The Sky and the Dawn and the Sun

I have been expanding my musical horizons this year for my NaNoWriMo efforts. I typically listen to Charlotte Church and the instrumental pieces from the Titanic soundtrack. I don’t quite know why, but this sort of classical, vocal music really helps me focus on my writing. But this year I have broadband internet, so I’m not restricted by my own iTunes library. Instead, I have Pandora Internet Radio. I typed in "Charlotte Church" and have ended up listening to a wonderful array of vocal and instrumental talent. Particularly lovely has been the music of Secret Garden, a Norwegian neo-classical duo. I’m enjoying it all immensely, especially since it’s not the kind of music I might listen to on a daily basis.

I’m off to a great start on my NaNo novel, which is currently at 9,623 words. That’s less than 400 words shy of the Day 6 goal, and I’m not even halfway through Day 4. I’m still not entirely sold on the structure I’ve chosen. Basically, I started with a little flashback to the night of her sixteenth birthday party, then jumped to Alina camping in the desert as she travels across the continent to the western mountains. Her husband has already been killed and she has escaped from prison. With her are her infant daughter, Sara, a hunting dog named Prince that her father gave her, and a stray cat named Bandit who hitched a ride as they were leaving Barcelona and now refuses to leave. She also has a dapple gray draft horse with no name. As she’s traveling, she flashes back to memories of her life back in Venice – her coming out party, meeting her future husband for the first time, his departure, a proposal by another suitor. She also finds herself wishing that she had not been brought up in the higher ranks of society because she never learned to cook a real meal, or to hunt and skin a carcass. She never even nursed her own child, so she has a hard time feeding her on the road. I think that by the time she reaches her destination, I’ll have the happier memories from her past all fleshed out, with a few hints at the not-so-happy parts. She is trying to put all that behind her after all. Then, when the first Christian missionaries show up a couple years down the road, she can start having flashbacks to the death and torture they inflicted on her family and friends. At first I thought that Nicholas, the spurned suitor turned Christian priest and missionary, would be a hard ass. He’s a very passionate man, but he’s not a cruel one. He’s actually very charming and well-educated and I think he genuinely loved Alina. He resents her a little, but I think mostly he’s confused by her. He was quite a catch and her refusal threw him off balance. There’s definitely a little hostility, and he’s at least partly responsible for her capture in Venice (he told the Christian authorities that she was married to an infidel). But he also still loves her. And she never hated him. She just loved Ben (her husband) more. So when he hears rumors that a healer from Venice is living in Onsen Springs, he both wants it to be her and doesn’t. He doesn’t want to have to face her or to punish her should the Christians succeed in taking over the town, but he longs to understand her. I think there may even be a little romance between him and Alina. As of right now, I’ve just finished the proposal scene.

In non-NaNo news (say that five times fast), Alan hasn’t been able to get out of this training exercise. I have to drop him off at 0900 on Sunday and pick him up sometime after November 19th. As of right now, though, his group does not have to go back out after Thanksgiving. It’s a small blessing, but I’ll take it. In January they’ll start training in the field for a week at a time, so he’ll have a week of normal work hours, then a week in the field. It’s supposed to alternate like that until almost June. Then again, this is the Army, so it’s always subject to change. I’m still hoping he’ll get some time off for Veteran’s Day, so that my parents at least get to see him. Fingers crossed.

Other than that, I suppose I am pretty much focused on my novel. NaNoWriMo is a good thing motivator for me, since I tend to lose focus on stories when I’m not being pushed. It’s a really good way to get into the writing habit, which I need to do if I ever want to this to be anything other than just a hobby. Which I do. Now I just need a month where some abstract goal motivates me to edit and revise on a daily basis. I still feel like I should revise my NaNo effort from two years ago, but maybe I should start with the one I’m working on now. I’m already in this mindset after all. One thing I definitely need to do at some point in the next few days is to work on the map. Alan photo shopped a line drawing map into something like what I want, but I need to label it and figure out the landscape and features and where they should go. Where Mexico is will still be primarily high desert, but I’m thinking that I’ll replace the Appalachian Mountains with desert as well. The midwest will still be grasslands and prairie. England is still an island and Italy and Greece still stick out into the Center Sea, but the middle of Europe I might make into a particularly marshy area. Where the Rocky Mountains are is now part of the prairie and the mountains have moved west to merge with the Sierra Nevada range. I’m not sure quite yet. I need to print out the map Alan made me. I’m very visual and I find creating maps for my worlds especially helpful.

Anyway, it’s time to soothe my addled brain with a little TV. Then it’s back to work. I’m going to try and get into the 11K range by tonight.

~Liz