Let's Try This

 

I'm depressed and anxious, still (and will be until at least November 6) but I'm hoping doing NaNoWriMo will help ease some of that.

Winner, Winner

 

Not only did I figure out whodunnit, I found a way to write it and I finished my NaNoWriMo novel. First time I've hit the 50,000-word goal in almost 20 years. 

The thing about finishing this year is that I haven't written about Joe & Gina since, I believe, 2005 or so. GSG was my inspiration for the Joe character, and he pissed me off so badly that I couldn't write him anymore. But, after a series of events, I wasn't pissed at him anymore and thought maybe I should try to write Joe & Gina again as kind of a little memorial to him. (I'm so glad I didn't kill him off in a tragic golfing accident, which I planned to do when he angered and hurt me so badly.)

Getting started wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but it wasn't all together easy. As I got into it, though, their personalities came back, and it felt as if I was visiting old friends. 

In the dedication for the second book, I thanked GSG and told him he had my undying gratitude. Now, even with his death, I'm still grateful. I couldn't have done it without him.

Whodunnit?

 

Writers, especially NaNoWriMos, will get this. I'm 70% finished with my "novel" but I don't know who the killer is yet. It's one of two people but I'm not sure which one. They both have similar motives. I'm just not completely sure which one could actually do the deeds. I hope I can figure it out in 3 days and 15,000 words. We'll see, I guess.

It Didn't Occur to Me to Mind

 "Dirty Dancing" was set in 1963. I turned 3 that year. In the beginning of the movie the main character says, "... when everyone called me 'Baby' and it didn't occur to me to mind."

I was thinking about that as I was running through some dialog in my head for the NaNoWriMo story I'm working on. I was going to have the male mc call the female mc "baby" as a term of endearment. Then I thought I know this character pretty well by now (I've written several stories with her as the mc) and she would not want to be called "baby."

Honestly, I'm kind of embarrassed that it didn't occur to me to mind for all these years. I kind of liked it when my boyfriends and husband called me baby. Maybe I wanted to, or needed to, be babied. But today the implications and possible implied meaning make me cringe.

Now to choose an actual term of endearment. Honey? Sweetheart? Love Muffin? The first two sound as lame to me as the third one. This may be the most difficult part of writing the story.

Be that as it may, I'm sure I'm not the only person whose favorite line in "Dirty Dancing" is "I carried a watermelon?"

Let's Do This!