The GHAWG Diaries, Part 11

What's happening behind the scenes to bring new GHAWG content? The GHAWG Diaries is my recap of what I've been doing.

^{Base image came in another form from PublicDomainPictures.Net. Edits made using MS Paint.}

Introduction

There's more to #GHAWG than just daily zapfic entries and the spreadsheet I use to track them. There's research. There's review. There's also thought and inspiration. Then there are the tools involved in doing any of those tasks.

Just to keep things from getting scrambled in my head, and also to document for myself what I've been considering, I began keeping a diary of my activities as they concern #GHAWG. With posts in the GHAWG, Uninterrupted series on hold at Act 5 while Act 6 remains in progress, I decided to share these diary entries with everyone on Hive blockchain.

On Mondays which don't feature a GHAWG, Uninterrupted post-- GHAWG-U-- I'll post diary entries from the previous 7 days or between GHAWG-U posts if the time between them is short. For Part 11, there are 14 days' worth of diary entries. The first entry starts on 2023-December-11.

Before anyone scratches their heads at a few terms, here are 3 I began using since the previous post:

Term	Meaning
`Rat Bike`	Code name for #GHAWG (the first and current zapfic serial)
`Blue Lion`	Code name for the middle zapfic serial in the GHAWG Universe
`The Bronze`	Code name for the final zapfic serial in the GHAWG Universe

Monday, 2023-December-11
📓 Today I added more information to the character dossier for David Guardia. It took me longer than I had expected because it involves details and situations I hadn't considered fot zapfic but which become important for long form content. As I work on more of these character dossiers, I'll come up with more details which need to be included.

Tuesday, 2023-December-12
📓 It took longer than I had expected, but Act 6 for #GHAWG is in the books. Act 6 contains 92 zapfic entries. Many zapfic entries take place within the same day in story time. More characters are involved, so they need opportunities to be seen and heard. Some bonus zapfic entries were added either to fill gaps which existed before Act 6, or they are part of Act 6 as part of a parallel storyline (such as the aftermath of David Guardia's prophesying at the Seattle block party). When I publish the GHAWG-U post for Act 6 on Monday, the hardest part for me will be making the cover image; the post won't be difficult to make, just long. The bonus entries which were added out of sequence to fill in gaps from earlier in #GHAWG will appear at the end of the post. The bonus which were added in-sequence will remain where they are.

Tuesday, 2023-December-12

📓 It took longer than I had expected, but Act 6 for #GHAWG is in the books. Act 6 contains 92 zapfic entries. Many zapfic entries take place within the same day in story time. More characters are involved, so they need opportunities to be seen and heard. Some bonus zapfic entries were added either to fill gaps which existed before Act 6, or they are part of Act 6 as part of a parallel storyline (such as the aftermath of David Guardia's prophesying at the Seattle block party). When I publish the GHAWG-U post for Act 6 on Monday, the hardest part for me will be making the cover image; the post won't be difficult to make, just long. The bonus entries which were added out of sequence to fill in gaps from earlier in #GHAWG will appear at the end of the post. The bonus which were added in-sequence will remain where they are.

Wednesday, 2023-December-13

Wednesday, 2023-December-13
📓 Today I began Interlude 3 for #GHAWG/`Rat Bike` for 7 days, zapfic entries will be posted for the main plot (the honeymoon for David Guardia and Rhonda Bella) and the subplot (The Kids {Sanjay Rampersad, Lionel Odunsi, and Lindsay Etxeberria} and the Brothers Marchenko {Hank & Frank} planning the ride back east as far as Chicago, point of origin for Old Route 66). I did my best to be as tasteful as possible for the main plot, so it's as #NSFW as readers want to make it in their own minds. Readers of a certain age or recreational inclination will understand certain references in the main plot. As for the subplot, it's an opportunity to show that The Kids and The Twins (Hank & Frank Marchenko) aren't NPCs. When the parallel stories end and everyone is reunited, it will take many zapfic entries just to get out of San Diego as Our Heroes (now numbering 7) begin the 2,000-mile ride east along Old Route 66 from the Santa Monica Pier. Whatever people thought about #GHAWG until this point, they have to admit that this part of `Rat Bike` is different in tone. `Rat Bike` ends when everyone is home, so this will take another 3,000 miles of riding. After that, `Blue Lion` begins by jumping quickly through the first few years after the Epic Ride.

📓 Today I began Interlude 3 for #GHAWG/Rat Bike for 7 days, zapfic entries will be posted for the main plot (the honeymoon for David Guardia and Rhonda Bella) and the subplot (The Kids {Sanjay Rampersad, Lionel Odunsi, and Lindsay Etxeberria} and the Brothers Marchenko {Hank & Frank} planning the ride back east as far as Chicago, point of origin for Old Route 66). I did my best to be as tasteful as possible for the main plot, so it's as #NSFW as readers want to make it in their own minds. Readers of a certain age or recreational inclination will understand certain references in the main plot. As for the subplot, it's an opportunity to show that The Kids and The Twins (Hank & Frank Marchenko) aren't NPCs.

When the parallel stories end and everyone is reunited, it will take many zapfic entries just to get out of San Diego as Our Heroes (now numbering 7) begin the 2,000-mile ride east along Old Route 66 from the Santa Monica Pier. Whatever people thought about #GHAWG until this point, they have to admit that this part of Rat Bike is different in tone. Rat Bike ends when everyone is home, so this will take another 3,000 miles of riding. After that, Blue Lion begins by jumping quickly through the first few years after the Epic Ride.

Thursday, 2023-December-14

Thursday, 2023-December-14
📓 Today I wasn't at the computer that much. While shopping through the neighborhood I was listening to my preferred version of "Route 66" and a few versions of the Wonder Woman theme and a few other songs unrelated to GHAWG except for tempo. I found myself thinking about these questions: Could there be stories in The GHAWG Universe taking place in other countries? Yes. Would I be writing them? Maybe. How likely is it that I will write these stories? Not likely. For starters, I want to get through `Rat Bike`-- the original GHAWG-- first. Next, I want to see what it's like to publish and present content for the two sequel series, `Blue Lion` and `The Bronze`. Finally, where would the additional stories take place? While my knowledge of the United States outside of New York and New Jersey is absolutely limited, I can get away with keeping the story contained within that limited knowledge base. I won't have that luxury with a GHAWG-type story set in, places such as (for example) Australia, Canada, Latin America, India, Russia, or parts of Africa. All I know is that one key element of any such story is that the main characters ride motorcycles (or suitable alternatives such as mopeds, whatever is commonly used in those regions). Could I write a GHAWG-type story which uses minivans or family wagons? Motivator, please!

📓 Today I wasn't at the computer that much. While shopping through the neighborhood I was listening to my preferred version of "Route 66" and a few versions of the Wonder Woman theme and a few other songs unrelated to GHAWG except for tempo. I found myself thinking about these questions:

Could there be stories in The GHAWG Universe taking place in other countries? Yes.
Would I be writing them? Maybe.
How likely is it that I will write these stories? Not likely.

For starters, I want to get through Rat Bike-- the original GHAWG-- first. Next, I want to see what it's like to publish and present content for the two sequel series, Blue Lion and The Bronze. Finally, where would the additional stories take place?

While my knowledge of the United States outside of New York and New Jersey is absolutely limited, I can get away with keeping the story contained within that limited knowledge base. I won't have that luxury with a GHAWG-type story set in, places such as (for example) Australia, Canada, Latin America, India, Russia, or parts of Africa. All I know is that one key element of any such story is that the main characters ride motorcycles (or suitable alternatives such as mopeds, whatever is commonly used in those regions).

Could I write a GHAWG-type story which uses minivans or family wagons? Motivator, please!

Friday, 2023-December-15

📓 While walking through my neighborhood and the next neighborhood I was listening to some tunes from my recent "playlist"; among those were variations of the cinematic Wondoer Woman Theme. I was considering some details for Rhonda Bella's past. While David Guardia's story is more of a public story, her story is more personal in nature. How was she able to earn degrees in both [physics and engineering]()? What kind of [relationships]() did he have? When did she become an [ice road trucker]()? Although I've settled on a few details, I have no timeline for them. So I'll let the subconscious keep churning through ideas and concepts before I develop her story.

📓 One theme which runs through GHAWG is redemption.In some way ot other, the main characters get to start witha clean slate. David Guardia began his reset when he began his Epic Ride, and the reset itself was reset with the near-death experience which transformed him. Rhonda Bella, at the point we meet her, had her own reset. Harry Hoqualogue is an ex-convict who served time for murder. Hank & Frank, the Brothers Marchenko, had been inveterate sports gamblers. Both Sanjay Rampersad from India and Lionel Odunsi from Nigeria are living new lives in the United States as exchange students. Lindsay Etxeberria was a professional leftist activist who was this|close to commiting suicide.

Another theme, related to redemption but rarely discussed, is misfits finding ways to belong. David himself was having his own mid-life crisis when he began his Epic Ride. Rhonda's advancing age and he above-average height presented her with her own set of challenges. If The Kids were misfits due to their status as foreigners with student visas, The Twins were misfits due to their political and philosophical beliefs as anarcho-capitalist libertarians. Lindsay was already on the edge, and she was on the outs in her own way. Harry was coming to realize that living The Mongol Lifestyle was a younger man's game, and he's older than David. David's Epic Ride brought them all together, and they do all they can to achieve their immediate goals. Even after they separate, they stay united as a group. Together they can be considered God's Top Ten. Who are the other two? They will be revealed in Blue Lion, and they wouldn't be who any of us would expect.

In the case of The Kids and The Twins, they had some degree of faith supporting all they did.

Saturday, 2023-December-16

📓 Today I published the Weekly Summary post. The upcoming GHAWG-U post for this Monday covers 91 zapfic entries for Act 6, so I need time to prepare that post. Even though the dirty work is done by the spreradsheet I used to generate the table of zapfic entries, I still need to massage that data to make it readable on Hive. Then I need to proofread it to make sure I'm not using "old" content or leaving typos which can break the HTML/Markdown codes used in the post. I knew this was going to be a huge post; I just didn't expect it to cover nearly 90 zapfic entries. With a couple of out-of-sequence zapfic entries among them, I needed to decide how to handle those; I ended up noting them in their place before displaying their contents at the end of the section.

Sunday, 2023-December-17

📓 Today I continued work on tomorrow's post `GHAWG, Uninterrupted: Act 6`. While summarizing Act 6 it occurred to me that it would be useful for me to have a reference indicating first-time appearances of people, places, things, and events. This is what I will be working on for the next few editions of `GHAWG Behind the Scenes`. I will still do Fun with Maps posts as part of GBTS (`GHAWG Behind the Scenes`), but this series of reference posts offer more utility right now. The first post for this reference will feature characters (main, supporting, and NPC {non-playing characters; known as "extras" in earlier generations}). LeoGlossary this reference is not, but it has the same functionality.

Monday, 2023-December-18

📓 Since today I publish `GHAWG Uninterrupted: Act 6`, this edition of The GHAWG Diaries goes into a 2nd week. I began working on the GHAWG reference I'm calling a List of Firsts. This list of firsts features characters and where I find them. For GHAWG Act 1, most characters are actually NPCs. Also, none but 2-- and those happen to be famous people-- have names; this means that all their appearances are by reference. This means I need to list many characters twice: their debut by reference, and their debut as a named character. I made my first pass throught Act 1. Tomorrow I go through Act 2 and as far as I can beyond that. I have a cover image concept in mind for this post, only I can't work on it until this first List of Firsts is complete.

Tuesday, 2023-December-19

📓 I was offline much of today; I was lucky to be able to post the daily zapfic entries for #GHAWG.

As I was thinking about the work I need to do to make that List of Firsts post, it occurred to me that I could put the various types of first in their own lists during my first pass through the various posts in the GHAWG, Uninterrupted series. Originally I was going to make one pass just for characters, then another pass for paces, etc. While using Windows Notepad to make the first list, I realized I was getting bogged down with HTML/Markdown. So I'll use a spreadsheet to compile these lists and then sort the content as needed. As I did for other posts, I'll use the spreadsheet to build the HTML/Markdown codes used for each line item; then it's just a matter of copying and pasting data.

Wednesday, 2023-December-20

📓 The spreadsheet containing data for the Lists of Firsts is in progress. Data comes from posts published in the GHAWG, Uninterrupted series. So far, the early posts were made in a format different from that used for more recent posts. That meant I needed to edit those posts to use the newer post format. Although Act 1 only had 24 zapfic entries, it needed to be updated a few times to account for both formatting and typographic errors.

Thursday, 2023-December-21

📓 Yesterday I reveiwed "GHAWG, Uninterrupted: Act 1" for data I could use in my Lists of Firsts spreadsheet. Today I was able to get through Act 2 and Interlude 1. It was the same situation as before, only with less post edits and more time for review. I'll need more time to get through my review-- especially when I reach Act 6, which comprises about one-third of Rat Bike with 91 zapfic entries.

📓 Later today I went back to the digital map to see how I could add to the zapfic queue (currently at 2024-February-22). At the moment Our Heroes are riding through western Arizona and passing by many towns. It's a sequence similar to Indiana Jones flying, where we see numerous sign posts over a map of the era. What's the last scene featuring any of Our Heroes? Rhonda Bella suggests to David Guardia-- now her husband-- that he let his hair grow now that his hairline is at a good location. Until then, he had been shaving his head regularly, and she even helped him at least once with that task.

Friday, 2023-December-22

📓 My work on that List of Lists spreadsheet for the series of List of First posts I want to publish brought me to Act 3. As far as characters are concerned, there won't be many more first appearances (either by reference of by name). However, there will be first occurrences for places, things, events, and whatever else I find notable. Much of my Hive activity today is focused around compiling this spreadsheet.

Saturday, 2023-December-23

📓 After I published the Weekly Summary post, I spent time studying the digital map of Arizona to see where I could find a place for some action in the Old Route 66 portion of Rat Bike. As of today, the zapfic serial is in the later stages of Interlude 3. Once Act 7 starts in January 2024, Our Heroes-- now numbering 7-- begin their ride east along what would have been the Route 66 immortalized in song and music. With this weekend leading to Christmas Day, I won't have much time for GHAWG-related activity (or any other online activity). This is my chance to do more than just post the daily zapfic entry and publish the Weekly Summary post.

Sunday, 2023-December-24

📓 When the day began, the zapfic entry queue was at 2024-February-22. After revewing the digital map of Arizona between Ash Fork and Joseph City, I was able to advance the queue to 2024-March-01. Aside from Our Heroes going bowling and The Newlyweds sharing a brief public moment, the zapfic entries were mostly Our Heroes in motion on the road. I'm expecting similar zapfic entries for the ride east through New Mexico (which is also mostly desert). Timing will be off between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day tomorrow, so I'll be publishing this edition of The GHAWG Diaries early Monday morning, Christmas Day.

Navigation to Other GHAWG Diaries

As more posts become available, this section will be updated with links to them.

When (and Where) To Catch #GHAWG

When

This is the normal schedule for the posting of content for #GHAWG:
● Daily -- Each zapfic entry is posted shortly after midnight, from New York
● Weekends -- Weekly Summaries (with modified screen capture from LeoThreads as cover image) are usually on Saturday, sometimes Sunday
● Monday -- Either GHAWG, Uninterrupted if present, or The GHAWG Diaries
● Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday -- GHAWG Behind the Scenes -- The goal is to publish these posts on all days not dedicated to the Weekly Sumamry, GHAWH-U, or The GHAWG Diaries (TGD). There may be days with no post, so I'll minimize those occasions as best as I can.

Where

● Daily zapfic entries drop at LeoThreads, usually posted shortly after midnight from New York (sometimes around noon)
● All long form posts-- Weekly Summaries, GHAWG-U, and TGD-- can be accessed using the #GHAWGnav sticky post or from my LeoFinance profile page

This week I hope to have more content published and recorded to Hive blockchain.

That's it for this edition of The GHAWG Diaries. I'm @magnacarta (graphic-signature made by @ahmadmanga) ^[!!]
Thanks for your time. Give the post an upvote or a reblog if you liked it. Feedback is welcome. Until next time!

[!!] -- Graphic signature was designed by @ahmadmanga