What's happening behind the scenes to bring new GHAWG content? The GHAWG Diaries is my recap of what I've been doing.
Cover image designed by @magnacarta using emojis and Excel 2007 for text. Minor 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. For that reason, I decided to share these diary entries with everyone on Hive blockchain (including the LeoFinance community at InLeo).
On Mondays which don't feature a GHAWG, Uninterrupted post (GHAWG-U)-- eventually replaced by GHAWG, Remastered (GHAWG-R)-- I'll post diary entries from the previous 7 days or between GHAWG-U/R posts if the time between them is short. For TGD58, there are 7 days' worth of diary entries. The first entry starts on 2024-December-30.
Before anyone scratches their heads at a few terms, here are 3 I began using many posts ago:
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
Rate 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, 2024-December-30
📓 While walking a few miles through a couple og neighborhoods I was tryong to come up with entries to add tot he zapfic queue; I got nothing. Instead, I found myself thinking of scenes for sequel zapfic serials Blue Lion and The Bronze. Some of those scenes involved a look at the family relations of David Guardia, especially his parents. Other scenes involved the early days of his life as a convicted felon as well as the final 2 sections of The Bronze.
Convicted felon? ... ??? ... WTF??? ... !!!
Yes, he ends up in jail. That's a significant part of GHAWG, and it covers major chunks of Blue Lion and The Bronze. It's how he ends up meeting character-to-be Miranda Bermudo.
Nothing to commit to documention, but the mind is still churning to come up with concepts and stories.
Tuesday, 2024-December-31
📓 I was able to bring the zapfic queue to 2025-January-25. By this time, Felix Legion finds itself at its rest stop in Ripley, West Virginia, US near the Ohio River seperating Ohio from West Virginia. I should have a couple of character interactions taking place, including a zapfic entry featuring The Newlyweds. I'll also include a zapfic entry set in Chicago. I think I'll make it the begining of another scandal surrounding Republican candidate for mayor Terry Leo, this time about his connection to the Chicago gangs which had been afflicting the city for decades. It will be guilt by association as a result of his brand new connections to gang leaders Emilio Ibáñez and Luther Jackson. This scandal will backfire on whoever set events in motion. It may or may not feature a colorful and salty Terry Leo.
Wednesday, 2025-January-01
📓 With Felix Legion calling it a night in Ripley, West Virginia, US for the zapfic entry to be published on 2025-January-25, I was reviewing the digital map to see where else I can write zapfic entries with Felix Legion en route to their next destination, tentatively the town of Covington, Virginia, US. I'll fine tune the path later to determine which location is best for Felix Legion at or near Mile 180 of the day's ride.
Thursday, 2025-January-02
📓 While walking home from Astoria in western Queens I was thinking about a key moment in GHAWG: the moment it begins to go downhill for David Guardia during the sequel zapfic serial Blue Lion. It will combine elements from a couple of movies I've seen repeatedly, one of which is (no surprise) The Dark Knight Rises. It will involve David himself, wife Rhonda Bella Guardia, a doctor, and one other person whose identity I will shield until the moment the character is introduced. This key moment will be both tragic and comic, both painful and humorous. It will span several zapfic entries. Sadly for David, it signals the begining of an almost unbearable losing streak not seen since The Book of Job (or at least The Jerk starring Steve Martin). If the David Guardia we see during most of his Epic Ride is a perfected version of himself, the David Guardia we see at the end of Blue Lion will be a physical wreck.
Friday, 2025-January-03
📓 Speaking of Blue Lion, I updated the outline I created last year for how the zapfic serial will unfold. Besides fixing typos and correcting non sequitors, I added the first key scene to take place after Peak GHAWG had been reached. That's the scene I explained in the previous entry.
Saturday, 2025-January-04
📓 While walking to a neighboring neighborhood through windy and bitter cold I was thinking of a couple of scenes in both Rat Bike and Blue Lion. For Rat Bike, i was considering a way to bring Li Jun Fan (introduced much earlier in GHAWG as the courier nicknamed Slim). If I decide to do this, the likely place would be at some point on the ride to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill while Felix Legion is somewhere in Virginia. Another location is possible, but I don't have an alternate. Either way, I don't even know if I will commit this text to the zapfic queue. As for Blue Lion, I was thinking of more details to include for the moment David Guardia's life goes south shortly after Peak GHAWG had been reached. Also for Blue Lion, I was thinking of additional montage scenes to include for the first part of the sequel zapfic serial. In the first part of Blue Lion, the 10 years after the start of David's Epic Ride in Rat Bike were going to be shown as vignettes of moments during the new phase of his life, where he finally gets to live "the good life" he had always wanted for himself but had deferred for a long time.
Sunday, 2025-January-05
📓 From the beginning, music has been an important part of GHAWG:
"GHAWG" itself-- short for "God's Hog: A Watchful Guardian"-- takes its subtitle from the closing theme of both The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises;
One of the first places David Guardia visits on his Epic Ride is Allentown, Pennsylvania, US; this was to call back to the song "Allentown," originally found on his 1982 album The Nylon Curtain and an important track during his history-making 1987 concert tour of the USSR.
"Fly Me to the Moon" is so important to GHAWG that 2 versions of the song entered the zapfic zerial:
- the Frank Sinatra version playing on the jukebox when David noticed a very tall redhead with freckles as he was getting slugged by a Sinatra-hater; and
- the Claire Littley version Rhonda Bella (the same very tall redhead with freckles) chose to play when she saw "Templar" from her dream in her regular bar in Davenport, Iowa, US.
Once Our Heroes reach the Pacific Coast in Oregon after leaving Portland (and picking up Future Felix Legion rider Lindsay Etxeberria), Harry Hoqualogue sets the mood for both The Mongols he leads from San Diego, California, US and the future Felix Legion by blasting the iconic motorcycle anthem "Born To Be Wild" by Steppenwolf.
The ride east from Los Angeles, California, US to Chicago, Illinois, US was the result of a question Lindsay Etxeberria asked the Brothers Marchenko and The Kids. A skater with a boom box was listening to the techno-electronica version of "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" performed by Depeche Mode, and the song caught Lindsay's attention.
Now that Felix Legion completed the ride east along the path believed to be the of a different era, the next song to enter The GHAWG Universe is "Sweet Home Chicago" as performed by The Blues Brothers. This song was heard playing after David gave his prophect to the people of Chicago, and he used it as the cue to ride out of town.
##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 InLeo profile page
That's it for this edition of The GHAWG Diaries. I'm 
[!!]
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