And now on to act 3

Finally.  Finally, I have the first two acts of "Lyons Den" in solid shape and now just need to make the last act fit in with everything else.  This has turned into a serious Page 1 rewrite, and it's made me even more aware of how different screenplays are from books.  In a screenplay, you can skate long and indicate the emotion of the character on the page, but a lot of what happens is up to other people, some of whom will have zero respect for your work.  With a book, you have to put everything on the page and make it seem nice and neat and natural while still deep and honest and consistent.  No one else to blame if it doesn't work.

So tonight I listened to some Depeche Mode and let Daniel have his blow-up with Ace, Carmen and Tad and I can now move on.  I've only got about 65 or 70 pages left to do.  I may get finished just in time for St. Pat's.  Barely.

Then I think I'll spend a couple weeks reading.  I have several books I've yet to go through that deal with Northern Ireland, so I have an excuse to not actually begin the writing until I delve into them.  Plus I have my taxes to do, still, and other bills to catch up with.  No rest for the wicked.

And yet...little moments happen that jolt me out of my preoccupied state.  After work, I was headed for a Wegman's near me (a really cool grocery store with just about everything you could want in it, including killer salads) and passed by the lake in the park...and noticed out in the middle of it were two ice hockey goal nets.

Even though it's freezing out (26 at the time, and we ain't talking Celsius), the ice has become so thin one is sinking into it.  So they've been abandoned to vanish into the icy water.  It's almost sad...and yet lovely in a way.  The meaning of those nets out there -- the games played around them -- the fun had and how the players have moved on.  I guess it means something to me.  What, I don't know yet.  But I stopped to take the photo; that usually says a lot.