Rollin' along

I reread the first three sections of POS and it definitely skates over some pretty thin ice...some of it so thin I really had to rewrite it to thicken it up...and wound up with over 77K in words, so far. The main thing I need to add in this area is a chapter or two on Brendan and his mates messing about Derry and maybe on a trip to Dublin, mixing in him noticing Joanna for the first time. I know where he sees her and what it brings about; just need to hunker down and do it. Thing is, I'm still wary of writing about the games boys play in that part of the world and their attitudes about things like school, the church, girls, music. This is the most critical section of the book, to me, because it's here I establish the truth and reality of Brendan's world...and if it wavers in any way, it hurts the remainder of the story. Which I find brutally intimidating.

So...for now I'll march on through what I've written and keep adding to my bible the snippets of people's lives Brendan refers to. And it is helping to clarify in my brain what he's telling me. Plus my boy's building an interesting pattern to how he relates these stories...where he jumps into the middle of an action then goes back to fill in details of how he got to that point then furthers the story a little bit then jumps back to fill in more then settles into the narrative flow, as if he's excited to be talking about himself and has to take a moment to sort things out, giving his tongue a chance to catch up to his thoughts. I'm not sure this works, yet...but it obviously does right by him so I'm not going to complain.

Rain and sleet, today. High in the low 40's. No walks even considered...unless I go to the mall and circle from end to end a few times, using the shoppers as my obstacle course. Hmm...thinking about it, my watch's battery needs replacing and I'll need shoes that grip ice better for Buffalo. The shoes I have now slip and slide on wet linoleum. Good thing North Star's just a couple blocks away and I got a gift card to Penney's.