The GHAWG Diaries, Part 14

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 6 while Interlude 3 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 14, there are 7 days' worth of diary entries. The first entry starts on 2024-January-8.

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, 2024-January-08

Monday, 2024-January-08
📓 Even though David Guardia's backstory hasn't been fully developed, enough details exist that they can be revealed inline. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the other characters, including the other main characters. For example, based on `Rat Bike`, I know these details about Rhonda Bella: she lives in Davenport, Iowa; she has 2 undergraduate degrees in STEM courses (from the time before STEM became a thing); she owns a good amount of $ETH; she was an ice road trucker after the History Channel series ended its run. Since I had a decent amount of details to make a sidebar to her character dossier, today I spent time determining more details for Rhonda Bella. I can say that she was on track to be a scholarship athlete until a fall from a tree ended that dream very abruptly. That same year as her fall, she lost her boyfriend in a hit-and-run accident. These details set the stage for her path to earning 2 STEM degrees in college. Her milestones as a trucker-- becoming one, becoming an independent trucker, working in Alaska as an ice road trucker, returning back to Iowa-- will anchor other aspects of her backstory for that time period.

📓 Even though David Guardia's backstory hasn't been fully developed, enough details exist that they can be revealed inline. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the other characters, including the other main characters. For example, based on Rat Bike, I know these details about Rhonda Bella: she lives in Davenport, Iowa; she has 2 undergraduate degrees in STEM courses (from the time before STEM became a thing); she owns a good amount of $ETH; she was an ice road trucker after the History Channel series ended its run.

Since I had a decent amount of details to make a sidebar to her character dossier, today I spent time determining more details for Rhonda Bella. I can say that she was on track to be a scholarship athlete until a fall from a tree ended that dream very abruptly. That same year as her fall, she lost her boyfriend in a hit-and-run accident. These details set the stage for her path to earning 2 STEM degrees in college. Her milestones as a trucker-- becoming one, becoming an independent trucker, working in Alaska as an ice road trucker, returning back to Iowa-- will anchor other aspects of her backstory for that time period.

Tuesday, 2024-January-09
📓 For Rhonda Bella's character dossier (at least its sidebar), I replaced a few TBD details with actual data. I also added a few personal details regarding her past relationships. It's due to the last set of relationships (or, as she would readily admit if asked, "relationships") that she ended up starting a new phase of her own life before meeting David Guardia at the bar in Davenport, Iowa, US. Perhaps I should add similar details for David's character dossier, only they would be fewer and far more vanilla.

Tuesday, 2024-January-09

📓 For Rhonda Bella's character dossier (at least its sidebar), I replaced a few TBD details with actual data. I also added a few personal details regarding her past relationships. It's due to the last set of relationships (or, as she would readily admit if asked, "relationships") that she ended up starting a new phase of her own life before meeting David Guardia at the bar in Davenport, Iowa, US. Perhaps I should add similar details for David's character dossier, only they would be fewer and far more vanilla.

Wednesday, 2024-January-10
📓 In order Thursday 2024-January-11 is Phase 2 of the accelerated posting schedule for the Weekly Summary posts. I prepared the text; all that remains is the cover image. I will publish the post tomorrow. 📓 I'm almost ready to write character dossiers for David Guardia and Rhonda Bella; their sidebars are almost done. The challenge will be in creating a characeter dossier (with sidebar data) for Harry Hoqualogue. What do I know about this character? He rides a Harley-Davidson; He leads his chapter of The Mongols; He was a bitter man with a short fuse; He rode with Manny Rey for a bit; He killed Manny Rey and served time; His sentence was commuted by the governor of Illinois; He's older than David Guardia; He lives to ride on open roads; He believes that he's too old to go back to prison; He discovered a renewed sense of faith strong enough to move him to ask to be baptized; He was best man at David Guardia's impromptu wedding to Rhonda Bella. I already decided on his birthplace. I need to find a date of significance in 1964 for his birthdate. I decided that the Harry Hoqualogue character would be the prototypical rebel and wild child. I'll need to think about this character more in the coming days to see what works for him.

Wednesday, 2024-January-10

📓 In order Thursday 2024-January-11 is Phase 2 of the accelerated posting schedule for the Weekly Summary posts. I prepared the text; all that remains is the cover image. I will publish the post tomorrow.

📓 I'm almost ready to write character dossiers for David Guardia and Rhonda Bella; their sidebars are almost done. The challenge will be in creating a characeter dossier (with sidebar data) for Harry Hoqualogue. What do I know about this character?

He rides a Harley-Davidson;
He leads his chapter of The Mongols;
He was a bitter man with a short fuse;
He rode with Manny Rey for a bit;
He killed Manny Rey and served time;
His sentence was commuted by the governor of Illinois;
He's older than David Guardia;
He lives to ride on open roads;
He believes that he's too old to go back to prison;
He discovered a renewed sense of faith strong enough to move him to ask to be baptized;
He was best man at David Guardia's impromptu wedding to Rhonda Bella.

I already decided on his birthplace. I need to find a date of significance in 1964 for his birthdate. I decided that the Harry Hoqualogue character would be the prototypical rebel and wild child. I'll need to think about this character more in the coming days to see what works for him.

Thursday, 2024-January-11

Thursday, 2024-January-11
📓 Today is Phase 2 of the accelerated publishing schedule for the Weekly Summary posts: every 6 days rather than every 7 days. Phase 3 drops on Wednesday 2024-January-17. 📓 For a long time, I thought I would have a hard time getting GHAWG to reach STURGIS; I did it. Then I had trouble finding ways to keep the story going until Harry Hoqualogue and The Mongols returned to their home base in San Diego, California, US. The game-changer for me came when Our Heroes reached Portland, Oregon, US. This is where we meet Lindsay Etxeberria in earnest (rather than in the cameo appearance she had as a near-dead body on the side of a road in Iowa). How important is Lindsay Etxeberria to GHAWG? Her character gave me reason to consider new writing techniques and development for various characters. Her character also gave me the inspiration for 2 sequel zapfic serials (code-named `Blue Lion` and `The Bronze` respectively). Lindsay Etxeberria helped me transform what could have been a one-and-done GHAWG zapfic serial into The GHAWG Universe featuring a trilogy of 3 daily zapfic serials. However, now I'm beginning to wonder: Is GHAWG-- `Rat Bike`-- already a trilogy? It feels like 3 stories already. First, all zapfic entries through David's meeting with Harry at STURGIS. Second, riding with Harry to San Diego. Third, getting everyone else home to North Carolina (at UNC) and then Iowa. If `Rat Bike` turns out to be a trilogy in itself, this means that The GHAWG Universe may consist of a quinology of zapfic serials: the trilogy encompased by `Rat Bike`, then `Blue Lion`, then `The Bronze`. That means The GHAWG Universe goes from being The GHAWG Trilogy to The GHAWG Saga.

📓 Today is Phase 2 of the accelerated publishing schedule for the Weekly Summary posts: every 6 days rather than every 7 days. Phase 3 drops on Wednesday 2024-January-17.

📓 For a long time, I thought I would have a hard time getting GHAWG to reach STURGIS; I did it. Then I had trouble finding ways to keep the story going until Harry Hoqualogue and The Mongols returned to their home base in San Diego, California, US.

The game-changer for me came when Our Heroes reached Portland, Oregon, US. This is where we meet Lindsay Etxeberria in earnest (rather than in the cameo appearance she had as a near-dead body on the side of a road in Iowa). How important is Lindsay Etxeberria to GHAWG? Her character gave me reason to consider new writing techniques and development for various characters. Her character also gave me the inspiration for 2 sequel zapfic serials (code-named Blue Lion and The Bronze respectively). Lindsay Etxeberria helped me transform what could have been a one-and-done GHAWG zapfic serial into The GHAWG Universe featuring a trilogy of 3 daily zapfic serials. However, now I'm beginning to wonder:

Is GHAWG-- Rat Bike-- already a trilogy?

It feels like 3 stories already. First, all zapfic entries through David's meeting with Harry at STURGIS. Second, riding with Harry to San Diego. Third, getting everyone else home to North Carolina (at UNC) and then Iowa. If Rat Bike turns out to be a trilogy in itself, this means that The GHAWG Universe may consist of a quinology of zapfic serials: the trilogy encompased by Rat Bike, then Blue Lion, then The Bronze. That means The GHAWG Universe goes from being The GHAWG Trilogy to The GHAWG Saga.

Friday, 2024-January-12
📓 What else should we know about Harry Hoqualogue? That's the reason he gets his own character dossier. I picked his birthdate as 1964-June-4. For GHAWG, that's just another run-of-the-mill date; nothing special. I chose this date for him because that is when The Beatles began their 1964 World Tour, also known as Beatlemania. Harry was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. The guy who oozes California through-and-through was born in Minnesota? How does this make any sense? There is another-- and a real-life-- person originally from Minnesota who rode with The Mongols: Jesse Ventura, ex-Navy SEAL, former professional wrestler known as "The Body," and future governor of Minnesota. He barely hung on to graduate from high school in 1982. As soon as he could, he set out on the road riding an Indian motorcycle he refurbished himself. Out of everyone in The GHAWG Universe, he is the most apolitical character of all; he doesn't care about politics, and it shows. On reaching California, he met Henry Deckard, who saw that he was Mongol material. (Deckard, himself a minor character, is a Qui-Gon Jinn/Ra's al-Ghul-type character who figures heavily in the development of Harry Hoqualogue.) Living in a world of Type-A people and alpha males, Harry himself becomes an alpha male's alpha male (although he defers to Henry Deckard out of respect for his mentor). At some point, Harry meets a man we know to be Manny Rey, and they become friends. Nothing criminal happens during their friendship as they ride through the United States. One day they find themselves outnumbered by a band of criminals running an illegal fight club. In the final fight of the night, they are forced to fight each other to the death, and the survivor goes free. This is what Manny Rey would later describe to David Guardia as a "falling out." Harry and Manny Rey give the people a fight they will remember for many years before Harry breaks Manny Rey's neck. Police arrive moments after Harry kills Manny Rey, and they arrest Harry. Even in prison, Harry maintains his status as an alpha male's alpha male. Halfway through his prison sentence, the governor of Illinois commutes his sentence to time served. He returns to San Diego, California, US to pick up where he left off with The Mongols. On learning that Henry Deckard had died, he challenges his successor for leadership of the chapter of the motorcycle club. After a series of challenges, Harry becomes the leader of his club. Even though we don't see much of Harry in GHAWG, he has a colorful history which makes him the character we discover at STURGIS when David finally meets him.

Friday, 2024-January-12

📓 What else should we know about Harry Hoqualogue? That's the reason he gets his own character dossier.

I picked his birthdate as 1964-June-4. For GHAWG, that's just another run-of-the-mill date; nothing special. I chose this date for him because that is when The Beatles began their 1964 World Tour, also known as Beatlemania.
Harry was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. The guy who oozes California through-and-through was born in Minnesota? How does this make any sense? There is another-- and a real-life-- person originally from Minnesota who rode with The Mongols: Jesse Ventura, ex-Navy SEAL, former professional wrestler known as "The Body," and future governor of Minnesota.
He barely hung on to graduate from high school in 1982.
As soon as he could, he set out on the road riding an Indian motorcycle he refurbished himself.
Out of everyone in The GHAWG Universe, he is the most apolitical character of all; he doesn't care about politics, and it shows.
On reaching California, he met Henry Deckard, who saw that he was Mongol material. (Deckard, himself a minor character, is a Qui-Gon Jinn/Ra's al-Ghul-type character who figures heavily in the development of Harry Hoqualogue.)
Living in a world of Type-A people and alpha males, Harry himself becomes an alpha male's alpha male (although he defers to Henry Deckard out of respect for his mentor).
At some point, Harry meets a man we know to be Manny Rey, and they become friends. Nothing criminal happens during their friendship as they ride through the United States.
One day they find themselves outnumbered by a band of criminals running an illegal fight club. In the final fight of the night, they are forced to fight each other to the death, and the survivor goes free. This is what Manny Rey would later describe to David Guardia as a "falling out."
Harry and Manny Rey give the people a fight they will remember for many years before Harry breaks Manny Rey's neck. Police arrive moments after Harry kills Manny Rey, and they arrest Harry.
Even in prison, Harry maintains his status as an alpha male's alpha male. Halfway through his prison sentence, the governor of Illinois commutes his sentence to time served.
He returns to San Diego, California, US to pick up where he left off with The Mongols. On learning that Henry Deckard had died, he challenges his successor for leadership of the chapter of the motorcycle club. After a series of challenges, Harry becomes the leader of his club.

Even though we don't see much of Harry in GHAWG, he has a colorful history which makes him the character we discover at STURGIS when David finally meets him.

Saturday, 2024-January-13

Saturday, 2024-January-13
📓 What role does hockey have to play in The GHAWG Universe? When David Guardia's life was flashing before his eyes after that near-fatal explosion in Le Claire, Iowa, his second memory was of being in a bar to watch the New Jersey Devils win their 2nd-- and most unexpected-- of their 3 Stanley Cups. The team was in such disarray that it switched to a new head coach with around 12 games left in the season. The new head coach, Larry Robinson, was the team's assistant head coach, and a Hockey Hall of Fame offensive defenseman who played on the last dynastic teams for the Montral Canadiens during the late 1970s. The NJD players rallied around Robinson, and he rode the team all the way to the 16 victories needed to win the Stanley Cup. As far as `Rat Bike` is concerned, that's the extent of hockey in GHAWG. There may be some hockey in the sequel zapfic serial code-named `Blue Lion`, but I need to do research on what hockey is available in Iowa (David's new home). If I decide to write a prequel featuring David before his Epic Ride to STURGIS and beyond, there will be more hockey involved. 📓 It's been a while since I added entries to the zapfic queue, so Our Heroes have been frozen near Lupton, Arizona close to a "Bitcoin" ATM. I will write a few zapfic entries focused on cryptocurrency just because GHAWG is the first daily zapfic serial for LeoThreads at InLeo. Lindsay Etxeberria will learn a few things from $ETH owner Rhonda Bella, $DOGE owners Hank & Frank Marchenko, and $BTC owners TBD (David, or Sanjay Rampersad, or Lionel Odunsi).

📓 What role does hockey have to play in The GHAWG Universe? When David Guardia's life was flashing before his eyes after that near-fatal explosion in Le Claire, Iowa, his second memory was of being in a bar to watch the New Jersey Devils win their 2nd-- and most unexpected-- of their 3 Stanley Cups. The team was in such disarray that it switched to a new head coach with around 12 games left in the season. The new head coach, Larry Robinson, was the team's assistant head coach, and a Hockey Hall of Fame offensive defenseman who played on the last dynastic teams for the Montral Canadiens during the late 1970s. The NJD players rallied around Robinson, and he rode the team all the way to the 16 victories needed to win the Stanley Cup.

As far as Rat Bike is concerned, that's the extent of hockey in GHAWG. There may be some hockey in the sequel zapfic serial code-named Blue Lion, but I need to do research on what hockey is available in Iowa (David's new home). If I decide to write a prequel featuring David before his Epic Ride to STURGIS and beyond, there will be more hockey involved.

📓 It's been a while since I added entries to the zapfic queue, so Our Heroes have been frozen near Lupton, Arizona close to a "Bitcoin" ATM. I will write a few zapfic entries focused on cryptocurrency just because GHAWG is the first daily zapfic serial for LeoThreads at InLeo. Lindsay Etxeberria will learn a few things from $ETH owner Rhonda Bella, $DOGE owners Hank & Frank Marchenko, and $BTC owners TBD (David, or Sanjay Rampersad, or Lionel Odunsi).

Sunday, 2024-January-14
📓 This makes 2 Sundays in a row where not much got done. This time, instead of the holidays, I went down the Avengers rabbit hole. When Avengers: Endgame is edited for television, it's a 4-hour movie. Being the climax of the first iteration of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I can't complain about how epic this movie turned out to be. 📓 Unlike last Sunday, I did a bit of GHAWG-related activity. The zapfic queue goes to 2024-March-1, and at that point Our Heroes are in Arizona a few miles from New Mexico. The area covering the Arizona-New Mexico state lines is nearly all desert; there isn't much for Our Heroes to do except to ride toward Gallup, the only place in New Mexico mentioned by name in all versions of the song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66". Even then, that will be about 100 miles of riding. I'll need to review the web sites I use for Route 66 research to see which towns of note are part of the ride along Old Route 66. All I know is that before Our Heroes cross state lines there will be a few zapfic entries devoted to brief lessons in cryptocurrency.

Sunday, 2024-January-14

📓 This makes 2 Sundays in a row where not much got done. This time, instead of the holidays, I went down the Avengers rabbit hole. When Avengers: Endgame is edited for television, it's a 4-hour movie. Being the climax of the first iteration of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I can't complain about how epic this movie turned out to be.

📓 Unlike last Sunday, I did a bit of GHAWG-related activity. The zapfic queue goes to 2024-March-1, and at that point Our Heroes are in Arizona a few miles from New Mexico. The area covering the Arizona-New Mexico state lines is nearly all desert; there isn't much for Our Heroes to do except to ride toward Gallup, the only place in New Mexico mentioned by name in all versions of the song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66". Even then, that will be about 100 miles of riding. I'll need to review the web sites I use for Route 66 research to see which towns of note are part of the ride along Old Route 66. All I know is that before Our Heroes cross state lines there will be a few zapfic entries devoted to brief lessons in cryptocurrency.

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.

(Plese note that the Weekly Summary posts will be posted on an accelerated schedule-- every 6 days rather than every Saturday-- in order to bring those posts in synch with the daily zapfic entries. Synchronization should be finished by Spring 2024.)

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