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 Interlude 3 while Act 7 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 27, there are 7 days' worth of diary entries. The first entry starts on 2024-April-29.
Before anyone scratches their heads at a few terms, here are 3 I began using many posts ago:
| 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-April-29
📓 This morning I published another edition of TGD. Later in the day I worked on that GBTS post explaining my spreadsheet formula updates involving the creation and building of URLs based on datetimes. The post is nearly ready but I will save it for May when a new round of curation takes place and when I upgrade my Leo status from Newborn Cub to Cub at LPUD to pick up an additional 2 posts to be curated. All that remains for this post is a cover image concept.
I have enough gap-filing zapfic entries to take care of the conflict between Lindsay Etxeberria and Sanjay Rampersad, so all that remains is one scene which ends it for good. Tension will exist between them for a while, but pettiness and annoyance will give way to acceptance of reality. This tension will end much later in Rat Bike or early in Blue Lion.
Tuesday, 2024-April-30
📓 Today I introduced a new character to The GHAWG Universe: Jardani "Don" Roma. Like John Wick, his real name is Jardani. Like John Wick, he is of Belarus ancestry (Byelorussian). This is where the similarities end. He is one of the homeless people who had heard David Guardia speak in tongues at Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California, US. At the moment I don't have a backstory for him, although I know that he appear in a few gap-filling zapfic entries in Rat Bike and have a greater role in Blue Lion and possibly The Bronze.
Given his condition when he meets David, he looks older than his age. This is the result of the life he had been living which led to his homelessness and to his being at Venice Beach. I may end up having him be around the same age as Lindsay Etxeberria just to establish a contrast between these two characters. If anything, he will have finished college, but he also had a vice-- gambling-- which led to his current predicament when we first meet him. This vice would have allowed him to keep much of his faculties intact, which would therefore allow him to live by his wits. Although more or less the same age as Lindsay, Jardani Roma would definitely not be classed with "The Kids" or anyone else.
Wednesday, 2024-May-01
📓 Jardani Roma didn't waste time today! Just after meeting David Guardia, Don asks David to take him to his next destination, which is Riverside, California, US, to drop off Lindsay Etxeberria. Like uncanny Manny Rey, there is something special or different about this man. Unlike Manny Rey, Don Roma is just a flesh-and-blood guy. Even so, his thing is being at the right place at the right time. Tomorrow we'll see another example of this quality.
📓 What sorts of projects have Brothers Marchenko worked on? They describe themselves as gearheads on the edge, and they can make their own parts if necessary thanks to 3D printing technology they have and offered to Rhonda Bella Guardia for when she needs a spare part for her Victory motorcycle. At some point I may have them reveal more about their handiwork. For sure I could do it in Blue Lion as they build for David Guardia the bike of his dreams (and it's not what we would have expected).
Later today I will publish that GBTS post featuring the spreadsheet problem I solved. After that, I will get to work on a GHAWG-adjacent post inspired by The Twins and a bit of their portfolio. This bit of their portfolio will center around 3 ambitious projects: a "light cycle" from one of the TRON movies; the Bat Pod from The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises; and the iconic red motorcycle owned by Kaneda in the ground-breaking 1988 Japanese anime film Akira. For this post, of course, I will need to find photographs. All are from within the last 40 years, so I need to be careful with image sourcing. I won't be breaking the bank with these images being used in my post, so I will use them under Fair Use doctrine.
Thursday, 2024-May-02
📓 It's been a while since I last had a good look at the digital map along what should be Old Route 66 (mostly Interstate 40 inside New Mexico and Texas). This look at the digital map was supplemented by visiting my go-to web site for Route 66 information, Route66RoadTrip.com to see what it has to show along Texas:
- Glenrio (at the New Mexico-Texas state line)
- Adrian -- 23.1 miles
- Vega -- 37 miles
- Wildorado -- 50.3 miles
- Bushland -- 58.2 miles
- Amarillo -- 73.6 miles
- Conway -- 103 miles
- Groom -- 119 miles
- Alanreed -- 141 miles
- McLean -- 142 miles
- Shamrock -- 162 miles
- Texola (just over the Texas-Oklahoma boder) -- 174.4
Between the digital maps and Route66RoadTrip.com, I decided it was best to let these 2 resources guide my storytelling for a while until I can find a storyline which worked, regardless of what I had in mind. I never expected GHAWG to take me this far, so I've been winging this story since Our Heroes left STURGIS. This means that I will scrap some entries in te zapfic queue in favor of others which take advantage of what I find. The next moment of truth will take place in Chicago-- a place David Guardia avoided like the plague when the uncanny Manny Rey was his co-pilot. Chicago also marks the eastern terminus of Old Route 66. Between eastern New Mexico and Chicago, anything can happen.
Friday, 2024-May-03
📓 A lot of the online time was spent reviewing the digital maps to see what I can use in the short term to advance Rat Bike. For now, I will take advantage of what I discover and use it in service of GHAWG rather than trying to force a scenario or set piece to occur. If a set piece comes out of it, great; if not, I can still move the story forward. Although the conflict between Lindsay Etxeberria and Sanjay Rampersad-- actually, it's an internal conflict Lindsay has with herself since she hasn't been in a situation like this in years due to her adult life as a far-left activist-- is close to resolution, the set piece I want to use for ending it is nowhere in sight. So for now that goes on the back burner. What matters is advancing the story on its own merits in a way which makes sense for what I discover in my research.
Saturday, 2024-May-04
📓 The zapfic queue has entries taking me to 2024-May-12-- 8 days from now. I took out a couple involving The Twins and added a callback scene to David Guardia and the uncanny Manny Rey. This time, David is playing UNO with both Lindsay Etxeberria and Sanjay Rampersad. As in the original zapfic entry, this references the DRAW25 meme I had discovered at that time. One person chooses "the gift" from a bird, and the other choses DRAW25. This time, it's not David, since he's displaying very short-term predictive ability for The Kids.
Sunday, 2024-May-05
📓 Besides preparing this post to be published tomorrow, I was thinking about more details concerning The GHAWG Universe's newest character, Jardani Roma. One key detail about him seems-- after 2 scenes in a short time-- to be his knack for being at the right place at the right time. One way to display this will be revealed in Blue Lion since it also ties into a character yet to be introduced, Miranda Bermudo. Another key detail about him seems to be his skillful use of "Voice" (more Bene Gesserit from the Dune novels than Jedi/Sith from the Star Wars universe); perhaps he begins a new life in radio or podcasting; or maybe he proves to be a Zig Ziglar-class salesperson. He may even be like a masculine version of Domino from Deadpool 2 only without the Hall of Fame afro Jim Kelly had in Enter the Dragon. I have time to establish the parameters for Jardani Roma, so I'm not concerned.
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 
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[!!] -- Graphic signature was designed by @ahmadmanga