Saturday, September 16, 2023

Гей! Нумо, козаки по конях (Нумо, козаки, гей!)

Good Advices dot com in a nutshell… I hope

I’m doing a racery event for the next ten days for my virtual running club.

I know.

This is not a surprise.

For as much as I hate running I do it a lot… more than I would prefer to, that’s for sure.

But here’s the deal:

I’m running for a Handmaid’s Tale themed team and we’re supporting The Center for Reproductive Rights.

The Center for Reproductive Rights is a global human rights organization of lawyers and advocates who ensure reproductive rights are protected in law as fundamental human rights for the dignity, equality, health, and well-being of every person.

We envision a world where every person participates with dignity as an equal member of society, regardless of gender.

Where every woman is free to decide whether or when to have children and whether to get married; where access to quality reproductive health care is guaranteed; and where every woman can make these decisions free from coercion or discrimination.

So. Yeah.

I’ve never before tried to fundraise here and I’ve been more careful about posting my real name and photos of my face here. I suppose I should just go back and edit old entries, but I don’t care. If you really want to go THAT far back, well, you deserve a medal. Or maybe a stiff drink? A lobotomy? Maybe a pony?

Anyhoo.. my team name is OfFRC (FRC is my running club’s name.) and you can donate on the team’s page. If you want to, you could donate to me as well, if you know how to find me. My avatar is currently the same as my FB profile picture.

Also, there is a girl on my team with a very similar first name and my last initial. That is not me. If you click on me, you’ll see my full name.

If linking to the fundraiser outs me, then so be it.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

I just tried to log into my Wendell Gee gmail account with the user name WendellGrr1985.

Dude.

I’m not even angry at anything right now.

Except, maybe, my writer’s brain.

The words, they will not come.

I have all kinds of world building done and I’ve sketched out some bits, but actually writing the story is kicking my ass. I’m like a paragraph into the actual story and…nothing.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

I guess since I started talking about running, I might as well finish by talking about running.

Intervals.

I know I talked about them before, but I tried again last night.

I walked for about 8 minutes of the first mile because I couldn’t get the damn interval timer to work and then I started. I used 15 sec run and 45 sec walk as I didn’t feel like killing myself with a 30/30 - I’ve not felt well this week at all. Bunch of causes. No cures.

I did a mile at 15 sec run / 45 sec walk. I ran at 4.0 mph (15 minute mile) and walked at 3.3 mph (18 minute mile). I ended up averaging a 17 minute mile. A mile slower than Disney requires - and I am NOT interested in crossing paths with the balloon ladies in November.

For the last mile, I upped it to 15/45 with a 4.3 mph run (14 minute mile) and stayed with the 3.3 mph walk. I averaged a 16:42 mile.

I understand the underlying math and physics behind intervals, but I didn’t feel like I was moving faster. As a whole, I had one of my slower 5Ks ever, but I couldn’t walk at full speed while I was fucking with the app.

It’s amazing to see how they work.

I’ll be hopping on the treadmill soon - I’m waiting for The Ick to pass and then I’m going to attempt a 10K with intervals. I’ll probably stick to the 15/45 ratio at 4.0/3.5 (17 minute mile) for most of it. Maybe I’ll bump it to 4.5/3.5 for the second 5K. I always manage to finish with negative splits. It just takes me FOREVER to get going.

For future me: pace tables found here and run-walk calculator found here .

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

I’m not sure what does it for me - thinking about the Kozak dancing in the video (because OMG it cracks me up!) or the beat - but it is one of my favourite songs to run to.

Posted by Matty on 09/16 at 10:29 AM
#threewordscompletely randommusic is lifeMy brain is weirdrunningso many fandomsWritingPermalink

Monday, September 04, 2023

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

I certainly don’t write for the money.

In case you were wondering, the 2012-2022 NHL CBA is 540 pages of the driest legalese to ever exist.

I don’t even know how I got a copy of it, other than the fact that I worked in the NHL. There’s no real reason for me to have it, but I’m glad I do.

I make no secret of the fact that I write a lot of M/M fan fiction or read a lot of it.

Seriously, my Kindle Unlimited account history bounces between horror and gay fiction. I tried joining two different book clubs… I figure life is hard enough; why suffer through a book club’s suggestions? Read a biography? Why? Nobody interests me that much.

Anyhoo… professional writers will say that you need to read a ton to be able to write better. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I’ve always been a reader. Maybe that’s why I love to write. I write the stories I want to read. The ones that only exist in my head. Do I ever finish them? Rarely, but the writing is what’s important. Even if I have six WIPs right now, it feels good to write until I get bored with the plot or stuck because my characters don’t play nice.

Wow. That went in a completely different direction.

Let’s try this again:
I make no secret of the fact that I write a lot of M/M fan fiction or read a lot of it.

Seriously, my Kindle Unlimited account history bounces between horror and gay fiction. “Professional” writers will say that you need to read a ton to be able to write better.

So.

For whatever reason, there’s a TON of hockey romances being written. Gay fiction is not immune to this phenomenon, and well… I’m in the middle of a quest to read EVERY. SINGLE. BOOK. in this very specific sub-genre. (Sub-sub-genre? Whatever.)

Which brings me full circle to the CBA.

I hate world building. HATE IT. It’s the main reason I love fan fiction. Unless it’s an AU, there’s no reason for it.

Everyone who would read Harry Potter fan fic knows the stories, either from the movies or the books.

Everyone who would read Teen Wolf fan fic is probably familiar with the MTV show (not the 1980s movie. Oh, fuck, no.) - except for me. I had NO idea what I was getting into when I followed some random tag on AO3 and wound up reading Sciles. (YUK!). There was a deep dive into the show and yeah, I did it ass backwards, but I quickly fell in love with Sterek, Steter, Stetopher. (OK. So I’m obsessed with Stiles. What about it?)

Taking Harry Potter out of Hogwarts and putting him in a non-magical, hockey, universe seems relatively simple. He and Draco are on separate teams, they hook up over the All-Star break, then they hook up every time they play each other… smexy times happen, and then they wind up on the same team, and not so smexy stuff happens before the guaranteed HEA.

Except.

I can’t write the same sort of hockey fic the others write - where they gloss over the world because people have a basic understanding of pro sports. Some of them write beautiful descriptions of the game, but leave out everything and anything that helps show the true behind the scenes life of a hockey team.

I’ve worked in Community Relations, worked on the arena management side, and worked in an accounting department for both an arena and a team.

I understand entry level contracts and the salary cap. I understand the fear of being traded after making a city your home. I understand the pressure of winning a Cup.

I understand players and the game in a way that the other authors don’t.

And it’s leading me to get bogged down in world building.

I know it’s worth it, because it’s what I feel is missing every time I read one of the hockey books. (See? I write what I want to read.)

I’ve got team names, mascots, schedules, QMJHL / OHL teams, prep schools and colleges… I’m working on the NHL Draft and teammates right now.

I’ve got Harry being from Roxbury, a sort of rough Boston suburb. He’s poor, living with the Dursley’s and generally looking to escape - just like the ‘real’ Harry. Draco, on the other hand, is rich and privileged, and also looking to escape.

It’s important to me that people know how the Draft actually works and what an entry level contract looks like. What being bounced between the minors and the NHL looks like because that’s Harry’s path through the world of the NHL. A lot of those things will inform his decisions and make him the person he becomes. (Much like learning magic and facing down Voldemort every year forced him to become Harry Potter, the Savior of the Wizarding World.)

But, holy fuck, it is hard.

I’m a pantser. Never a plotter.

Writing something this detailed is so outside my comfort zone that I’m actually kind of enjoying it. I do need to plot the fuck out of it, though. Otherwise, nothing would make sense and I’m writing the same kind of ‘they meet, fall in love, become afraid to come out, love conquers all’ bulllshit I’m currently reading. (Yeah. I said bullshit. I’m trying to find that unicorn in all the gay hockey fiction… but we all know unicorns don’t exist. Won’t stop me from reading every single book, though.)

I’m also fighting the point of view issue.

In one of my HP fan fic groups, there was a HUGE discussion over POV in fics. Apparently, they have to be 3rd person limited since that’s how JKR wrote the story. (Fun fact, the first chapter of the first book - Philosopher’s Stone, thank you very much - is actually 3rd person omniscient; it’s a quick and dirty bit of world building, but as effective as anything I’ve ever come across.)

I like writing in 1st person, 3rd person omniscient when the mood strikes, but I can’t figure out how to tell this particular story. Do I write it strictly from Harry’s POV? Do I sprinkle in a little Malfoy? Does Harry tell his story in his own words or is it told from a distance?

I’m leaning towards 3rd person limited, because reasons, but it feels too limited to me. (HA!!!!)

I don’t know.

I sat down to write this entry thinking it would help me figure shit out, but now I’m more unsettled than before.

Oh well.

Maybe I’ll work on some Ukrainian stuff and maybe the website I started like a month ago and let this stuff get worked through subconsciously?

That actually sounds like a pretty good plan…

So yeah.

До побачення!

Posted by Matty on 09/04 at 09:36 AM
completely randomHockeyMy brain is weirdso many fandomsWritingPermalink