Friday, October 14, 2005

It’s been a very weird October. Temperatures have hovered in the high seventies and low eighties every day until this week, when a deluge of rain has dropped temperatures to more seasonal levels. It’s still very comfortable for mid-October; I went on a brisk walk today and had to remove my jacket after a few minutes.

But a stubborn net of clouds still clings to the sky, with only rare gaps allowing glimpses of blue. Frustrating. It’s October, two weeks from Halloween, and I want blustery winds with clouds sailing like merchant ships through that odd slate blue that so often tints autumn skies.

I’m also impatient with my young adult novel, as I’m nearly done with the second outline (of three). Another hour’s worth of writing should bring me to its conclusion. This is the five thousand word version; the first one was an eleven-bullet summary, and the third will be a stripped-down version of the book itself. You could call the third version “draft zero,” since I won’t even try to write pretty descriptions or get the characters’ voices exactly right. It will be the humanoid lump of rock which I will then chisel into a fine statue.

So, I “only” need an hour to finish outline two, but an hour can be difficult to come by. I’ve got that, plus Otherspace, plus drawing, plus Syllable build attempts. And anime. I have far fewer projects now than I had even two months ago, but now that I can devote serious amounts of time to each project, I’m just as busy. I’m much more productive, though.