#AmWriting, #AmWatching, and Vacation

On By Teri PolenIn Miscellaneous

Last Monday I mentioned the final planning and plotting had commenced on the sequel to Subject A36.  This past week, I finally started writing.  I set a timer for thirty minutes and just took off.  Maybe it was a fluke, but writing in thirty minute segments worked for me.  I didn’t worry about editing, word echoes, choosing the perfect word, etc – I just typed.  My word count wasn’t in the stellar range (not C.S. Boyack level, lol), but I was happy with my progress, and I’ll use the same technique this week.

A friend recently loaned us the Band of Brothers series.  We’d never seen it before, but I remembered it winning several awards.  We were hooked from the first episode.  And what a cast!  Many of them weren’t well known or known at all when it was released in 2001, but you’d recognize several now.  We reached the last episode, eager to see what happened to these characters and their lives – and the disc hung up.  I tried another DVD player – no luck.  Tried going straight to the scene – nope.  I checked Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu – all were a bust with streaming unless we wanted to pay.  Our only option is to get the last disc from Netflix.  Instant gratification has totally spoiled us.

I won’t be online much next week, other than the two book reviews I have scheduled to post.  Hubby and I are taking a vacation and maybe the planets aligned or our horoscopes were good that day, but both sons can go with us, and we’re really looking forward to it.  I’ll be in my happy place on a beach with my umbrella and books (social distancing from folks at neighboring umbrellas), hopefully getting caught up on some reading.  Restaurants there still aren’t at full capacity, and that’s fine with us.  We have reservations with a couple of favorites, but also plan to take advantage of local seafood markets.  Masks will be packed along with the books!

Stay safe and healthy and have a great week!

43 thoughts on “#AmWriting, #AmWatching, and Vacation”

  2. I can very clearly remember watching (and loving) Band of Brothers, Teri. I don’t blame you for finding a way to see that last part! 🙂

    I’m looking forward to reading Subject A36, so I’ll be ready for the sequel when it comes out. 🙂

    Have a great vacation. (Don’t forget the sunblock, lest you end up like me, with too many scars to count. Urk.) Read, relax, enjoy, and glad to hear you are packing those masks, in case. Stay safe!

    And Happy Reading! 🙂

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    1. Always wearing sunblock, Marcia – I gave up on trying to tan when I was a teenager. If it hasn’t happened by now, it never will, lol. Really looking forward to relaxing and spending time with family.

      When we get the last disc, I’m hoping there’s more than one episode on it – we’ll probably need a refresher.

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  3. Mischenko

    What a bummer on the disc! That’s the absolute worse. I agree on the instant gratification too. It’s so nice to have all seasons available at once. We are spoiled! 😆

    Glad the writing is going well. Enjoy vacation!

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  5. Hi Teri. Thanks for the 30 burst suggestion. I’ll try it! I finally hooked up my Echo Dot and she has a voice activated timer.
    I hope you can relax and recharge on vacation — so you can come back and write the sequel to that fabulous novel!

    I wasn’t familiar with Band of Brothers, but I found this clip on Youtube. It’s about 5 minutes long and appears to be an epilogue, a baseball game setting that tells what the characters went on to do. I didn’t watch all of it, but it does not appear to show anything about whatever the actual climax of the series/story was. But like I said — I didn’t watch any of the series, and didn’t watch the whole clip.

    Hugs on the wing!

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    1. I have Alexa unplugged right now, which is unusual (I might have put her in timeout for a while), but that’s a good idea about using her for a timer. Thanks for the kind words about A36 and the clip, Teagan! I’ll wait until I see the last episode before watching it – don’t want any spoilers.

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  10. “Not C.S. Boyack level,” LOL! Love that!

    My word count isn’t at his level during writing sessions either, but the method of just sitting down and writing, worrying about editing and cleaning things up later, works well for me too. I do it without having done an outline or any planning beforehand though, so am generally left with a lot of cleaning up to do when it’s time to tackle the second draft. It gets the words down though, which is the important thing. Anyway, great to hear you’re finally writing the sequel to Subject A36. I’m already looking forward to it, so I hope there are lots more writing sessions like this planned for the future. 😉

    Enjoy your vacation. Stay safe.

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    1. I used to edit as I went, and I’d spend far too long searching for the perfect word – and then not getting anywhere near my word count goal. When I start, I have a general idea where I’d like the scene to go and then let the characters take over. Sometimes it goes my way, sometimes theirs, lol. Thanks, Tori!

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    1. We were hooked from the first 10 minutes, Sophie, so I can’t wait to see how it ends – but I’m also afraid to see what might happen to some of the charactgers. Thanks!

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  12. It sounds like you had an awesome writing experience. I might have to give your thirty minute timer a try and see how I do—turn off the inner editor and just write. It sounds like a plan!

    I’ve never seen Band of Brothers but I would be so bummed not getting to see that tag on at the end. It looks like Teagan might have found it (fingers crossed).

    Enjoy your time at the beach. I would love to be sitting under an umbrella with a book, surrounded by sand and the sound of surf. I can hear the seabirds and smell the brine even now, LOL. Wishing you an awesome vacay!

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    1. For me, the editing slows me down, Mae. Now I’ll leave a blank space or have plenty of word echoes, but keep moving forward and worry about it later.

      Too bad I can’t ship the ocean smell seagulls to your pool!

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    1. I’ve read interviews where authors have mentioned using this technique, and the writing retreats I’ve attended over the past several years have started doing writing sprints for 10-15 minutes at a time about different topics. Tried it again yesterday and added to the word count. Thanks, Jessica!

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