Tag, You’re It!

This week’s post coincides with a story.

Not just any story: a strange, true story. So pin your ear ‘oles firmly back… and I’ll begin a story of an insanely long game of tag.

Ten men, high school friends, loved tag. A lot. A great deal of their non-scholarly time was spent in new and creative ways of tagging the others, and it became one continuous game. During their university years they were separated and the game died down, but at a school reunion, they decided to renew their old favorite, albeit with a few changes.

And so this legendary game of tag was rekindled. Every February, the game is rekindled, and the main rules are as follows: you are “It” until you tag another player, you may not tag the one who just tagged you, and outside the month of February, tags do not count. Officially, if you are “It” on midnight, February 28 (or 29th, for a Leap Year), you have the shame of being “It” for the remainder of the year.

These are hallowed rules, drawn up by a member of the group with a legal degree and signed by all participants; and the lengths they’ve gone to to tag the next player and escape being tagged, have been extraordinary. Once, a player, one Joe Tombardi, traveled all the way to Munich to tag another player, Mike Konesky. He got time off of work for the incident, but it was later than he intended; so while Tombardi did tag him successfully, the tag was declared null and void, as it occurred on March 2nd.

Players have snuck inside one another’s workplaces, hidden inside new cars that were being shown off/test driven, and actually broken into other player’s homes in attempts to tag other players, with varying degrees of success. This tradition keeps them in touch, and provides a spirit of excitement to an otherwise very boring month… and, incidentally, a movie was made about the story, starring Jeremy Brenner, among others. I’ve never seen it, but from the “R” rating the movie carries, I’d imagine that they “spiced up” the story a bit.

The reason I’m telling you this story, all in all, is because I was tagged by Pearl at The Homeschooled Girl for the Never Have I Ever Tag! Thanks, Pearl! 🙂

The rules are as follows:

• Link and thank the blogger who tagged you.
• Include the graphic somewhere in the post (or make your own!)
• Answer the questions truthfully and honestly.
• Tag 3 bloggers.

So, here we go! Never have I ever. . .

STARTED A NOVEL THAT I DIDN’T FINISH.

Sadly, yes. I have a dystopian novel cowritten with my sister that’s hiding in a box. It’s about 100 handwritten pages long, which… is probably the only one I intended as a novel that I have not finished as such, but it breaks my heart. I’ve got a lot more in my head than on the pages, I believe, and those characters may never see the light of day.

WRITTEN A STORY COMPLETELY BY HAND

I’ve written by hand, and fully, many times. I wasn’t allowed computer access for most of my childhood, and even when I got some, the light really bothered me. I’ve adjusted through necessity, and become a halfway decent typist along the way, I’d hope, but I still appreciate paper and pencil (or pen).

NOT RESEARCHED ANYTHING BEFORE STARTING A STORY.

Ummmm……… *looks around* ………………..I don’t research. Quite often. I know, I know, it’s a horrible habit. 😦 Fantasy gives me more freedom to get away with it, but it’s a habit I’m working to break. I’ve had to do research on the basis of different fairy tales and different mythical species, which, as fun as it can be, ends up being a bit of prodding towards other research. Part of the development I’ve gained through blogging is the ability to start a research project with specific goals in mind and gain information by searching in different ways, cross-referencing better, etc.

CHANGED MY PROTAGONIST’S NAME HALFWAY THROUGH A DRAFT

I’ve.. changed the spelling. I suppose that counts? I’m still not sure on one of my current characters, honestly…

WRITTEN A STORY IN A MONTH OR LESS.

Yeah! I mean, not a novel, but stories? Yes!

USED “I’M WRITING” AS AN EXCUSE

…
I would like to plead the fifth.
I have, before; not often, and I’m not proud of it, but I have. Mostly to avoid smaller people who I spent a lot of time with that day and just wanted DOWN TIME, THANK YOU. I usually ended up staring at a screen trying to think something up so I wouldn’t be lying, but if I was actively avoiding them to that degree, that usually meant I was too tired to write, as well.

PROCRASTINATED HOMEWORK BECAUSE I WANTED TO WRITE

Um. No. I was homeschooled, which meant I could be freer with my time, but that was absolutely not allowed at my house. I think I would have been given the evil eye for that, at best. 😝

FINISHED A NOVEL

Yyyyes and no? I finished a “novel in three stories” (it’s a novel about 3 children, each story centers on one of them, but their stories mesh into one overarching tale), but a friend of mine told me they had better potential as separate novels. So, if that’s the case, I’m on the verge of finishing my first full novel, 102,250 words into it, and I’m on track to finish it by the end of this month, if all goes as I hope.

I’m going to tag Gilmo at Flaming Chickens, Payton at Solus Christus Farm, and Jaidie at Sisters Three, if any of them would like to play along. X)

So! There’s my story, there’s my answers. Hope your week is as full of joy as it is of chaos. Keep well, and God bless!

Writing progress: 5242 words this week. Inspiration plus a clear outline for the remainder of the draft makes it interesting!