I had two stories today:
The first was a proper sit-down for writing. Pages were WRITTEN motherfuckers. Oh, they were writ-ten! I still feel much editing needs to be done with it, but that’s not actually the point of this particular writing session. There’s this conversation between two characters that has to cover so much ground…I need to cover all that ground at least once, you know? And then pare it down from there. Because not all that shit can stay, you feel me? We don’t turn on our televisions to see people sit and talk to each other for more than, like, four or five pages at a time. I think that’s a rule somewhere.
The second story of the day today was a round of golf. It was warm, but much cooled by a stiff breeze that turned into downright *wind* later on in the day. It was pretty slow, actually, two rather large groups ahead of us. And, I do say “us,” because although I started by myself, I ended up playing with two other guys because we’d become so bunched together.
Golf was more of a struggle today, that’s for sure. Started off pretty well the first three holes, but I struggled pretty much from that point on. It’s frustrating, really, but it’s because I haven’t been playing. It was my putting that was particularly frustrating today. In the past, I’ve really been able to control that part of my game and two-putt most greens. Not today, man. Not today. While my Iron play was vastly improved due to an adjustment that I made playing the par-3 course the other day with my brother, ie- angling the shaft just a touch further back so the club face opens up more towards the sky and I get more loft, the driving today was waaaayyy off, and the putting was terrible. I had aboslutely no feel for “pace” today, which is how hard or soft to hit the piece of shit ball that’s sitting on the pretty green grass mocking you silently. My “lines” were also totally off all day, which is where to aim your shot so that it goes towards the hole instead of off in some other direction.
You know what all that frustration made me feel? It made me want to go out and play again tomorrow š True story. I was actually starting to play better towards the end of the day before I got a bit tired and sloppy. I made some adjustments. I really do love it out there. Repeating the same motions over and over, and the greenery all around.
I started listening to Truckers by Terry Pratchett. I *must* have run across that book or at least HEARD about it, or seen something inspired by it on TV…SOMETHING…because my make-believe world as I was growing up was that I was king of the Nomes, spelled without the traditional “G,” I believe, just like Pratchett, and they were these tiny creatures that lived in the woods of our four acres. My playground as a child, and the imaginary people that I would build forts for, and place inside my toy cars and planes and Star Trek ships. My “nomes” were much smaller than Pratchett’s, and they were not aliens, nor were they technologically impaired…but the inspiration is clearly there.
And yet, I have never read the books. Ever. Not in the slightest. Had no idea they even existed up until a few months ago. The only actual outside reference I have to “gnomes” of any kind is this completely weird and random Disney movie from the…70s, I think? Perhaps the 60s…called “The Gnome Mobile,” which I belive was shot in Humboldt County amongst the redwood trees very similar to those I grew up amongst. But, even those “Gnomes” were more like leprechans, or “sprites” of the forest, whereas my imaginary kingdom was like a hidden humanity, with all the technology, conflict, and strife of the real world. And I’d had it playing out well before I ever saw that movie. Or, at least I *think* I did. It’s hard to keep that stuff straight, sometimes, when it comes to ordering the dominoes of one’s childhood.
Anyway, it’s off to bed with me. I have an all-day writing event that I’m attending tomorrow. I did it last year, too. Very excited. So, to bed with me!
See you chaps tomorrow š