Writerly Stuff for 10/5 - 10/6

Progress: approx. 5K words on Elisa's Belly.

Made-up words: scree, animagus/animagi, Damián

Barely avoided clichés: Her black eyes flash in anger. *rolls green eyes*

Thank God an editor didn't see this: It's an insane plane. (s/b plan)

The words I'll hate most to cut: Of course she's a spy. She's probably as efficient a spy as she is a laundress.

Black widows killed: Four. Only two adult females. Do I hear a cheer for progress?

What Elisa ate today: Plain trout on a bed of steamed greens.

General thoughts: I did something risky with this novel. Elisa gets...um...uprooted from her situation and placed elsewhere. I've been concerned that I'm asking too much of readers, that it will be tedious to learn new setting / characters TWICE in one novel. I've tried to carry it with consistency in Elisa's voice, strong transitions, and references to past events and characters. I think, hesitatingly, that I've done it. It just might work. I have a couple of salvation ideas should my beta readers tell me I haven't pulled it off, but I'm allowing myself teensy glimmers of hope. *hopes*

Also, I desperately need to write a wilderness survival / adventure novel. Two nebulous brain-WIPs stand in line ahead of it though, so it could be a while

Serenity and Bugs

Yesterday, my cousin and I crouched, slack-jawed, next to the rear wheel well of her Suburban and watched a praying mantis lay eggs. It was disturbingly cool. Did I think "Animal Planet?" No. "Wild, Wild World of Animals?" No way. I thought of Buffy, of course.

Also, I bribed my cousins with free babysitting to get them to go see Serenity. Last night, they saw it. They loved it. They want the series on DVD now. *polishes fingernails and struts off into the distance*