Scorpion Oracle

March 6

I managed to snatch productivity from the jaws of lethargy tonight. I revised "The Witch's Bicycle" and sent it to my merciless cadre of fearsome first-readers. I think it's a good story. There's one rather huge infodump that I'm not sure how to deal with-- it makes a lot of important stuff explicit, but maybe it's too fully explained... or at least explained in a boring fashion. Perhaps my readers will have some suggestions for me. Or maybe they'll think the story is pitch-perfect as is.

Heh. Right. In Bizarro world, maybe.

I read at Pergolesi for a while, treating myself to a mocha chai (which is more expensive than a pint of Guinness! and thus a rare treat). Made some more notes toward the novel. I guess I'll tell y'all a bit about it, now. You may remember my cowgirl story, "The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl." That story's 17,000 words long in its current state, and I figured that by viciously slashing everything even slightly extraneous I could bring it down to 12,000 (a very slightly more salable wordage range). But the thought of such cutting pained me, because I love those "extraneous" bits-- the characters, the subplots, all of it. I began to entertain the notion of expanding the story into a novel... and it was like I'd removed a strait-jacket from the story. I suddenly thought of all sorts of places where it could be expanded-- and I don't mean little, insignificant additions, but whole sweeping changes. And they're good additions, they're not unnecessary fillips or pointless plot complications-- they'll make it a richer, wilder, deeper, more exciting story. So now I get to write a book with wildfires and mudslides and threesomes and May-December romances and murals and scorpion oracles and villainy and bravery and phobias and glow-in-the-dark plastic stars!

I was so happy when I realized "Rangergirl" could be a novel-- that it really should have been a novel all along. Because I love the characters, Marzi and Lacey and Hendrix and Ray and Jon... I love the setting, the monsters, the atmosphere, the sensory details... oh, I'm going to steep myself in this book. I'll outline (as much as I ever outline) this week before Meg gets here, and after she leaves, I'll start writing. That'll be good for me anyway-- I always sorely need distraction after Meg leaves, because left to my own devices I get lonely and sad from missing her. This will be the perfect place to lose myself for a few weeks.

Mmm. It's so nice to be excited about writing. Doing a novel will be really good for me.