Number-Fifteen

That hungry animal you come across in the alley on your walk home. You pass by this 'alley' every day as a part of your routine.

You do not concern yourself with the animal you see because you believe it doesn't look like it needs food (you don't see its ribcage), or perhaps you are worried it will attack you.

Or perhaps you are kind:
You attempt to feed this animal, but withdraw when you find even one thing that you don't like about it.

Or perhaps you attempt to persist:
The animal does not know what you want.

The animal does not know how to behave to keep you around.

The animal acts in an unexpected or 'unsavory' manner by your standards:
Yet another withdraws.

Eventually, the bigger picture begins to form:
The individuals that acted kind have no patience. They are unwilling to give anything more to one that can be deemed 'a stray'.

The individuals would sooner cut the 'stray' loose rather than attempt to show it another way.

Contempt begins to form:
But the stray holds out hope that another will come along to help.

But nothing comes.

Anger seeps in:
Have the rest of them given up?

The last straw:
No more waiting.

Receiving any understanding from THEM is a fleeting concept.

It's time to leave:
The animal has become set in its ways.

They had their chance.

     Hello to any watchers that will come across this.

     Firstly, I'd like to apologize to those who had a birthday since my prior journal. I usually try to at least send a message saying, "Happy Birthday," seeing as I'm such a person who appreciates such a sentiment (even if others may view it as insignificant).

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     Now, onto the real news: I've crafted the first chapter of the rewrite of Number Fifteen. I've decided to (at least) begin with a much simpler approach to my writing that, hopefully, will allow me to 'put the words onto the paper' more easily and not force myself to drag more out of my head and make the experience unpleasant. I'll be submitting it shortly, and I'll probably edit this post to add ease of access (IF I can even do that. I'm not sure how much DA has changed since I've been 'gone').

... I owe my new "revelation' to two (and maybe more, but these are the HUGE contributors) factors: the movie 'Zootopia' and a fan-fiction I have read based on the same material.

     For the first time in a very long time, I can feel my focus returning. I can feel the true motivation to write that has eluded me for some time. I feel as though I can truly bring myself to write, and not just brainstorm ideas that become notes that will sit around, waiting. I owe this to 'Zootopia' because a lot of what occurs in it hits home for me. I highly recommend to others that they watch this movie in the hopes that they may also take something from this movie like I did.
     The second item I must be thankful for is the fan-fiction, 'Zootopia: Underworld' by username Leenden (I'm afraid I can't reveal the site I found it on at this moment). After having watched Zootopia I happened across this fan-fiction, and it showed me that there is no need to over-complicate the various aspects of writing, such as forcing more words out of your head than need be: some faith can and should be placed on the reader in order to 'make sense' (perhaps 'interpret' is the word I'm searching for) of the words on the paper.
     I'm not going to say that the fan-fiction is perfect (I don't believe any piece of writing should be noted as such, nor should a standard be set based upon the construed definition of what is 'perfect'), as there are various typos every now and then, but the overall feel of the story that is being crafted is still there. I was finally able to see that I don't necessarily have to craft overly-descriptive paragraphs in order to get a point across all the time. I could finally see that I may be able to allow my ideas and words to flow from my mind and not force the creation process to the point where I become 'exhausted' to the point of... let's call it 'apathy', for now...

     I humbly ask that any viewers that come across this journal to please take a moment of their time to read this chapter, once it is posted. I truly wish to hear your thoughts on this 'project' of mine.
     As there are old chapters of Number Fifteen lying around, I'm afraid I'll be treading old ground for a little while, but I feel as though this approach will allow me to make more progress moving forward.

Hello, everyone.

As you can see (or not since who's willing to devote an attention span of MONTHS to someone they don't really know), I've not posted here for at least a year. My previous journal was posted last year, as well, I think.

I would like to get back into writing once more. I still want to... 'reboot' Number Fifteen in order to fix some issues I found with how I had gone about writing it.

It's interesting how taking a class on a specific author can give you some clarity toward what might be better to shoot for in terms of storytelling.

I'll be - once again - attempting to write in the following months. I really would  like to be able to eventually share with everyone the story that has developed in my head as time has passed.

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I also want to apologize to the people whose birthdays I've missed. I usually try to at least throw in a quick, "Happy Birthday!"

SOILED IT - I mean - SQUANDERED IT!

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Yeah... So... How're you doing? I'm okay... except for the fact that I SQUANDERED IT!

IT = My summer that I said I'd try to write more, and then did .01 of a percent of effort in making any progress...

I HEREBY PROMISE THAT I WILL HAVE ONE CHAPTER READY BEFORE THE END OF AUGUST (or on the 1st day of September)!

....

YESH!

I am free once more!

I'm hoping to make progress on Number XV this Summer. I've had ideas floating around in my mind for some time, and I'm hoping I can translate more of them to paper at last.

.....Wait... something's missing...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,