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 TGD59, there are 7 days' worth of diary entries. The first entry starts on 2025-January-06.
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, 2025-January-06
📓 If David Guardia in Rat Bike was rebuilt during his 10-day coma in an Iowa hospital to be a prime physical specimen (right down to an upgrade which came in handy in San Diego, California, US), the David in the 2nd half of Blue Lion and all of The Bronze will be a physical wreck who may as well be held together by paper clips, used chewing gum, and duct tape. He will be old enough to be part of the American gerontocracy which had been the face of the government since 2017. Despite being one of the early members of Generation X, he looks youthful for his age when we meet him in 2026. Even a decade later, at an age when people live of pensions and fixed incomes, he still looks full of vitality. After Peak GHAWG is reached in Blue Lion, however, the weight of the years will hit him like a sack of bricks along with the grand piano falling from the top of the Empire State Building. He will continue to have skills and abilities which will save his life when he calls upon them, but before and after he calls on them he will be hobbled and functionally crippled. He won't look older than his actual age, but he'll be lucky to get around without a cane.
Tuesday, 2025-January-07
📓 I was able to add one entry to the zapfic queue. As of now, the zapfic queue take me through 2025-January-26. By this point, Felix Legion is calling it a night in Ripley, West Virginia, US. Next overnight stop will be in Covington, Virgina, US, and there will be several zapfic entries for that day on the road.
Wednesday, 2025-January-08
📓 Often I refer to the zapfic serials of The GHAWG Universe by their code names. Once in a while I will mention Blue Lion (the sequel zapfic serial to Rat Bike) or The Bronze (the final zapfic serial in The GHAWG Universe). However, most of the time I refer to Rat Bike. From the beginning on 2023-March-05 through the moment Our Heroes almost finish passing through Portland, Oregon, US, the zapfic serial was simply GHAWG; there was no need to call it anything else. It was with the introduction of Lindsay Etxeberria as a supporting character and not as an NPC that GHAWG was transformed into The GHAWG Universe and the zapfic serial which is in progress became Rat Bike.
Tonight I decided to associate hyperlinks to these code names for when I mention them in future editions of The GHAWG Diaries. Just as I do for characters, some locations, and few key entries, I will hyperlink the code names of these zapfic serials. So I went to LeoThreads to add threads explaining the significance of each zapfic serial. This is another effort at improving search engine optimization (SEO) for content from The GHAWG Universe.
Thursday, 2025-January-09
📓 By this time, the wildfires taking place in the City of Los Angeles continue to dominate entire news cycles, and rightly so. It's one thing if it took place in forests or other wooded areas. Instead, it's taking place in the 2nd most populous city in the United States; only New York City-- my town-- had a larger population. One stat I had heard today was that the area burned by these fires is greater than an area equivalent to the island of Manhattan. By any standard, this is one of the greatest human tragedies in the history of the nation.
Why am I commenting on these wildfires? The GHAWG Universe, specifically Rat Bike, spent time in the areas directly affected by these fires:
- First, much the California portion of the ride taken by Our Heroes (the predecessor to Felix Legion), took place along the famed Pacific Coast Highway (PCH).
- Second, Our Heroes rode through the Malibu section of Los Angeles. Malibu is known, in part, as a beachfront community famous for the beach houses of not just the famous but also the less-famous but just as wealthy.
- Third, Felix Legion (not known by that name at the time), began riding east to Chicago, Illinois, US along the path believed to be defined by the iconic and legendary Route 66 from days of yore. The western terminus of Route 66 is located in the Santa Monica section of Los Angeles. The Santa Monica Pier and ferris wheel are near this terminus.
Many of these zapfic entries were written in late 2023 and early 2024.
I have no idea how these fires affect The GHAWG Universe going forward. Besides thinking about these wildfires and the human toll they are exacting on the people in these areas, I found myself thinking of how Rat Bike took place in these areas. Sometimes that's just how the human mind works.
Friday, 2025-January-10
📓 Now that the fun ride along (the path believed to be that of) the legendary and iconic Route 66, Felix Legion is on the move to get The Kids to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Night 1 was spent in Gary, Indiana, US. Night 2 will be spent in near Dayton, Ohio, US. Night 3 will be spent in Ripley, West Virginia. Night 4 will be spent in Covington, Virginia, US. After Night 4, things are to be determined before Chapel Hill is reached. Soon I'll need to write a zapfic entry or two while will take pace from from Felix Legion yet will impact it for years to come. I'll also need to set up the key scene to take place in the totally fictional town of Bolivion, Virginia, US, located roughly 15 miles north of the Virginia-North Carolina state lines.
Saturday, 2025-January-11
📓 It may not seem like it, but I'm getting closer to the end of Rat Bike. At the moment Felix Legion is in the middle of the segment of David Guardia's Epic Ride where The Kids are being escorted to University of North Carolina so they can attend classes for their final year of undergraduate studies.
As I get closer to the end of Rat Bike I find myself thinking more and more about what to include in not just the sequel zapfic serial Blue Lion but also the final zapfic serial The Bronze. While I was walking a couple of miles through my neighborhood I envisioned a scene showing Rhonda Bella Guardia giving away the bride. This scene is from the opening montage of Blue Lion showing the 10 years after completion of the Epic Ride. This montage also includes scenes showing the personal lives of The Newlyweds of Rat Bike (David and Rhonda). These scenes are included as reminders to us that despite having been used as a prophet, David is very much a flesh-and-blood human being.
Sunday, 2025-January-12
📓 Even though there are 2 segments of David Guardia's Epic Ride remaining-- Chicago-to-UNC to bring The Kids back to school, then UNC to various points in Iowa-- I have enough material to begin porting the zapfic serial code-named Rat Bike to long form content. With the ride east along what should be the path defined by the legendary Route 66 completed, I have enough content for 4 long form stories:
- the ride from Bayonne, New Jersey, US, to STURGIS;
- the ride from STIRGIS to Portland, Oregon, US;
- the ride from Portland to San Diego, California, US (home base of The Mongols led by Harry Hoqualogue); and
- the Route 66 storyline.
Only the first story-- Bayonne to STURGIS, plus the introductory material-- was meant to be written for various media (zapfic just to get the story out of my mind; traditional novel; and screenplay for a potential movie). The other stories have elements missing to qualify for consideration as potential movies, so as I port their respective zapfic entries to novels I need to add or rearrange elements.
Once I have marketable content, then I can market that content. For now, I'm just drawing it out of my mind 240 characters at a time.
##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 Summary, 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