Men: they don’t say what they want or need, don’t say what they’re thinking unless you ask, and not even then sometimes. Instead, they just frump around acting all moody and sorry-for-themselves, because they expected you to read their mind, and then were disappointed when you couldn’t!

That was written out of frustration this morning (frustrated and kissed and made up), but I have to say, this pattern has held true for so many of the men I’ve known. Funny that my two-year-old, who also happens to be little man, has absolutely no problem telling me what he wants and needs. I wonder when it stops?

The most difficult character in my novel happens to be a man. (Danny and Hannah’s father, Nick) I don’t think he is my most difficult character because he is a man, but just because I don’t understand his motives. I think I understand the other men in my novel pretty well, even when they’re being stupid or immature or selfish or petty - I understand where it’s coming from, even if I wouldn’t act that way myself.

So what I’ve done is pushed him away (Nick). I divorced him from his wife, estranged him from his children. I made him as cryptic and unreachable to them as he is to me. Is that a cop-out? Will that work? It’s certainly made things a little more interesting. More complicated. It’s made them all a little sadder, which was needed, I think.

If he were a Sim, I would probably just kill him off, lol.

NaNoWriMo Stats: end of day 1

1274 words (plus a couple paragraphs in notes for a later chapter)

The scene I’ve been trying and trying to dig into this week is one between Danny and his father, so I hope I’m not stuck! Eeek, stuck on day two, lol

Blue plaid button-up shirt and green camo pants?

I still love my honey, even if he can’t dress my baby, lol!

Last night we had a huge, bird-sized moth in our bedroom! Ugh, I hate moths! And if you can believe it, my husband hates bugs even more than I do, so guess who had to kill the damn thing?!? Ah, the things we do for love…

Fess up Friday:

I haven’t done this in a couple weeks, as I’ve been mostly in reorganizing mode. Well, I’m organized now. 13 chapters have become 18. Seven POV characters have become four. And I am really very happy with the new shape it’s taking.

Hmmm, progress? I don’t really know how to update progress at this point, as there isn’t really the same marker of finished-ness as there was the first time through. All of my chapters are in between some state of sketchily written and second-drafted (one problem chapter is on its fourth or fifth draft, lol). So maybe I’ll just update on precisely what I’ve done in the week?

My second-draft of chapter 1 is being polished up for my writers’ group. Having lost Danny’s father as one of my POV characters, I ended up writing my first chapter from a seven-year-old Danny’s POV, which I was scared to try, but I think it actually turned out well. I wouldn’t want to write from a child’s POV for a whole novel, but just one chapter was a lot of fun.

And having lost their mom as a POV character as well, I’m rewriting my third chapter from Hannah’s POV, when she’s thirteen, and it’s fun to see how the exact same chapter told from a different POV can become so totally different!

I’ve been digging into Hannah a lot this week. She’s Danny’s little sister, and she’ll be between 12 and 18 for the span of the novel. (Danny, Lexi and Sam will be between 16 and 22) Hannah is strange and ethereal and sometimes explosive and very mature for her age. She’s fun to write

But then, I think all my characters are fun to write, because if they weren’t they would be boring

That’s all, really. It’s raining outside. Dylan’s being a surprisingly good boy these past few days. One of his cartoons, Avatar, is really pretty neat. Sims continue to be simmed. Huge and whiny and annoyingly self-indulgent books continue to be read, for some reason. Playing Sheryl Crow’s “Strong Enough” on guitar this week. Eating tortilla chips with cheddar cheese. All that, and killing giant pterodactyl-sized moths at 1:00 a.m.

First of all, this is not a recipe, because I am not a chef - I just throw stuff in a pan and sometimes it works.

Second of all, be warned if you try this, your hubby just might freak out as if you’ve just served him a slimy green alien on a plate, and you might have a five-hour fight about it! Because apparently eggs and tuna should NEVER be mixed.

But it’s good

Serves about 3-4 adults, or if your toddler eats like mine (doesn’t) it’ll feed him for a week!

stuff you need:
pasta
butter or non-trans fat substitute
can of sliced olives
can of tuna
2 small zucchinis
pepper jack cheese
cream cheese (lite is okay)
mayo (lite is okay)
milk (skim if you want)
2 very offensive eggs

what you do:
Cook your pasta, about 6 oz. of it. Sautee your zucchinis until their done, toss in your olives and your tuna, about 1/4 cup of milk (maybe a little more? enough to make it saucy) and 1/4 cup of cream cheese and 3 oz. of pepper jack cheese, a little butter (not too much), salt if you like it, mine is garlic salt because I put garlic in everything.

Oh, and you should be pre-heating your oven, about about 425 or something, but you already knew that because you’re making a casserole, duh!

Get your pasta and your saucy zucchini/tuna stuff and bung it all together in a casserole dish.

Get your two eggs, about a 1/4 cup of lite mayo, and 1/4 cup of milk, hand whip, no need to get too crazy. Pour it over the other crap, and it will kind of fall down in the cracks. Bake until the egg is set, about 20 minutes?

That’s all

Prepare for your hubby not to eat it, lol.