The Spindle's End

26714 / 100000 words. 27% done!

So, in spite of being busy, doing lots of thinking and plotting, and then getting sick, progress is still being made.  Huzzah!

So, for the past week it's been blessedly slow at the library, which I think everyone but the info desk people were grateful for (the info desk people sit and wait for patrons to help...if there are no patrons it's a lot of waiting.)  It allowed those of us who slave away in the dungeon time to catch up, and if it stays slow another week or so we might get the shelves upstairs into a neater order.  The bowling tournament has been going well, with two weeks to go.  I've been asked to leave my contact info for future opportunities like this one, which I like.  I get paid to sit, watch people bowl, write down their scores, trouble shoot, and otherwise think deep thoughts and write in my handy dandy old school notebook.  Huzzah!

While I find writing in notebook filled with lined paper to be a) reminisent of old times, when I carried around a three ring binder filled with Story and b) relaxing, since I don't have Facebook or Google Reader to distract me, it has caused some interesting skips in my narrative.  For example, I may not want to jump right in where I know I left off on my laptop because then I have issues with connecting the two sections together.  I have to verbally sew them up, and that's sometimes awkward.  More often, I move on to something else I have floating in my head, which has now left me with a sketched prologued (I may make it chapter 1 just to avoid the evils of a prologue), chapters one through four solidly drafted, chapters six through nine solidly drafted, and chapter eleven nearly done.

If you're any good at counting you'll realize that I've left out chapters five and ten.  I seem to be jumping forward and back in my writing, which I haven't done before.  I'm not adverse to this new development, I'm just slightly bemused by it.  However, since I am at this point convinced that this is a) the farthest into a work I've yet gotten and b) the best effort I've put forth thus far and c) the best work I've done thus far, I'm not going to complain.  However, at this point the demon child that is chapter 5 has been ongoing for months and I'm wondering when it will make itself clear and coherent.

I think part of my problem with it is that I HATE writing villains.  I don't understand them.  I don't find them provocative as such.  I intellectually know and acknowledge that villans are integral to any good story, and that they need to be fleshed out just as fully as the main characters.  I just unconsciously avoid them.  Chapter Five is my first real chance for my protagonist to meet a villain, and I need to take advantage of that and do it. Of course, the question is how, and which one?

I also need to start figuring out what the next ten chapters might/should be, because at this point I need to really start building to the climax.

In other news, the Gecko stopped by yesterday with the best 'feel-better-soon' present: my City map is almost done.  **bouts of authorial glee in between blowing the nose**