Had a character design meeting with Molly...and pizza. It was hot, since my AC has gone out agian. We argued over silly things until we were left with nothing but good ideas. We seem to have an ongoing disagreement about what gremlins' feet should look like. Maybe we need therapy. All in all it was an excellent meeting. We plan to meet again on May 10.

Molly and I rescheduled for Thursday night.

Molly left a message saying that she couldn't meet on Monday, because she had to work late again at her "real" job.

Got a new old computer today. It's still old, but not as old as the nine-year old technological terror I've been using. I hooked it all up, then couldn't get on the Internet. So I had to take it all apart and put my old old computer back together again. That's about all I got accomplished today, and I'm back to square one with the computer problems.

Today I bought post-it notes.

I red-inked the first four chapters of Metrognomes. I am breathing much easier. Feeling much healthier. Life is good.

Today I surrendered to reality. It was quite a surprising relief. I figured out that I am not going to get back on track with the schedule I’d been on before I got sick without my work suffering. It’s really not a good idea to immerse myself in the dark and gothic world of Nightfire, Texas and redraft all the adventurous fun of Metrognomes simultaneously. Especially when, at the same time as all this, I am doing intense research into the depressing and highly infuriating subjects of oppression, slavery, and the Civil Rights movement for a Nightfire subplot. So, I spent the day rearranging my schedule. I will have to push Nightfire’s return back a few weeks, but that’s okay. All will be better for it. Starting tomorrow, I’ll just be focusing on the redraft of Metrognomes.

Worked exhaustively on prep work for the next Nightfire series. I’m going through Cry, Wolf and absorbing every minute detail about characters, places, and things in the continuity. It’s so boring. But I believe in it. It is necessary. I almost always find a tiny factoid that I’d forgotten, and it often turns out to greatly enrich the story. As a writer, one must suffer through endless amounts of tedium, if one wishes one’s continuity to be tight. All this work for another ghost story. I can hardly wait to start actually writing it.

Had a very good meeting with Molly Brimer at Denny's. I had the Mushroom Swiss Burger, she had the Boca Burger. I think mine was much better. We also talked about Metrognomes. I gave her the rest of the rough draft to read over, and she showed me fifteen sketches. She's up to chapter 12 now with her sketches. They were fantastic. I can't wait to see them in color. After this, Molly was very naughty and had apple pie with ice cream. We went to Kinko's just across the street, and I got copies of her sketches for further scrutiny. Next meeting, (April 16) we are going back to working on character designs for some of the ones we haven't gone over yet that she is likely to include in her illustrations. I went home and did some work on the reasearch for The Chronicles of Nightfire, Texas. I am trying to catch up after being sick for so long. I believe I'm 98% cured, so I am all out of excuses.

Had a lucid, unmedicated moment in which I, from my death bed, rescheduled my meeting with Molly for Monday at noon...unless I am dead. If you are ever at my mom's place for dinner, don't eat the food. I am so behind!