A Note About Today

Today is a big day in Auburn. The biggest Veterans' Day parade this side of the Mississippi happens, along with a plethora of supportive activities (mostly involving food.) I won't be watching the parade, but a friend and I are going to sit in on part of the field show competition of marching bands. Somehow, it seemed better today to place ourselves in a covered stadium rather than on a rainy street corner. My dinky little camera phone isn't good for much, but I'll see how creative I can be with it so I can post something later.

The NaNo novel is moving along nicely. As of last night, I was close to the word count goal. I hope to put in some heavy writing time this weekend and again on Tuesday. It's not the exercise in creative futility I had feared, but almost looks like a cohesive plot is developing. There is NO EDITING, and that means I'm leaving large chunks of one-sided narration in the manuscript. Those portions will have to be surgically removed later and replaced with something more dynamic and active. The blind character is developing well. It's fun to write her, because she's got at-ti-tude and isn't afraid to be forthright. She's a great gal, though, and it'll be fun to watch the layers of her toughness get peeled away so people can see her heart. Another fun character (because who doesn't like to live vicariously?) has a bad little secret, a habit that no one knows about. It's a habit that could rise up and bite her -- hard -- if it were exposed. I'm a little worried for her, as I don't know how much exposure she's going to have to endure.

A friend reviewed one of the blind character's scenes for me. His comment was that she hates being vulnerable, limited, and dependent, and these are the "qualities" none of us want to be revealed for the world to see. I would say this condition, this desire to cover ourselves, is universal. Too bad it's also beyond our ability to control one hundred per cent of the time.