Under the Gun

(Photo courtesy dribble.com)

I have heard two origins of the term “under the gun”.  One definition originates from a military situation when people used to mount castle sieges.  Men who built back a wall that had been damaged with cannon fire while the cannons were still firing were considered “under the gun”.  There is also the simple explanation that it refers to having a gun pointed at you and if you do not complete a certain task you will be shot.

I can say that I sympathize with both of these examples at present.

The third installment of my book This Broken Earth, Book 3: Babylon the Great is due out on December 21st and I have yet to finish the rough draft.  I am writing in every spare moment, but my job does come first, and I must post on this blog every week day at least.  It is the one thing that sets the creative wheels in motion after a long day teaching students who think that winter break is already here.

Possibly, the topics I will write about the next few weeks will be about the progress on the novel.  I am churning out some really good stuff.  In my opinion it is the best writing I have done in my life.  It’s thought provoking, controversial, riveting and full of those moments like in the recent Battlestar Galactica series where one is never sure which major hero will suffer an incredible, almost unbearable loss.

My villain, the main one, has finally appeared on the page.  He has been waiting in the wings, working his minions like puppets up until now.  When we first see him he seems harmless enough, much like the Governor on The Walking Dead, but soon I will reveal that villain’s horrible, severed-heads-in-the-aquarium secrets.

If you did the NaNoWriMo, you know what I am about to attempt.  Yesterday I cranked out over 3000 words in about four hours.  I had one of those red zone moments where the outline and the writing gelled.

I hope your writing efforts are working for you.  If you pray, then pray for my mind these next 18 days.  The plan is to get everything written by the 10th so I can go through my usual proofing and editing.

Back to work.