March 27 (4 days left)

Here I sit, half-watching Dr Phil help 700-pound people get help as I blog and listen to the rain outside.

It’s been raining all day. Started yesterday, about a two hours after I hung my laundry out to dry. *sigh* Oh well—I’ve been blessed with excellent weather the entire time I’ve been here, so I won’t complain.

I should be writing, but can’t get in the mood. I’ve written 1300 words in the past two days, so I figure I can take a little break. The novel is coming along quite nicely, by the way. Saturday (or was it Friday?) Caroline sat me down on the floor of her living room and we mapped out everything I’ve done so far. I’ve been feeling like something was off, like the story was suddenly not what I wanted it to be about—too complicated, too much of my own interests. So we talked about it and I feel good about simplifying it, which is really going back to my original outline, before I got wrapped up in the details and mechanics of things. Stacks of paper covered the floor. I broke out the note cards, made notes, switched scenes around and figured out what still needs to be written. Caroline added up my approximate word count to date, which is nearly 70,000 words. A typical novel is 90-120 thousand. It feels right—now that I’ve brought back some of the older material, I’m over half-way there. It all desperately needs polishing, of course, but that’s for a later time. First I need to finish the story. I’m comfortable with that.

We broke for a late lunch and sat down with our laptops, each of us logged on to Amazon.com. We read each other titles of books to see if the other could guess what the book was about. It was a good exercise, showing us just how important a title is and how powerful a good one is. Neither of us was satisfied with our current working titles, and I personally love titles that are phrases (especially contradicting ones), so we hunted through quotes and poems and song lyrics. Caroline’s always been a fan of William Blake, and it was in one of his poems that she found the most perfect title for her story.

Saturday, to reward ourselves, we spent the day book shopping! We hit two second hand stores and a garbage dump site and ended the day with a huge stack of books each, and didn’t spend more than fifty bucks. The rest of the day we played with anobii.com and looked over our loot with pride.

Easter Sunday, Chris drove us to Echuca to visit his and Caroline’s father and uncle. Along the way we met their mother, who gave us back Paddy and her own dog, Chester, because in a couple weeks Chris will be taking her to the Gold Coast. With the dogs in tow, we got to their dad’s place and spent the afternoon catching up (mostly talking cars) and comparing Australia to the US. They were kind enough to buy us lunch (burgers) and when we left, each of us ‘kids’ got a bag of Easter goodies. I was really surprised at their generosity—I’d just finally come to terms with the fact that I would miss Mom’s basket this year.

Monday was still a public holiday so most stores were closed, but we did find one open bookshop and raided it. Caroline made out great!!

This week I’ve been holding down the fort at home with the dogs while Caroline is at work. Back to the gym, writing, reading, watching Dr Phil and Opera. Saturday we’re going to Bendigo, for a miniature Supernatural get-together with Shelley and a few other fans. That night, we’re doing a walking ghost-tour around Melbourne—during which Earth Hour will take place.

Oh, and then there’s this tidbit:

www.the rushtour.com

April 11^th and 12^th, Batavia, Illinois is hosting this big concert-thing (which I couldn’t care less about) but guess who will be there talking about ‘life’s challenges, triumphs, and faith’? You guessed it, my hero: The Dog, available for a meet-and-greet.

But more importantly, (*high-pitched girly giggle*): Leland.

For less than fifty dollars and a mere 8 hours driving time, I could meet my current obsession—I mean, crush. My heart beats faster just thinking about it. (*giggle*)

But seriously, I don’t think I can. Neither Melanie nor Dr Denny will let me take off for the weekend a week and a half after I get back. And granted it’s not much money, but I probably shouldn’t indulge. Exercise restraint and all that crap. (*whimper/sigh*) Plus, who would be insane enough to go with me?

Well, maybe I’ll try to write now. I keep waiting for this book to finish itself, but it just ain’t happening. The nerve.