 We good we good. I'm alive I'm live not I'm alive too, but I'm live a lot Anyways, how y'all doing the power just blinked if I disappear, you know why you can see I'm covered in rain We had a tornado come through last night Didn't come anywhere near us, but around us so yeah Hi I'm alive, and I'm live So today we are doing Flash fiction under a thousand words You can see me you can see me now, but if I suddenly disappear I will be back as soon as the Yeah, as soon as I can anyways, so First order of businesses. I want to share a personal story That means a lot to me and I want to tell you guys about it Because it just struck me yesterday that me and my oldest have been doing something that Has meant the world to me and but it's one of those things that I didn't even really It didn't sink in until I started thought started thinking about the story that I'm gonna be writing today So way back in the way back 2005 Shell is pregnant with our first baby, okay? At that point in time I was driving a Gold Nissan maxima that had a both-seat system in it and that thing sounded clean as hell clean So we were constantly jamming constantly playing bands like slipknot mud vein system of the down A bunch of different stuff some rap some hip-hop all that stuff thrown in together All the stuff that they that they now listen to So I've been taking Dan back and forth to work Every not every day, but every day that they were taking them back and forth to work And as soon as they get into the car they grab the ox cable They put it in or actually Nowadays, it's 104.9 the gump is what we listen to because it's all the classic alternative rock music They throw in some metal some hip-hop some things from back in the 90s that kind of thing So what we've been doing is before it was the ox cable and now it's you know 104.9 and it's a 25 minute drive from our place to where they work Every single day we rock out together for those 25 minutes It's a total of 50 minutes out of the day because we rock out on the way there Rock out on the way home. Sometimes the way home is quieter because they've had a bad day or they're not feeling it or whatever but still I Didn't realize how important and I Don't know poignant is the right word how much that touched me like how much that I Don't know it just go. I love stories that go full circle Stories that start in one place and end in the same place, but the people have changed Um, and it's it's kind of that circular narrative When I'm talking about this You know we we used to rock out me and she'll used to rock out to these songs and that was a bonding experience and in in the womb Dan would rock out to and the kicking the You know moving around, you know wiggling around and now I get to sit next to my 18 year old Child and rock out to the same music And it hit me How important those times are and It's not about conversations. It's not about Not even bonding. It's just about sharing that experience together and It it made me emotional So I wanted to share that guys that that story with you guys And I absolutely loved it it and now I need to talk about the story that I'm writing Because if I just flash up what it's called, you're gonna be like wait a second. How does any of this make any sense? Why this this story this title is inspired by this, you know a beautiful story the The story is called the fucking game and There's a quote from Harlan Edison Ellison not Edison from his sorry, let me go back. Let me go back. So you guys can see it I have this little book of antidotes by Harlan Ellison that my buddy Josh sent me called bug fuck and it's one of my favorite things ever It is a very tiny book as you can see. This is like a normal trade paperback. Okay, very tiny book And it's just full of quotes from him and anecdotes and things along those lines and The quote that I'm using as you can see up on the screen right now is you can't you can't win you can't Sorry, you can't win you can't break even and you can't get out of the fucking game and Why this story is inspired by this true the real life story? I just told you is Because the game doesn't matter in moments like that That is the important part What we do what we the work that we do and any of that stuff none of that stuff truly matters It's the experiences that we have playing the game and not whether or not we win the game and I think that is Screen screens black Wait a second. Okay. So we got an issue with video. I have oh Yeah, we we go to that we go to the movies whenever we can but with them working It's okay. No video is fine For for the quote You're talking about this When you were showing the writing screen so the video is black right now Is that correct? Yeah, that's black. Okay. All right, so I'm gonna stop sharing screen Let's see here Okay present let's see if this fixes it How about that? Is that is that good? We good? Perfect. Okay. All right, so this is it And as you can see if there's there's a little bit more it's of course Harlan Ellison but originally paraphrased about life from the whiz from an interview with Gary K. Wolfe July 28 1987 I was seven years old But bug fuck is the useless wit and wisdom of Harlan Ellison and today's story is going to be about feeling useless feeling like you can't win the game and why That isn't important Why we should not focus on the winning we should focus on the experience and That all comes down to you know Personal preference whatever I'm not trying to tell you always, you know Always focus on the positive sometimes the negative needs your attention to But it's those little moments that when we come together And I think that's the only reason That we're here and it's not so much of a purpose as much as it is sharing our lived experiences so today I'm gonna write a Piece of flash fiction. I don't know if there's gonna be any story or plot to it whatsoever If it's gonna be all message or if it's gonna be sprinkled message or anything I'm just gonna start writing and this is gonna be one of those stories that starts off very Sad and becomes happy I'm trying to do more of that these days instead of you know Just killing off all my characters because it's kind of a running meme With me that none of my characters exist even though I've had several books and stories where characters live through it But they're not in a good way by the end of it So if I haven't killed the character, I've killed who they used to be that kind of thing Back in black at the sack. I've been to I've been too long. I'm glad to be back. I Say that a lot on twitch Pedro. I Say that here too when I come back from break, but anyways, so yeah, that's what we're doing I'm gonna put if you guys want to talk I'm gonna put us on for 15 minutes And then of course I take a really quick break Well not quick for some people but 10 10 15 minute break and then when I come back We are going to play so what have you guys been up to you guys reading anything cool You playing anything cool you watch anything cool. Let me know down there in them comments Or the doobly-doo as y'all prefer Also, I have not shown off my My new the newest addition to our family that just Showed up so I am going to show him off now Playing the ascent. That was a pretty cool game. I played it on game pass back when I had it So what I'm going to do is I'm going to share this screen over here Okay, so in between thine legs Don't pay attention to the the deflated man behind him But as you'll see in the middle of the screen That is Murray Murray showed up one night. We got home from dashing and Murray was in the driveway. We have a 500 foot driveway. It's quite a ways to get up to our where we live and He was just standing in the driveway if you guys don't know we lost our dog Ash a couple of months ago and It's It's been really really rough so much so that most of us don't even want to look at the The the urn and everything the paw print and whatnot that they did after they had to put him down He had ITP, which is a blood disorder. He was literally just bleeding out inside He also had a extreme allergy to fleas that we've been fighting his entire life So he passed away and we discussed getting another dog, but Dan wasn't ready. I really wasn't ready either Shell wasn't I don't know that any of us were ready, but we We show up and every single one of our animals except for Ash Ash was given to us by my sister from a litter of puppies her dog had and Every other one demon lesser demon Hobble if you guys remember hobble hobble didn't last long. He had some kind of brain disorder That ended up that ended up killing him in the end And it's just every every animal we've had when we've been here has just shown up We've also had to take other dogs to no kill shelters or call have to call animal control because animals just show up out here. So This little guy shows up. I get out of the car. I'm like, hey, who are you kind of thing and he's just barking and You know, this is very very aggressive for how tiny he is And I'm like this this ain't gonna work. So Dan Gets out of the car gets down on his level and manages to calm him down And the same thing that happened with demon lesser demon or sorry Holly is demon Oliver is lesser demon That's just nicknames. I give them but a demon actually brought lesser demon or LD as I call him Brought lesser demon from out of the woods one day, but anyways back to Murray. So Murray I believe he's a couple weeks old probably about six his his Donuts have not dropped yet. So he's definitely, you know below six to eight weeks. He's somewhere somewhere in there He doesn't have many teeth that kind of thing. So he's still a puppy But he is an exceptionally smart dog and he's just really really good At at making us laugh and that's exactly what we need right now. But anyways, so here's Murray. You see Murray Murray's a good boy. Murray's the best boy. All that good stuff I'm going to Go back to the fucking game All right, are we good? Do we have a oh, I need to read more comments? Hang on Thanks. See you continue to inspire me. This is I know I know you are Tim Yeah, so another short for an anthology. Hell. Yeah, dude. Congratulations. I hope you're still here. I Read hope for the wicked this morning poor mum. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Jimmy. Yeah, that one is that that's the only story Well, that's the only book of mine that shelled never finished. She got to that scene I mean, let me bring this back up. She got to that scene and literally through her Kent Kindle As she was reading it tossed her Kindle looked over at me because we were both in the bed And she goes who the hell did I marry and I was like damn I had to get it out of my head the scene was in my head In fact, I tried to give the scene to another friend. Her name was Jill and I was like, hey Will you write this and Jill was like fuck? No So I ended up having to write it. But yeah, it is the it that is the infamous book that shell was reading She tossed her Kindle and it was shocking. Yes, it was It is one of probably the most shocking scenes. I have ever written period So to the point that I haven't read it I usually read my stuff at least once or twice after it's published But yeah, no, also, there's no audiobook and I like listening to audiobooks of my stuff It's because it feels like someone else wrote it, you know, but now that I'm gonna be doing my own audiobooks I won't have that I Can't listen to my voice for that long. It's bad enough that my voice is in my own head and it just keeps keeps going Anyways, I'm guessing you're enjoying enjoying the ascent I'm guessing But do you have the sequel Jimmy? Do you have pennies for the damned? If not, then I'll put it back up for sale I'm not sure if it's up for sale or not I Try I tend to take it down when people ask about the series because it's never been finished And there's three more books that will probably never see the light of day. I have a buddy Who some of you might remember him? He goes by Leertes on on here Leertes DD or Leertes D something like that And he's been he's been begging me for years to release the last three books He even offered to pay me just to let him read it and I am so Unhappy with how the second book turned out that I have to rewrite several Bits of the other books so I just haven't done it and if he picks up those three books if he reads those three books He's gonna get a draft drastically different story than what is promised in two But yeah, you have that too you think all right Well, if you don't let me know and I will definitely put it back up and you can buy it and then either I'll leave it up Or I'll take it. I don't I don't know. I don't know anyways That's still got a nagging cough from the COVID I had over what it what's it been now two months I can't remember but anyways Double-checked it's on your Kindle hell. Yeah, it's twice as long as hope and it has one of my favorite scenes I've ever written in it and after you after you're done reading it remind me and I will tell you the story of Working with a certain editor on the book and then being Very upset at one point and then backtracking and thanking me for the scene later on so yeah read that and Yeah, anyway But there's like one or two scenes out of both of those books that are really really fucking good And then the rest of it I could do with or without it doesn't matter but hope was like 25 to 30,000 words, I think and then Penny's is 75 80,000 words something something along those lines. It's a much bigger story more more involved It's a bigger story. We go to you know multiple locations very cool locations I think but anyways So that's cool. Sorry. I got distracted by discord. Let me get back to you guys Okay, so today once again, we are doing the fucking game by moi You can't win. It's based on a Harlan Ellison quote from an interview with Gary K. Wolf July 28 1987 you can't win you can't even you can't what is it? Is it you can't even break even Man, I don't already lost the I should have put down the page number I don't want to misquote it even though it does say it's paraphrased Anyways, I'm gonna leave it. I think I think it's you can't break even You can't win. You can't break even. I don't think Ellison would have done The repetition of even but it's all it's all paraphrased from an interview. So this is what we're doing today You can't win you can't break even and you can't get out of the fucking game. Well, I'm going to try to try to Without being heavy-handed I'm gonna try and that the point is not the game. That's the point of this is that it's not That's not the point. So that's what we're gonna do when I get back from break Four minutes left So if anybody has any questions or anything they want to say now is the time because once I get started The story's got to be under a thousand words Let's talk about constraint for for a minute. I was talking to shell my wife last night about the The How different short stories are from novels how you can't really do deep dives into character You don't have enough space But constraint is good. It makes you choose your words carefully It makes you now that's not gonna be what happens today. I'm just gonna be word vomiting I'm just gonna be getting the story out and then when I go back to keep it under a thousand words I'm going to trim and trim and trim and trim trim and the shorter the story is the more punchy The every line is the more effect it will have if You're if you do well with a flash fiction story It can feel ten times longer than it actually is and it can stay with a person as long as you pick the right moments Today is not about picking the right moments. Today is about the story. I'm telling myself the story We will go back later and we will clean it up Currently reading Charles L grant night songs I have never been able to finish a grant novel I have several of them, but I'm no longer I don't know. I don't want any longer vibe with the like zebra era of horror paperbacks like leisure and all that stuff It's just too Simplistic for my taste now. There's some standouts that I'll go back and I'll read like Richard layman Jack Ketchum There's a couple other ones from from back in the day Stephen Laws is absolutely amazing one of my favorite authors of all time Highly highly underrated So definitely check him out if you haven't already does flash fiction compared to writing poetry I would say so because it all comes down to word choice and structure and Cadence you want someone to get in if you don't have a lot going on in your story You need a nice beat to rock to you need something You need your the structure of your story to have a rhythm to have a flow so that it is enjoyable to read Never read laws. I would highly recommend the worm W Y RM Like you know, like they used to spell like dragons were called worms Let's see here it is not a dragon But it is amazing. It's about a a town that used to have a gallows and there is a monster There's a creature buried under the gallows and it comes back Amazing story that one of the coolest scenes I've ever read one of the most horrifying scenes that I've ever read I'm not talking about disturbing, but like Utterly, you know creepy as fuck is in the hospital when they're they're they're running around this town I remember the hospital being up on a hill or something. So it was almost like Hill House kind of deal and it was just very very very creepy at any time Worm with a Y with a Y So, let me let me type it for you This is the this is the title. Yeah. Yeah, Jimmy exactly worm. Yeah There's that one. I don't know if it's available or not, but that that's my favorite one There's also fear me which is a vampire story one of the best I've read And it doesn't really follow the typical vampire kind of deal There is a seductive quality to this vampire, but it's much cooler Have you got back into reading that yeah, no time That's it. That really is it I mean even last night when I had some downtime because like we didn't I didn't dash last night the storm was coming in I wasn't sure I was also hurting and shell has been begging me to take a day off So I went ahead and did it But yeah, I don't have any time Last night all I did was sit in my chair watch goofy TV shows on Netflix and I just I just chilled out until I had to go pick Dan up from work but uh, yeah, I The I think the worst part about all this is I don't miss it If it and I was talking to shell about this also last night It became a job It became a job it became an expectation that I had to read so much that I had to do so much And as you guys have seen over the years every time I set a challenge for myself a reading challenge I fail because I Am very much an emotional on the spot reader and if I set any kind of TBR If I set anything any kind of challenge for myself I always fail because it tends to start feeling like work But then the longer I went without reading the more comments I got like where the book reviews. What are you doing? Where'd you go so on and so forth? And that made me become even more insular and feel like you know, that's all you guys want So, you know, it's it's whatever the quickest way to get me to not do something is to ask me to do it I've said this multiple times. I know it's not a good thing. It's a bad character flaw of mine It's definitely my top toxic trait But when people tell me to do something it is or ask me to do something It's almost guaranteed that I won't That does not come into play when it when it deals with like my family and things like that But when it comes to something that I view as a job or a profession career, what have you that's more than a hobby That I make money off of and it's counterintuitive to that too because you want to you you would think you'd want to please the People so that you can make, you know more money with me. I'm the exact opposite I get farther away from wanting to do that thing and the more people ask the more I'm like I just don't want to That's it. So yeah watching goofy TV is winning the game. Yeah, I would agree with that me and Chris My youngest have been watching wipe out together and that is that's and that's another thing man But I've talked about us watching wipe out together It is one of those things that that that is that is not the game that is the experience the game is life and Everything between the point that you're born and the point that you die is the experience and that's all that matters But yeah, this story is gonna start out Satisfuck and then it's gonna get better. Hopefully as long as Lorne brain doesn't take over We're gonna we're gonna get through this. We're gonna knock out this entire story today from a to z Straight line boom boom boom boom boom. I'm going to try and be a little more selective with my words because if not the story is gonna take me 30 minutes and Then it's all gonna be done and I'm gonna have even more work to do because of the word bomb but today is all about focus Focusing on the story focusing on the word the verb the words the verbiage the structure the cadence need to keep on Beat keep on beat give the reader something to dance to and it doesn't matter what the lyrics are They are still going to enjoy themselves. Yes. This works. It does I point to certain books and go okay People should not enjoy this But they do because of the cadence because of the rhythm because of the beat They give the reader something to dance to and like it's just just remember that If you give the reader something to dance to a good beat to dance to the lyrics don't mean a thing It's all about enjoying the moment and that's what we're gonna do today Once I get back from break, so I'm gonna go ahead and take my break now. Say bye-bye face me What am I putting on? I'm so used to coming Yeah, I'm so used to coming back from break on twitch. I grabbed my headphones the TV ain't even working. What the hell One moment ow Sorry if this is upsetting asmr with the popping of the fingers, but it is cold. I'm trying to warm up My heater is not heating it is heating but not very well. All right, let's get going Welcome back. I just grabbed coffee coffe. Hey, I've already had two cups if you can tell you probably can tell so Why am I bold oh I need to fix my template for some odd reason it's got point eight after Everyone No up here. That's not right. Okay. Yeah, Salos. All right That was my foot on the box. I don't want y'all I did you farted on you farted on string. I did not fart. It was I can't of course now I can't repeat it. Fuck you. Fuck you foot. I did not fart. I did not fart It's fart gate 2024 already we're only nine days into fucking 2024 and I already have fart gate fart gate to The funniest part is I will just randomly fart and not know it because of my Back issues. So it's so it's quite possible, but that I promised was not it Let's see here. It's not like you can smell it first off because I didn't poop But it's not like you can smell it anyway. So go away All right back Back into the zone back. We're back now. I got to read what I wrote already just so I can get back in the Get back into the zone I'm sniffing Just remember whatever you smell it's your upper lip No, that was right. Ah, yeah, there it is. There it is not Salos scorched. That's the money shot Not crowded rooms as barren as Salo fields, but crowded rooms as barren as Scorched feels I like that one that one that one's tasty that one that one that one has some flavor to it Salos like yeah, what the fuck is Salo? Let me stop reading and and and go Google the word Salo It doesn't that mean flesh doesn't that mean this that or the other doesn't that mean jaundice so on and so forth, but scorched scorched Punchy punch punch it punch it. We're already at a hundred and sixty-six words We're almost 20% done already. How about them apples? Of course, all this is counted, but that's like what is what is that? Like 20 words now that that don't count that don't count, but anyways, we're gonna continue on that Repetition of as is killing me though Crowded rooms barren nests. Ah, hold up. Hold up Crowded rooms barren as scorched fields. Ah Well, we'll tackle that in editing good continuing on goddamn Jimmy Jimmy with the fire this this you you okay. I'm gonna be rude as hell you absolute motherfuckers you absolute asshole Stop saying you're not a writer whether you write or not You know what should be there fucking brilliant fucking brilliant Fucking brilliant. Do you hate me yet Jimmy? Do you hate me? Do you hate me yet? Did you do you hate me got to thank Jimmy Brown, you know for the lay? No, I use that in the first story There's the other one. Why isn't my word count updating? Oh Okay, why aren't you? Hang on There we go it update for some I don't know what happened, but my word count wasn't updating and we're already halfway through I'm burning right through this. Oh, I like that shit Oh The understanding that given enough time even something as simple as water can reduce mountains to canyons Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah boy feeling himself and not in that awkward way. This ain't only fans go away Yeah fire today No God damn Whoo today today is that day Well, that is some shoo Shit, okay. I'm done. We're at 1,021 words and a rush of Emotion and all that shit I'm gonna go ahead and take my break 10 to 15 minutes and when I get back I'm gonna read this entire story and then I'm gonna post a patreon and then we can either chat or Y'all can go on about your business and I can do the same, but anyways first things first remove As the face meat, okay, so we're gonna read this story now Go through this see what If I have any editing notes or anything to put on here but with all of this it is 43 words so all this is 43 words and I have 1021 so I am below the thousand word mark So I have room for changing improvements all that good stuff All right the fucking game By me got to thank jimmy brown, you know for the lay You can't win you can't break even and you can't get out of the fucking game harlan ellison From an interview with gary k wolf july 28 1987 You're looking for the end to the misery the agony the sorrow The problem is that the end your end wouldn't be an end The sorrow you'd leave behind would be unjust unfair You have people who depend on you to play the game To exist within the game because even existence is something and something is better than nothing Every day is different every day is the same The game moonlighting as an oxymoron, but you play it willingly deceptively Pretending at happiness your tears hiding behind your false grin Someone's cutting onions you say you say no no no these are happy tears jokingly Selfishly because you don't believe they can handle the truth Nor should you give them the chance to shoulder the weight you bear The constant inconsistency the failure the drive to be the passenger the stowaway Forgotten and left to yourself. They're here for you yet. You feel alone all the time crowded rooms lay barren as scorched fields Even brushing your teeth is painful the way you bear yellow crooked tombstones The way your smile reminds people of disease pestilence the impermanence of their own bodies How none of this lasts It all falls out eventually so why bother? You return the dry toothbrush to the pickle jar you You return the dry toothbrush to the pickle jar you repurposed into a bathroom cup You didn't always have a bathroom cup or whatever anyone else calls it You graduated from poop night to bathroom cup and even that upgrade feels like a downgrade Nine brushes inside the cup five of them are yours three have never been used You keep buying new ones hoping your partner doesn't realize that you're replacing unused unused unused things Knowing that if they found out your secret They'd replace you because you're truly old truly used up and you need to be replaced But there's that sorrow again the cognitive dissonance of believing you're nothing to anybody and yet something to someone You know if you bow out take a knee throw in the towel that those you love would be destroyed How these two facts live rent-free in your head the knowledge that once you're gone new problems will arise They'll have to inter you confirm the date of your wake while you finally Blessedly get to sleep uninterrupted But then you turn and see the little one in the hallway just outside of the bathroom door you forgot to close The little one rubs their eyes They've just woken up and the love you feel for them rekindles as it does every day and you look back at the five brand the three because Only three of them were unused the the three Brand new brushes sitting awkwardly next to their four well worn well used compatriots It's obvious. Did I did I math wrong? Hang on there's three nine brushes nine brushes so three unused Four for the family and then two that may be used. Okay. All right. I got it right And you look back at the three brand new brushes sitting awkwardly next to their four well worn well used companions compatriots Uh, it's obvious now that you're not fooling anyone that you're obviously Nah That you're not cut out for self-care self-love just because you think they're blind doesn't mean they can't see What doing daddy? Your heart can't stand it. You dip down hands under arms up up and away Their giggle fills you with joy purpose reality The hungry demon in your head silences if only for this brief moment You pour cereal then milk because good parents know that the opposite order of operations will not be welcomed with understanding You've been eating the same eggs and toast for four years, but the kid gets a brand new brand gets a new brand Brand new flavor every week You go through so much milk But listening to them slurp it up Until they see the cartoon dog at the bottom of the bowl and giggle uncontrollably And it's all worth it the long hours the bitchy co-workers the daily grind that has grounds your foundation to crumbling rocks and pluming dust The understanding that given enough time even something as simple as water can reduce mountains to canyons A flash flood of emotion redirected into how good your own breakfast tastes You like daddy says the child you nod smile anything to keep the dam from breaking Mommy said mommy said that that that trucks can be danger Uh danger for us Dangerous you correct because that's your job just like the truck the truck is your job too And now the child knows that one day you might not come home to them Do you tell the truth? Do you bolster your partner's words? Do you stand firm with honesty or do you betray them with fiction? Don't worry about daddy. It's daddy's job to worry about you. Why far? asked the child Because that's what parents do you done with your milk? Is it daddy's job to worry about milk? You nod because I like yeah Because yeah, that's something you worry about probably too much Because you because you know that soon enough it won't be about milk It'll be about school clothes and daily laundry and homework and after school events and talent shows and show and tells and graduation And suddenly there's nothing more important than those things Not whatever horrors present themselves nightly behind your eyelids and high definition the weather twos and the y4s Where did you hear that some fantasy movie? You and your partner's first date the hobbits and the elves the race and the unkillable omni I dyslexia kicked my ass on that one The race and the unkillable omnipresent eye of flame watching your every move But instead of dropping the ring into the molten rock below you slid it gently over their finger The enemy lives on There will be other chances other tomorrows new chances to destroy the villain today However, it's not that day and as long as those eyes look upon you with love and acceptance and above all trust You'll keep it secret keep it safe Because that's the game you didn't ask to play and neither did they but you're here and the enemy is asleep for now You can't win the game, but you play anyways But you play anyway because it's not about the unused truth brushes It's about the cartoon dog hiding under the milk Is that better it's about the cartoon dog hiding under milk or the milk What do y'all think milk or the milk What what do you mean pejo because they don't believe you? or because they Because then you don't believe The game's easier to play with co-op mode. I don't even know what you're talking about now jimmy anyways That was fire I loved every minute of it. If you don't like it suck a fart because I am very happy with that one hell to the Yeah, let's get this microphone out of my face. Let's go feed the folks on patreon Scooby-dooby-doo i'm creating All right, so this week is done If I do stream again First page I think should be because then all right hang on hang on hang on first page Which which paragraph? The game of life. Yeah, uh Pedro tell me which one so this one would be the first one Or hang on let me just Because oh, okay, hang on That just needs to go away because you don't believe they can handle the truth. Ah, see see even reading aloud I edited I edited it in my head. That's why you need to take a step back. Thank you for catching that Pedro. Good job. Um You take a step back And you got to take off the author's blinders There yeah got it um Okay All right, let's post this Undo that Okay Where's the youtube's at? I need to get the link to the video content live Get shareable link Next paid members published now All right, there we go We are done That is Uh two weeks happy to help yet. I appreciate you so we'll next be we'll next Week be the continuous road trip trip loop story nailed it. Uh, it's gonna be literally called uh the loop and it'll I'm I'm hoping it's not gonna be a fucking novelette or novella, but there's quite a lot. I got to get done. Um, so yeah Uh I will try my damnedest to do monday tuesday and wednesday next week We'll see how that goes. I don't know how that's gonna go But uh, we will try it. Um, if nothing else, we will finish it up because the fourth story is kind of short too But it's definitely going to be longer than a thousand words Sometimes we're going I've already accepted this and uh, just to let you guys know I've already accepted the fact that some weeks are going to go over And that's okay, but then I'll follow it up with another short Another either piece of flash fiction or a shorter story under 3 000 words. So yeah I am really really happy with this one. I don't think it's going to change much if anything at all It might already be done. I don't know Uh, let me see how many words are here without the uh, because I did some I did some editing 975 words so I can add About 25 words with no problem amazing Amazing here we go. We're back Stop sharing so All right, so we managed an entire story done, uh with a very cool message in About an hour less than an hour but about an hour roughly because it only took me about I don't know probably about 40 minutes to write that story All in all But yeah, you guys have any questions or anything before I go ahead and go I am taking the rest of the day off And then tomorrow I'm taking all day off. So don't expect me here I will see you guys next monday. So if there's anything you want to say say it now forever hold your piece Or hold your piece until monday so on and so forth But uh, it'll be interesting to see how this today's story ties into the broader story Uh, but uh, I already know how it's going to to work But I want to see your guys reaction to that it's going to be fun Uh to see, you know who this character is what what this character means to the to the story If we see this character again, if you're if you're able to find This character again in the narrative, uh with the other Yeah, I was expecting a plot twist for it to be that Doug who wrote it We're we're gonna we're we're gonna get it. Yeah, we're gonna get there. Don't worry about it um Spoiler alert if you don't want any spoilers that says just you click away now The final story in the collection story number 52 Is going to be about Doug Um, so that'll all that will come come around and you'll see how Doug has affected all these different people's lives Some will be supernatural. Some won't be supernatural. Some will be in the future Some will be in the past some will be in the present present all that stuff. So Um curious, how do you know the story is going to be long or not just by experience? That's that's exactly it you hit the nail right on the head Um, I know how long it's going to take to convey a certain message And if there are multiple messages, it's going to take so long to convey this that or the other. Um I do not force a story to be a certain length I force I don't really force much at all, but um, I Anything can be reduced to under a thousand words Will it have the same punch and emotion? Probably not but you can get very very close Like you could do kings it in a thousand words. It wouldn't be anywhere near as poignant But you could tell that story in a thousand words. You just have to condense everything Um, so yeah, you can condense something that's four in a thousand words down into us, you know to a thousand words Um, it's basically just an overview or you would take the most impactful section And you would take that and you would turn that into the story It's good to see them week by week keeps us guessing more Yeah, and because I'm doing it semi out of order like uh week two is actually the third story Because I'm doing it out of order. It's going to be harder to tell how these things affect each other But I'm gonna tell you right now the only the only real connection in the next story is the fact that they're going to see the car on the loop that's it and The the first story linda is going to change quite a bit. It's going to expand Probably at the most to about ten thousand words because I want to go back and I want to do some other things I also want to add a section where it starts off fine Where they're going and dropping off food and whatever and then all of a sudden it takes a turn um, but I also want the Those little slices of life for him dropping it off. I need that to be important to the story So we're not just meandering around because the difference between a short narrative and a long narrative Is slice of life and downtime and that that kind of thing that the space between the action With a short story you want to stay action action action action action Or purpose theme whatever you want to stay on that line you want to stay on that trip So that you know the the reader wants to keep on reading, but this story today Is all about the beat and the rhythm there's not much going on But there's plenty of emotion. There's plenty. There's a good beat to dance to so on and so forth. Um But yeah, so uh next week next monday, we'll be starting loop or the loop. I'm not sure what I'm going to call it Um, I'll probably end up calling it something different We'll see what comes of the story because there's also that the novel the loop um that everybody's been telling me to read uh, and Yeah, I I haven't I haven't gotten into it, but I don't want it to be associated with that whatsoever I don't have any idea what that book is about, but yeah, I don't I don't want it To you know, even accidentally be anything alike Uh, so I'll probably just change the title because I don't want other people I don't want people thinking of other stories while they're reading this story so And I think that one is pretty uh Pretty popular Uh, it did really well anyways. Hang on. I'm looking at patreon real quick Okay All right, so if you guys don't have anything else, I guess that is it for today. I'm going to go rest and relax I have to take dan to work At 245 they have to be there by 315 So and I'm looking forward to rocking out on the way there Uh, if you're wondering what that's about watch the beginning of the stream Anyways, thank you guys for joining me. Uh, it was a lot of fun today Even though the story was rather, you know depressing, uh, hopefully it ended in a on a positive note. Uh, but anyways, uh There was something else I wanted to say and I'm trying to remember it, but it is slipping my mind So I'll just say goodbye Pedro and jimmy. Thanks for being here. Thanks for interacting But until next time I have been me I have an e take take care jimmy. Uh, take care Pedro I have been you have been you this has been another episode of 52 and 52 I'll see you guys on Monday, but until then enjoy your spaghetti dreams. Bye. Bye