the speech and clear up for the fireworks. Oddly, this year they are not scheduled to start until eleven pm. All past fourths started right after it got dark, around 9 pm. It's also still dangerously hot and humid.

I hope everyone has a good weekend.

Love this clock! Hope your 4th went well.

The perfect July 4th chili-cheese-Frito dog! (I ate two.)

We are socked in with wildfires from the south. They aren't threatening us, but the skies are cloudy and ashen. A fire ban is in effect, so no fireworks either. We'll have a subdued 4th - my daughter is working tonight. Grilled salmon for Cori, chilli/cheese/Frito dogs for me.

Happy 4th, and happy 250th! I have a great love of, and faith in, our democracy.

Quote by rolandlytle

Jeff, that is great news!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

My Niece gave me a cake with pineapple and cherries. I cannot remember what she called it, but it was very good and will last me all week. It reminds me of making ambrosia for my family, years ago.

Thanks Roland! It really was scaring me a little. Good to hear you are still "sucking the marrow from the bones of life!" Really well put! And I enjoy bone marrow, the few times I had it. That cake sounds awesome. My grandma used to make ambrosia.

Nothing new here. Talia is sick of me talking about (and endlessly tinkering with) my telescope. I'm still climbing the learning curve on ths one.

!meid epraC

My neurologist visit went well. I have some memory issues due to neuropathy, but the doc thought it wasn't too worrying. Which is good, because I was worrying a LOT! Anyway I didn't want to leave anyone hanging, thus the post.

Hope all is well with all of you.

Godspeed, Roland.

Guess who took a picture of the sun this weekend? That big sunspot group could cause some havoc.

Everyone have a great week.

Quote by rolandlytle

Hi everyone.

The last month has been a bit disheartening. I have been so fortunate that my dementia has not been a steady decline. Still, my cognitive abilities will suddenly decrease over a period of weeks and then level out for several months or years. After almost three years, I have gone through another drop and seem to have leveled out again, which is great news. My neurologist thinks this recent steep decline may be attributed to the prolonged stress from my ongoing divorce from hell. Despite all of this bull shit going on, I remain hopeful for the future. Without the support and love from my family, I would be homeless and broken. Both of my sons, my brother and sister, and all four of their families have gone out of their way to help me. God bless them all!

I hope you do not take this as me being depressed, discouraged, or looking for sympathy. This is just letting the friends I have on SS know what has been going on in my life over the last few years while I was absent from this space. Since I have been back, I have recognized how much I had been missing in my life over these last few years.

Good to hear you are doing better! I've been having some memory issues myself, so believe me, I understand. It's super frikkin scary. My brain is my favorite organ! I see a neurologist on Monday.

Good to see you back!

Hope everyone is well. I'm about 10,000 words away from the end of a novel, so my attention is rather focused these days.

!sreehC

Zany

Quote by rolandlytle

Good morning! I had some mint tea and brought some orange cream ice cream with an orange-cinnamon topping for anyone who wants to indulge.

Scott, I miss work so much.

Has that ice cream melted yet? It sounds tasty.

Hi eveyone. Sorry I've been abscent. In other news, I bought a new telescope!

Quote by Mendalla
Evil spirit? Monster? Just a strange volcano?

Thetans!

Poor night of sleep, but otherwise I am ready to begin my day (albeit late).

What novel are you resding Ape. I just finished a very dark little horror novel. Gonna try some detective fiction next.

!esaelp eeffoC (I really am getting good at writing backwards. Not a very useful skill, admittedly.)

Hi everyone!

Sorry for my absence. I'm doing well. I quit my old critique group, and found a new one. I quit writing short stories, and am focusing on writing bad novels until they're not bad anymore. So, I'm really hunkered down and focused, writing-wise.

Everything else is chill (except that IT SNOWED this week). Talia is fine, cats are fine, I was having some health issues but eating better may have solved it. Mets are quite as sucky as they were in April.

Still working with backwards cassette tapes. It's super weird. I'm super weird.

!sreehC