The writing thing

Plugging along on GHOST POINT, chapter 6 (about 20,000 words in) and still with the sense that I really don't have a clue what I'm doing. Not the story, I know where that ends up and what happens next and the subplots and the doomed ensigns and all that, but writing in general.

Like this chapter. I don't know how much time to spend on Beowulf driving his GMC pickup through an unforecast snow squall and how much on slogging through winter Maine on snowshoes and how much on his finding an intruder in the boathouse and all that balance stuff. Character/setting/conflict balance, I guess you'd call it. I think I have maybe 500 words to cut out of that chapter, and the burning question is, _which_ words?

Maybe that's why God created editors.

Next chapter, we get back to Grendel's mom.

Project overhead

Well, we had the dedication for one of my architectural projects this morning, six units of transitional housing for the chronically homeless, 200K construction budget. (Hey, I work the high-rent district.)

Present were the Governor Himself (plus two state cop bodyguards), spokespeople for the congressional delegation, head of the State Housing Authority, state senators and representatives, city councilors, social workers, all three networks, and miscellaneous hangers-on like the architect, engineer, and contractor. Fifty or sixty people, plus media drudges.

And I got to thinking, during the speechifying -- what if we just sent around a letter that declared the damned thing open, and donated all that high-powered time to some other worthy Good Work? At the combined hourly rates, we could have afforded another couple of housing units....

15.3 miles, 1:04:15 -- windy