That's because I had a little bit of a block. I was worried that I might have to junk the entire thing, but I talked it over with a friend, my friend said that I should continue the story in screenplay format to see if that would help. So for Script Frenzy this year, that's exactly what I did.

Well, not exactly. For Script Frenzy you are allowed to adapt previously existing novels for your script. I took my online story, and instead of adapting what I had already written into screenplay (which would acheive nothing at this point, except an exercise in formatting, which I already know how to do) I continued from what would have been chapter 12.

It got my creative juices flowing a little, and I was able to move the story on a little. But the only problem with this, like all my screenplays, is that they tend to devolve into bickering between the characters and shift in tone to comedy, which is normally okay, but not dor this story. At least not intentionally.

So I have an idea of where I am going with this story, but it may require a little change and a rewrite of the already published chapters. But I don't think that will be a problem as not many people have actually read them, judging by the wordpress stats that are available to me.

So for the moment, I am letting the story marinate in my brain and will hopefully be publishing some more soon.

But don't hold your breath.

Or do, because you do turn a nice shade of purple.

After a number of months since my last post about improving myself (See Dec 31, 2009) I have been trying to improve myself. For the the good of myself and the others around me I stopped writing while I tried to lose weight. When that didn't work (the weight loss, not the ability to stop writing, though I did have the adverse affect that I had trouble starting to write again) I started to write again.

It didn't go well, so I threw that away. And I started again (by which I started Chapter 11 again and not the whole thing, much to other's shagrin). And now you can read the fruits of my labour here, conveniently titled Chapter 11. So go forth and and read and comment (you know you want to!)

Don't forget, that if you missed any of the earlier chapters in the story (and chances are that you have) you can find them here at the "That Joke Isnt Funny Any More" index page or by the fiction link at the top of the blog.

Have a good weekend,

Matt.

The Other Woman that I of course speak of, is That Joke Isn't Funny Any More. Like Tiger Woods, I regret the hurt that this has caused my family, but not really because to be offended they would actually have to read it...

Now, I know what you are thinking: "But Matt, even though I love you and would in all honesty wait for you forever in the believe that one day you will realise that I am the one for you, I'm very distrubed that you lied to me and that chapter 10 wasn't delivered on time as promised."

All I can saty to that baby is I'm sorry. I was having such fun in completing my NaNoWriMo novel that I forgot to post it online. I can only hope that chapter 10 makes up for this. If it doesn't then perhaps you can lower your standards. Though if you are reading this, there isn't much lower that you can sink (except may be to comment.)

If you missed any of the earlier chapters you can check in at the story index.

Welcome to a completely on schedule posting for Chapter 9, the latest chapter in the permanent mechanical fasterner, I mean riveting (damn this auto thesaurus) online story, That Joke Isn't Funny Any More.

Now, I know what you are thinking: "But Matt, even though I love you and would in all honesty believe that one day you will be the mother of my child, I know that if I am to sustain interest in this story, the publication schedule will have to be more ontimely for the next edition."

I feel less bad now that you have used the word ontimely in your critique of me. You should have used the word untimely according to the auto corrector of my spell checker, as in "untimely death" though I have a feeling that you think my death will never be untimely.

So I do hold my hands up and I can say, as the blood rushes from my extremities, that honestly baby I have been busy with NaNoWriMo and it won't happen again. Okay, in all honesty it will happen again if you want another chapter in Movember (it is like November, but the dates will have to move. According to Wikipedia it is also a Cow's favourite month) but once December rolls around I can get back to disappointing you both on time and under budget.

So go read and be merry and I will put a tentative date of chapter 10 being published on Sunday November 29th, and while you are pressing me for more information, the year will be 2009.

Don't forget to stay tuned for an upcoming blog post (probably this very Monday) reviewing the first half of my NaNoWriMo 2009 experience.

If you missed any of the earlier chapters you can check in at the story index.

What does concern me, and should concern you is that now chapter 8 of the online story "That Joke Isn't Funny Any More" is now available for your visual edification.

Now, I know what you are thinking: "But Matt, even though I love you and would in all honesty believe that we are meant to be together, I know that if I am any more edified then I'll realise that being edified doesn't just mean be accosted by a guy named Ed."

Well, you shouldn't go around learnin' new words and new definitions with fancy book learnun, because that would mean that we'd grow apart and I'd have to seriously consider chaining you to the radiator. In fact, that's where I'm going now. To get my chains.

So start reading, or start runnin'.

If you missed any of the earlier chapters you can check in at the story index.

"But Matt, even though I love you, and would without question put you within a hermetically sealed box so that you would last forever and never die, I am perfectly aware at what time it is. Don't you ever condescend to tell me what the big hand and little hand are doing, especially since your probably not wearing any pants."

Alright, I was wrong, but even though you may know the time in your locale, what you may not be aware of (unless you read the title of this blog post) is that Chapter 7 is now available for perusal and download.

If you missed any of the earlier chapters you can check in at the story index.

And yes, I am indeed wearing pants. Though the name in the back of them would suggest that they are not mine. But that is another story for another time.

"But Matt, even though I love you, and would even consider re-naming my first born child after your second cousin twice removed, don't you think that you should spend longer on these chapters so they'd be better?"

Firstly that's a flattering offer and his name is Fergus MacGuffin-Fishwick, though he doesn't like me very much. This is his website: www.ihatemattfishwick.com so I really don't know why I'm giving him free publicity. Anyway, beyond that, wouldn't changing your child's name be upsetting for your child? This is especially true if your child is like mine: aged 30, working in construction and named Rosco. But hey, I'm not here to judge you. To do that I'd have to visit your website. So tell me what it is then I can judge away!

Anyway, back to the point, Chapter 6 is now up for reading. I'll be working on Chapter 7 in the next week and hopefully it will be up by next weekend.

If you missed any of the earlier chapters you can check in at the story index.

Say hello to your little Fergus for me!

"But Matt, even though I love you, I'm not sure that you have the drive and ability to finish this story."

Thanks for that dear reader, but I do plan to have the whole thing finished before the start of NaNoWriMo on November 1st.

I know its been a couple of weeks since the last installment but I hope that the other posts kept you entertained in the interim. I had chapter 5 finished earlier in the week but just didn't have the opportunity to upload it until now. You can find find it here.

I'd estimate that the story has now probably reached the halfway point and right now I am writing chapter 6 (well actually right now I sm writing this blog post, but when this is finished I can be found writing chapter 6). It should be uploaded by next weekend.

Hope you're enjoying reading the story, and don't forget that if you missed a chapter you can find the main index page here.

Hope you are having an enjoyable weekend.

Yes, dear reader, it has been a while since I posted chapter 3 but now chapter 4 of this online story is posted and you can find it by the Fiction link at the top of the page or by clicking here.

The delay was caused by the first two drafts of chapter 4 not being very good and being scrapped. I know what you are thinking:

"But Matt, though I love you and I want to put my babies inside you, the first three chapters weren't very good either. It isn't like you set the bar really high."

All I can say to that, is that you are being rude and that although the bar isn't exactly Everest or any other mountainous object I could look up but care not to it's slightly above floor level (some would say a wheel chair ramp is required) and it would be worth you looking at it because I poured someone's heart into it, even though they didn't want to and they put up quite a struggle. I tried to be nice about it and dance for them (just one of the reasons why I always travel with my tassles - but that's a whole other story) but they were having none of it and I had to resort to other measures. (And that's just one of the reasons why there is a shovel in my car)

And just like the story, this blog post isn't funny any more. (See what I did there?)

Take a look at Chapter 3 with this link where you can download the latest chapter in pdf format or you can read it online.

You can also find the updated Chapter index of the story with links to all available chapters.

Have a fun week and be sure to check back soon for chapter 4!