She has relapsed. My Muse, which had been gaining strength in recent weeks, has taken a step backwards.
"Can't you put forth a greater effort?" I implored.
"Can't you?" she replied. "I was doing well and ready to make a full recovery during your trip, but you got lazy."
That stung...mostly because it had the ring of truth. I was averaging over a thousand words a day and made plans to write 10,000 over a three day period during a business trip when I slipped up.
Anxious to deflect blame, I stammered, "Y-yeah, well you should been louder in my ear."
"I don't have that strength yet. Two years ago, I'd have been right there with you, but after being forgotten for so long, I need you to make the effort. Instead, you felt like you had to see the same Big Bang Theory episodes you've already watched seven times."
I wanted to argue more, but she was right. My plane ride was six hours of boredom that I broke with the plane's inflight entertainment player. And all the while, my laptop sat in the overhead bin. Sure, I could've pointed out that I was in the middle seat on the way to Arizona, but that was just another excuse...the latest in a long line I've used for the last 18 month.
So I pulled up to my computer, adjusting the tightness of the seat as I sat, and hunched over the screen. "David is starting to build momentum for his resistance group. Are the people at the farm going to follow him to Ouachitta Lake?"
"Why do they need to go there?" she asked.
"I don't follow," I replied, genuinely perplexed. "If he's going to create a worldwide movement capable of challenging the aliens' dominance over the planet, he needs people to follow him."
"True, but following doesn't always mean to a new location." When she saw I still didn't understand, she continued, "He's at a farm that has shelter and food. It's isolated, and the enemy isn't going to find him there for a while. Why not build that as an initial base of support?"
I hadn't thought of that. My plan had always been for him to get into the mountains and start hit and run attacks against Little Rock.
As if reading my thoughts, she said, "The mountains will make it harder for him to get to where he needs to go. The farm, while off the main road, provides enough for him to get in and out. Plus, the people at the farm are more likely to participate if they don't have to leave their home."
That made sense, so I belched out another 500 words about David convincing them to take in him and his three companions. David brought weapons, and Danny provided shelter. The enemy wasn't as aggressive now that they'd leveled everything around, so they had breathing room. I wrestled with what to do with the next counterattack, but I knew the farm would provide intriguing possibilities for the rest of the story.
My Muse got up from her bed and brushed back my hair before whispering the next bit of dialogue in my ear. It was good to have her back, but she still required care.
"Can't you put forth a greater effort?" I implored.
"Can't you?" she replied. "I was doing well and ready to make a full recovery during your trip, but you got lazy."
That stung...mostly because it had the ring of truth. I was averaging over a thousand words a day and made plans to write 10,000 over a three day period during a business trip when I slipped up.
Anxious to deflect blame, I stammered, "Y-yeah, well you should been louder in my ear."
"I don't have that strength yet. Two years ago, I'd have been right there with you, but after being forgotten for so long, I need you to make the effort. Instead, you felt like you had to see the same Big Bang Theory episodes you've already watched seven times."
I wanted to argue more, but she was right. My plane ride was six hours of boredom that I broke with the plane's inflight entertainment player. And all the while, my laptop sat in the overhead bin. Sure, I could've pointed out that I was in the middle seat on the way to Arizona, but that was just another excuse...the latest in a long line I've used for the last 18 month.
So I pulled up to my computer, adjusting the tightness of the seat as I sat, and hunched over the screen. "David is starting to build momentum for his resistance group. Are the people at the farm going to follow him to Ouachitta Lake?"
"Why do they need to go there?" she asked.
"I don't follow," I replied, genuinely perplexed. "If he's going to create a worldwide movement capable of challenging the aliens' dominance over the planet, he needs people to follow him."
"True, but following doesn't always mean to a new location." When she saw I still didn't understand, she continued, "He's at a farm that has shelter and food. It's isolated, and the enemy isn't going to find him there for a while. Why not build that as an initial base of support?"
I hadn't thought of that. My plan had always been for him to get into the mountains and start hit and run attacks against Little Rock.
As if reading my thoughts, she said, "The mountains will make it harder for him to get to where he needs to go. The farm, while off the main road, provides enough for him to get in and out. Plus, the people at the farm are more likely to participate if they don't have to leave their home."
That made sense, so I belched out another 500 words about David convincing them to take in him and his three companions. David brought weapons, and Danny provided shelter. The enemy wasn't as aggressive now that they'd leveled everything around, so they had breathing room. I wrestled with what to do with the next counterattack, but I knew the farm would provide intriguing possibilities for the rest of the story.
My Muse got up from her bed and brushed back my hair before whispering the next bit of dialogue in my ear. It was good to have her back, but she still required care.
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