Brendan has a cold side...

New World For Old is showing Brendan can be a real bastard, at times, especially when he's been hurt. It doesn't matter who's in his line of fire...if they cross him in any way he goes full Howitzer. Which he just did with Evangeline. He was thinking of asking her to marry him, before he was beaten, but learns she never felt that way about him. He's fun for now, but not forever. So he subtly lets her know he's pretty sure one of her brothers was in on his beating. He feels betrayed by her so does it, right back. And he's not sorry, even after she slaps him and storms off.

Then he quietly arranges to sneak away from the pool house and his aunt's family to live on his own in the shadows. He's beginning to see that's the only way to avoid those who would try to make him live his life by their precepts. He finds a room in a house like this, in a run-down section of the city and begins to build himself a new family. A new life.

This takes me to Page 422 out of 525 and almost 118,000 words. That's not counting a chapter I still need to add about Brendan's punk phase and a trip to Austin to hear The Next, a San Antonio punk band playing at Raul's, up on the strip. So it's probably going to be a good 122-123K. Which I don't mind. When I first started writing this section I worried it would be even so much as 80K.

I've fallen off the search for an agent so will do that tomorrow. A couple emails and queries to keep it up. Just one rejection, so far, is pretty good. I also need to catch up with the step outline for this one. Lots behind on that.

I may have a sinus infection. Light but irritating. Just feeling a bit achy and cranky. I took a home Covid test and it came up negative, but I'll take another before I head down to NYC, on Wednesday. Train back on Friday should give me plenty of time to write. I like Amtrak. Like the trip up the Hudson. If it wasn't 9 hours each way, I'd do it all the time.