What's happening behind the scenes to bring new GHAWG content? The GHAWG Diaries is my recap of what I've been doing.
Cover image designed by @magnacarta using emojis and Excel 2007 for text. Minor 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 35, there are 7 days' worth of diary entries. The first entry starts on 2024-June-24.
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-June-24
📓 Normally I publish "The GHAWG Diaries" during the day time, but I expected to be offline much of the day. That's why I decided to publish this week's edition of TGD shortly after midnight. It was time for a new cover image design, so I went with emojis which reflect what happens when I work on The GHAWG Universe. The emoji for the diary was originally a pinkish color, so I changed it to a dark red. I would have changed it to Hive Red-- rgb(227,19,55)-- but it looked off against the black background.
Tuesday, 2024-June-25
📓 While reviewing the text file containing the zapfic queue I rediscovered some entries I decided not to use for some reason or other. A few were meant to be used "later," only "later" hadn't arrived. A few I had to leave behind because they would have made an already long sequence even longer. A few I decided to discard altogether. Whether I end up using these entries either as-is or in some other form, I will keep them in the text file but not include them in the zapfic queue. Speaking of which, I was able to add a couple of entries today. At the moment the zapfic queue goes through 2024-July-7, with {Felix Legion} riding past Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, US.
Wednesday, 2024-June-26
📓 For most of the day I was away from the computer. While walking through my neighborhood I was considering including a scene or two showing The Kids working on their college studies. {Sanjay Rampersad} and {Lionel Odunsi} would be reading and distilling their reading into notes. While both students are business majors, Lionel is more focused on administration (hence his Felix Legion identity as "Quartermaster") while Sanjay is a marketing maven. Maybe I could sprinkle an entry or two showing each student doing his thing. While I'm at it, maybe I should have the {Brothers Marchenko} show {Lindsay Etxeberria} how much they actually have in common as misfits from mainstream opinion.
Thursday, 2024-June-27
📓 Today I spent time studying digital maps of eastern Oklahoma while I was reading about stops along that portion of Old Route 66. As colorful as those places are, they weren't giving me ideas for scenes where Felix Legion could act as a group of for scenes where character interaction could take place. That's OK; not all entries need dialogue or story development. The purpose of zapfic as used in The GHAWG Universe is to get ideas out of my head and onto media. This way they serve as raw material for a more refined story I will tell in long-form format later. Although I want the zapfic entries themselves to tell a story, it is better suited for a continuous and never-ending story (like comic strips in newspapers or soap operas in radio and television).
Friday, 2024-June-28
📓 With the end of the zapfic queue fast approaching (2024-July-4), I decided to add 7 entries today to push the end to 2024-July-11. It's mostly travel entries explaining a bit about the destination covered by that entry. These 7 entries cover 2 days of rising along Old Route 66. The segment of road starts from before Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, US and ends in Joplin, Missouri, US. In between is the 13 miles of Old Route 66 contained by the state of Kansas. The characters have been mostly quiet, but they need to be on the move. After Missouri is Illinois, which contains the eastern terminus in the city of Chicago. There's at least one scene I want to develop between OKC and Chicago, at it seems it will take place in Chicago. If I can get more scenes along the way, great; otherwise, it's educational travel for the readers. Perhaps the zapfic serial will be easier to write when I resume improvising the routes taken? That is what I did for GHAWG & Rat Bike before I locked in the characters to Route 66. We shall see.
Saturday, 2024-June-29
📓 Much of my day was spent outside, so the Weekly Summary post will be published on Sunday instead. As I was runnung errands in 2 neighborhoods I was listening to 2 pieces of music: the Depeche Mode version of "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" and the cinematic Wonder Woman Theme from the DC Universe. I was considering scenarios for The Bronze, so that wasn't going to help me immediately. Even so, it's important to do worldbuilding. In the short-term, for Rat Bike, I'll need to find opportunities to show everyone in Felix Legion doing something. The Kids are responsible for their coursework even as they continue riding with David Guardia. The Brothers Marchenko need to expose Lindsay Etxeberria to anarcho-capitalist librian values to counter the intense ideological indoctrination she had undergone starting with high school. Slice of life zapfic entries will help in this.
Sunday, 2024-June-30
📓 Today I published the Weekly Summary post meant for publication yesterday. Currently the zapfic queue goes through 2024-July-14. Those entries have Felix Legion about to ride out of Oklahoma and into Kansas for just 13 miles; some trips to the loo last longer than the time it takes to ride 13 miles through Kansas. Maybe I'll alternate through travel entries, slice of life entries, and key moments. Although the characters are talking to me again, they aren't telling me much. For now, I'll just advance the queue an entry at a time.
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 
[!!]
Thanks for your time. Give the post an upvote or a reblog if you liked it. Feedback is welcome. Until next time!
[!!] -- Graphic signature was designed by @ahmadmanga
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