Tag Archives: let no man put asunder

September 22, 2026 · 5:23 am

Let No Man Put Asunder: the character arcs

As I’ve mentioned before, Let No Man Put Asunder is a rewrite of my second novel. I rewrote it in the 1990s and improved it with no better result getting publisher or agent attention. I tried a third rewrite which never got a finished draft, and now this version, which is much stronger. Maybe not stronger yet than version two — that one was really good — but I think it will be by the time I finish.

Last week I discussed one of the changes from the previous versions: a much larger cast. Going over the manuscript this week and thinking about Paul and Mandy’s character arcs, I saw another problem. To wit, that I’ve given them similar character arcs to their earlier incarnations, Neil and Adrienne, and they’re not the same people.

Neil and Adrienne were in a good place when their adventures began. Adrienne, an archeology/history buff, daydreams of uncovering lost cities; Neil fantasizes about being a hardboiled PI. That’s as far as their discomfort goes. I wanted to make them ordinary people, happy in their lives, when they’re dragged into a crazy world of adventure against their will.

Paul and Mandy aren’t in a good place. Paul’s dispute with his parents over his academic future has ended with them cutting off support; he’s now busing tables at a greasy spoon to support himself. Mandy, after years caring for her invalid father and raising her five siblings (Mom decided Dad’s terminal illness was too much to deal with so she split). Now her dad is dead, her brothers and sisters are out of the house, she’s ready to start living her own life … and yet she has no idea what to do next (there are reasons).

I have a rough idea of their emotional state when the book starts but going over it made me see I need a much stronger grasp. Paul in particular. Mandy could keep going the way she is for a while; Paul’s feeling a lot more stress. Does he want to resume his academic life? Make a clean break? Reconcile with his parents? Build a life without them?

As I’ve blogged about several times, Orson Scott Card breaks down four types of stories. They can center on the milieu, a question, the character arc or the plot. Maria in Southern Discomfort starts in crisis and ends with the crisis resolved. Her experiences in Pharisee Ga. stem partly out of her own decisions. Paul and Mandy, on the other hand, didn’t do anything. Other hands pulled strings and brought on the crisis in which they find themselves, hunted by mercenaries through the streets of Bluestone, Pa. It’s more plot-driven than character driven

Nevertheless, the first chapter is heavily focused on their personal problems and their discomfort with their lives. The ending chapter, at least in the second draft deals with them wrapping up their personal conflicts or at any rate making a start on fixing them. Their character arc is just as important as the plot arc. I have to know where they are at the start and how the adventure changes them. Unlike Neil, Paul doesn’t fantasize about being Sam Spade or Mike Hammer and he’s not getting a thrill off being plunged into danger. And the revelations about how he got involved in this will be way more unsettling than what Neil discovered.

Neil’s arc also involved him meeting his dream woman — not necessarily eternal love, but way more than the casual affairs he’s experienced. As I wrote in the previous post, Cordelia/Paul doesn’t seem to work the same way, so maybe not. For Mandy, I have a clearer idea of her ending arc and ideally sex is part of it — but again, the guy she sleeps with doesn’t seem to fit the book at all. Different lover? Change the arc? I’m not sure.

While there’s clearly a lot of work ahead, all of this is fixable. Hopefully without taking as long as I usually do.

Cover image by Sam Collins, all rights are mine.

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September 18, 2026 · 4:39 pm

So far I’m one step ahead of the axe-men

You know, these axemen. I’ve posted this Billy Graham cover before because it sums up the way life keeps bushwhacking us just when we think we’re out from under. There were more axemen this week than expected but like the first week of September, the work got done.

A lot of the distractions were paperwork, like submitting for our dogs various recent vet visits, ordering fresh dog drugs, etc. There was also tiredness due to Trixie’s drug regimen keeping up up late to get the last ones in. Her UTI and her GI issues have resolved themselves, though, and the drugs are done. However she developed a slightly shaky left rear leg so we have an appointment this Saturday. It’s nothing serious but it’s definitely not normal — I don’t want to wait for serious discomfort like we did with the GI bleed.

Despite the leg, she’s 100 percent better from last weekend. Hungry, bouncy, eager to play, willing to walk and just more her usual self. Dudley too is in good shape. We had his rehab recheck Monday and the vet gushed over the great shape he’s in for nearly 16. Yay Dudders, yay vet, yay us for taking good care.

Overall life was nowhere near as intense as last week. However it was intense enough I didn’t really get to draw breath, either.

So, walk. As one of my October articles for The Local Reporter is a listicle of Carrboro nonprofits I spent Monday researching them. There’s quite a lot for a small town so it’s a good thing I started. I imagine I’ll break them down into different groupings (kid-related, sports, arts, charity, etc.) when I write it next week.

I’ve proofed The Savage Adventures through 1937 which is about 45 percent of the book done. Having reread the second draft of Let No Man Put Asunder last week, I began planning Draft Three. That meant reading a lot of articles about rewriting, developing character arcs, etc., then starting work on Paul and Mandy’s character arcs (details next week). That was very productive; hopefully the work will translate into a smooth, faster-than-usual draft.

My two stories for the Become the Sky anthology have gotten two rounds of editing so I made changes Thursday. This took longer than expected so I didn’t write anything further. However the critiques were really good and the stories are stronger for it. So yay. If all goes well we’ll have this out before year’s end so you can decide for yourself.

Oh, and my sensitive teeth appear to be getting back to normal so maybe a crown won’t be necessary. Hurray! Second hurray, I sold another copy of Southern Discomfort. Whoever you were, thank you — I hope you enjoy it.

After I wrote the first draft of this post, I realized something else about this week: I’m waaaaay more focused than I have been in a while. I’m having no trouble concentrating on my work and only wandering off to check BlueSky (or whatever) occasionally. That hasn’t been the case in … a while? I’m not sure what changed but hopefully I can keep it up next week (much chaotic stuff to deal with, details next Friday). Because it feels good.

All rights to images remain with current holders.

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September 16, 2026 · 5:15 am

Third draft challenge: what to do with my cast

Writing Southern Discomfort took more than a decade.

Not that I spent the whole time struggling to create my novel. During that period I had various income-generating writing gigs, I wrote three movie books, I had other fiction projects. Still, I’d prefer to finish Let No Man Put Asunder much more quickly. I am, after all, getting older and with less time left, I feel the need to use it effectively.

Routinely at some point in the creative process I take my most recent draft and shift from repeated pantsing to plotting. With novels, this hasn’t ever worked well. This time, I’m determined it will. I’ve read over the second draft, taken lengthy notes, taken more based on how-to writing books and articles … now the replotting begins.

What have I learned from the reread? For one thing, my book’s gotten way too crowded.

In the previous version (this is a rewrite of an earlier novel) the supporting cast for Neil and Adrienne (now Paul and Mandy) included the telekinetic tween Plutarch; his robot sidekick Talos; chief antagonists Celathion and Grainge; Cordelia Winters, Neil’s swashbuckling love interest; Renador, high-tech thief; and Peacock and Mountebank who show up in the last quarter along with a couple more bit players. Plus Mircalla Karnstein, the vampire from J. Sheridan LeFanu’s “Carmilla,” who appears off-and-on.

In this version, the big change was setting everything in Mandy’s hometown, Bluestone, rather than having Mandy and Paul cast out into the multiverse. I think it’s the right move but an unanticipated side effect is that it’s expanded the cast. Mandy’s siblings. Hillier and Oriel, two Bluestone police detectives investigating the goings on. Plus Renador (now Raga) and Cordelia. Plus Peacock and Mountebank appearing a lot more. Plus Flavia (the former Plutarch) and Talos. And because I made Flavia black, she needs to have more of her own arc than Plutarch did, so she doesn’t end up a helpful Magical Negro.

The book is overstuffed. I think the villains can be worked out without too much trouble but the heroes? Cordelia feels awkward; the romance arc doesn’t work. I’m not sure if she’s become the wrong character as Paul develops, or there’s simply not space to develop it. Raga feels completely tacked on, like he no longer fits the narrative. A shame as I wound up with him and Mandy sleeping together, which fits her character arc (I’ll get into that later). My scene with Countess Karnstein feels awkward too. In the previous draft they stumbled smoothly into her lair, and the fight is intense; here it’s lacking. As I have one of her vampire lackeys taking point to hunt Paul and Mandy, I’m wondering if I shouldn’t leave Karnstein in the background or drop her completely.

Quite simply, there’s not enough space for everyone to develop. It’s not just about them having character arcs — various characters drop out of the plot when it feels like they should stick around. I fixed some of that in this last draft, but not enough. One option is to write bigger and give them all a role. Another, probably the more practical choice, is to trim the cast and develop the rest more.

Which to cut? Raga and the countess most obviously, but beyond that? Well, there’s Mandy’s family: four out of her five siblings show up but it might be better if one of them was out of town.

More on other aspects of the third draft soon.

Cover by Sam Collins, all rights are mine.

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September 11, 2026 · 4:16 pm

Second September verse, more or less same as the first

Which is to say that much like last week there were constant calls on my time but I still got good work done. Not as much as last week —Thursday there was too much stuff going on, including the housecleaners coming in (having to watch over four pets in a small room to keep them out of the way does not lead to productive results). Even so.

First, the medical stuff. Plushie’s eye ulcer is gone; once again his robustness shines through and his problems cleared up. Trixie, by contrast, followed up last week’s gastro-intestinal bleed with a UTI. Fortunately the vet has handled both and she’s on the road to recovery. In hindsight I was right a couple of weeks back to think something was wrong — her body language and behavior were “off” — but it was such a vibes-based thing I wasn’t sure it was quantifiable enough for the vet. Looking at her now, when she’s back to her usual cheery self, I can see I should have acted sooner.

Oh, and I had my own medical issue. A couple of weeks back I made a Scandinavian flatbrod, which the book described as a cracker-like flatbread. Turns out while it’s hard like a cracker it isn’t brittle; I hurt my gums biting hard on it (this may have been my baking rather than something innate in the recipe). Got an appointment with the dentist this week; she recommended waiting three weeks to see if the pain subsides. If not, I need a crown. Fingers crossed the pain goes away.

Like I said, work got done despite that. More work on my Doc Savage history, Savage Adventures. Two days going over the second draft of Let No Man Put Asunder. It helped clarify some of what I vaguely sensed wasn’t working with this last draft; now I’ll try to override my pantsing instincts and plot the next draft out thoroughly. I’ll discuss what lies ahead in one of next week’s posts.

At The Local Reporter I wrote about problems with school bus service in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and how the Republican-dominated legislature is restricting local development rules. Over at Atomic Junk Shop I blogged about Steve Ditko’s Objectivism —

— and Bronze Age writers’ enthusiasm for bringing back C-list Silver Age villains.

I’m tired, sure. The timing of Trixie’s drug regimen means we usually wind up going to sleep later than usual and it’s taking its toll. But the work got done. I’m pleased.

Panels from Blue Beetle #5 drawn and written by Steve Ditko. All rights to image remain with current holders.

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September 4, 2026 · 4:14 pm

God said ha. I said “ha!” back

The old saying is that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. I planned to get a lot done this week; God said “ha!” meaning there were a ton of obstacles. Despite which, to my pleasant surprise, I did get a lot done.

First the obstacles. We were still dealing with Plushie’s ulcer (diagnosed last week) but as of his Thursday appointment, it’s cured. Once again our dog has beaten a health problem despite his nearly 16 years of age! That’s always nice. He’s still on an antibiotic for the ulcer but that’s more a precaution than a necessity. We’re taking it though.

Trixie didn’t do so well. Last week she was becoming weirdly picky about food and reluctant to eat her meds. She also felt … off, in a way I can sense but couldn’t define. Sunday she began not eating at all so we took her into the vet Monday, followed by the emergency vet (they could do a couple of tests Park Vet couldn’t). At first the news was horrifying: anemic, blood count up, white blood cells up, which could indicate an infection, or possibly internal bleeding. At the end of the day, by virtue of eliminating the alternatives, they settled on probably some bleeding in the GI tract (I will skip the technical details).

We came home with directions to switch some of her meds and to have her drink a protective slurry an hour before her meals. It’s working: we took her in for a recheck Wednesday and all her signs have improved, though not by a lot (but the vet said that’s expected). She’s livelier, though also sleepier — she’s on Gabapentin now and it knocks her out. But she’s clearly happier and more interested in eating so this is a definite win. A demanding one — the need to time the slurry and her food and some of her meds makes our schedules that much more complicated.

Oh, and I also had to take our car in for an oil change and checkup. That took up a couple of hours too.

Despite which, work went well. I got two articles in for The Local Reporter, both out next week. Might get a third one done but I think that’s where the dog drama will leave me too wiped. I also got three posts up at Atomic Junk Shop, one about iron-on shirt decals in the 1970s, one on a really weird 1971 cover (above, by Murphy Anderson) and one about the path to (IMHO) the definitive Phantom Stranger run by Jim Aparo and Len Wein which kicked off with the cover at left by Aparo.

I also got a nice review of Southern Discomfort from one of my fellow bloggers. Thanks, Greg!

I worked through another year of Doc Savage’s history for Savage Adventures, and polished the bibliography. And then, on Let No Man Put Asunder, I really got some good stuff done. First I went through the writing guide Writing the Breakout Novel, taking notes on stuff that might be useful to think about (give your villains goals. Your supporting characters too). Maybe not — while I’ve read the book a lot, I’m not sure I use it’s techniques not. But I think I’m using it early enough in the rewrite process that might be different.

Then I started rereading, taking notes along the way. Insights or phrases someone offers more than once (“making the beast with two backs” is not going to appear more than once). Thin characterization or motivation. Implausible plotting. Places where it needs more tension. I got a third of the way through the book; that’s pretty good.

I also received by McFarland second-half-of-the-year royalty check. Small, but my books are still selling, which is cool; if you bought one of them, thanks!

And I now have three stories in the “made the first cut” category. No guarantee any of them will sell — I’m quite used to “This was a really tough decision, but …” emails — but they’re all possibilities. More disappointingly, I won’t get an author table to sell my books at Retcon next year. It was quite lucrative this year because it’s set up so all the con-goers go past the sale area frequently, probably why table requests have quadrupled. I’m on the waiting list so fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed too for more weeks like this.

Below, a typical Len Wein opening to a Phantom Stranger story. Aparo art.

All rights to images remain with current holders.

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August 25, 2026 · 5:02 am

The ending of the book (and what came before)

As I mentioned last Friday, the second draft of Let No Man Put Asunder is now done. Though technically I suppose it’s more like the eighth draft: this is a rewrite of a novel I finished in the 1990s, which was a rewrite of my second novel from back in the 1980s. The title has remained, nothing else is the same.

(As I don’t have any book-relevant illustrations, the photos will be random)

Okay, one thing remained the same, the core concept of two people, an older woman and a younger man, meeting and forming a telepathic link, one that downloaded all their memories into each other. The original 1980s version had them pretty happy before things began to happen; I went with “ordinary person caught up in a deadly dangerous game” rather than “protagonist with a personal problem resolves it by getting caught up in a deadly dangerous game.”

The 1990s rewrite made everything considerably weirder and more imaginative as they wandered through various nightmare worlds running from the mercenaries hired by their mysterious, unknown enemy. In the 1980s version, their enemy saw them as a threat and wanted them dead; at the climax he turns out to have a weakness that isn’t set up in advance. The 1990s take established he’s a psionic who kills anyone he sees as a threat to his power — and that’s pretty much anyone with similar abilities. His weakness is that he’s always struck and killed swiftly and never learned to fight a protracted battle; when my protagonists, Adrienne and Neil, confront him at the climax, they survive long enough that his confidence cracks. For someone whose powers stem from his force of will, that proved a fatal weakness.

The reason Adrienne and Paul were a threat remained the same in both versions. It doesn’t work for Paul and Mandy in the current version. The Community of All is simply too big and too powerful a foe, with different motivations … so why were they a threat to it? And how could they beat it?

Suffice to say, I figured it out. There is a reason the Community is hunting them down. And I think it works. Having found an ending to the plot, however, I still need one more draft. I need to sharpen the character arcs — both Paul and Mandy are in worse places at the start than Adrienne and Neil were. And I’m not sure those character arcs end satisfactorily. The 1990s version was Part One of a duology; this ending makes the book a standalone. The adventure is over, their immediate problems have been resolved, but I still want to show where they’re heading next. Paul, for example, was supposed to end up in a relationship with one of the supporting characters: this draft that didn’t happen, though I may change that back.

In September I’ll read over the story and take notes, then start mapping out what needs to happen — beats in the character arc, and the like. I’m tentatively optimistic I can finish by the end of the year and then send it out for beta reading, alongside getting the final proofing done on Watching Jekyll and Hyde.

Wish me luck.

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August 21, 2026 · 4:30 pm

One big accomplishment, several little ones

The big one being that I finished the second draft of Let No Man Put Asunder. Last week I got past a major sticking point but I still had some doubts about the ending; last weekend I figured it out (having TYG off work last week so we were both more relaxed was a big help, I think). Monday and Tuesday I got it done. Several months later than I’d hoped, but even so, yay!

I’d hoped it would be in good enough shape to offer for a beta reading, but no, not quite. It needs at least one more draft which even assuming it goes really well means it would be finished shortly before holiday season. So no feedback session until next year. Less speedy than I’d like — on the other hand, it’s faster than I was beginning to fear it would be.

(There’s no pet news other than “they’re adorable” but I figured I’d throw in a couple of photos anyway).

The little stuff? I got a lot of work done on the Local Reporter stories for next month’s issue. Submitted some pet insurance forms, mostly for their regular drugs. Resolved an IRS issue — happily it’s in our favor. And worked on Savage Adventures. This made the days kind of scattershot, which isn’t good; I always work better when I have one thing to focus on a day. But things like taxes need to be done.

I was, however, somewhat bummed by money. There was a columnist gig I think I’d have been good for but they wanted pitches — suggestions for the kinds of things I’d write for them — and the job got snapped up before I could figure out the kind of specific things they’d like. I discovered I’d missed another opportunity that might have been lucrative. And of course, not knowing I could bill our pet insurance for drugs means several years of lost reimbursements (I’ve recovered quite a bit of that but my records don’t go back for enough for all of it). This doesn’t leave us in desperate straits but more money is nice. Particularly earning more money.

Over at Atomic Junk Shop I blogged about the Bronze Age love of reprints — a very big deal in an era long before TPBs and omnibuses were available everywhere. And about one of the Bronze Age’s problems being how often creative teams turned over.

Plus over the past two months I’ve sold around eight copies of Southern Discomfort. Not a lot of money but it is very pleasing enough people were interested to try my book. I’m also pleased that promoting it more than I think I did Questionable Minds paid off, at least a little. Something to think about for when my next book comes out. To everyone who bought it, thanks!

And if you’re eager to learn more about me — and who isn’t, really? — you can check out my interview with Michael Parks.

Cover by Samantha Collins. Rights are mine.

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August 14, 2026 · 4:29 pm

You mean if I take time off, I get less done?

TYG is on vacation this week. She’s completely relaxed, which means I’m much more relaxed. Not that I’m normally stressed out but it’s always surprising how much of a difference it makes.

This weekend she’s taking part of the vacation at a local hotel, as she’s done the past couple of years. As I stay close to home to watch the pets I wouldn’t get to the new Spider-Man movie this weekend and our schedule didn’t permit it last weekend. So TYG suggested I go mid-week, and I did. So most of Wednesday was not productive (though it was fun — review tomorrow). Yesterday we had the housekeepers in it, which sucks up time (you try creating when you’re sitting and trying to calm cats about the strangers in the house), plus I had a couple of errands to run.

However … I did get some good work done. More on Savage Adventures. And finally, some fiction. I sat down Monday evening, started work on Let No Man Put Asunder and did more Tuesday. I’d been frozen at the point where the late-book plot of the previous draft absolutely no longer works as I’ve changed a key detail. Suddenly I was able to get past it. It doesn’t work as well as the last draft yet but it’s fixable. Or I can go back to the old approach, though I probably won’t.

I’m tentatively optimistic I can wrap up this draft by Aug. 31. Though I’ll need at least one more draft before I submit it for beta-reading.

That’s pretty much all I got done but it’s quite a good thing to have gotten done.

Also Con-Tinual has posted my panels on that old TV classic, The Night Stalker and on getting your fictional settings right to Facebook.

Cover by Steve Ditko, all rights to image remain with current holder.

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August 7, 2026 · 4:30 pm

At last, a productive week, though I didn’t produce the things I most wanted to

That is to say, I spent another week without getting any fiction written. I don’t like that, but at least I didn’t just flap and flounder around without accomplishing anything.

I’d intended to spend Wednesday working on short stories. Instead I wound up spending two or three hours checking on which stories had been rejected (in the “if you don’t hear from us, we didn’t take it” mode), then checking out potential markets and resubmitting them. “Mage’s Masquerade” went to Abyss and Apex; “Oh the Places You’ll Go” went to More Distant Shores. I also read a couple of stories from Tuesday’s writing group that I hadn’t been able to listen to (schedule conflicts).

(We went to Costco last weekend. They’re ready for Halloween).

Thursday I’d planned to work on Let No Man Put Asunder. However Trixie got up early again and the lack of any personal space in the early morning does seem to affect my focus. Creativity dissipated and I settled for working The Savage Adventures. I put in two days on that book this week and got my analysis of two years of Doc Savage magazine proofed. If I can work a year a day, I can have the text of the book done this year. Still have to find a cover artist, though my cover concept is simple enough I may try using software to do it myself. If not, I’ll look.

(More Costco Halloween fun. This one actually moves).

I got two articles in at The Local Reporter, one on the ongoing drought here in the Triangle (improved, but not gone), the other on a land-development dispute in Chapel Hill. That one took longer than it should; for some reason I couldn’t seem to shape it in my head. But it’s done, and pay will be forthcoming.

Over at Atomic Junk Shop, I reposted an old post from this blog about Childhood’s End, the book and the miniseries, and some horrendous acts by the US government in the last century. The cover above I believe is by Richard Powers.

Plus I took Plushie in for his regular eye checkup. Everything looks good, which is pleasantly surprising; dogs with glaucoma usually lose the eye within a year and he’s still in good shape after two-plus years. Robust, as our vet says.

Next week, though, I really have to get some fiction done!

Speaking of fiction, if you’re interested in a discount on the sequel to the Ceaseless Way anthology, Become the Sky, the QR code below should take you to a discount offer. No obligation to buy.

The “abrupt embrace of ethics” line is from my short story “Obolos,” a brand new one alongside a reprint of “Backstage With the Hypothetical Dead.” And lots of good stories from other contributors. The cover is by fellow contributor Sonya Lano.

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July 3, 2026 · 5:15 pm

Cats, borders, knees, writing, blood! My week in review

First the blood: Saturday I made my regular donation to the Red Cross. They’ve remodeled their facility and I was the first “power red” (double dose of red blood cells) donor there. I wrapped up just a little too soon for someone from the regional HQ to photograph me, darn it. That would have been kind of cool.

Tuesday, it was cat day: time to take Snowdrop in for his wellness exam and shots. He’s way harder to cage for the trip than Wisp; she’ll let us pick her up which gives us a chance to shove her in. Snow’s less trusting. However I got a dose of gabapentin — painkiller that also makes ’em sleepy — into him with a small morning meal. That left him just groggy enough to load into a cat carrier. He’s mostly in good shape, however he does have a heart murmur. Those can be bad in cats so we’re waiting to see what the labwork says.

Minor bonus, they applied his topical heartworm/flea med so we don’t have to do that again for two months.

Borders: as I type this, the theme I use for this blog has suddenly dropped the illustration on the vertical borders so there’s nothing but the image at the top. Maybe it’s a temporary thing and it’s gone by now. Maybe I’ll have to change themes because the brown border looks dreadful. I haven’t had a chance to do anything about it yet.

Knees: Tuesday, after TYG brought Snowdrop home, I went to physical therapy. Nothing major but my left knee gives me twinges in certain positions. I’d like it to stop. The therapist gave me a set of exercises which I’ve been working on. Too soon for any miracle cures, though. I also got a sleep apnea kit in the mail — my doctor thought that might relate to my recurrent insomnia — and I spent three nights with a testing kit on, making me feel like a cyborg. My grimace below is because I also felt like Hannibal Lector in his muzzle in Silence of the Lambs.

I slept better than I expected with that thing on. However it was choppy, which contributed to my tiredness for some of the week. Plus the pets were needier than usual. Still I got some good stuff done. Articles for The Local Reporter on Carrboro’s 2027 budget and the drought’s impact on Carrboro (not up yet). That took up Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday I tackled the next chapter of Let No Man Put Asunder. Didn’t go well. The changes I’m making are good but they’re the kind that require further changes — if the sinister Community of All simply puts everyone in Bluestone in a stoned trance, Mandy doesn’t have the conflict of fighting innocent mind-controlled people. It still works better and fits the Community’s strange goals; however I have no idea what comes next. And Wednesday I was most tired.

Thursday I worked on “Die and Let Live.” It’s steadily improving but ends up way too talky as Colin and Deadbeat explain what’s been happening and everyone debates ethics. Either I shift some of that material earlier in the story, I come up with a more dramatic ending or both (ideally both).

I also got the first scene of a new story. My mind generated several new details: one character, Claire, comes from the town of Riddle Grove where her family lives at Enigma Towers. And their last name, Maistery, sounds a lot like “Mystery” if you say it aloud. Her estranged best friend notes the pattern and decides they’ll make a joke about it later. I have no idea what it means but it isn’t anything funny. So my mind’s clearly engaged — not enough to figure out what comes next yet.

Today was, as usual, devoted to next week’s blog posts, planning what to write, and emptying my in-box. Plus we took Trixie and Plushie in for some shots and, as Plushie’s been walking wobbly recently, asked the vet about it. She says he might have some back pain and recommended upping his gabapentin dose for now. Makes sense as we lowered it a couple of months back. We’ll see if it helps.

What made the visit memorable is that Plushie expressed his displeasure by pooping on the exam room floor. And then several alarmingly runny poops after that. Hopefully it’s just a momentary lapse and not the return of his dread diarrhea. We’ll see.

And now for something completely cool, author’s copies of Southern Discomfort arrived this week.

Cover by Samantha Collins. All rights are mine.

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