GAHH! *pulls hair out*

So, I'm up to 9 articles on Suite101, and I need another six to finish their '15 articles in 15 days' contest. Even if I don't win (which I won't) it'll give me a good article base to start with so I can take a breather. The contract for Suite is 10 articles every 3 months, so...I'll have until June to write more *lol* I'll definitely write more before then, but at least I'll allow myself to slow down a bit.

On the noveling front, I've slacked on writing it. I'm thinking about it all the time, but I've put my focus into Suite articles for now. After the two Seders for Passover I'll be able to actually sit down and write for more than a few minutes at a time, and I'm sure by the end of the first two days I'll be ITCHING to write again. It's very very hard for me to not write on Shabbos and Yom Tov, very hard.

I've also accepted that I won't get an answer back from the wilderness school I e-mailed late last week. I asked if I could get information about the daily lives of students and staff (general stuff like routines and the like) but no reply. I might try again, but not until I have the time to think more about it.

Also, after Passover I'm going to be hitting up a friend or my sister to come with me to an AA meeting for some reconnaissance, so I can get the feel of what the meetings are like. Writing a recovered (and then later relapsed) alcoholic for my story will require some research. I did write about it lots on the RPG board, but I want to really get into realism here, and the stuff on the board was all me guessing what it's like without actually knowing much about it. All I know about meetings and the like comes from TV shows and movies and hearsay...I want facts. I want to know what it's like to be in that room, listening to people talk about their addictions. The atmosphere is important to being able to clearly picture the situation I'm writing. What is that, method writing?

Anyway, bedtime soon. I'll go play with my hamster (who probly hates me now 'cause I haven't played with him all day o.o) and get some writing done. If my DS doesn't lure me away with its siren call of Mario Party *shifty eyes*

Working Title

So I'm writing a novel. Or, at least, attempting it. See, it's my first, and so there will always be the doubt that it will ever be finished. I do have a definite plot mapped out though, based on an original Text RPG storyline that I've been working on (in collaberation with others) for the past four years or so. I have more than enough material, enough that perhaps, there may be a second book. If only I could get the first one written.

And so the tentative title of this novel is 'Free Fall', although recently I've been toying with the title 'Tough Love'. I like them both, and they both fit the story, but I'm starting to think that 'Tough Love' would be best for 'book 1' and 'Free Fall' for book 2, if there will ever be such a thing. For now though, I'm going to stick with 'Free Fall' as my working title.

The story is that of a woman, a counselor for troubled teens in a fictional wilderness school. By day she helps teenagers work through the problems that are holding them back in life, such as addictions, abuse, anger issues or something similar. Off campus though, she is just as messed up as any of them, and relapses back into the alcoholism and abusive relationship she'd just narrowly escaped a few short years earlier. Help comes to her from the most unlikely of sources - one of her students.

I have the outline (in pencil!) done, and about one page written. I am currently in the research phase, and have been reading journal articles and websites for information about alcohol and drug addiction, abuse, wilderness schools and juvenile offenders. So far, I have found several websites for different schools that fit the bill, and I will be contacting them in order to gain information about their daily operation and anything else that will be useful to the story. I will also be conducting hands-on research into addiction, attending one (or perhaps a few) AA meetings in order to more accurately portray them over the course of the book.

I'm going to use this blog to track my progress with writing and researching, as well as discuss other non-noveling interests as they come up. I welcome questions and comments, I am also here to socialize!

And now, back to the writing...