1. Family has come down with something, no idea what. Seems like it's just a cold, so...here's hoping. But got a fever and a headache so...boo!
2. Health has been up and down, still trying to work when its up. Just general stomach bull-crap that I'm still dealing with for the most part. Tried a few brussels sprouts and...results were not awesome. Also there were a few days after I got a flu shot where I had a pretty serious ache/chill combo going that wasn't too fun.
3. Writing wise, I've been stuck in Welf Dinner Party Hell for a couple weeks now. I thought, 'oh I'll have a small dinner party scene here to bulk out the story and connect the first day to the second day and yada yada no big deal'. It just...turned into a monster. Which after ten years of doing this I've found is often the case with 'no big deal' scenes.
*WHAT FOLLOWS ISN'T SPOILERS BUT IS WRITER SAUSAGE MAKING YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO KNOW*
4. First I had the brilliant idea to play with two timelines and flashback to the dinner party while Vicky is waking up for the morning, since hey if I did that then I could focus even less on the dinner party, but...it just kind of stole all the thunder from both scenes and I wasn't happy.
5. So I had to break one chapter into two chapters, separate the flashbacks and rewrite/flesh them out. Haven't even gotten back to the morning scene, since I decided if I was going to do this fucking dinner party then I was gonna fucking do this dinner party right. Although I will say that Vicky Welf waking up for the day is VERY MUCH not how I wake up for the day. It's hilariously positive. I spent about a page on how wonderful blankets and pillows are. So over the top...
6. Then I had to pause and figure how who three guests attending this party are going to be, two were obvious (interesting side note: these two characters are characters I originally came up with for School to End All War but now they're kind of skipping their own introduction, which is kind of weird, but that's me!) but the third has a specific purpose and it needed some decent ruminating. Then once I decided on a character, it's a character that occasionally has been mentioned before but not fleshed out by any means, so I had to search through all the old books every time I mentioned them. Little facts you just randomly throw out can really add up over a few books.
7. Basically a lot of the problems with this novel so far is with Mama Welf. I have to keep asking myself, "Okay, how is Mama Welf going to fuck with people? What's her angle?" And usually she's got about five angles. One of which is just that she's the badass and you better recognize! The other problem is Vicky. Vicky is...well, I find I'll sometimes write a bit with her and then go...yeah, Vicky Welf wouldn't have doubts like that. And I'll have to do a quick edit. Yes, she can get riled up or vexed, but she just doesn't have the doubts most people have. So...it's a new experience to be inside of that POV instead of another character commenting upon it.
8. Next up was: how does Mama Welf FINALLY start in her conversation with Tyson she's been waiting to have for months now and he finally can't dodge her? And how does it all play out? Well, this is Vicky's novel so all this was from her POV (see above) and...she's obviously interested in the outcome, but she's also a step removed from the action so that just didn't work. So we now have a Tyson POV scene for this bit, might have one more later in the book too.
9. In a way, it's kind of like giving up a no-hitter by sacrificing the whole "this is Vicky's book and hers alone" aspect, but...I think this works better. Also, a little bit of Tyson is the perfect amount of Tyson while this still being very much Vicky's book. And Imaginary King Henry 9000 can make an appearance, which is always fun.
10. Now I'm sick and I have to wait a few days to get back at it :(
11. And none of my clothes fit :(
12. Vicky von Welf and the Mancy Masquerade Chapter List (work in progress):
One Does Not Just Drive to Welf Manor
A Boy is In My Room, Squee!!!
Constructs: The Next Generation
Consanguinity, What's the Worst that Could Happen? <---we are here
Winter Lovin' <---some of this is also written
The Battle for Tyson Bonnie
A New Challenger Appears!
Maximus Wrangling
Eureka, By Victoria Von Welf
13. Stay safe everyone! Plague is gonna spread like wild this winter, be extra careful! And as always, thank you for the kind emails of support as I recover from surgery!
VWatMM Mini Tease: Moira von Welf put down her spoon like it was a weapon she might have to pick back up. She completely ignored his niceties and finally struck. "So, Mr. Bonnie, tell me about your parents."