Irritation

Seems my latest book has been delayed. The publisher is running behind and RIHC6v2 may not be out till the end of June, if then. I've been talking with other authors and some have been waiting six months to even hear back from them; whereas I at least have a contract. Looks like my earlier books got in under the wire as regards getting things published in a timely fashion.

POS is at 84,750 words and relationships are shifting. A waitress in a bar, who was intended as human filler for the business around Brendan, has suddenly taken center stage in a sequence that was actually inspired by Lady Gaga's video for "Bad Romance."

Man, talk about a tedious video. Lots of production value. Lots of money spent. Lots of imagination in the design of the clothes and makeup for the woman. And not one bit of thought given to making the story of the video compliment or contradict the story in the song. I mean, it's a good song and has an elegant build to a blistering ending...and all the video does is the flash and dash and cut every .5 seconds to different angles and different points in the story and different costumes and keeps at it so much, you can't get the rhythm of the piece down. I actually was thinking, "What a waste of talent and design."

That said, the song gave me a key to an aspect of Brendan's life in Houston that I'd been missing -- passion. He's just been through a horrific experience in Derry, one that nearly killed him, and after his healing period (both emotional and physical) he'd be needy. Bigtime. And not in a whiny or mealy-mouthed way. For months he's had a shell around him, protecting him, but then events jolt him, again, and send him careening down a winding mountain road at ever greater speeds, where he could go over the side and crash and burn at any moment.

And once again my literary world has overcome my real one and made me aware of one simple fact -- life's messy, and I keep trying to keep it neat. Not cool.