Woke up this morning and it was 55 degrees in the house (10 degrees outside, I believe). Getting out of bed to run and turn on the Emergency Heat was not a fun prospect, so I remained in bed until 8 a.m., which must be a personal record or something! Yes, the heat pump in our house sucks. At least we have a load of firewood from my parents' house to keep us warm.

And the Emergency Heat. Can't forget Emergency Heat. Love the Emergency Heat.

I got a lot of work done on the Last of the Hand revisions, and the first 1/3 is officially done. This section was the trickiest, but thanks to some chapter reshuffling (thanks to comments from SarahP and Jenn!) I like it much much better. And the next 2/3 should go by much faster! I was really getting into the swing of things when I wrote those last sections, and it's pretty tight.

It's those darn novel beginnings that kill me. All those false starts! I know I need to rewrite the first 50 pages to the Blackbeard novel as well. For some reason I like to jump around from character to character in novels instead of sticking with one main character. I know that can be frustrating to readers. I know it annoys me when I read. Why do I do that? I think it keeps me from having to dig too deeply into the psyche of a single character. That's a bad thing. Must fix that. :)

Also, I was messing around with the Wannoshay novel today, and basically lopped off most of the first act and kept 3 chapters (the Ally "Wantaviewer" chapters), and I think I found where the Real Novel was hiding. I'm thinking of rewriting it all with Ally (the Blur junkie) as the protagonist. We'll see. I'm in no rush to get back to this one. I'll just put it on the back back burner and let it simmer.

Meanwhile, I've been quite enjoying the fantasy novel, and have even been thinking about sequels. I've got some (somewhat goofy) titles for books 2 and 3: The Grip of the Fist and The Time of the Druid. :)

Now Playing:
"In Time," REM

Now Reading:
Nothing! I need to decide on something -- either Harry Potter 4 or Etched City

Today's Quote:
"You have a choice," Kelley had said late last night. "You can use your magic, but it might kill you. Or you can leave the magic behind, conserve your strength, and live many more years."

The old man took all the coins from his pouch and dropped them in a pile next to the cup of a homeless woman. The sun was warm on his face, and his smile was wide in spite of his fatigue and the taste of pennies lingering on his tongue.

Archie hadn't had to think about his choice for a second.