What's happening behind the scenes to bring new GHAWG content? The GHAWG Diaries is my recap of what I've been doing.
Base image came in another form from PublicDomainPictures.Net. Edits made using MS Paint.
Introduction
There's more to #GHAWG than just daily zapfic entries and the spreadsheet I use to track them. There's research. There's review. There's also thought and inspiration. Then there are the tools involved in doing any of those tasks.
Just to keep things from getting scrambled in my head, and also to document for myself what I've been considering, I began keeping a diary of my activities as they concern #GHAWG. With posts in the GHAWG, Uninterrupted series on hold at Interlude 3 while Act 7 remains in progress, I decided to share these diary entries with everyone on Hive blockchain.
On Mondays which don't feature a GHAWG, Uninterrupted post-- GHAWG-U-- I'll post diary entries from the previous 7 days or between GHAWG-U posts if the time between them is short. For Part 30, there are 7 days' worth of diary entries. The first entry starts on 2024-May-20.
Before anyone scratches their heads at a few terms, here are 3 I began using many posts ago:
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
Rat Bike | Code name for #GHAWG (the first and current zapfic serial) |
Blue Lion | Code name for the middle zapfic serial in the GHAWG Universe |
The Bronze | Code name for the final zapfic serial in the GHAWG Universe |
Monday, 2024-May-20
📓 After publishing TGD29, I went back to the zapfic queue. For the first time in about a month, I added new entries: 3 entries featuring pillow talk between The Newlyweds (David and Rhonda Bella Guardia). Nothing graphic, nothing adult, nothing off-color. Each answered the question "Am I your kind of...?" First thing's first: both are madly in love with each other, as if they were meant to find each other; and-- to a degree-- they were. David Guardia believes he found the woman of his dreams and more. Rhonda, on the other hand, was more realistic in her answer; even so, she is truly happy with her selection of a mate.
Tuesday, 2024-May-21
📓 In my effort to "redo" the New Mexico section of ther Old Route 66 storyline, I added more entries to the zapfic queue. The 3 pillow talk entries I mentioned yesterday are the first fresh entries in over a month, and they take place in Texas. The way I wrote them, they could take place anywhere along Old Route 66 and beyond.
What's ironic is that I chose the Old Route 66 storyline because I thought it was a story which could write itself. Route 66-- whatever path it actually took, especially in its heyday-- is the most iconic road in American history. Thanks to mass media and the invention of the automobile, Route 66 had become as much a cultural touchstone as The Empire State Building, Mount Rushmore, and the Grand Canyon. Yet I ran into my first serious case of writer's block as I was working on this storyline. Why would this be so? I'll need to explore that in a GHAWG Behind the Scenes post.
Wednesday, 2024-May-22
📓 Between Aníbal Rivera and Isis Chacón (character representations of respective real-life figures Geraldo Rivera and Iris Chacón), I published 8 zapfic entries at LeoThreads to replace or supersede their originals. Then I updated the spreadsheet I use to track these entries. Last step is to update not only the Weekly Summary posts but also the GHAWG-U posts. At the moment tech woes keep me from completing the updates; it's hard publish updated content when the DNS server is unavailable. As long as this is the case, I'll see how I can add to the zapfic queue.
Thursday, 2024-May-23
📓 It turns out that I have more zapfic entries which need too be redone. These include the name "Geraldo" without his last name (Rivera). Zapfic entries will need to be published to supersede the existing entries; then the spreadsheet needs to be update to ref;ect these changes; then the Weekly Summary posts and GHAWG-U posts containing these entries need to be edited and updated. With tech woes being what they are for me, I'll use whatever means work best for me at the moment.
Friday, 2024-May-24
📓 Today I spent time working on a post explaining how I handled my writer's block regarding GHAWG. Actually, it's about how I think I handled it. I'll know for sure when one of two conditions proves to be true: either I have 90 entries queued in advance; or for 30 days the queue has 30 entries each day.
📓 When I began GHAWG on 2023-March-05, my intention was for main character David Guardia to fulfill his dream of attending the annual motorcycle rally at STURGIS. Then I realized there was more to write about; much more. Along the way the simple zapfic serial GHAWG was transformed into the first of 3 zapfic serials in The GHAWG Universe. Rat Bike is the code name for this 1st zapfic serial.Rat Bike also includes the ride David takes long after leaving STURGIS. This ride can be split segmented into 6 segments: 1) Bayonne to STURGIS; 2) STURGIS to Portland, Oregon; 3) Portland to San Diego; 4) San Diego to Chicago (via Old Route 66 starting in Los Angeles); 5) Chicago to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; 6) UNC to Iowa. The moment David began riding along Segment 2, what began for him as his ride to STURGIS had been transformed into his Epic Ride. Currently David is riding along Segment 4. Once Segment 6 of his Epic Ride is completed, Rat Bike conculdes. That's when the sequel zapfic serial-- code-named Blue Lion-- begins.
Saturday, 2024-May-25
📓 Today I was able to publish the Weekly Summary post with a few hours to spare in the day. The last few weeks I've been publishing it just after Saturday turns into Sunday, so this was an improvement. Before I switched to the accelerated posting schedule of posting it once every 6 days instead of once every 7 days, Saturday had been the designated day for this post, and I was able to get it published during the daylight hours. Now I need to find a way to get back to the daylight posting time as quickly as possible.
📓 Although I'm still in the "redo" phase of the New Mexico and Texas segments of the Old Route 66 storyline for Rat Bike, I'm getting Felix Legion out of New Mexico and into Texas. Even with notes, I'm losing track of which additional entries go where. I'll need to take time to not only update but also to resequence the spreadsheet I use to track published zapfic entries. Between these gap-filling entries and those entries which will supersede existing entries due to name changes, I will need to supersede the GHAWG, Uninterrupted series of posts with what I call the GHAWG, Remastered series. Just as certain movies have been re-released in theaters under improved conditions (colorization, special effects, director's cuts, etc.), this is what I'll have to do with the GHAWG-U posts. Not even Act 1 escapes this re-mastering.
Sunday, 2024-May-26
📓 While looking at the digital maps showing the Texas portion of Interstate 40 (which overlaps much of Old Route 66), it occurred to me that when the time comes to port the Old Route 66 zapfic entries to long form content, much of the zapfic will disappear in order to focus on a few key moments. Many of the zapfic entries which will disappear are of the travel entry variety, and to compensate for those losses they can be handled in the same way Indiana Jones traveled from country to country.
For those zapfic entries which don't make the cut to appear in long form text, maybe they can be handled in the way the digital camera was used at the end of a couple of movies from The Hangover series. Maybe I figure out a way to handle these surplus entries in a way unique to GHAWG; I don't know, and at this time I can't say.
What I do know is that the zapfic entries give me raw material I can use for long form content later. If any major changes take place in how I tell this story, they will be made during this port from zapfic to prose.
When (and Where) To Catch #GHAWG
When
This is the normal schedule for the posting of content for #GHAWG:
● Daily -- Each zapfic entry is posted shortly after midnight, from New York
● Weekends -- Weekly Summaries (with modified screen capture from LeoThreads as cover image) are usually on Saturday, sometimes Sunday
● Monday -- Either GHAWG, Uninterrupted if present, or The GHAWG Diaries
● Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday -- GHAWG Behind the Scenes -- The goal is to publish these posts on all days not dedicated to the Weekly Sumamry, GHAWH-U, or The GHAWG Diaries (TGD). There may be days with no post, so I'll minimize those occasions as best as I can.
Where
● Daily zapfic entries drop at LeoThreads, usually posted shortly after midnight from New York (sometimes around noon)
● All long form posts-- Weekly Summaries, GHAWG-U, and TGD-- can be accessed using the #GHAWGnav sticky post or from my InLeo profile page
That's it for this edition of The GHAWG Diaries. I'm 
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