2000 word day!

That felt good. After some small word count days, it was good to have a big one. I've recalibrated and found my focus again early on in the novel. It was good to remind myself about some things I'm doing with the story. Already, I think this novel has more focus than my first. The first novel was a lot of discovery and meandering. This time around there's still discovery, but more focused. The theme helps. I'm dealing with body image around that time of change: puberty. I have two young male viewpoints and one young female. The female viewpoint might be more of challenge. I usually have no problem writing from a woman's viewpoint, but this character has problems with her self-image and I want to be sure I do it right. I want the details to be right and I want this character to be true. Must research the details, know what I'm saying?

I won't be getting to her character until the next chapter. I'll be in this current chapter for awhile, discovering the other male character. The beginning of the novel is taking shape!

I'm still planning to write on Saturday, so I hope to have a good day. Sunday I think I'll head up to Eric's in Salem and take part in parallel play and that should give me a large word.

For the rest of the today, I need to run a couple of errands. I have some stories to get back in the mail. Must do laundry soon.

Of course, there's the continued reading of The Dark Tower series. I'm still in book two. My reading of the series might be slowed down because I've just learned we have a reading assignment for the Denise Little workshop coming up in March. In fact, the workshop will be a weekend ahead of the novel workshop. But I guess we'll be reading three anthologies for Denise Little. Men Writing As Women Writing Science Fiction, Women Writing As Men Writing Science Fiction, and a Greenberg anthology about Sirius (I don't have that title written down in front of me). We'll see how I can fit that in between Dark Tower Books. Maybe I'll read a story a day along with the Dark Tower. I need to be done with the anthologies by mid-Feb when I'll have many novels and proposals to read and critique.

It will be busy, but fun. Reading and writing. That's what seasonal layoff is all about.