Rolled out of bed this morning right at 4:30 to get some more writing done. I did some tweaking to my super-duper rough opening chapter, and then dove into chapter two. Like any good novel project, this new chapter diverged almost immediately from where I'd planned it to start. And the scene I wrote turned out really cool.

A benefit of reading a good author for me is that I end up writing better myself -- I'm reading Karen Joy Fowler's first novel Sarah Canary right now, and while her style is really different from mine, I'm enjoying it immensely. She's really good at characters as well as wrapping her plot around historical events and detailed research. In that way she reminds me of one of my favorite authors, Tim Powers.

I owe some of the interesting lines I came up with this morning to reading her work.

The novel's at about 20 pages already, and 6,500 words. Woo-hoo!

(If you're doing the Novel Dare, feel free to share your daily success in the comments section or over in the new Novel Dare Discussion.)

Now Playing:
"Bramble Rose," Tift Merritt

Now Reading:
Sarah Canary, Karen Joy Fowler

Today's Quote:
Over the right field and center field walls, across the street from the small ballpark, lights glowed yellow and warm, broadcasted from the front windows of the two-story houses lined up in a row. George recalled the overwhelming sensation he felt looking out over the crowds at the start of each game; so many people out there he'd never know. Was a baby crying on the other side of that window? Was a father playing with his kids in that light? Was an old man or woman eating alone in that house?

Tomorrow he would leave this city behind him, and George couldn't remember when it had stopped being his home and started being just another brief stop in his never-ending travels.