http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Pat_B/Sometimes you have to write it down in order to learn what you really think about life, what it means, how to do what's best. Sometimes you need feedback from someone else to put things in perspective. hourly12000-01-01T12:00+00:00http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Pat_B/636286The NaNoWriMo project is moving along. I'm at 43,000 words plus. This writing project is an excellent diversion from some worrisome things going on in the world around me. I'm thinking of doing a flashback where Herb has a secret of his own, something to give him a little more substance as a man,...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Pat_B/636165It's a high school graduation party for Mike, Herb and Louise's 2nd son. They've invited everyone, including Herb's grandmother Pru and her friend Marcie. Jim was Louise's classmate, two years behind Herb at Milton High. One afternoon, years earlier, Louise had just learned she was pregnant again...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Pat_B/636067"What do you know about this Essence thing?" June asked. It was my shift at the library and I had finished turning on the lights, stocking the pastry cabinet, getting the coffee machine ready to serve. There were no customers for me in the little used bookshop, so I had taken a minute to sit with...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Pat_B/635933It's safer there than center stage. Maybe it's one more aspect of the writing personality. June, you remember her, 91, still crazy after all these years, published children's writer: she says there's a distinct writing personality, but I don't fit it. She declares all writers are neurotic, they...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Pat_B/635787OK, so I'm not an astronaut hanging by a thread in outer space, but yesterday it felt like it. I couldn't get online. No email. It was like the world had erased itself overnight. I clicked my mouse, I tapped the usual keys. Nothing. The first couple times I tried, early in the morning, I thought...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Pat_B/635586I'm going to post a little excerpt here in a minute, and please remember it's rough draft, subject to revision. It grew among the 3000+ words I got on paper yesterday. Not quite as many as my record output of a few days ago, but enough to leave my joints crunchy and my body struggling to unbend...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Pat_B/635477I got inside the mind of this sadistic creep who went after my character Louise. He enjoyed instilling fear. He ran his knife along her neck. He assaulted her on the bathroom floor while her little girls napped just down the hall and the boys were watching TV in the basement family room. He...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Pat_B/635370When I was a kid we lived in this itsy bitsy little village -- about 50 families, 250-300 people. Most men were directly involved in the logging industry, cutting trees, trimming, hauling. There was Talbott's general store and post office, including a butcher shop, McDaniel's Telephone Exchange...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Pat_B/635254My word count yesterday: 361. That's like one tenth of the previous day's. What a slacker! I edited a bit, dithering and delaying about the idea I'm cringing from. I went out for lunch, took quite a while. Watched people. It was Burger King, they have a playroom, there were at least a dozen...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Pat_B/635127Highest single-day word count yet. Over 4,000. I just got to following a thread and couldn't quit until I found out what was going to happen. Turns out old bland as oatmeal Herb is more interesting than I thought. He's using his facade as a boring bean counter to conduct a bit of psychological...