Typing With Bricks

Sorry for no post yesterday, work is crazy lately. But anyway, let’s continue, shall we?

Chapter 15 – Continued

Plucking up his nerve, he wandered over to where the three where chatting. As he approached they seemed to quiet down noticeably. That made him more than a little bit nervous. But then Rebecca smiled broadly.

“I think we know our next step,” she said.

Rebecca grabbed a stick and began sketching out a map in the dirt, scratching out the path of the river as Wolf and Bear had described. She explained the path to Joe. She did her best to postpone the idea of going on a boat ride. She knew Silver Sky hadn’t enjoyed flying, and didn’t think he’d relish the idea of leaving solid ground again.

But Silver Sky surprised her. When she started talking about an ocean voyage, he seemed to get excited. Not quite the reaction she was expecting.

“Timothy always wanted to see the ocean,” he explained, seeing Rebecca’s quizzical look. He thought for a moment. “I wonder if he ever did,” he questioned quietly. “If he hasn’t, I can tell him all about it!”

Rebecca was relieved that her friend wasn’t afraid of the idea. She looked at Wolf hoping to get some more information.

“How long do you think it will take to get there?” she asked.

Wolf twirled his mustache around his finger, thinking hard. “I suspect you could make it in about a week,” he answered. He pointed to a spot on Rebecca’s scratched out map. “You’re going to have to cross the river around here,” he noted.

Looking at Silver Sky, he added, “You’ll probably have to carry her across. The water is too deep for her to cross, but should be fine for you.”

Working late is not conducive to writing. Sigh. Not much but here’s the start of Chapter 15. After a lot of story telling from Rebecca’s point of view, I think it’s important that we take a look at things from Silver Sky’s position.

Chapter 15 – Daily Writing

Silver Sky was feeling very tired, but still quite excited. It seemed he had been running about for hours, seeing just how fast he could go. Who knew that running could be so tiring and fun. Still, he was sure they could not absolutely cover more distance then they had been.

Nibbling here and there on grasses he thanked his lucky stars that unlike Rebecca, he hadn’t been reduced to eating dead things like Wolf and the ravens. The thought made him feel slightly green. Much better to be savoring the flavors of living plants.

He looked over to where Rebecca, Wolf and Bear where sitting. They seemed deep in talk. Probably planning and deciding what to do next. Rebecca was always thinking and planning, he thought. She seemed so much better at it than he was.

But she didn’t seem to be enjoying their transformation as much as he was. She seemed more worried. Even from this distance, he could see that she was upset with what Wolf was telling her. He wondered what they were talking about.

My first day of creating new content for the story, and I managed to complete a chapter. I hope this is a trend I can keep up with. When I looked at the “last modified” dates of the previous chapters, the last one had been worked on almost four years ago. That’s how long I’ve been procrastinating. I won’t let that happen again.

Chapter Notes

I wanted this story to have multiple layers of problems for our heroes to have to deal with. While our playful horse has been out testing his new legs, Rebecca has been getting an earful about life. We now have a character with far more information than the other, and a growing conflict over what to do about it.

Great changes have taken place, and our delayed journey is about to start again.

Ever wonder what it would be like to be someone else? To live a different life? Children’s stories often have a life-switching them. The orphan becomes princess, the pauper becomes prince. And, of course, Pinocchio becomes a real boy.

Chapter Notes

I complain a lot about my own writing. It is possible that I’m my worst critic. That aside, though, of the chapters this is one of my favorites so far. We learn a bit more about Rebecca. And she now knows something her best friend doesn’t. What will she do with this knowledge, I wonder.

On the other hand, Silver Sky now has a number of advantages over his friend. A real horse, he is physically more powerful. He is certainly, as Rebecca notes sourly, the taller of the two.

More of my favorite critters show up. I’ve only had a few encounters with wolves. Once, at night, while driving between Fairbanks and Anchorage, I spotted one walking near the side of the road. Another time I was out wandering trails north of town and saw several. Both encounters were exceedingly brief – a sight and nothing more.

Bears, on the other hand, I’ve seen many times and a few closer than I really wanted. Usually during fishing season looking for an easy meal.

Chapter Notes

This is another scene in which I become remarkably self-critical. I’m not overly fond of the transformation scene here. It is mostly a matter of visualizing something in my head and then having a hard time putting it on paper. I’ll likely revise a large portion of this chapter when I get back around to it. I like the idea, just not how I’ve written it.

On the other hand, I do like the image I portray for Wolf. Basically, a cranky, eccentric old man with bad style. Wolf is a survivor. And if surviving means you have to hold up your pants with bungee cords, then so be it.

I imagine that telling time without a watch or clock can be a bit frustrating in the summer in Alaska. A sun dial might be amazingly confusing as days grow longer and shorter over the year. I suspect you’d have to be pretty patient as you spend a year making daily notes. Those ancient architects that build monuments that pinpointed specific events, particularly the solstice, must have had remarkable skills.

Chapter Notes

Our first injury! Toys can be mighty fragile things. How many of us have lost a favorite toy to carelessness or loss? I would venture a guess that most of us have. Here, Rebecca seems to take it in stride, though reminded, once more, of her and Silver Sky’s ultimate frailty.

We haven’t met anyone new since parting ways with our raven friends. Soon, things will take a very strange turn, indeed.

I have always loved the pictures people take in glacial ice caves. The deepest of blues, like giant sapphires, draws the eyes to the water-shaped, almost organic, walls of ice. One day, I hope, I’ll be able to venture beneath a glacier and experience it first hand.

Chapter Notes

This is another chapter where I’m not pleased with my transitions. Not from chapter to chapter, this time, but instead, from section to section. I don’t think I make the transition between characters, where time suddenly shifts back to Rebecca’s perspective, all that well. This will certainly be something I reexamine after the initial rough draft.

Alaska’s geological history is intimately tied to glaciers. Mountains have been carved down and valleys dug out. The path of rivers has been altered and many a lake created. Their brilliant blues are equated with gems, and yet from above, they may look like vast rivers of dirty snow.

Chapter Notes

It was important that at some point in this story that our two heroes be separated. You never know how much someone means to you until you can’t be with them. How will our duo cope?

Being stranded on the top of a mountain was probably not in our toy’s daily plan. Yet, here they are. Who would have thought getting from one point to another would be so trying?

Chapter Notes

Any story involving travel across Alaska would undoubtedly have to include Denali. Each year lots of people try to climb up it. Our tiny heroes have to figure a way down.

I have heard lots of stories about all the trash you can find going up any of the popular mountain treks. From broken tent poles to food and air cans, where ever we go, we tend to leave tell tale traces of our passing. Lucky for our duo that some of this stuff just might come in handy!

With Chapter Seven, we are halfway through the short chapters I completed several years ago. I know it seems like a lot of chapters, but given each one is generally less than three full pages, it winds up not being a lot of reading. When I finalize this story, I’ll likely combine chapters into more reasonable sizes. Remember, each chapter was written for easy mailing, not easy reading all at once!

Chapter Notes

Here, we are learning a bit more about where our ravens fit into the, ahem, pecking order of nature. While I personally love ravens, they are certainly not an apex predator.

We also learn the destination the ravens have been taking our main characters. Wonder what they’ll find up there?