Today I wrote 8,300 words, bringing the novel total to 75,700. New chapter title is "The Man in the Black Castle."

What do y'all think of Poison Sleep as a title for the novel? It's from Percy Shelley's "A dream has power to poison sleep," though I like the way the word "poison" could be an adjective as well as a verb when you cut the line to its last two words.

Today's scenes featured the birth of a chimera, an assault on an impenetrable fortress, a rescue attempt, the death of a major character, tree-spirits, gold and silver automata, a crash landing, a pollution golem, a duck pond that gets up and walks around, a villain voicing regrets, the difference between strategy and tactics, a very stupid-looking throne made of skulls, dashed hopes, a bucket of herbicide, intimations of betrayal, and a nice bit of lateral thinking. I should finish tomorrow, unless I'm much mistaken.

This afternoon Heather and I ambled down to the farmer's market, as is our wont, and got some apple cider, had some lunch, and browsed in assorted shops. I bought Manhunt by James L. Swanson, the history of John Wilkes Booth's flight and capture after he assassinated Lincoln. This will be research for book three in the Marla Mason series, assuming Bantam wants to buy a third book. But the subject interests me anyway, and even if the book doesn't end up happening (though I hope it does), I can still use the revivified mummy of John Wilkes Booth in a novella or something. It'd be best in the context of that book, though. We'll see what happens.

My nephew and sister-in-law came up tonight, and we watched Elf (it's after Thanksgiving, so now we can start looking forward to Xmas!). I'd forgotten how damn charming that movie is. Lots of fun. Tomorrow oughta be good, too. I'm going to try to get up early and finish off the novel. If I manage it, maybe we can go have a celebratory lunch or something.