I had my novel draft open and was looking through the chapters - I thought about revising my outline and doing chapter outlines....
Then I caught myself.
I looked at the clock and saw the last two hours of NOT WRITING fly past me. And now it's already past noon and I can't stop thinking about sandwiches. So now I have to waste another hour to go eat (while watching Youtube because that makes lunch way funner). Losing my morning to an "should i edit" fantasy is kinda discouraging, but it also strengthened my will power not to do it.
I will not edit goshdarnit until December, when it's official editing month, and I have my dragon-slaying-50k- winner tshirt!!
Just wanted to get that out of my system. What I did do this morning with a lovely 3 more cups of coffee was scribble some hand-written notes about the next scene in my chapter. At least typing them up will jump start me into writing again for today! I'll just have to suck it up that my morning is gone.
**UPDATE** I was able to get up to 43,534 words today. I'm still a day ahead weee!
EXCERPT
Here is what the test is all about. Looking back at my excerpts, you probably have no idea why they are even performing trial tests in the first place. Oh the mystery! But hopefully you can still enjoy the writing.
=================
The doors opened to reveal a dimly lit
hallway. Even through the darkness Jason could tell this room was out of place.
The walls curved around them to form a tunnel of hard, chiseled granite. The
stone made a weird contrast with the neatly placed white metallic tiles under
their feet. The only source of light came from the floor, a musty orange glow
creeping through the tile cracks. Jason
couldn’t see but a foot in front of him.
The place was quiet and the orange
ambiance made the place look haunted. They have no choice but to move forward.
Shiri moved in front of him and stopped, starting to hum to herself in thought.
When Jason joined her, he began to frown as a tingling sensation filled his
mouth. His lips contorted and opened to expose his teeth like he just ate
something spicy. “Hmm my lips are tingling!” he said out loud.
“My
teeth are buzzing too,” Shiri replied. She flicked her tongue over her teeth.
Taking another step forward, she kept poking and prodding around her mouth with
both hands. With her next step, Jason heard a faint click of a lock being
released.
A deep vibration began in the walls, along with the room’s audio
system cracking to life. “Don’t move!” the old man’s voice blared out.
Shiri froze into place as a rushing sound
of wind grew into the sweep of a hurricane; a giant wooden mallet the size of
a house swung from one side of the wall to the other. In defense Shiri crossed
her wrists to protect her face. Jason grabbed her elbow to pull her out of the
way. In the moment, he swore the gray material on her hand began to shine. Then she
screamed and fell backwards into his arms.
“What
in the world?!” Jason sputtered and inspected his sister’s contorted
face. “Shiri are you okay?” His frantic babbling must have reached her and her
eyes fluttered open. She looked weak and in pain. He cupped the side of her
face with one hand, his touch making a fragile smile appear on her face. Now he
was angry.
“You
have got to be joking me!” Jason yelled toward the corners of the room where he
assumed the cameras would be. “I thought you wanted to test your experiment,
not kill us!”
“Perish
the thought young man,” came the voice on the speaker, along with a snicker. The
volume got lower like he was talking over his shoulder and spoke. “That was a
bad pun wasn’t it? Ahem anyway - Now I did warn you not to move, didn’t I?” his
voice came closer to the mic. “The data I just recorded from the element
responding your vitals is amazing. Just listen to the rest of my instructions
and you’ll be just fine! Carry on then.”
Jason started barking out insults when he
realized there was no response. Shiri patted him on the chest and shifted to
get up from his arms. “Hey it’s okay. I feel better now; I’m not hurt or
anything.” Jason took her hand and helped her to her feet. She pulled on the
muscles in her arm, looking to see if everything was still intact. “Yep, still
in one piece.”
“Maybe
it’s better if I lead from now on,” Jason offered, his voice still tense.
“Be
my guest.”
Jason put his senses on high alert and
led his sister forward into the room. As they did, the tiles behind them
started to illuminate. The back of the room was now lit up in a bright green
light, while the piece before them was still covered in shadow.
“Let
me explain what we’re trying to do here,” the old man spoke over the intercom.
“Have you ever heard of a centuries old scientist named Ivan Pavlov?”
“Err,
not really,” Jason spoke and warily inspected each step before he took it.
“The
man was a brilliant researcher in the field of classic conditioning. He
developed a specific reflex among animals when combining two different types of
stimuli. Smart man, but I would rather test my theories on a more modern
animal. Humans!” the man exclaimed with a sense of triumph. “I want test how
well you rely on your senses. I will combine a specific energy pulse with a –
shall we call it – dangerous situation. Will you trust your eyes or your senses
to complete the trial successfully?”
“What
is that supposed to mean? That every time I’m about to get smashed with a
flying a hammer, you’re gonna vibrate my teeth?!”
“I knew you would pick this up
quick!” the man said.
“He
really is one of our best volunteers so far, isn’t he?” the distant voice
sounded like Sun.
“I
couldn’t agree more my dear.”
“Okay
enough conversations,” Jason growled back. “Just tell me how to get out of this
room in one piece.”
“Oh
well, it’s quite simple. Just get to the exit at the other side,” the man said
in a thoughtful voice.
“Right,
easier said than done,” Shiri griped under her breath.
Jason ducked, ran, crawled and
wall-jumped around seven different hammers that popped out of the dark hallway
walls. Shiri screamed, fell, and did some kung-fu magic to follow behind him.
Each set of floor tiles lit up the room as a hammer was passed successfully.
Now at the end of the long chamber, Jason and Shiri limped over to the double
glass doors they assumed was the exit. For a moment they just slid to the
floor, exhausted.
=================
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