Derry, Northern Ireland

Derry, Northern Ireland
A book I'm working on is set in this town.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Kilometers are not miles...

I'm driving a Chrysler T&C made in Canada for Canadians. Its speedometer's in kilometers. I can work it out in my head just how fast 70 mph is (and under the bold numbers are smaller, darker numbers to sort of help), but for some reason it made the 90 mile drive between Charlotte and Columbia seem longer than it needed to be. Didn't help this was through country that's pretty much nothing. Not as bad as between Houston and San Antonio, but not that much better.

Helped that I was listening the Depeche Mode's "101" album on my iPhone. I need to figure out how to make it shift from one disk to the next without me having to tell it to do that. On my laptop, if I start the music at one spot, it keeps playing through the list till I tell it to stop.

Apparently Chili's has changed their menu. I ate at one for lunch, looking forward to a half rack of ribs with Shiner Bock sauce...but they don't offer that, anymore. So I went with the tilapia, again. Not bad but not my first choice.

I'm feeling a lot better about things, now. I dove into OT after I checked in and took a nap; my body does not like rising at 4:30 in the morning to catch a 6:30 flight. But I got the first chapter reworked and toned back, a little.

After rereading RIHC6, both volumes, I realized I'd let Antony's character get a bit too crazy in what I've written, so far. By the end of the second book, he sounds reasonable and aware of his situation and in some control of it. I was trying to make him less in control thanks to changes in their situation a few months prior to the beginning of OT, but now that feels wrong. Instead, he's going back to being secretive and manipulative...which drives Jake nuts.

The story is beginning to take on a bigger shape...bigger theme, I guess. I'm not completely clear about it or how to dramatize it within the framework of this book, but it's growing in intensity. The fact that the whole mystery takes place over the space of 2 weeks, with 80% in the second week, makes it harder to keep track of. I halfway think that's one reason I'm having such difficulty with it all.

Anyway, back to life...back to reality...back to the here and now...

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