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 29, there are 7 days' worth of diary entries. The first entry starts on 2024-May-13.
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-May-13
📓 After publishing TGD28 I brought GHAWGnav up to date through today. Besides adding the backlinks, I fixed some typos and misleading links. I also took time to review digital maps and the Route 66 web site to get ideas for zapfic; characters were silent today, so no luck there.
Tuesday, 2024-May-14
📓 Although Rat Bike remains in a holding pattern-- actually, a re-do-- in the New Mexico portion of the Old Route 66 storyline, I was thinking about the time when Sanjay Rampersad and
Lionel Odunsi arrive at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I should include some zapfic entries showing them doing independent study during their time on the road.
More importantly-- especially given the strife taking place at a number of major universities throughout the land in recent years-- I need to account for Lindsay Etxeberria when Felix Legion drops off the two foreign exchange studednts. With surveillance technology being what it is and facial recognition technology at the state of the art, Lindsay is asking for trouble if she sets foot on any major campus given the far-left activist life she left behind in Portland, Oregon, US. One workaround is for her to use a reflective wrap-around motorcycle helmet. To add to this workaround, she'll need platform boots (and not the disco kind which include swimming goldfish, either). In the event she ends up getting static from "authorities," she can appeal to David Guardia in his capacity as "representative" to a Higher Authority.
Once The Kids are back at UNC, the remainder of Felix Legion heads swest to various parts of Iowa. Between life lessons from The Elders (David and Rhonda Bella Guardia) and anarcho-capitalist libertarian education from The Twins, Lindsay will be on her way to find her place in this world. More importantly, she will discover her mission.
Wednesday, 2024-May-15
📓 Until this week, I would note items needing backlinks by enclosing them within curly braces({}). This week I realized I had 3 types of backlinks to make, and I thought I should differentiate them for myself when the time came to make them. This is what I came up with: {GHAWG content}, {{Hive ecosystem}}, and {}external backlinks{}. This is to help me batch the backlinking better when I get the post ready for publishing.
📓 After completing the zapfic entries meant to set the stage for conflict between Lindsay Etxeberria and Sanjay Rampersad, upon further review it's more like Lindsay reacting badly to Sanjay's betrothal and Sanjay simply living his life. This is a direct consequence of Lindsay having lived an adult life which had stunted her emotional development. This will become a recurring but low-profile theme going forward until the time is right to return to it either for continuation or conclusion (one way, or another).
Thursday, 2024-May-16
📓 Today I published the final zapfic entry showing how David and Rhonda Bella Guardia had almost met at Defiance, Ohio, US before they more formally found each other in Davenport, Iowa, US. These five entries covered the essential elements of the moment: a "very tall redhead with freckles" entered a bar only to notice conflict between two men over choice of music selection; one of these men had noticed her entrance, but when he needed a witness to confirm to his co-pilot what had happened she had already disappeared.
Left unsaid was the dream she had since that moment where she would come face to face with someone identified by his clothing as The Templar. At the bar in Davenport she meets The Templar, only instead of the typical garb worn by the warrior monks of centuries past she meets a bald man with a safety yellow vest (in fact, a sleeveless jacket) bearing a company logo dominated by a large reddish Templar's Cross. This bald man, David Guardia, is The Templar from Rhonda's dream. Combine this with how the uncanny Manny Rey predicts that David will meet his Shieldmaiden, or she will find him, and this is how The Templar and Shieldmaiden first meet.
These zapfic entries were inspired by going back to the digital map of New Mexico. One or two towns west of Gallup is Defiance, a place name David wasn't expecting to see again until at least reaching Saint Louis, Missouri, US via Old Route 66.
Friday, 2024-May-17
📓 I had reached a point where the zapfic queue went from having 90 days' worth of entries to almost being exhausted. So it was time to admit I had writer's block.
Just when I thought I was tapped out, the character voices came back to me this morning. They offered me a way to advance the story while reminding me that maybe Rat Bike-- but not The GHAWG Universe-- had gone too long. What did they suggest? Face the block head-on to either rise above or to crash through it.
Among recent events covered by "the news" are road blockages by protestors and demonstrators. In recent years, these have been done for various reasons. Given the geography along Old Route 66, this would need to take place near a large city to achieve maximum effect. Currently, Felix Legion is near McLean, Texas, US, so the best place for me to set up this sequence of zapfic entries is Santa Fe, New Mexico, US. A number of other towns remain on Old Route 66 in New Mexico, including Tucumcari. For narrative reasons, I want to display how mobile Felix Legion is. I also want to include an element of theatricality without any deception; the bikes are outfitted with "the nitrous," so they may as well use it. For people of a certain age, Fonzie had jumped the shark (hence the expression). For us at this moment, Felix Legion will jump the mob.
Saturday, 2024-May-18
📓 Much of my day was spent offline, but I managed to publish the latest Weekly Summary post before I went off-chain. Characters are on speaking terms with me again, so that's a good sign for GHAWG. If I can get back to regularly writing "Fun with Maps," then I'll be firing on all cylinders.
(BTW-- What's the EV-equivalent of firing on all cylinders? This expression has its origins during the age of either steam or the internal combustion engine (ICE)).
Sunday, 2024-May-19
📓 When the day began, the zapfic queue was set to take me only 4 more days, to this Wednesday. Thanks to a dream which Rhonda Bella Guardia shared with David Guardia, then the quick realization of her dream, then viral video moment online, I was able to push the zapfic queue through 2024-June-04. I was even able to display both theatricality and the mobility of Felix Legion. On top of that, I finally got to use "the nitrous" which the Brothers Marchenko had installed on all the bikes a while ago. The "re-do" of the New Mexico portion of the ride along Old Route 66 has been going better than I had expected: no superseding entries to replace existing entries.
📓 To avoid getting into any trouble with the real-life Geraldo Rivera, who has appeared in a few zapfic entries, I decided to turn his character into someone inspired by him: Aníbal Rivera. When I port the zapfic serial into other text formats later, going forward he will be known as Aníbal Rivera, and he will be an investigative journalist emeritus who chooses to do most of his work online. After being both an award-winning journalist and war correspondent (among other things), this is how I choose to both define the character and to honor the inspiration for the character.
📓 Tonight I gathered all the zapfic entries which show "Rivera"'s first name so that I can publish zapfic entries which supersede them. I also did likewise for zapfic entries showing the last name "Chacon"; for the same reasons I'm changing Rivera's first name, I'm changing Iris Chacon's name to "Isis Chacon". In fact, it's because of her that he became part of GHAWG: she made an appearance on his talk show during the 1980s. She was always meant to be part of GHAWG; he became part of GHAWG through serendipity. Anyway, I will publish these superseding entries in one threadstorm since payouts and rewards for them don't make sense; whatever I earn from these specific entries will be returned.
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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