It's a strange day. Dawn had to work early, so we were up around the time I used to get up to go to work at the tool shop. I've actually been working poradically on THE UNINVITED GUEST, since I started having some revelations about it last night before bed. Revelations are still coming in, but there are still more issues to resolve. The story is trying to be too many things now, and if it's going to continue to go where I have planned, it's going to have to get a hell of a lot tighter. I tried talking to Dawn about some of these ideas last night, and her conclusion was that I've got too many characters in the story, and it's getting confusing. It's probably true that I'm relying on character interaction to fuel the story, since I haven't been able to iron out the plot yet. It's getting there.
I'm actually in the process of editing and rewriting the first four chapters. It's a little early for that, but I noticed that I've started writing new stuff that conflicts with stuff in the first two chapters. Decisions and direction are needed, so I'm making those decisions and plotting the course. I'm also changing some of the details to fit where I think things are going now. I'm going to resist the urge to rewrite more throroughly, figuring I should have a first draft before I start getting too anal about it. I just needed to get my facts straight. Things like no gun, no watch, the name of the case he'd previously solved, that sort of thing. Stuff I could have avoided if I'd just reread the first two chapters more carefully before writing chapter four, but I needed to do what I did, and it's helped things along (minus the setback). I should be ready to start the next chapter later today or tomorrow.
In other, sadder news, author
Louise Cooper has died. This news comes to me via author Chaz Brenchley. I'll confess that I don't know her work. I quickly googled her and found her website, noting that she was self-publishing a trilogy that she'd written several years ago. She managed to finish that story, but I thought for a moment, what if she hadn't? It occurs to me that it would be a very sad thing to die before reaching the end of your story. I hope that never happens to me.
That said, she was much more prolific than I've been, so her fans aren't exactly being left with nothing to show for their investment. Still, she was in her fifties, which doesn't seem like a very long time to me as I approach forty. I should probably get ahold of some of her work and see what it's like. Maybe Dawn would like it. She wrote quite a few series, which is usually a good draw for Dawn.
Well, I have a couple of things I need to do today, but I think the bulk of the day is going to be spent working on GUEST. I still haven't decided if I'm going to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. It occurs to me that it would be a good excuse to write the final act of TERMINAL MONDAY, but I'm almost worried that it won't be enough time to get the whole thing done. Some people who participate in NaNo are capable of turning out these +200K epics in 30 days, which just seems incredible to me, even if the writing might not be that great. It's an achievement, regardless. Mind you, I don't think I have a single +200K novel in me. A few trilogies perhaps, but really, the roughly estimated 160-170K word count (it's already at something like 110K, IIRC) for a completed MONDAY is as close as I've ever been, and it's taken me three years so far.
Also, if I participate in NaNo, I'd probably have to stop working on GUEST, which most certainly won't be done by October 31. I could try picking up where I left off in December, but I'll probably have lost momentum by then. Maybe I could squeeze it in around MONDAY in November. A couple thousand words of each a day shouldn't be too impossible, if I can just keep up the work pace. No days off like I've done in the last two Novembers. No crashing in December.
Okay, that's enough words spent ruminating about writing to last the week. Back to work. Have a good day, stay warm, take care. I mean it.
Lee.