Thurs. March 23, 2023: Rainy Turn Into Spring

image courtesy of 경복 김 via pixabay.com

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Waxing Moon

Cloudy and chilly, rain

Read about the latest on the garden over on Gratitude and Growth.

Yesterday went a little catawampus. I hoped the maintenance guy would show up sort of on time, and did all kinds of tasks, like folding the laundry and putting it away. And do the social media rounds to promote The Process Muse and Angel Hunt.

When he still wasn’t here, I sat down and got back to work on Legerdemain.

Which meant, of course, that he showed up, after I’d written about a half a page and was just getting into it.

But he’s very nice and knows what he’s doing and the dishwasher is fixed. Thank goodness. I didn’t want it to get swapped out for something not as nice.

It was hard to settle back to the page, and I didn’t get much else done.

It was nice enough to work on the porch in the afternoon, so I did the script coverage out there, and then I finished re-reading THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH and made some notes. I have to do some research on the Korean War. I gave one poor character three different first names over the course of the book, and have to fix that. I put the library in a separate building when I needed it in a different one, for plot reasons, and have to fix that. I gave one character a wife early on, and then had him in a relationship with someone in the park (for both plot and character arcs). Since he’s not the type of guy who’d cheat (and I don’t want to turn him into one), I’m going to make him a widower at the start of the book already. Both his marriage and his current relationship (that he’s trying to keep quiet) will escalate the conflict with his sister-in-law. I want to re-choreograph the climactic sequence; it reads a little rushed without having enough tension, and there are a variety of characters who must be effectively juggled in it. And there are plenty of basic revision/edit bits to clarify, tighten, clean up sloppy language, add in some more textural detail, etc.

These are all typical mistakes during the course of writing quickly during National Novel Writing Month, and not keeping tracking sheets at the end of each day’s work.

I’ve got my work cut out for me, but I’m definitely happier with it than I was when I finished the draft.

And it has to wait its turn until CAST IRON MURDER’s edits are done. Which aren’t going back into the schedule until May, unless I work on it at the laundromat in the interim.

We were notified that the grant payments will be delayed by 2-4 weeks, because the state is taking longer to process the paperwork than hoped. I’m disappointed; it means pushing back a writing research trip I’d hoped to make in April. But I appreciate that they let us know, so we can plan accordingly.

Finished reading the book for review last night. Will write up the review, send it off, and let them know I’m ready for the next assignment this morning.

I was going to run some errands today, but it’s raining, so I think I’ll wait until tomorrow. It’s nothing that can’t wait another day. I’d rather stay in and write, without breaking  the flow for errands. I have two scripts in my queue for the afternoon. I want to work on Legerdemain and “Plot Bunnies” this morning.

Meditation this morning, and then back to the page. Episode 70 of Legerdemain drops today. 70 episodes! Feels like a milestone, somehow, although I’m sure 100 will feel even more so.

Have a good one!