meowbleah...

Indigestion is not conducive to walloping word counts.

Last night, over 6,000 words including two character bios for hero and heroine of "Dark." Tonight, a puny 624 so far, though I did rewrite my Vision article. Fried rice left over from a sweet and sour pork entree is usually great the day after. But not lately -- I've been alternating protein and carb meals to try to build up my strength instead of having both at the same meal and that's been working. Fried rice didn't agree with me though. That is so annoying.

The other thing that's affecting my output is the weather. It's damp and something in the pressure has got all my joints and muscles spasming. I don't feel that terrible fatigue that I did from overexertion, this is something else. Just pain and an aggravating body awareness that's distracting as all get-out.

Frustration has got me feeling down, but it's hard to get energy into this or any project when I'm feeling this lousy. Wondering whether to just let it go for a while and relax a bit, hope my stomach settles and then pick it up again. Indigestion is something that will sometimes just work its way through and hit relief in fairly measurable time. I'd rather not make a big deal of nothing.

And the pressure I've got to finish this last little bit of Chazho isn't something I can do anything with till I get the last crits, not and do it justice. I have to be patient.

Robert and Ari >^..^<

Let's hear it for Evil Overlords!

In my latest scene in "Dark" -- just completed -- MC Dylan has just won a titanic mage-battle against a relatively unarmed opponent, kicking over an Uneducated True of Heart Young Defender his own age. Dylan did it bloodlessly, didn't blow up the tower, did rape the boy's library and proved the point that overwhelming military superiority is -- overwhelming military superiority.

He's now officially an Evil Overlord or at least a Chief Minion with sense. And the Evil Overlord he works for approved of his elegant victory. I love blowing up stereotypes. Anchor a couple of them out in Ziriavan Harbor and set off the fireworks...

Robert and Ari >^..^< (Why aren't any of the ladycats in heat yet, Robert?)

Monthly Marathon turned out all right, six scenes of something that just has the working title "Dark" -- and it's not set in Piarra. It's set in Treve. I'm not sure if my odd MC, Dylan, isn't a native Trevellian... right now I've got a lot of mysteries going for the reader and I'm back to that winging it bit of "keep going and when I get there all the clues will add up." This actually works. I've got tons of backstory running alongside it, both in finished books and in my knowing the motives of the assorted characters.

And something had better happen soon, because Dylan has no goals. He's tough but he's driven along by things outside himself and he's getting set up in several directions. He wasn't a writer-character. He hasn't got that internal motivation, there's no great single goal of his own. In that he's a little like King's hero in "The Dead Zone." I don't think he's someone who wants a quiet ordinary life, though he'd like to get out of the heavy fire. I think he's someone who'd like to find a goal. It's possible that will become a romantic goal, the heroine is onstage and she's already crazy for him. He's currently oblivious and can stay that way till she hits him in the head with a 2x4. That's just conflict and that's great.

He's deep and way too serious and way too uptight so far. Maybe his inner motive is "Get out of this book without going mad." I'm not sure. He's way too wound up right now, but I don't think he'll wuss out as the story develops. He might ultimately walk out on the whole thing. That kind of thing can be a goal. Yossarian wanted to finally get out of combat, right from the beginning of Catch-22 -- and Andy Dufrene in Shawshank Redemption just wanted to stay sane and someday get out of jail. It can work.

Up through chapter 31 of Chazho Line Edits now, almost done. Gods. This is starting to become ludicrous, how long it's taking... but it is coming out so well for it.

Might work on Dylan's thing for a while till I get the next batch of crits...

Oh, and while Qufur has gone back to his original humans, we have three real ladycats with us now. Two of them are a pair of underage black kittens, twins, not yet named, who are Brian and Ravyn's cats. They are sweet and affectionate, the pure black one was all snuggly and purring on my chest earlier and the little tux one was purring at me in the bathroom and twining my leg. They're sweet. Aisling is a small but fullgrown tabby girl who's rather shy and keeps sternly reminding Ari that she's not in heat yet. They're settling in well. I think they'll all be friends. Couple of days we'll have the midnight kitty races...

Robert and Ari >^..^< (Is she in heat yet, Robert? Is she?)