It’s amazing what one can do when trying to avoid doing one’s job. On a lark, I wanted to see if a friend of mine from my youth was still alive. Much to my surprise, he is. I am glad he is alive and doing well for himself.

Sadly, I can’t say the same for the NanoWriMo project. I was coasting along outlining the second chapter when I realized that not only was my main character reluctant, he is as stubborn as I am. There was no argument that the other character could offer to sway his position. I tried to think of something, but everything I offered up to the character was shot down. While I like the idea of the reluctant hero, there is being reluctant and there’s being a jerk. So, being bummed – I closed up shop and I am going to let it sit there for a while and go to something else. Something else in this case was the radio. I am getting some ideas (the main character is moral – if worse comes to worse, guilt could be my silver bullet) and my book is on the car, so I’ll let it unfold in my head before putting it to paper (also another break – I haven’t given them any good names yet, which is something I never do. I’ve always had to names of the characters and the settings first). I am under a bit of a self-imposed deadline. I want the outline ready and on the PC before November 1^st and the start of NanoWrimo. Yeah, I have a month and a half, but those of you that have worked with me know that I work at the pace of a dawdling glacier. A month and a half to an easily distracted person like me is like an hour to real people. I should get back to it soon… which is like a week for me.

The novel is lurching on. Nysa is in the Elder Hagan’s house and she is currently fascinated by the fireplace and will be heading down to the orchard to have her delightful little freak-out. I am torn between having Nysa as the POV character just to see how she sees everything in this house. I think it would be wonderful to get into her head and experience the wonder that she has for the most mundane things…but we would lose the chance to finally discover what these demons are and how much she’s (and everyone else) been lied to about the world at large. Right now, we’re looking through the eyes of Hagan’s son Galter (who is just a little sweet on her…awww…) and experiencing Nysa’s joy in a second-hand manner. I think I am going to finish the chapter and give it a harder look later on. Worse comes to worse, I might need to change the POV character from Galter to his mother Elke. We’ll see.

There are few other things happening – I’ve got a friend having a birthday party this Saturday and I’ve been invited. I’ve also got to get that present out the door for her. She’s going to be surprised…especially if it survives the trip.