Welcome friend to Create Art Podcast where I help you tame your inner critic and create more than we consume. I am Timothy Kimo Brien your thankful head instigator with over 20 years in arts and education. How I accomplish this is by providing you with commentary, interviews, discussions, and projects that will inspire you to create art. This month I will be podcasting daily and writing a novel in 30 days. I am participating in NaPodPoMo and NaNoWriMo again this year as I did last year and you can hear those episodes here. You will be able to listen and read along with what I wrote for the day. I like to practice what I preach when it comes to art so I am challenging myself to write and having you come along for the ride. It is my hope this inspires you to accomplish your goals with your art and if you would like to share what you are doing email me at timothy@createartpodcast.com
History of NaNoWriMo and NaPodPoMo
NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people around the world begin to write, determined to end the month with 50,000 words of a brand new novel. They enter the month as elementary school teachers, mechanics, or stay-at-home parents. They leave novelists.
NaPodPoMo: NaPodPoMo* is a month-long event similar to National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo. The difference? Well, instead of writing a 50,000-word novel, you post a podcast episode every day for 30 days from November 1st-30th. Use any platform you desire. From full production studio to iPhone app and just about anything in between. The goal is to use the challenge of podcasting daily as a form of podcasting boot camp.
The Writing So Far
1 Nov 2022 words today 1681 words total 1681
The messages were coming in fast and furious. Tinlay ignored as best she could the pinging of her smart phone. It was not even 9 o’clock yet and she dropped her daughter off at school not even two hours ago. She had finished her second cup of coffee and her husband had left for work an hour ago. This was supposed to be her time to relax before cleaning the house.
The morning had been cloudy and drizzling, there was fog on the road but not too much to impact traffic that much. October mornings were usually like this, it made her drag in the mornings but as soon as lunch time hit, she would be getting her second wind. Her daughter Winnona had slept in a little longer than usual and was difficult this morning. Fourth graders were like that, Tinlay remembered from her teaching days. She had gone into temporary retirement when Winnona was born and was not looking at going back to teaching anytime soon. Right now, she enjoyed being a wife and a mother.
When she sat back down on the couch and opened her smart phone her world stopped. Message after message on the neighborhood social media page with the subject title of active shooter appeared before her. This was a rare occurrence as the last time was two years ago in a neighboring community that also used the social media app. She got those notifications too because she had friends in the area. This time was different because it was from her community and Winona’s elementary school Swan Victor Elementary. Just as she read the first one of maybe 100, she heard the police sirens go off on the main road. Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. Her only thoughts were of Winona’s safety, and she went into panic mode. She tried to call her husband Mark right away, however, she heard the message “Your call cannot be completed at this time,” which when she heard it, she hung up immediately and started texting him. She was frantic and the predictive text was not helping the situation, making her more frantic. Her thoughts went immediately to the argument she was having with Winona this morning and getting her ready for school. She could not remember if she said I love you or not. She collapsed on the floor due to the emotional strain of what was happening only to be awakened by Mark who was in tears.
It had been a late night for Cody. He was up trying to talk down one of his newer recruits Wolfgang the night before. He had not even met Wolfgang in person yet and this new recruit did not sound promising. Wolfgang, if that was his real name, sounded young, dumb, and full of a lot of bravado, but did not have much else going for him. There was no strategy or long-term thinking going on, Wolfgang just wanted to act, and that is something that the followers of Zeno did not do. Cody had been kicked out from another group that was probably more Wolfgang’s speed, that group had a number of young bucks that had some computer skills but not as many as his breakaway group had. Wolfgang was recruited by his uncle who wanted to give him some direction in life and give him a purpose to get out of his parents' basement. Normally they didn’t allow anyone like this in the group, however, his uncle made a strong case, essentially either his nephew gets in or they lose a major source of funding.
One of the neighborhood social media groups was showing a high rate of activity this morning. Cody pulled up that particular group, none of his people lived in the affected community, but there was one fatality reported at an elementary school due to an active shooter who was still at large. He slammed his fist down on the desk and it jolted his coffee cup and it crashed to the floor. The coffee splattered all over the hardwood floors just missing the power strip that fueled Cody’s computer setup. He dove down with a paper towel to get at it before the hot steamy liquid shorted out the power strip and hurt his knees. As he was getting up, he hit his head against the underside of the desk, immediately cursing and punched the drawers of the desk which elicited more yelling and cursing. The sight of this would have been comical to an outsider who did not know that Cody led the followers of Zeno, but those that knew Cody and the followers of Zeno would see that this incident only fueled his anger and something unpleasant was about to occur.
When Cody got back to his chair, he pulled out one of his burner phones and called Wolfgang’s uncle Bruce. He angrily waited for the typical 3 rings for Bruce to find that the number was listed as safe to answer.
“You have power over your own mind, not events,” said Bruce. He waited for the reply to let him know it was clear to talk.
“It's not because things are difficult that we dare not venture,” replied Cody angrily. “I am about to send you a report and I need to know if you have been contacted. Call me back once you have reviewed. Out.”
Cody terminated the call immediately and put the burner phone at the bottom of the pile of phones in the desk. He would not use this one again until the others had been used. It seemed like an eternity before Bruce pinged in on the virtual office. Cody waited for the signal that the room was sanitized.
“So, I was up most of the night with Wolfgang. I guess I do not need to say that this is on your head and now we need to clean it up. The TV station is already enroute, we need someone out there taking pictures and recording audio. Who are you sending?” asked Cody.
“So, because you talked with Wolfgang last night you think this is him? I mean what proof do you have,” asked Bruce?
“From what we were talking about last night, he is a very restless kid that has way too much time on his hands. He wanted to go over contingency plans, he wanted to know why we are not doing more in person work, he wanted to be deeper in the organization. The kid has been with us for like a year, if that, and I still have not vetted him personally. So do you want to tell me where he was this morning, because I have a good feeling,” replied Cody.
“Okay listen, he is supposed to be at work at this time. I am sure he has an alibi where he works. He has not reached out to me yet, but I am sure he will, and he knows which phone to call to do that. I will find him and set up a meeting for us here. This will not spill back on us, once I read through the report I sent my eyes and ears out there to observe and record. This could be a good training exercise for our guys in the field, at the very least we probably can get a few more believers that the government stages these all the time. I think it is a stroke of genius actually and if we play our cards right, it plays into our favor,” replied Bruce.
“It can only be the three of us knowing, if it gets to a fourth just know that your bullet is already chambered. Get him in here because your life does depend on it and I’d hate to make you the scapegoat for this with the others because your entire family would pay,” threated Cody in a chilling voice.
The scene at Swan Victor Elementary school was one of controlled chaos. Children huddled in their classrooms on lockdown with teachers taking a silent roll of their students. Wondering if they would make it out alive. The office staff were in tears and huddled on the floor as the children were, as they waited for the all clear from the police officers. One child, Winona Bale, 4th grader, lay slain just outside the office staffs window in front of the main entrance of the school where children and parents would normally come in. Her lifeless body bled out as two officers tried in vain to revive her. Three shots in the chest and no casings on the floor to be found. The officers had seen this many times before in training and last year at the high school in the next community. Four officers covered them, two outside the vestibule and two inside the school in case the shooter was still there. The main team searched in every bathroom, classroom and hallway. No one was found. Another team was outside the school searching the grounds and neighbors, again no one was found. The all clear with one was sounded with one caveat, no one was to come through the front entrance so as to preserve the crime scene.
In the office the phone lines began ringing unceasingly as parents tried to get more information about the shooting. The principal emailed the instructions not to let children near the front of the school as there was an active crime scene. The process for informing parents began in earnest and the blinds that blocked the view of the crime screen from the office were drawn shut. The police captain and the principal went to his office and closed the door. Both men visibly shaken at what had just happened. Even though both men had prepared for something like this and trained their subordinates well, nothing truly prepared them for dealing with the aftermath.
The TV station vans were kept at a distance, and intermixed with the reporters were neighbors and others in the area who were wondering what had happened.
Reaching Out
To reach out to me, email timothy@createartpodcast.com I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.
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