Sunday, September 2, 2007

halfway across the channel

Today I wrote the ending and more of the beginning. The MPD aspect may be dropped--I've discovered that the middle will be Pearl studying art, so she may see the ghosts and render them in paint to lay/release them. To be discovered. But I'm not sure yet what the effect will be of her having lost a portion of her child-self.
Tangent: there's a story by Leon Garfield, where an old miser sells 5? 7? years of his life to a mysterious stranger, only to find that he's sold them from the beginning of his life, not the end, and finds himself haunted by the ghost of his child-self.

The ending is Pearl in a seniors home, mental confusion and my attempt at rendering dementia. So that may be taken as the result of the crow hanging over her and the fragmenting of her self, or not.
I'm having a qualm or two, because this is based on incidents in a real person's real life and there are boundaries. I'm just not sure where they are. I've changed names and details (I've had to invent most details), but is that enough?
Well, it's not going to win or anything. The most I'll do with it is print a few copies on Lulu for myself and friends if I like it when it's done.

Progress:
Up at 5:30, breakfast of egg and cereal. Feed cat, start load of laundry.
Sit down at laptop
8:00 am 6370 words
9:30 am 7125
12:30, break for lunch 8245
2:09 pm 9195
4:08 pm break for early dinner 9790
6:06 pm 10071
9:03 pm break for food 11343 words.
I haven't noted breaks for running in place because I've been fitting those in whenever I heat up tea or coffee in the microwave, so fairly often.
Although I went to the chiropracter on Friday, as part of prep, my shoulders are tight and my back is a bit of a problem. I've taken breaks to stretch, but the more useful thing has been to shove a coldpack between my back and the chairback.

I found my last year's wordcount tracking. It's not by the hour, it's notations of the total each time I had to stop, whether to attend a meeting or recharge a battery. Here's how it runs, for comparison:
late night gate duty has me awake at the 12:01 am opening of the contest. By the time I have to stop and teach a class on resources for performing period plays,
2088 words
at the Haggen's coffeeshop where I can recharge Alicia's laptop,
3075
Sunday morning at the Haggen's
4500
back in camp until I have to break off for a Laurels meeting
5295
after the meeting until the battery runs low
6043
A long stint at the Haggen's, which runs all night, though I do not
9476
Monday morning at the Haggens, a nice long time with no other commitments
11461
Here Alicia copies my file onto a cd and I transfer it back to my own laptop. On the ferry home
12128
home until dinner time
12769
dinner until 11:45 pm, the cutoff being midnight
16006

These are all wordprocessor count, by the way. So I'm not as far ahead as I would have hoped based on staying in one place. On the other hand, I'm working without a net (ie. outline) this time, and that means far more to discover as I go, and less to charge ahead with. A slower business.
I conclude that for speed I need at least a minimal outline. Well, down I go again, and hoping I remember enough of Emily Carr's bio to write 1950s art school convincingly. But I will sleep soon. I only got in about 600 words in the late slot last night. Not really worth the loss of sleep, when I do better by getting up early.

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