For the most part, I’ve only been able to write for ten minutes here, twenty minutes there, never enough to build up some steam. Finally, I was able to actually sit down, disconnect the internet (and reconnect every now and then), and churn out a good chunk of pages.

Along the way, I managed to quote Raiders of the Lost Ark, mangle the English language (on purpose this time!), introduce several new characters, and write this piece of dialogue, of which I’m particularly proud:

“…by tomorrow morning, the creature will cover the entire Midwest. By tomorrow night, the entire country. By this time next week, the entire planet.”

I also allowed myself to break my “no obvious jokes” rule. I don’t want this to be a gag-a-minute Airplane!-style yukfest (mainly because I’m not that funny), nor am I aiming for “ha ha it’s intentionally bad!” (because, well, groan), nor do I want sitcom-esque set-up/punchline rhythms (because, again, groan, and, again, because I’m not that funny), nor do I want to mock monster movies (because I love them too much); instead, the humor is coming from the straightfaced weirdness of it all. But I’m trying to stretch my wordplay chops and succeeded in a few actual jokey-jokes. One of them gets passed off as a character’s bad joke, though, so if it bombs, I can say I meant to do that.

I’ve also reached a point where I’m writing things I don’t know how we’ll be able to shoot. I have faith in Ryan’s “if you can write it, I can make it” boast, and yet I worry – I’ve reached beyond the comfort and safety of homemade silliness and into something more ambitious than I had originally planned.

In other words, I really hope we can make a giant sandwich monster that doesn’t look stupid.