The exercise:
On this 1,400th day in a row of Daily Writing Practice, it seems appropriate to write about: routine.
Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Nickb and Jackerbie from Protagonize for lunch in Penticton. I've met Nick once before, so if I go missing under mysterious circumstances you know it's all Jack's doing.
Mine:
I considered making today's prompt dedication, or maybe persistence, but in the end felt like neither of those painted an accurate picture of how I view this blog. Because, honestly, there's not a lot of either of those things involved.
At some point every day, usually in the evening, I sit down at the laptop, bring up this site, and figure out what word or phrase or exercise I'm going to write about on that day. And then I write.
Simple as that.
It's no more of an effort than eating breakfast or taking a shower or checking my email. It's just something I do, day after day, and that number up top there just keeps getting bigger.
Okay, there are some days where it's a whole lot harder than any of those things.
Calm yourself down, eh? You've perfected a step-by-step process for this stuff. Breathe in, breathe out. Woo-sah.
ReplyDeleteHe might be the most high profile target yet, but you can do this, alright? It's all in the routine, just follow convention. You knew from the beginning this day would come sooner or later.
One step closer to the top, right?
CheshireGrin was the first step up, and jdxx was relatively easy despite the significant investment of resources.
Comparatively, Eloosive is just walking right into your hands.
Now just keep it quiet, Jack, keep calm. One step at a time. This will just be practice for taking down the big guy, right?
Soon you'll be the king of Protagonize.
///
heh. heheh. heh.
but seriously, looking forward to seeing you guys tomorrow! hopefully the weather holds and will make for spectacular surrounding on Okanagan Lake.
This sounds like a meeting of Protagonize royalty then... I shall look forward to hearing about this lunch. Unless of course, what happens in Penticton stays in Penticton.
ReplyDelete@Jack: Eloo's easy to take out, he's short ;-) And he's got reflex reactions too. Just use a razor-blade-lined frisbee at head-height and you're sorted.
@Marc: You make writing sound so very easy! 1400 days is still a lot though, and worthy of Congratulations.
Routine
"What the hell is that?"
"Routine."
"Huh?"
"Routine. It's fried chips of root vegetables covered in cheese curds and gravy."
"That's poutine, you nebbish."
"No, poutine is when you use potatoes – french fries. This uses root vegetables other than the potato, and I'm calling it Routine."
I don't miss this routine at all.
ReplyDeleteWork
The alarm goes off at 4:30am, like every weekday since forever. I lay in the dark waiting for inspiration to hit me so I can get up and drag some clothes on. It’s blacker outside than the inside of my dirty oven but the dog looks at me expectantly then looks at the door then looks at me, then looks at the door. Okay it’s the least I can do for you seeing as you are going to be stuck in the house for the next twelve hours. Twenty minutes later we are back at home she has finished smelling all the doggy newspapers, she is content and goes back to bed, I head for the shower. It’s still too early for breakfast when I jump in the truck and pull out onto the highway. Happily the roads are clear and dry today it makes it a lot easier to dodge stray elk, deer, and moose. An hour later I swipe my security pass and drive through the gate it’s still dark and the snow is starting to come down heavy. Better now than on the highway. I smell diesel as I walk across the parking lot into the general office. Heavy equipment rumbles in the distance.
“How was the night,” I ask Jen at the security desk.
“Same old, same old,” she says and yawns.
My office is cold and dark when I flip on the lights. I stick my laptop back onto it’s mount then head to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee and stick my lunch in the fridge. Three hundred and seventeen new emails; twenty seven from my boss. I manage to get through a hundred before I hear the murmur of people coming in on the crew bus.
“Hi boss,” Jody sticks her head in the office. “Staff meeting today?”
“Yup. Just a short one I have a senior staff meeting at seven thirty.” I smile at her.
“Meetings,” she snorts and we both shake our heads.
Let the games begin.
Marc, congratulations for keeping it up thus far! Really impressive and please do keep it going :)
ReplyDeleteQuite fitting your piece for today. Greg's right, you do make writing sound so easy :p
Jack - there's a familiar name! I've been away from protag from so long (unintentioally) I really need to get back on there and do some proper collab :) Have fun with the meet up!
Greg - after reading your piece I feel like chips!
Here's mine...
Routine
"Can you do something for me?" asked Linda in a panic.
Shona stopped typing and uttered an aknowledging mmmhmmm to her nearby supervisor. She thought she could guess what she was going to be given. Another exciting research task. Another phonecall to an important official perhaps. Or even better, another meeting she would have to attend.
A huge stack of documents suddenly brought her to attention as they landed, or rather were slammed down on her desk. Shona looked up with raised eyebrows from her behind her glasses.
"I need all these scanned in and sent off to the client in an hour. Can you do that? Can you get it all done by then? Make sure they're all in date order too." Linda said it all in one breath as she smoothly made her way back to her chair and started hammering away on her keyboard again, now in complete oblivion, relieved that she had she offloaded the most boring task in the world to someone else.
Great, thought Shona to herself, another hour of good old-fashioned routine. And she reached for her stress ball and chewing gum.
The establishing of a writing routine seems to be the worse part. There are days I really stuggle.
ReplyDeleteHave fun in Penticton, Your lunch "dates" seem like they'll keep you entertained =)
Here's mine:
“Mom!” The girls screamed in unison.
“What? Can you not yell through the house?”
Having been asked the same question many times throughout the day the girls simply responded, “You have to come sit and watch our show.”
“Another one?” Mom left the laundry basket sitting on the utility room floor and took a seat on the living room couch.
“Introducing Lena and Brina’s World Famous Comedy Routine!” The girls bowed and mom clapped.
“Hey Lena, How do you wake up Lady Gaga?”
“I don’t know Brina, How do you wake up Lady Gaga?”
“You poke her face.”
Mom laughed, as both girls took turns taking exaggerated bows.
“Thank You, Thank You very much.” They repeated over and over.
Mom sat quietly on the couch waiting expectantly for another joke to be told.
“Mom! That was the end of our show. You’re supposed to leave now!” Lena said before grabbing her sister’s hand and running toward the computer in search of new material.
I’m back from vacation and promise to get into the routine of posting regularly again. I was doing pretty good until then actually. And if I don’t come back with my protagonist from the other day (the song prompt) This will just have to count.
ReplyDeleteAnd Jack, no taking out of Eloosive! I like his daily prompts. Besides if try to take out the Protagonize boss man I’ll get his Loki crew, from our DaoC days, together and we’ll be after you *MUA HA HA HA HA HA HA* Hem
*giggle fits*
@Krystin, I am a date to no one! Unless they bribe me. Which I guess Nick has done.
ReplyDelete@Elo, I'm can be a very snickety and snively person. That means I'm sneaky and cant be trusted. See, "I only Speak the Truth" for proof of this.
@Eloo, I promise not to make an attempt on your life or dignity. I will make no such promises on behalf of any soups, sandwiches, or beverages you might consume.
Routine
ReplyDeleteEvery day it’s the same.
I wake up at six, roughly with the sun. I stretch and have a wash, drink some milk and then find a sunny corner for a nap.
Around ten I decide it’s time for a walk. I don’t get very far because the neighbour’s sunlounge on the patio looks inviting. If I sneak in quietly no one will notice me there with my feet up, sleeping the hours away.
At lunch time I pop home for a dry snack and a drink of water, then I pop back next door for a cuddle with the lady there once she’s home. She’s nice. I sit with her awhile, humming as she chats to me about her day.
Around four it’s time to meander on home. The kids come home from school then and present me with a gourmet meal which I down readily. They play with me for a while; we play soccer a lot, it seems to be their favourite.
After dark it’s time for bed so I sleep in mine but when everyone’s asleep I raid the kitchen for food, prowling around for anything the others might have left out. Sometimes, just to break the routine, I go outside and pick a fight with one of the neighbourhood gang but the bites and cuts aren’t really worth the adrenalin rush, although it does elicit sympathy and extra attention from her next door.
All in all, it’s not a bad routine in this cat’s
life.
JorJack - ah, those are a couple names from the past. I suppose I can say that at least now I know what happened to them...
ReplyDeleteHah. T'was good meeting you today. Glad the weather agreed to play nice for us :)
Greg - well, I did ask Nick whether the reservation would be under The King of Protagonize and his Two Trusty Henchmen.
And I am of average height! Just because you are freakishly tall does not make me short!
Ahem.
Your Routine sounds intriguing. I might have to try it!
Iron Bess - oof, that does sound like a routine not to be missed. Love the bit with the dog at the start though :)
Watermark - thank you, and I don't plan on stopping... ever.
Ugh, I remember getting crap jobs like that. The impossible deadlines actually managing to make the task even worse.
Krystin - hahaha, oh my. Sounds like that show of theirs will be putting on quite a few performances before all is said and done :)
Cathryn - welcome back home! I hope getting back in the swing of things isn't too much of a struggle!
JorJack (again) - the lack of attempts were appreciated :P
Writebite - excellent use of perspective here; particularly enjoyed the visits to the neighbors :D