Saturday, Caturday

Adam will be home this evening. When he called this morning at eleven, he was driving through Ohio.

I had completely forgotten about the bottle of Cayenne extract capsules in my "medicine box" on my dresser. I took a capsule before breakfast. It's been over two hours, and it seems to be doing something interesting: helped clear up my migraine, sinus pain, joint pain, and muscle pain. This os fascinating, because the only supplement that has worked this quickly has been Rhodiola Rosea. My stomach also feels less bloated.
Research time. Apparently, cayenne is one of those "super spices" that most doctors say works extremely well. Huh. Well, then. I'll add it to my daily supplements.

Speaking of, it has been a week since I've been taking Rhodiola Rosea. It's even better than Ashwagandha for my fatigue. I can get through an entire day on one 400 mg capsule. I'm incredibly impressed.

It's Caturday. My wake-up call was a little golden tabby kitten climbing all over me and possibly thinking I was Mama Cat. She crawled all over my chest, kneading and purring. She licked my entire face with incredible enthusiasm. She nuzzled my face and neck, she patted my cheek, she curled up directly against my throat and meeped a few times.
Now she is laying across my lap, napping. It's a good life for a kitten.

The Turtle Moves (and the husband returns)

Adam brought me a couple of awesome, very useful gifts. One, a keychain with a compass and thermometer, Two, a T-shirt that Terry Pratchett would be proud of.
Charlotte and Billy just got here. We are now uploading photos of Adam's trip to the Cahokia Mounds.

Happy Birthday, Mom

My mother is 59 today. When I called her this afternoon, she sounded perky. She had a "happily uneventful" birthday. She took the day off from teaching her life drawing classes, and tended to her garden and worked on paintings and played with Toby The Cat. We discussed orange tabby cats, vampire fiction, Adam's business trip to Missouri, my novel, and Torchwood. We're still like the Gilmore Girls.

Adam and I ordered Chinese food for dinner. He didn't feel like cooking. I got basil chicken and mushrooms and vegetable lo mein. Good stuff.

Playing with a universe

I scrapped what I had written of Chapter 25. I'm trying to work quickly toward the rising action now. The situation at the end of Chapter 24 will propel Dana faster toward her eventual confrontation with Jeremy; while Ian, Alex, and Kara will do their best to help her. I know there are a few gaping holes in earlier chapters, but at this point I need to just keep moving forward and worry about holes later. Besides, I want Bruster's ice cream.

Jason and I had a long discussion earlier about my climax and falling action. He made a suggestion I had not thought of which would veer completely around my original idea and take a new direction. I like it. I'll see how it fits.

The story seems to be more complex than I'd thought. When I was explaining it all to Jason, I fumbled. I mean, really, it's not that complicated. But he asked about it in a way that tripped me up and made me think. Why is my world the way it is? What could I change? Why do the characters need to do this or that?

Adam and I just had a conversation about character motivations. I suspect I'll probably have several cliches and predictable moments, but at this point, I'll expect it. This is not a very original concept. Good versus evil, destruction and creation, etc etc. Creative, yes. But not something new.

I think, though, that I will soon need to talk to people who have endured serious assault and abuse of any kind, so I can flesh out Dana's character near the end, when she is isolated with Jeremy and fighting for her life and the world. He's a sociopath, after all, and he wouldn't hold back about hurting her. I'm starting to wonder if I'm scared of Jeremy, this character I've created who I can never identify with. I'm too empathic. He has no empathy at all.

I doubt I'll be able to write all of Chapter 25 by tomorrow, so probably no trip to Bruster's. That means no sweets all week, either. If I can write an entire chapter by tomorrow evening, though, it'd be fantastic.