August Writing Challenge - 8/17

[vintagewitch]

August Writing Challenge: 8/17
Daily Word Goal: ~2,000
Word Count: 1,844
Total: 7,625

I was just shy of my goal for this day because I got really sleepy. Turns out, when I'm alternating errands and writing, it makes for a very full day. I stopped writing Mr. Goodman's journal, because in looking over all of my outline material, I didn't actually plan out the plot points his journal would reveal. And ... I have a pretty good handle on it, but I guess I was feeling inspired to work on something else. I want to just spend some time assessing where I'm at with his journal, and then go back and fill in the rest.

I'm really happy that I've been able to incorporate some of the folktales I learned about from "Bloodstoppers and Bearwalkers" - I think it lends a much more interesting texture to the work. I think for the monster, I will need to go back and rewrite to bring together local Lake Superior mythology and H.P. Lovecraft's quasi-religious science fiction. I'm getting a much clearer picture of what the second draft looks like, and I'm eager to start tearing apart this awful first draft.

Anyway, there's kind of a lot going on in my (non-writing) life, but this is a welcome distraction. I've got some thinking to do, working through some stuff. My capacity to deal with other people's bullshit is waning. I need to be more creative, I need to keep up with my writing. It's one way I can stay in touch with my own inner sanctum.

I'm actually (a little bit) proud of some stuff that I wrote on Sunday, so I'll post an excerpt (not the whole thing - the pacing's way off for the rest of the scene). Ugh. Just post it already.

The storm rolled in, and it stayed for one week. It was a relatively short storm, by the standard of most winter storms. The crew were very thankful to have a way to get to the beast without going outside, because it would have been terrible. Given it was so early in the season, if they didn’t have a way to get to the cave that started from the house itself, they would have had to stop their research for the winter. And winter was a primary time to be working on this kind of thing, because if indeed the beast had any impact on the level of storms itself, the impact would be the most dramatic during the winter.

They met and pulled together a standard procedure for how to handle these storms. Once it was determined that the storms had subsided, they would go out in teams to assess the damage. They would then travel to town to get more supplies, and to compare their data with data the city collected.

But this was their first time to really implement the plan.

And first, the whole team had to wait for the storm to pass.

Jess found herself antsy to get out into the snow. Whenever she got close to the wilderness, whenever there was a storm that reminded her of the beauty of nature, she felt she needed to get out into it. Her skin would itch with winter, and the heated indoors would feel too warm. She craved the icy touch of winter on her skin. Winter is always so much worse when you’re stuck - that’s why people hate it so much.

Most people wouldn’t choose to live in the Upper Midwest, but it was one of the regions of the former United States that was the most friendly. Whenever Jess turned on the news, she would realize how lucky she was to live where she did. One surefire way to get her blood boiling was to talk disparagingly about the winters, to complain about the cold in the Upper Midwest. Because if it weren’t for the cold, they wouldn’t have the right ecosystem for life here. It would all have dried up long ago.

It’s all connected. You can’t have your agriculture without your rain. And Jess knew that things weren’t all peachy everywhere else.

Many people didn’t have the energy to pay attention to what was going on in the world outside of their own bubble. For most, it was a challenge to get things like what you’ll eat or where you’ll work sorted out. Humans have an infinite need for a job, an infinite need for a task. And if that task is survival, it will take everything out of you. And often, if the task is worth doing, it will steal your time.

But Jess kept a connection to the greater world. It kept her grateful.

And whenever the first storms of the year came, these thoughts came to her. While the rest of the world was preparing frantically for the end of summer, getting the last of the crops in, making sure they had everything they would need in their pantries, Jess thanked the wilderness. She thanked the wild storms, the heavy snow, the frozen water - because she knew it was the only way they were able to keep their lifestyle in the Upper Midwest.

And she stayed fit.

It was the second-to-last day of the storm, but no one at the bluff home knew that. As far as Jess knew, their equipment had been down for quite some time. Last she heard, Ben was trying to fix it. One of the reasons she brought him with her was his history of learning technology and being able to fix it. The last broadcast they had listened to from the city was so broken they could barely understand it. But the broadcast before that - the last real broadcast - had spoken of intense snowfall. The storm can hard and fast, and the people were mostly snowed in.

Jess had predicted it would be a difficult winter. She had seen the signs in the summer - it had been extremely hot early in the year, but at night the temperatures had dropped by almost 30 degrees. She knew that things were temperamental, and that she would need to be prepared.

Standard procedure, to the extent that they could predict the difficulty of any particular winter, was to assign one member of the household who would stay in good condition to make runs for supplies. The kind of physical fitness that winter required in those days was unlike what most people would think. People who knew they would need to either dig their home out or make supply runs on snowshoes or skis would lift weights for most of the summer, go through endurance training, possibly climb cliff faces in the area, and eat a very protein-heavy diet to support their muscular growth. And, once the snow set in, it was important to ensure that there was no deterioration of top physical peak. Indoor weightlifting exercises were critical to the masses.

Thankfully, the bluff home was large enough that all of them would be able to keep up their exercises. It was a matter of life or death for the research team.

It was after she had done her exercises that Jess ran into Marilyn. The other woman was clutching a book - something that looked like it was home made, or at least handwritten, and deep in thought. Jess muttered some kind of greeting to her, to make sure that the other woman knew she was there. Marilyn sucked in a breath through her teeth, and let it out, long and slow.

“Would you like coffee? I made some.” Jess said.

Marilyn nodded.

When Jess returned, nothing had changed, but it looked like Marilyn wanted to be left mostly to her own devices. Jess gave her the coffee cup, and went over to the bookshelf.

“Marilyn, is it ok if I pick out a book to read? I think it will be good to have a book while I’m here - these long winter days can get cramped.”

Marilyn nodded.

“Just be careful.”

“I know - these books must be worth a fortune.”