WRITERS RULE - #10kByLaborDay

Writing marathon #10KByLaborDay

Right now I am in the middle of the Twitter write-fest started by authors Valerie Cole and Jodi Meadows called #10KByLaborDay. I am having fun! In the middle of revise-hell (and make no mistake, revising is 80% pain & 20% joy) I am actually having fun.

Because I am in the midst of revising my sucky manuscript so that it sucks less, I am not actually able to count 10,000 words.  Deleting lines, rewriting scenes, checking the new subplots changes are through the whole book, etc. is my goal.  You know, butt in chair, chains on wrists, write, write, think, write some more. 

Since writing is so solitary – just you and your computer or you and a pad of paper -  having other writers participating, sweating, sobbing, struggling, and swearing (unfortunately, quite a bit of that happening here) gives me a base.  I am not alone this hour.  Others are swearing (probably) with me.

I am keeping my ass in the chair and fingers on the keyboard because I know there will be hourly check-ins and writers reporting their counts with happy faces or woeful words but we are all still trying.  These writers are over my shoulder, urging me on, quashing (for now) the nagging voice in my head to just give it up already.  It’s a boost, really.

A boost of energy.  A boost of support. A boost of confidence and optimism.

So let me rephrase my earlier statement.  I am in the midst of revising my COMPLETED, non-sucky manuscript so that it’s tighter, leaner, faster, stronger.

There, that’s better.

My manuscript is AWESOME!

Oops, too much.

This weekend we are a family of sorts.  We all write different things.  YA, contemporary romance, fantasy, thrillers, sci-fi adventures. We all know the solitude and frustration of writing the sentence or paragraph or scene that just isn’t good enough.

But this weekend we push on, because 10K is scary but not impossible.  Because we all need a reason and a boost once in a while. 

Because our friends might misread our emails and posts and think we are all running a marathon!

WRITE ON.

Midwestern town under siege

Wow.  I wanted my first post to be funny but events in Ferguson, MO dictate otherwise.

WTF.

Facts:

Michael Brown was killed by a police officer last Saturday evening.

The town of Ferguson reacted in outrage.

The police (Ferguson and St. Louis County) reacted to the town’s outrage with tear gas, rubber and wooden bullets, some tank thing, rifles, even arresting reporters from the Huffington Post and Washington Post and an alderman from St. Louis last night.

Everyone needs to CALM THE F DOWN.  There is just not enough information available to justify the freak out on both sides. 

Why was Mr. Brown shot?  Don’t know.   

Was he unarmed? Don’t know. 

Who is the police officer? Don’t know.

 Does that police officer have a history of targeting young black males? Don’t know.  

 Everything has been speculation, “eye-witnesses” are notoriously unreliable. There has been no substantial investigation information released, just a ramp up to police/soldiers as if defending the town from the enemy; in this case the residents of Ferguson, MO.  The police are sworn to protect and serve these residents.

What we do know, however, is that the citizens of Ferguson want answers.  So does the rest of the country.  Why don’t we have those answers on Thursday, when the shooting happened on Saturday?  If the officer gunned down an innocent man, let the justice system work. File charges, arrest him, fire him.  At the very least hold a press conference releasing what independent investigation has found so far in its search for the truth.  

I understand holding the officer’s name back.  This town is PISSED and the police fear for safety of the officer and his family. So get them to safety and announce the investigation results so far.  Why say nothing and show up looking like in invading army with tanks and rifles to a peaceably demonstrating town?  But these police soldiers ordered U.S. CITIZENS to stop taking pictures, manhandled and shoved U.S. CITIZENS, tear gassed and flash-banged U.S. CITIZENS.

Governor Jay Nixon announced pulling the St. Louis County PD earlier today. A start. On CNN Mayor James Knowles said he was too busy giving interviews to read reports and answer actual questions.  A back-slide. 

This is now much more than an officer’s terrible decision to use deadly force.

The horror and shock and disbelief and outrage of a small Midwestern town under siege by its own police force has stunned a nation and cannot, will not, be forgotten.