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 2 while Act 5 remains in progress, I decided to share these diary entries with everyone on Hive blockchain.
Once a week I'll post diary entries from the previous 7 days. For this initial post, I'll go back to the beginning; 16 diary entries are included. The first entry starts on 2023-September-16.
| Saturday, 2023-September-16 |
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| 📓 The serial is queued up until mid-November 2023. I don't have writers's block, but I hadn't been advancing the story for a while. I've been relying on Google Maps to give me ideas for new characters and developments based on locations. Where can I introduce a conflict? Where can I present an unexpected development? 📓 Today I reviewed Google Maps to see what towns were near the Pacific Coast Highway (California Route 1) south of Cambria and Vandenberg Space Force Base (formerly Vandenberg Air Force Base). Keeping the characters along the PCH, it turns out both places aren't that far from Los Angeles, California, US. I should be able to find a situation I can use both in #GHAWG and in sequel serials. 📓 Sometimes in my head I consider already existing music I know which can be used as a soundtrack for stories. Not that it ends up that way, but they guide me. While on foot running errands today I was letting "Pressure" by Billy Joel play on repeat. It doesn't fit with #GHAWG, but it's perfect for the final sequel series. |
| Sunday, 2023-September-17 |
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| 📓 This morning I was listening to Claire Littley's version of "Fly Me to the Moon" on repeat as I was reading. I needed to slow down my mind before I went to bed in the wee hours of today. Although I ame up with more ideas for the future, I'm stuck for the present. I'm still moving the serial through 2023-November, but it's more like a holding pattern. |
| Monday, 2023-September-18 |
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| 📓 Today was filled with appointments my mother needed to attend, so I was with her most of the day. Not much time to be online. However, it gave me time to consider what my GHAWG web site would look like once I figure out a concept. 📓 Currently, all I have to offer visitors is the story. Originally I was going to post the zapfic entries there. Then it came to me: Post GHAWG as a long form story, part by part. Zapfic was meant to get the ideas out of my head and into the world (in digital form, and onto the Hive blockchain). Anything beyond that would be a more refined version of the story. This means that I can shift elements around and redo some scenes (and even characters) to better fit a more traditional story format. Why do this? Here are some reasons:
📓 I know that several versions of the song "Route 66" (technically, "Get Your Kicks on Route 66") existed. The Brian Setzer Orchestra has a version performed in big band style; although I like big band music, this isn't what I was expecting for motorcycle music when I heard it on my CD. Long ago I heard a version by (I think) Depeche Mode from the mid-1980s. As the first version I heard, it established the standard for me by default. What I didn't know is that the song goes all the way back to the 1940s, and it was first performed by Nat King Cole. It's a good version, just not the version I was seeking. Chuck Berry has a version he performs on guitar, and this was more up my alley. The Rolling Stones modeled their version after the Chuck Berry version. I'll be listening to many versions of "Route 66" on my quest to find one which matches the mood of a lone rider on a mission and under the gun to get it done. So far the Depeche Mode versions fit this description, but I haven't found the version I first heard long ago. |
| Tuesday, 2023-September-19 |
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| 📓 I'm closer to finding a closing for #GHAWG. The final 2 people David Guardia was supposed to meet will appear in the 2nd sequel series. Now I have a way to wind down the post-STRUGIS portion of the story. The 2nd zapfic serial revolves around Peak GHAWG: David Guardia has everything going for him, only to lose it all. If he was a prophet figure (like Moses or some other Old Testament prophet) in GHAWG, then by the end of this sequel series he is transformed into a Job-like figure. He will have many reasons to give up the faith, yet he will not. The final zapfic serial sees David Guardia spending the final years of his life in prison before he is pardoned. He will have one final mission, only this time he will be delivering justice instead of messages. (Yes, I've seen too many action movies over the years; but can I offer something original?) When #GHAWG starts, David Guardia is already old enough for a mid-life crisis. By the end of the 3rd zapfic series, he will be in his 70s. When he meets Rhonda Bella in #GHAWG, she's near age 40. The middle serial is where both finally get to live the good life and realize many dreams. In the final serial, not so much. 📓 While I've been using a spreadsheet to store zapfic entries, I was still copying and pasting zapfic entries into Windows Notepad before editing the content to be published. Although I could get away with using that approach for Weekly Summary posts (7 zapfic entries on 2-month delay plus annotated comments), it wasn't working for me with GHAWG, Uninterrupted which can have 20-30 zapfic entries or more.I spent much of the day figuring out a formula for advanced text processing. The formula itself is bits and pieces of smaller formulas and literals pieced together to make one long string of Markdown code. After I figured out how to fetch the correct values, then it was just a matter of copying the proper final formula down the column containing this manufactured markdown code. Interlude 2 of #GHAWG will be the first chance I get to use this helper code. Next is Act 5, although that won't happen for a while since it is still in progress. |
| Wednesday, 2023-September-20 |
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| 📓 It's been a while since I wrote about spreadsheets. I also made modifications to the spreadsheet I use to store raw data and related metadata regarding zapfic entries I use for #GHAWG. So much of the day was spent writing a high-level description of this spreadsheet and how I use it. There are a few more things I need to write about, and then there are the screen captures and graphics edits. While I can't say when I will publish these posts, I can say it will be soon. Not Sooniverse Soon, but soon. |
| Thursday, 2023-September-21 |
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| 📓 I'm looking at a section of Southern California north of Los Angeles. It will be a few weeks before the zapfic serial reaches this area, but I need places and situations I can use to wrap it up. I have a couple of scenes I want to record to blockchain, but they can't happen in the area of the map I'm reviewing (between Cambria and Vandenberg Space Force Base). With the number of named characters active at this stage now at 8, I can always write zapfic entries which develop the characters more. I think at each stop on the way to San Diego I'll write entries featuring everyone. For the zapfic serial, it will be long. After I transform the zapfic serial into a long form story, then it won't seem so long. 📓 NFTs-- it's one of those things I know about yet can't explain even after over 2 years on the blockchain. I see where NFTs make sense within the context of games such as Splinterlands and Rising Star. What I don't see is how NFTs can be used in terms of #GHAWG in its current form. Then again, Coindesk makes NFTs out of its articles, so there must be something I can do along those lines. When it comes to NFTs, I claim ignorance. All I know is that I should have enough content to be able to tap into NFTs somehow (the zapfic entries themselves, the characters, the items associated with the characters, etc.). It's getting from content to NFTs which is making my brain hurt. |
| Friday, 2023-September-22 |
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| 📓 Next week I begin to include bonus entries made specifically for #GHAWG. After getting Biblical in Seattle a short time ago, zapfic entries featuring the aftermath of David Guardia's words to Seattle government begin to appear. 3 bonus entries just on this alone will be published along with the main zapfic entries. 📓 With 3 stories flaoting around in my mind-- 4 if you consider the post-STURGIS portion of #GHAWG a separate story-- I've been tossing around alternative versions of story elements I want to post to Hive blockchain when the time arrives. I feel good about a zapfic entry I want to write which will take place at Venice Beach. As much as I want to include a villain I consider somewhere between Ra's al-Ghul and Darth Vader, I need to follow sound advice and let the flow of the story dictate the characters I end up using. Maybe I end up creating a better character this way. Even if I never create this character, I need to get the story set before I can consider options like that. My final zapfic serial is easier for me to conceptualize than my middle. This is because while the final is essentially one stream of events, the middle involves many discrete scenes which need to be unified somehow. |
| Saturday, 2023-September-23 |
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| 📓 Offline matters took priority, so I didn't spend much time with #GHAWG beyond posting the daily zapfic entry at LeoThreds. With what I had been doing the previous few days (either on computer or simply thinking), my subconscious mind must have had plenty of material to consider. |
| Sunday, 2023-September-24 |
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| 📓 With my schedule scrambled the last few days, I needed to get back to my routine. Monday is another 2-for-1 post publishing day, so I had to get the 2 posts ready. This meant updating my spredsheet so that it could build strings of Markdown codes for me. Verifying that output was correct wasn't difficult, but it took a lot of time because I had to define the Markdown templates. |
| Monday, 2023-September-25 |
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📓 Today I published 2 posts for what I call a 2-for-1 special. The Weekly Summary post usually published on Saturday was published in the morning; this one featured zapfic entries 148 through 154. The GHAWG, Uninterrupted post usually published around lunch time on Monday was published Monday evening; this one featured Interlude 2.📓 The Excel formulas I made to build the Markdown template worked well. The only manual changes I made were for things such as carriage returns and emojis; the Markdown itself was coded well. 📓 Due to rendering glitches in the LeoFinance front-end, I had to modify the Excel spreadsheet I use to track my work for #GHAWG. This even affected the Markdown templates I created recently. During the week I'll edit existing posts to compensate for these glitches. Chief among them is any Markdown which uses [ *]-- the asterisk character-- in any way. This affects not only cosmetic formatting such as bold and italics, but also functional formatting such as unordered lists and horizontal line breaks. |
| Tuesday, 2023-September-26 |
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📓 The GHAWG, Uninterrupted series of posts-- GHAWG-U-- will be on hold for a while since Act 5 is in progress. For now, GHAWG-U pauses at Interlude 2.📓 Since the main character, David Guardia is a motorcycle courier who is transformed into a prophet by The Lord, it makes sense for me to do research on what it is to be a prophet. As a Roman Catholic needing improvement, my research begins with the Bible. However, I need some guidance in my research:
I know enough to say that prophecies aren't required to be about predicting the future. They can be about issuing reminders (such as the Hebrews being slaves in Egypt) and warnings ("If A, then B, else C"). So far David Guardia has acted as a prophet one time: when the riders passed through Seattle, Washington, US. I'll need one or two more instances, one of which needs to take place in Southern California. As I learn more about the nature of being a prophet, I'll publish posts on the topic and tie them to #GHAWG. |
| Wednesday, 2023-September-27 |
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| 📓 Besides actual content for #GHAWG (zapfic entries, long form, or [eventually] screenplay), I need to find #GHAWG-adjacent posts to publish. These can take the form of character sketches, dossiers, and items found in the serial. With GHAWG-U on hold until Act 5 ends, I'll need alternative content to publish. This is where The GHAWG Diaries fills the void. I began this earlier in September as a way to document what I'm doing for the zapfic serial besides the actual zapfic entries. |
| Thursday, 2023-September-28 |
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| 📓 This morning I made a breakthrough with #GHAWG as the zapfic queue reached the final days of November 2023. Everyone had reached Los Angeles, California, US by this point. Compared to New York City, which is about 15 miles wide from the Hudson River to JFK Airport, Los Angeles is roughly 90 miles across. That's about three-quarters the length of Long Island. I included a couple of small-scale short-term predictions of the future. More importantly, I reached the scene I had wanted to write for a while. 📓 With everyone in L. A., it's just a short time before they reach San Diego, home base for Harry Hoqualogue and The Mongols who ride with him. This is where David Guardia's crew and The Mongols depart. How much I write after that, I can't say because I don't know. |
| Friday, 2023-September-29 |
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| 📓 Although I spent much of the day away from my spreadsheet and text files, I found a way to develop Rhonda Bella as a character when I switch from the zapfic format to long form post. If David Guardia is being used as a prophet, then Rhonda Bella will be used as a dreamer. She won't be doing as much dreaming as David does his job as a prophet, but she will have her moments. The zapfic form of #GHAWG can be considered a first draft of the story, so that's OK. |
| Saturday, 2023-September-30 |
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| 📓 Given what I realized yesterday, I went back to my spreadsheet to find the second zapfic entry where Rhonda Bella appears; this time, she was in Iowa. This takes place between entries 96 (where David Guardia is direcetd to the Harley-Davidson dealership) and 97 (where he is at a bar). Besides posting the intended zapfic entry for 2023-October-1, I will post a bonus entry I can treat as 96A. This is not a flashback, but rather a new entry to backfill a void from earlier in the story. |
| Sunday, 2023-October-01 |
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| 📓 Yesterday I spent much of my writing time adding to the zapfic queue I keep in a text file. When the day started, the queue was up to 2023-November-27. By the time I went to bed, the queue jumped to 2023-December 22. I can still add to the queue, only there will be days which have more than one entry to account for different sets of characters. Hint 1: A few zapfic entries take place in Riverside, California, US. This city is between 90 and 100 miles (about 145 and 161 kilometers) north of San Diego. Hint 2: Much of the December 2023 portion of the queue takes place at San Diego after David Guardia and The Mongols led by Harry Hoqualogue part ways. Hint 3: For December, text and tone will be noticeably different from what had come previously. Had this been a different kind of story, it may even get more attention; no matter-- it's part of my plan to go into sequel zapfic serials. 📓 Today I took #GHAWG into 2024. Zapfic entries go through the end of December. I still have bonus entries I want to include, but I can work on those another time. During the Iowa to STURGIS portion of #GHAWG, I was making up characters at random (except for Rhonda Bella, since I had her in mind from the start). Going into 2024, I can develop a more cohesive story involving these characters. At this time, they need to go back home or at least from where they began their rides-- -- Except for David Guardia. His ride to STURGIS was the start of a new life for him, so he's not going back to Bayonne, New Jersey, US. The city kid needs to get used to living in the Midwest. 📓 It took me long enough, but I found a simple concept for a cover image for posts in this series. The base image comes from PublicDomainPictures.net, and I made simple edits using MS Paint. Could I have used image-oriented AI programs? Yes. I didn't want to end up going down the rabbit hole, which is why I opted for the old-school method. |
Navigation to Other GHAWG Diaries
As more posts become available, this section will be updated with links to them.
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
Where
● Daily zapfic entries drop at LeoThreads, usually posted shortly after midnight from New York (sometimes around noon)
● Both kinds of posts-- Weekly Summaries and GHAWG, Uninterrupted-- can be accessed using the #GHAWGnav thread or from my LeoFinance profile page
This week I hope to have more content published and recorded to Hive blockchain.
That's it for this edition of The GHAWG Diaries. Thanks for your time. Give the post an upvote or a reblog if you liked it. Feedback is welcome. Until next time!