Closing Down Shop

I, Zombiepaper, concluded daily essay writing for Better Zombie as of November 22nd 2023. The reason started off because of a hidden increase in financing for my hosting, which inspired me to ask the question: Am I getting that equivalent value out of this operation? No. When I began the website in August 2016, I wanted to practice writing, rekindled my interest in writing fiction, and spent the better part of the time between then and beyond writing. I no longer need to write meandering essays about observations in my life. This website served me well. I wrote over 3000 essays, short stories, reviews, and other things, with over three million written words. Now it’s time to focus on my fiction-writing. Follow along my writing journey over on YouTube and elsewhere.

Note: The betterzombie.com domain will forward to the free-with-ads, which I don’t receive a penny from, WordPress [not sponsored] site, and I will continue to own the domain for as long as there are bad actors around that might want to capitalize on the name and brand.

[Workday Writings] Three Retail Stories

I “went into civilization” my-today to get my COVID booster, which are free even if you don’t have insurance so companies that charge you for them are just pocketing the difference, and while I was out, I made three stops: the pharmacy, a dollar[-twenty-five] store, and a supermarket. I wanted to share these stories because I feel it captures how late 2023 is so full of people “fed up” with how things are going within America.

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[Novel 02] Removing The Excesses

My-Yesterday, I was reviewing some notes that won’t make it into “The Story,” because they didn’t serve “Novel 01,” but they did serve “Novel 02” by way of showing me how excessive it can be to deal with certain elements of life. Over the past year, especially, I’ve reduced my writing of music reviews to “the essentials,” so I don’t waste my time with random rambles. I save that energy for the novel, or more interesting activities.


Major spoilers after the jump. CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Novel 02] Sammohini’s Distant Therapist

In my rush to tell “The Story,” through “Novel 01,” and now the pre-production of “Novel 02,” I’ve opted for a video-production enhancement to these essays. It’s great for marketability, but writing, alone, in silence, without an audience, has been a key way for me, for years, to expose certain vulnerabilities. How will I write Novel 02? Primarily through speaking into a microphone while writing? How about these quiet segments where I need to dig deep? No mic?


Major spoilers after the jump. CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Workday Writings] Consolidation Of Domains

I received an invoice from my web host a few days ago. I was able to check it just now, for me late-November, and I see that my hosting service has switched over to a monthly subscription. I sent them an email to clarify if this is their new setup, and if so, it’s disappointing, but, after I clicked send, I realized: it’s only really disappointing to them since it’s a monthly reminder to consolidate.

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[Novel 02] Lotta Small Updates

In this episode of brainstorming forNovel 02,” I can’t put my finger on what exactly I wrote as a summarizing thought. There were many smaller ideas I added to the plot and details that should help in eventually writing “The Story.” I didn’t have much of this structure when I wrote “Novel 01,” so, it’s nice I was able to iron out one major area that resulted in a more satisfying set of events, I think.


Major spoilers after the jump. CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Novel 02] AI Thoughts: November 2023

Anything I write about AI will be outdated by the time of publication. I’m writing this in November 2023 for intended publication in January 2024. I wrote “Novel 01” without AI, just because it wasn’t available. I’ve used AI, with citations, since April 2023 in development of “Novel 02,” but my excitement is relegated to AI-generated first draft images and shortcut brainstorming questions. I imagine that things will be murky whenever I write “The Story” proper, so, cite AI now.


Major spoilers after the jump. CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Novel 02] How Many Characters?

How many characters will “The Story” have? I can’t say for sure how many characters “Novel 01” had. When I go to re-read it, I’ll make the count, but I’ll also need to do some continuity editing, so, who’s to say how many characters there will be after I’m done with the 01.5 edit? As for “Novel 02,” the low-end estimate says I’ve established 142 characters out of a possible 537 characters, and that number increases weekly. What’s the limit?


Major spoilers after the jump. CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Novel 02] Zbigniew’s Brainstorming Interruption

After recording the video that comprises a majority of the writing in this update, I dug through some notes related to “The Story,” “Novel 01,” and abandoned projects. I wasted many hours on many things, maybe to help me understand what’s important for “Novel 02.” My writing, artistic skill, and note-taking are all at the point where I can brainstorm for a period, take an interruption, continue, and not miss too many beats, at least… I hope?


Major spoilers after the jump. CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Novel 02] Is It Funny?

When I wrote “Novel 01,” if I needed a new character, I went with random names and that was my character. No characterization. No real effort applied. But, I cut myself the slack of knowing I had two weeks of planning with four weeks of writing. “The Story” has been in casual production for 20-some years now… “Novel 02” has been in active production since April 2023. When is it alright to have “funny” ideas in our stories?


Major spoilers after the jump. CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!