I had a pretty darn decent writing day yesterday. The crit is done. Finito. Out the door. Got some work done on BMO--a substantial portion of my FDi30D Fact Worksheet, and started on the timelines at the same time. Yup, felt like I accomplished something.

Unfortunately, my characters don't agree. All my fellow fiction writers know these characters we create don't just live on the page, but in our heads as well. Such is the life of a writer: one ear trained on the characters duking it out inside your head, the other ear to the ground, listening to make sure the men in white coats aren't coming for you after being called by a kind-hearted passerby who's heard you having a conversation with yourself. Sometimes using different voices.

I'll never forget the look on my husband's face on one particular day. We were walking through Lowe's Home Improvement store and he was talking about copper piping or table saws or something like that. I made sure to agree in all the right places, but I wasn't really listening. You see, I had recently added a new character to my story--not a very nice one--and I was trying to figure out how to end his plot thread. And when I had intended to interject another uh-huh in the conversation with my husband, what I actually blurted out was, "That's perfect! I'll just kill him!"

At least I finally learned not to argue with my characters out loud when my husband was nearby. He took too much delight in giving me hell about talking to myself. Looks like I taught him too well. *g*

Anyway, back to the subject. My characters are not pleased I'm filling out worksheets. Chad, the hero, thinks it's wonderful that I've finally got the rest of the story plotted, but he says it's time I stop screwing around with worksheets and write the rest of the story. As he paced back and forth, more stalking than walking, he threw his hands in the air and yelled that all my plotting wasn't getting him laid. But he didn't put it quite so nicely.

In the meantime, Dakota, my heroine, is a little torqued I just left her sitting on a footbridge with Millie Jericho. Not that she doesn't like Millie, but Dakota thinks there are better things she could be doing with her time than watch dragonflies divebomb the lake.

All the characters living in my head are extremely demanding (I'm not even going to mention Jackson pouting and Rebecca's reaction to his pouting), and apparently, pretty darn horny. And at this moment, none of them are getting any.

I'm considering torturing them with celibacy for a while longer. See their reactions. It's fun. Besides, I really need to finish these worksheets.

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MOOD: Can you hear my evil laugh?
MUSIC: "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'" by Vaughn
PROGRESS: Made some headway with the worksheets yesterday
WHAT I'M READING: The Trouble With Harry by Katie MacAlister