It’s been difficult to find the time to sit down and write. Yesterday was tough because of the ice pick that someone thoughtlessly hammered through my skull. When my head did finally clear up late at night, I was too tired to get up and start typing. Instead, I stayed in bed and tried to think through storylines for my wayward characters. I didn’t come up with many good ideas, but I did start to drift away from the idea of walking—it sounded too much like waiting in line to be very exciting. I went through the obvious possibilities, like the ninja assault, gratuitous explosion that kills one of them, the muggers with paint cans, but they all passed through my mind and quickly flew out the other side.

This was harder than I thought it was going to be. The next step will be to discuss these ideas with someone. I usually think better when I have a sound board to bounce ideas off. I just hope I have some ideas worth bouncing; otherwise, this is going to be a long and drawn-out process. But I won’t go there because of my new Nanowrimo-influenced positive attitude. I’m a great writer with incredible story ideas just waiting to be hatched in my thick skull—okay, my skull can’t be that thick or the ice picks wouldn’t keep piercing it and finding their way to my brain. Today, in case you’re wondering, has been better on the headache front. It’s still too early to declare it a P.H.D. (post-headache day), but all the signs point to the good (or some fortune-cookie influence statement like that).

I did decide that there needed to be an antagonist, which is a word I don’t use often enough. Thinking back to my other stories, I usually left that role for an inanimate object or a feeling—FBT: the termite rollercoaster; Grelko: the protag’s fear; TPS: evil sweater that turned out to be not so evil—or better put, I was never able to make evil enough to turn into a character. What I need, is a foil that creates conflict to push the story in some sort of direction. Of course, talking about an antag is just more meta-writing, but I thought it was important enough to put down, so there.

I’m not sure if I’m going to get much more writing done today. I’m going with Doolies to meet her sisters in the city, and then we’re supposed to visit Eileen and her monsters (said affectionately, of course) for dinner with the rest of my family. If all goes as planned, I might not get home until late. That’s why I decided to use this time while Doolies showers to get some words on the paper. As you can tell from yesterday (and probably today’s) entry, I am not setting a word count requirement. I do have a “suggested” word count of 2,000, but that may change based on obligations. What I won’t let happen, however, is for a day to go by without writing something. I’d prefer fictional words, but musings of a non-fictional nature might be all that I conjure up, and I’ll live with that. The important thing is to put words, no matter how short and insignificant, on the computer. I’ll bring some paper along with me just in case I feel inspiration driving an ice pick through my stomach, which sounds a lot more appetizing than through my skull.