And so it goes...

NaNoWriMo is over and I failed miserably; 35,000 words. Turns out writing on weekends is kind of tough for me. What it is, in case you haven’t heard, is an annual novel writing event. If you write 1,666 words per day, every day in the month of November, you should have a 50k word novel by the end of the month. I figured I’d throw my hat in to see if I could do it and I was off by 9 days of writing.

Of course, the 50k is only a sliver of the overall novel I’m writing. I started with the idea of doing something smaller and more manageable and now I’m at 320 pages (105k words, including NaNoWriMo’s 35k), and I look to have another 100 pages to go.

The 35k was quite a bit, though. It took me from the banking consortium celebration party at Mont Saint Michel to the chase protagonists in a Bugatti Chiron vs. antagonist in a Koenigsegg One:1. Oh, and Bunny stole a French Tiger HAD chopper and is making life near impossible for our boys in the Chiron. Yeah, it’s that crazy.

Next, I’m writing the prelude – where our antagonist sets the wheels in motion. The location is inspired by an upcoming level from the Rainbow Six: Siege game. It’s going to be set on a Tokyo pagoda-style castle built atop a flat-topped skyscraper and accessible only via helicopter. That’s my afternoon.

I’m reading First In: An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan, by Gary C. Schroen, with another stack of similar books waiting on my nightstand. I’m diving deep into the waters of our U.S. military, and of the recent foray into Afghanistan. In part, as a backstory for my lead, and in part because I’m rather fascinated by how the war machine operates. This story looks at it from a soldier’s level, but I also intent to study the broad spectrum, and tell things how I see them. Honestly, what I’m seeing isn’t all that nice.

It’s December now, and the year is almost up – and boy, what a year for movies if you’re a geek/nerd like me. I’ve missed Arrival, but that’s on the slate for this weekend, and I can’t wait until Rogue One and Assassin’s Creed. Yeah, my excitement level is much, much higher for the Star Wars movie. I’m eager to see how a non-Skywalker storyline does in the theaters. I think it’s a test for things to come and if it does well, we can expect more original stories set in the universe.

So far, I’m torn between Deadpool (one of the first I saw all year), and Moana (saw it twice last weekend), as my personal movie of the year. Civil War and Finding Dory are also in there. I do have a question; Pete’s Dragon. Worth it? Not worth it? The trailers did little for me and as someone who saw the original movie as a kid and didn’t much care for it, I couldn’t muster the excitement to take my girls to go see it. Movie most likely to toss Deadpool/Moana from the 2016 title? Rogue One. Man, I'm looking forward to that one.

TV. Well, I’m still reeling from the summer. Game of Thrones is something I’ve talked about at length, something I had a hard time understanding; but wow, this season just sat on my chest and smacked me around. And that ending! Westworld is knocking it out of the park every week, and I can’t wait for the finale this weekend. No, I don’t want to theorize. I just want to watch and get blown away. My wife and I are also catching up on Stranger Things. I know…we move slowly over here.

Product note, isn’t https://www.sunfrog.com/108869394-270836086.html?35517 the coolest thing on the planet? You hear me wife??? Fk it. I’m buying it for myself.

Oh, and I tried this face shaver thing that I have to recommend for bros with heavy facial hair. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D328DH8 . It’s not as close as a razor, not by a mile, but if you need to dump the fuzz in five minutes, dry, then this sucker’s amazing. I get nothing in return for this plug, FYI.

And onto Blackjack. Just random thoughts, guys, nothing serious…I don’t want the next book to be “Blackjack Established”, “Blackjack Set and Done.” I know we have to avoid emo-B from book 2 as much as possible, but I also don’t think it works if he’s fully accepted. And besides, there’s plenty of people that will never accept him as a “good guy.” One of the things that I’ve been told about book 3 is that it feels like a transition book. Well, I think Blackjack is a transition character. He’s a flawed guy, who ultimately helps the good cause, right? But he’s not a traditional good guy, and I think it’d be foolish to pretend that he fits in. In fact, I think it’d be awesome for Blackjack and others to make that mistake. Book 4 is going to touch on that at first. Going forward, though, I don’t think we’re ever going to have a Blackjack Hero book.

Soon as we finish Pats, it’s on to B4. 

(PATS word count: 119k. Page count: 334. Percent completed: 3/4s.)