serengeti september

The Finding of Don Juan, Ford Madox Brown

47,546, Sweet Taboo. Serengeti September. Think I saw a herd of gazelle crossing the 405 this morning. Just commenting, not complaining. Considering summer’s reluctance to settle in June, July, and a good deal of August, ironically, it’s taking its leave with a vengeance. Hot days and nights, and the late afternoon sun shining through an amber haze from the wildfires.

Loved episode 3 of Supernatural, season 4; watched it last night. Season 4 deepens the story arcs began in Season 3. Sam and Dean are reunited, and the storylines combine singular incidents of the brothers fighting supernatural creatures to each following their own path on a converging arc. Great writing, compelling action, strong themes.

Sweet Taboo is attempting to stall, but I’m not letting it go from a running stream to still water. Need to think through the plot some more, need to clarify my themes, which I hope will shape the action and yield a satisfying conclusion.

Monthly meeting with Michelle tomorrow. It’s the last quarter of the year; time for a review. I dropped the great big ball of A Lamentation of Swans, despite my promise to finish it this year, but I’ve had other successes so there. Still, one of these years…

So glad it’s a long weekend!

grapes and onions

 

47,546, Sweet Taboo. Even the early morning air is warm. Summer’s closing with a vengeance, but since June and July were not particularly summery, September ’s taking up the slack. I’m trying to avoid getting off track with Sweet Taboo. The story is veering in the wrong direction, and I’ve run into the brambles. Things aren’t falling apart in the second draft, and I’ve reached what I feel is the last third of the book, and I’m stuck. There’s still the Deidre-Randall arc, and the Demario issue. Conclusions grow from within characters. Their actions and reactions carry the seeds that will bloom into the story’s end. I know the final scene, have already sketched it, getting there is the problem.

Finally got my dvd set of Supernatural, 4th season. I’m two episodes in–the first show had me watching wide-eyed and breathless; the second was terrific. Ruby has a new body so that’s an adjustment and Sam has acquired a new power, which he’s hiding from Dean, of course. The 4th season looks like an all-around winner–may be the best season yet. Love when a favorite show just keeps getting better and better.

blind curve

Black Satin, George Barbier

Think I’m compressing too much in Sweet Taboo; must give the story space to breathe. Also, my ghostslayer Nathaniel is not right for this story afterall. He’s taking it down a distracting path, putting a blind curve in my sweetly winding road. I don’t want to go there so Nathaniel–back to the swamp with you!

Got my dvd sets of True Blood  and Blood Ties yesterday. Watched two delightful episodes of True Blood. Also, from Netflix, watched Deliverance, which I’d not seen, ‘though I did read the novel–I think, years ago. Excellent film. The scene that really touched me, which brought home the theme, was where Jon Voight’s character cries at the kindness of the folk at the dinner table, after the terrible ordeal he and his river-touring buddies went through. Both novel and film are superbly structured from that  singular incident that turned a pleasure trip into a nightmare and its effect on each of the characters–a writing lesson right there. At the movie’s end, each of the surviving characters was significantly changed from how they were at the movie’s start, and you could see it in the subtle performances of Voight, Beatty, and Reynolds.

Seems I’m back to posting again. That’s a good sign. d:)