Writing Today

Today I am very fortunate to have warm September weather in the middle of nowhere PA, and the use of a picnic pavilion overlooking the Susquehanna River.  Wind in the trees, bees buzzing, and crows and song birds are competing with a few crickets for my attention as I put thoughts into digital memory.  The pavilion even has an electric outlet to plug my gear in, so I'm staying put for a while. 

Edit for Paragraph Length

This paragraph from the draft version of Plus or Minus Two Percent is on the long side, and I welcome suggestions for breaks.   If you do reply with suggestions, if you could, please provide the basis and related guidance or reference, if any.  Thanks.

Operations personnel called the practice of forging readings shooting.  It was commonly known that if refinery conditions were stable, Operators would shoot readings so they wouldn’t have to make rounds through the plant as often as they were supposed to, or if they made their rounds, they could take short cuts, or hide out somewhere until sufficient time had elapsed to make it look good.  That was only one example of a common tradition among most hourly employees to either not perform their assigned duties while on company time, or do them with minimal effort, just enough to get by.  They learned their limitations in that regard, and became quite skilled over time.  The most egregious instance of this convention that James had personally experienced occurred during his first small engineering assignment immediately after his ten week orientation was over.  It involved a modification to a small hyrdo-blast facility, at which heat exchanger tube bundles were cleaned using high pressure water.  While making a site visit, he entered the facility unannounced, and came upon twelve hourly employees slacking off while they were supposed to be working.  Some were sleeping, some were reading newspapers, and some were simply sitting down on the job, but no work was going on.  James had obviously surprised them, and they immediately noticed his white hard had, which signified management.  Green hard hats were thrown on without delay, and the employees scattered like roaches running haphazardly across a sloppy kitchen counter when the lights went on.  Newspapers went flying, and bodies did as well when the group sprung into immediate action.  While he could have reported the hydro-blast incident to the foreman in charge, he elected not to, for he thought to do so would only create a combative relationship between him and the hourly employees, and instinct told him he would develop a reputation that would brand him as an enemy amongst thousands.  It was fascinating to James that employees would spend so much time and effort figuring out how to waste time, but it was another peculiarity of the industrial culture, and annoying as it was to an engineer, he was powerless to do anything about it.  

Paragraph Length...How long is too long?

While I normally don't focus too much attention on paragraph length, I've been advised that some of my paragraphs are too long.  So, I researched as any modern writer would, using a search engine on the internet, and found an abundance of information regarding the subject.  None of the guidance, however, provided a clear answer.  I welcome any input, especially if it is easy to apply, and adaptable to an editing process as well as writing.  

See the example paragraph below in italics.  This is from "Plus or Minus Two Percent," and as written in my latest draft.  The asterisks show potential paragraph breaks, which I inserted merely to try to shorten the "long" paragraph.  I think it all fits together well, so that's why I wrote it that way, of course.  It seems to fit  Camera Shot, that I found surfing the net.  With credit to Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury offers this simple and useful idea: He says "Think of each paragraph as a single camera shot in a movie. Every time the shot changes (e.g. change in camera angle), start a new paragraph."

Another consideration is Character Tempo...at what pace is the character experiencing events?  Rapid events=shorter paragraphs, and slower events=longer paragraphs.  I found both of these bold-faced ideas at:https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/12734/simple-rules-for-separating-paragraphs-in-books

Insight anyone?  Thanks.

Relentless heat wasn’t helping his condition.  It was twilight, with the air still thick and wet from the moisture being cooked out of the earth, rivers, and nearby Gulf of Mexico under the searing sun, and the daytime temperature had hardly subsided.  Even though James had showered and changed into clean, freshly laundered clothes before he left his apartment, he felt like he’d just walked into a steam room.  His clothes clung to him, and he could feel sheets of perspiration collecting on his forehead, on his nose, and under his eyes, with balls of sweat accumulating on his lower back where his shirt wasn’t touching his skin to absorb the wetness.  **While he anxiously waited in line, the sweat balls formed large drops and then rolled down the center of his back to his waistband.  He could feel the growing wet spot, and was self-conscious that it would be noticeable before long.  There was little he could do to mitigate the problem, and to make adjustments to his clothing would have done little more than draw attention to his predicament.  He could feel the moisture seeping down into the seat of his pants, and he imagined it looking like he’d pissed himself.  **James let his fear of embarrassment exacerbate his already apprehensive state of mind, and he began to wonder if not for the scorching temperature and muggy air, would he feel more relaxed.  Finally, after surveying the crowd, it was slightly reassuring that nobody seemed to by gawking at him, and there were plenty of others that were uncomfortably hot, sweating, and outwardly agitated by the long, slow moving line.  That helped snap him out of that ill at ease state once again, and James silently scolded himself for being so juvenile.  This wasn’t elementary school, and these weren’t a bunch of snot-nosed spoiled brats and bullies.  These were others just like him, they were all being equally subjected to the adverse climate, and everyone was anxious to get inside and cool their heels a little and unwind as they most certainly deserved to.  

Celeste brought her laptop on our boating adventure on the Delaware River, and she is writing her book "Boy of the Pearl:Why a Siga-Siga Played His Violin For The Enemy." A writer never stops, which doesn't apply to me today since I'm the captain.