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1. Today was the first full day of the Ithaca Festival. This means the Commons were absolutely swamped with people -- especially since it miraculously failed to rain! -- and PM staffed the smoke shop a little more heavily than she otherwise does. Also, MS came up with the brilliant marketing idea of putting a sign out front proclaiming "Cold Water under $1!" with a big red arrow pointing in toward our store.
I worked 4-9pm. MS was on the clock until at least 4:30 rather than 4pm, and AO was there until 7pm rather than 6pm, and I am very glad. We needed that extra staffing to get anything done.
On a random positive note, I made $7 in tips tonight, which is noteworthy both because people don't usually tip clerks, and because I didn't do anything special -- just basic customer service like getting out a new carton of cigarettes for a woman, and pointing out to a man that he had the Friday racing form rather than the Saturday one, and was he sure it had the information he needed for tomorrow's races? So that was nice.
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2. I edited ch. 6 of Strange Likenesses so the flow at the end of the chapter is less abrupt and jerky, and posted it on ff.net. That story had gone nearly as long without an update as "Guardian" had, so that's nice too.
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3. And on that note, tonight I made a proper outline for ch. 14 of "Guardian." I have a timeline, organized by days post-massacre, which I fill in ahead of myself as I finish chapters and thus crystallize various story paths into reality. Sometimes it gets quite detailed, but a lot of it reads like... well, like this:
Day 9
--before dawn, Naruto and Sasuke stow away in a wagon
--Yukiko schmoozes with some casual acquaintances; maybe talks to Kurenai
--Kakashi summons his nin-dogs and begins trying to find Itachi's back trail
--evening, Naruto and Sasuke are discovered as they try to sneak out and eat dinner; Yukiko tries to cope without breaking cover
or
Day 13
--anything that didn't happen on Day 11 or Day 12
--people traveling
--Tetsuko, Eiji, and Ginji talk about Eiji's plans, Hidden Cloud, and Akatsuki. They receive a message from Kisame telling them he will arrive tomorrow.
It's more a way of keeping myself oriented so I don't accidentally leapfrog one story thread over another than an actual scene-by-scene breakdown. So when I make chapter outlines, I have to take this general mishmash and figure out where to start and end a scene, what the point of said scene should be, and also sometimes where to take something like "people traveling" and spin that into a scene about Yukiko figuring out what to do with the boys when they reach Tengai, or Sasuke practicing ninja skills by spying on the merchants in the caravan. In the case of more detailed notes, I sometimes need to decide what to leave out, or occasionally where to break a long scene to create anticipation for the next chapter.
Anyway, I have an outline for ch. 14 now, which is the main point. "Guardian" is logistically complicated enough that I don't dare start writing until I know where I'm going, but now that I know... well, hopefully ch. 14 won't take another two and a half years to write, is all I'm saying. *grin*
And that is the nicest of all.
I worked 4-9pm. MS was on the clock until at least 4:30 rather than 4pm, and AO was there until 7pm rather than 6pm, and I am very glad. We needed that extra staffing to get anything done.
On a random positive note, I made $7 in tips tonight, which is noteworthy both because people don't usually tip clerks, and because I didn't do anything special -- just basic customer service like getting out a new carton of cigarettes for a woman, and pointing out to a man that he had the Friday racing form rather than the Saturday one, and was he sure it had the information he needed for tomorrow's races? So that was nice.
-----
2. I edited ch. 6 of Strange Likenesses so the flow at the end of the chapter is less abrupt and jerky, and posted it on ff.net. That story had gone nearly as long without an update as "Guardian" had, so that's nice too.
-----
3. And on that note, tonight I made a proper outline for ch. 14 of "Guardian." I have a timeline, organized by days post-massacre, which I fill in ahead of myself as I finish chapters and thus crystallize various story paths into reality. Sometimes it gets quite detailed, but a lot of it reads like... well, like this:
Day 9
--before dawn, Naruto and Sasuke stow away in a wagon
--Yukiko schmoozes with some casual acquaintances; maybe talks to Kurenai
--Kakashi summons his nin-dogs and begins trying to find Itachi's back trail
--evening, Naruto and Sasuke are discovered as they try to sneak out and eat dinner; Yukiko tries to cope without breaking cover
or
Day 13
--anything that didn't happen on Day 11 or Day 12
--people traveling
--Tetsuko, Eiji, and Ginji talk about Eiji's plans, Hidden Cloud, and Akatsuki. They receive a message from Kisame telling them he will arrive tomorrow.
It's more a way of keeping myself oriented so I don't accidentally leapfrog one story thread over another than an actual scene-by-scene breakdown. So when I make chapter outlines, I have to take this general mishmash and figure out where to start and end a scene, what the point of said scene should be, and also sometimes where to take something like "people traveling" and spin that into a scene about Yukiko figuring out what to do with the boys when they reach Tengai, or Sasuke practicing ninja skills by spying on the merchants in the caravan. In the case of more detailed notes, I sometimes need to decide what to leave out, or occasionally where to break a long scene to create anticipation for the next chapter.
Anyway, I have an outline for ch. 14 now, which is the main point. "Guardian" is logistically complicated enough that I don't dare start writing until I know where I'm going, but now that I know... well, hopefully ch. 14 won't take another two and a half years to write, is all I'm saying. *grin*
And that is the nicest of all.
