48lexr - Lex’s Notebook

Day 14 (20 in base 7) of writing my novel again

Woohoo! I'm at two weeks of consistent progress!

I expanded Part Two to around 7,500 words today, which makes the whole thing around the 19,000 word count. I don't know what my original estimates for this thing were, but my newest estimates for how long this thing will be are between 70,000 and 100,000, since I'm probably only 20% of the way through and I'm already almost breaking 20,000. Definitely not a bad thing, it's just how the story I'm trying to tell is coming out.

Tomorrow will be national Odapir day (I decree it!) because I need to flesh the language and culture out. While there's already a substantial mass to work with, it's not ready to be translating anything, and I need translations.

That's all for now. Stay tuned!

Day 36 (1:06) of rewriting my novel

Today was a day I didn't even think would be hard for me writing-wise, but it was. The vision in my head was "and Tagif, Hota, and Izi all go to Tolftorrijv uneventfully," but I decided to torture Tagif and Izi with their father's journal.

Xajas, Izi and Tagif's father, kept a journal off and on for like 900 years, and the last entry is about him battling his cancer. Here's a quote:

I told him to be loyal to himself first. Above all else, that is what he needs. I will always regret that I was not there to be with him when he needed me most. I believe it is his love that has kept me alive since Dolgof went away. That luck has run dry.

Last month, Lozef helped me write my will. I left everything to Izi. I explained to him everything I never could. About his mother, his sister, Lozef, the Heroes, and how his mother left the throne of Zeneste to him. Lozef promised she would see to it that I got it. 

But I know better than to be so blind to how lawyers work here. They're greedy. They'll rip the will to shreds if they ever get their hands on it. The courts refuse to digitize it, so once it's gone, it's gone for good. Lozef is smart, and she's clever, but she'll never be more cunning than those damn lawyers.

My only hope is that Izi is clever enough-and bold enough-to find this journal before it's all spoiled to him. That he may remember me for who I was: not through the rose-tinted glasses of a child, but through the retrospective eyes of a century-old man who died before he could ever truly know me.

And to Iziser, my loving son, if you are reading this, I owe you the world. You're a strong kid. You'll be an even stronger man. Whoever is lucky enough to share your company I adore. Relish your life while you have it, young man. There is no Hero of Life to keep us alive. Only ourselves.

Part of this is also to highlight how brutal and capitalist the Zenestian legal system is. After Xajas dies, no matter how hard Lozerief fights to protect him, everything is taken from Iziser, including his house. The lawyers destroy the will and take everything, agreeing never to speak of this. This is an unfortunately common practice in Zeneste.

it's the first draft it doesn't need to be perfect it's the first draft it doesn't need to be perfect it's the first draft it doesn't need to be perfect it's the first draft it doesn't need to be perfect it's the first draft it doesn't need to be perfect it's the first draft it doesn't need to be perfect it's the first draft it

me when the plot won't plot like it should

I’ve never read this book, I only watched the series on YouTube. I must read it at some point. David J. Peterson’s content on linguistics is immaculate.

I FOUND A BOOK

Look what we got from the library!!! Look at it! Look!

Now that we have The Book, there's no stopping us. You will all be drowning in words and grammar and scripts >:D

But seriously. If I had a flappy hands emoji, I'd be using it right now.

Day 31 (1:01 in extended base 30 base 7) of rewriting my conlang.

Poll at the end!

Groups of thirty days are easier to count than pure groups of seven days, so I will now be implementing an extended base 30 where the first digit will go up to 42 (30 in base 10) and the next digit will count in base 12. A complicated way of approximating the number of years:months:weeks-days I've been writing.

Today I remembered that I'm writing my novel and can do what I want, so I added a pretty direct form of foreshadowing by mentioning that Mostijv was going to find a huge lava monster (named Tev) who would help her rebel against the oppressive, Odapir government and form the White Army.

Today, I fleshed out more of the Western Zenestian languages, but I'm not done with sound changes and grammar yet, so be on the lookout for that.

Also,

Day 10 of writing my novel again. (13 in base 7).

Part 1 is done!! I stayed up late to finish it. The ending might be kind of lame so far, but that’s what my alpha readers are for! I really hope they come through because I need the feedback.

I’ll celebrate tomorrow. How, exactly? Not sure yet. I will update tomorrow.

Yeah lol I was just hoping there was like a quote in that excerpt that might be helpful. Wither is a rockin' name though. Like, crazy good.

Hey, guys, I cometh with a question.

Do you guys know any poetic words, phrases, terms, etc, referring to death? Stuff that's more neutral, or melancholic, something that acknowledges death as a necessity of life and deems it almost beautiful.

It can be from any language, so long as it carries the meaning.

For complete transparency: this is for the name of a faerie character who personifies death.

They describe themself as: "the leaf that is evicted from the tree. {T}he ageing bones of a feeble grandmother. {T}he rot that gathers on a dead animal, the bugs that feed on its carcass, and the entire process of death.

"In short, I am Dying."

But uh—that'd be a temporary name for her. I'm trying to figure out his "real name" so to speak. They're someone who takes joy in their reaper-like role and finds mortality (and mortals' attempts to escape it) entertaining. They find their own domain fascinating, but clearly a cause for others' suffering.

Just not hers.

Anyone have a word/name that carries those kinda connotations? Again: it can be from any language!

(i'd appreciate a reblog for visibility)

I'm getting REALLY angry at all "motivational" books / blogs / posts who keep saying things like "Stop watching TV / playing *World of Warcraft* and you will have a few hours a week to create a business / write a book / whatever".

Because I don't watch TV. I watched like two EPISODES of TV series last year. And probably no more than 5 movies of which some I didn't even finish.

I'm not playing video games. I wish I could but I don't have enough time.

I'm already sleep-deprived so don't even start with "Get up an hour earlier".

And I still can't gather more than a few minutes a day to work on my personal projects.

And even if I *do* find some time, sometimes I'm too tired or overwhelmed to do anything more challenging than going to sleep or scrolling my phone. And before you start with "So stop scrolling social media and you'll be able to write", just DON'T. At those times my level of focus is so low that I couldn't put two words together.

And I still WANT to do those projects. I NEED to be creative for my mental health.

So here's to those who - like me - have daily goals to write TEN words. No, NOT ten thousand or even a hundred. Just ten words. One or two sentences. If I'm lucky and can write a few hundred, that's great! But ten words are FINE. Do you know how many words I wrote yesterday? THIRTEEN. I had literally a few minutes.

I'm often writing on my phone because turning my computer on would eat up all the time I have to write. I don't have any special ritual with scented candles or special tea because all this setup takes too much of my time.

I'm writing all this because maybe you need to hear this.

Maybe you need to hear that setting tiny little goals is OKAY. You don't need to write thousands of words a day.

Maybe you need to hear that watching a movie or scrolling your phone when you're overwhelmed is OKAY. Having free time does not equal being able to do a task, especially a creative one. You can't be always on your 100% capacity.

Maybe you need to hear that there's someone out there (me) who is doing even less than you. If you add 20 words to your current WIP today, you're still ahead of me. So if you see those writers making amazing progress each day, just think there's me who's struggling to do 1% of that.

And that's OKAY.