h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is the journal about writing a story, A87776059 called “The Prize.”
As a part of NaJOPOMo, I have committed to writing at lest one journal entry on h2g2 every day for the month of November.

It is 06:00 this morning and the ritual of making a cup of fresh coffee went well, thank you. My allergy attack is back with a vengeance, but that is minor compared with my motivation to write. Still, I wonder what is behind the symptoms. I learned early in life that allergies can be [perhaps usually are] the result of multiple offenses to the body’s system. Back then I suffered from debilitating headaches. I am not talking the more common, annoying type. I used to get headaches so bad that the pain would upset my stomach, my vision would narrow, and all I could do was to lie down in some cool and dark place for the rest of the day. These mega-migraines troubled me for more than twenty years. My Mom was down right mad at me because she spent a considerable amount of our family discretionary funds to have doctors diagnose the problem only to have them report back that they found no cause. Perhaps I was just feigning pain to get out of school, as I was known to have done. Perhaps the pain was psychosomatic. I thought I knew that the pain was quite real.

As it turned out I had to solve that problem myself. I kept track of dietary memories after any attack. A pattern began to form, but it was questionable. Sometimes when I had a beer the pain happened, but not always. Sometimes when I had [American style] Chinese food it happened. Sometimes when I had baloney it happened. Begrudgingly I gave these items up and the symptoms abated. It was many years later that I retested myself to find that beer no longer triggered the episodes. Today I do not indulge in beer, MSG or prepared meats but I have some. When I drink, I usually drink whisky or better [smiles]. The blinding headaches are a thing of the past. But I divert my goal.

The coffee has cleared my head a bit and I am eager to write. My first installment of The Prize was a success for me. It is very rough, but my goal is to just write and let the following drafts polish the effort. I began my entry with an overview of the how prizes motivate people and the motivations of Alfred Nobel. I liked the balanced treatment I was able to give to Alfred’s story. I liked the focus on prizes as motivation in general. I think I liked how I developed interest for any would-be readers to read the entry. So far I have not received too many comments. I would like more comments, but I reserve the right to respond to any comments I do garner [smiles].

AE

Having polished the first installment a bit, I have also added a second installment, a history of controversy.

[Amy P]

Z: keeping reading.. I am enjoying seeing your story come along.