Good Morning!

Day two finds me back on my couch at –gasp– ten a.m. local time, preparing to dive back into my novel. In past years, I’ve written my piece for this competition on just enough sleep to keep my vision from doubling when I stare at my MacBook screen. If I had slept until five minutes before ten in 2008, or 2009, I may have come unravelled and been found painting my toenails under a bridge in the river valley, singing Blue Rodeo songs, or whatever else it is my brain will decide I should do if it ever truly comes unhinged.

This year, though, I’m being nice to myself. I’m sleeping. I’m taking regular breaks and not panicking about how much time is passing. My goal is to surpass my last entry’s length by 20%, but I’m currently not on track to do that, based on simple math: I’m currently at about a third the length of my last 3-Day Novel with two writing days left. What you don’t know if you’ve never done this before is that day two is my best day. My characters are set up, mostly, my initial incident has stirred up all kinds of trouble for my poor protagonist. All the parts I have so far link up very nicely, which is good, because going back later on to tie a bunch of scenes together is nervewracking and sucks up way too much time. Things are looking very good for this author, completion wise.

What can I tell you about my novel? Not much. I’ll tell you my protagonist’s name is Cora Gallagher. The novel, if the gods of literature smile down on my and I finish the thing, will most like be called The Rarest Kind, Indeed. I really can’t say much else, since I need to keep my ideas safe from the scavengers and stick to the rules of the contest. It’s dark, it’s different, and it’s set in the mid-1800s. Fun loving Kay from B.S.P. is taking a holiday on this one, and her sister, watch ’em squirm Kay, is writing a piece about –wait– I can’t tell you that. Wait and see.

Thanks for stopping in to see how I’m doing. So far, sanity and productivity are winning; I appreciate the folks who’ve been cheering me on. It makes a difference to know there are people rooting for me!

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