March 9, 2006

Novelus Interruptus

Well, with a kernel of an idea, I hammered out 1740 words of my first chapter (see the previous entry for clarification).* Then my advisor on this matter beseeched me to abstain from my literary dalliances long enough to consult the sage advice of the official book of the NaNoWriMo federation, “No Plot? No Problem!” in order to avoid early burn out on this high-velocity project. So… my nascent character waits, poised at the door, peering into the driveway waiting for something to happen, while I consult the guide whose advice will hopefully prevent her from fading into a lusterless figment.

So in the meantime, it was a lovely 60 degrees today and I was able to run outside for the first time since November 24th, a delightful experience despite having to cross paths with several surly teenagers who were on their way home from school. Something about the presence of more than one teenager reinstates that “uncool” kid feeling I experienced for most of my early life. That, and being hollered at by young males who race by in their jacked up pick-up trucks, causes me to envision bloody scenes whereby in running pants and sports-bra I defend myself with the camping knife I forgot to leave the house with. The exception to my teenager paranoia is Sam, my part-time rope partner, who fooled me into thinking he was 23, but is only 16. I can tell he’s probably an outsider at school, but he’ll be a circus rock-star someday soon and that makes him awesome.

Go tangents!

*By the way, should you desire to write a lengthy treatise on something and find the need to count the words, but wish to avoid the tangled mess that is Microsoft Word (which trustily crashes everytime I strive to write anything of vague importance), you can download a little gadget called Word Counter 2.1 which will help you count words without relying on the behemoth that is MS Word.