I'm crazy. Not because I listen to Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage, even though I disagree with about 90% of what they say and get mad while I'm listening to them.
Not because I like to play Pounce with my kitties. Yeah, that's right. I'm 44, and I chase my cats around the house yelling "Pounce!" at them. And then I let them chase me for a while. Got a problem with that?
I'm not crazy because I do those things. I'm crazy because I'm going to once again attempt to write a fifty thousand word novel in the month of November. It's that time of year again -- time for National Novel Writers Month.
I was able to actually do it three years ago, with the story Send Them Home. I tried last year and the year before, but gave up after a few days. Life just got too hectic, and I fell behind in my word count. And I really wasn't too inspired by the story.
This year, I've got everything pretty much plotted out. I'm working again with my characters from the first story: Evan Johnson, news reporter for an alternative paper based in Uptown Minneapolis is the main character. Joining him is his girlfriend Jesse, and the young Minneapolis power couple Vi Kuhlman and Rover.
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Pierce River has a rich history -- but not one the citizens are proud of. The town was terrorized in the summer of 1886 by someone known only as "The Woman In Black". Things started out harmlessly enough, with bizarre pranks - - but soon progressed to window peekings, muggings, strange thefts and outright attacks that led to murder.
One person was arrested, but the case was thrown out of court for lack of evidence, and the case has been unsolved for one hundred and twenty years.
The citizens of Pierce River want to forget the whole thing, but someone is re-enacting the pranks and people are scared. The arrival of an old man who claims that he was there 120 years before throws the whole town in an uproar. He says that he's back to stop The Woman In Black, because he can't die until the murderer is brought to justice.
Can a bike-riding, Scrabble playing outsider figure out the truth before someone else ends up dead?
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So that's it. I'll serialize it somewhere so people can see how it all plays out. I've got the whole thing plotted, and broken down into scenes. I know whodunnit, why they did it and what Jesse's deep dark secret is.
And I'm crazy enough to actually write this puppy.
