Politics

I don't generally talk about politics. Not really even going to talk about it now. I consider myself pretty apolitical.

But do you know what gets my blood pressure up? Naked partisanship.

Seriously. Especially when it comes to the character of politicians. I mean, I understand the psychology behind wanting to rationalize the bad behavior of One's Favorite Politico, but it's still seriously irritating to see people blasting Others for precisely the same sort of behavior.

I so hate partisan politics. Hate it hate it hate it.

Words, Drill, et al.

1131 words on 10/2, tacked on to a measly handful on 10/1. About halfway through the final section, moving into the final scene, of the chapter.

Drill interfered with any sort of progress Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but I did still manage to get Chapter 14 outlined in a fairly reasonable fashion. It's occurred to me at this point that the chapters, to a certain degree, are becoming individual vignettes, strung together by common characters and themes and whatnot. At this point in the story, though, I think that works really well. There's so much going on that I really have to pick and choose the things I highlight in the text itself. Otherwise, this thing is going to drag on to 200,000 words and I'll get bored with it long about 120k.

What's funny, too, is that I know I can tighten up the first six or eight chapters. But then, I feel like I have enough material, setup, forshadowing, etc. to write a whole new Chapter 1 and push the current Chapter 1 back to Chapter 2. But I'm firmly committed to making that wait until I'm done with this draft. And then there's more still I could add, within those eight chapters that would not so much tighten it up, lengthwise, but just make it more concise to make room for the other stuff.

And drill was drill. I did the aforementioned outlining sitting against the wheel well of a Humvee trailer. Spent the whole weekend counting stuff and guarding stuff and listening to a silent radio, waiting for no one to call. Terribly exciting. Made me wish I had brought a book, but I'd forgotten.

Overheard: "So, does that mean two honests make a dishonest?" -- HM2 "Doc" G. to the Chaplain.