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Filler Post and Updates

Hello Readers!

I know I have been gone for a little bit, but I was on vacation!  I had brought devices to blog as I was there, but then decided once I was on my vacation that I would enjoy being with loved ones and not worry about blogs or even writing.  So this post is sort of going to be a quick 3 for 1 blog post: Stats, Writing stuff, and Faith.

I won't go into specific writing stats for the week of May 30-June 4 but here are some major updates:

I typed up Chapter 2 of my Haunted House project.  The chapter itself is 1667 words but I want my chapters for that project to be 2000 to 2500 words so I have some work to do on that chapter.

I also did some more work on the handwritten draft of Chapter 2 of my Haunted Hotel piece, but haven't finished chapter 2 or anything.

There will be NO stats blog tomorrow, as I didn't really do much writing over my vacation.  The only writing I did do was on a short story.  The prompt was given to me from a fun fact that my dad texted me. Thanks dad!

I spent the first part of my vacation was spent in Seaside, Oregon.  I learned how to go Razor Clamming, which was not only important for me as a person, but also as a writer.  As someone who lives with anxiety, I tend to be too nervous to try new things for fear of being laughed at or thought of as a failure.  Also, as someone who grew up in or near a big city, I never had to do much manual labor.  But clamming left me with blisters on my hands, sore muscles, and made me break a sweat.  I am very inspired by Southern Gothic Literature, and Small Town Americana - but I am hardly the type of person who has lived either of those lifestyles, but now I have something to work off of.  Do I know what its like to plow a field or have to harvest my own food? No. But, I can clearly recall the beads of sweat on my brow, the pain all over my body that lasted for days, and the sharp pain in my hands from the blisters.  This can all help me to "write what I know" and to write within the genre that I want to write in, which loosely is the horror genre, but definitely inspired by Southern Gothic Literature (think: "To Kill a Mockingbird") and Americana.

As I was walking the beach, I saw "See God?" written in the sand.  I really wanted to take a picture of it to post here.  The beach has always been a spiritual place for me, even before I had religion.  I am always amazed at the power within the ocean, as well as how large, and how deep it is.  We have explored so much of the ocean, and yet there is still so much that we haven't discovered.  A lot like our relationship (or at least mine) with God.  I didn't take a picture of the note in the sand though. Why?  Because I left my phone in the hotel room.  I couldn't take a picture of the note in the sand, or of this amazing sand sculpture of a veteran holding his fallen friend, which moved me more than I expected it to the longer I looked at it.  I didn't take a picture of the sunset, or seagulls or funny signs.  I really really wanted to.  But, the longer I went without my phone, the more I realized how much I rely on it to keep memories for me.  But now I have those memories with my significant other (who was with me) and we can talk about them and remember them together. They are OUR memories, not the worlds.  Not the internet's.  It's a difficult habit to break.  The first thing I want to do is take a picture of my food, or my view, or whatever.  My first instinct should be to take it in.  To savor it for myself.

Okay.  Regular post updates will continue from here on out (except NO stats post tomorrow).  Here are some goals for the week:

Get Chapter 2 of Haunted House project to at least 2000 words.
Work on Short Story.
Keep working on Chapter 2 of Haunted Hotel project.

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