I have a pretty extensive collection of rubber ducks, which continues to grow every year.
This collection started during my first WriMo in 2008 when I found out Seattle was known as the hydrophobic ducks. As our mascot dubbed by NaNoWriMo creator, Chris Baty, the locals took up the idea and have hence forth, been able to recognize each other via the duck placed on a table at write-ins. Each writer has their own or borrow from someone like myself, to be their totem.
There's really one duck I keep with me when I do write at Tully's. He's a black, ninja devil duck. Certainly my favorite - though I don't remember where I acquired him, but I think he was a gift - and he's been with me for the past three years. Like lucky socks for an athlete, he's my lucky charm for when I need to get some progress done. And perhaps that explains why I haven't been able to complete anything.
As of late, I haven't had him sitting next to me on my desk, or where I lounge on the couch upstairs. A part of it is because I don't want my dog to kidnap him and shred him, and the other is that I'm lazy. For the past few months, he's been hanging on the shelf above my bed, opposite my pirate duck. Cause really, what's a ninja without a pirate?
It's time to get into the zone and get some writing done with my sidekick duck.
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There's on character I really enjoy writing for, but I've rarely had him speak when I post the stories on my writing blog. Some of it is fear, while the rest is that I like telling a short story with little dialogue and only actions, or descriptions.
My fear feels valid - although why should it need to be validated? - because this character is deaf. I don't really have any deaf friends, so it's not something I could just ask anyone. Most particularly, it's tough to write dialogue. He's mostly deaf, but can read lips fairly well and can hear some things with his hearing aid. But it's not 100%. Being comfortable with talking, he speaks as normal as he can, although he has a hard time with pronouncing "T"s and when he was younger, "J"s.
But how would this be written in dialogue? So far, the only way I've found it to work, is by replacing the "T"s in a sentence with either an apostrophe, or a "D". Although it really all depends on the sentence and words, which is why I'm careful with my system and how to use it.
If you're curious, this is the male character in the "Royalty" series of flashfiction. I have a soft spot in my heart for this character because there's just so much about him, his past, and his life that I've imagined, it's hard to decide what's important and what's not. He's a character I want to write for, but am being cautious - and perhaps overly cautious - about how I do it.
I wish research were easy...
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I have a pretty large music collection. My stacks of CDs are certainly starting to catch up to my books. Seriously, the storage space in my room is getting more and more limited, the disks are even being stacked on the top of my stereo, which certainly limits my use.
Time to find some proper shelves or something.
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