Today I started making headway on “Putting a New Face on an Old Place.”  I changed protagonists around in the morning and re-outlined the story.  The bulk of the rough draft was written in about 2,300 words, enough that I have a good idea of what’s working and what’s not.  For instance, the story was originally a back-and-forth conversation between two people, the protagonist and the person who’s trying to get the protagonist to change and make a decision.  I’m thinking of adding a third person, one who’s trying to keep the protagonist on the current, dire course.  In a way, both characters will be externalizing what’s going on in the protagonist’s head, as the protagonist understands a change is needed.  He just doesn’t want to do it.  Not initially, anyway.

I also came up with a couple of ideas for humor-based stories I may try and flesh out at a later date, or sooner if the story in the previous paragraph just doesn’t pan out.

Today I was supposed to start my revision of “Pearl Diver.”  It didn’t happen, and I have no excuse other than poor time management.  I knew we had a church function following the regular service and we were also headed to the movie theater in the afternoon which turned into a dinner date.  The Wind Rises is well worth seeing, by the way.  Different from Miyazaki’s other works in that it’s a biography/docudrama rather than a complete work of fiction, but the animation is still top-notch.

• Nonfiction:
• Planning and outlining: 450
• Short Fiction: 2,300
• Novel Fiction: 000
• Salable words: 000

Total Fiction for Month: 17,598

Total Salable for Month: 4,800

Total Fiction for Challenge Year: 67,821

Total Salable for Challenge Year: 15,744