I seem to have taken all of Thanksgiving week off—not by plan but by inclination.
And since, when tired, my first inclination is to escape into familiar fiction, I pulled a Kate Wilhelm paperback off my shelves. It was # 8 of her Barbara Holloway courtroom dramas. As soon as I finished it, I borrowed ebook #9 from the library, immediately followed by # 10. When # 11 was not immediately available, I returned to the real world.
In his retirement, my father sent out yearly reminiscences, mixing stories of his past with a running commentary of his present. Often, he listed books read. If it was a re-read, he’d ponder why that particular book had called to him.
And so I ask myself, why was I drawn to Kate Wilhelm? The main answer is that in all her books, she displays her fascination with the workings and the mysteries of the mind.
I’m currently stuck. All month, I’ve been demanding the untapped possibilities of my own mind. Last week, I hoped that by leaving my back brain alone to work on the problem, it might provide an answer.
But so far, a question mark as big as a boulder blocks my progress.
However, I decided on a work-around. Without knowing exactly what happens, I’m going to slip past it. I do know how it affects my main character, Maybe he’ll be able to figure out what I have not.
NaNoWriMo—
NaNoWriMo was a bust, netting maybe 5,000 words. Remains my goal:
I’ve promised myself a complete draft by year’s end. If I have a full, detailed (and it has to be very detailed) outline before January 1, 2023, I’ll be satisfied. That means settling down and really doing some work.
Dog fight report—
Sophie is doing well after her husky encounter. Nor did it put her off telling the big guys what she thinks of them. On this walk, she growled at a large black and white named Hobbes, who fortunately had much better manners than that husky.
Here she is with the park ball-chasers, ‘Jita (short for Hijita) and Holly.
Kate Harrington 