There's a crack in the mirror and a bloodstain on the bed

Here's today's progress on my southern noir about a woman whose memories and identity erode, only to reveal hints of another person entirely: a detective who vanished on the day she was born in 1959; now with BONUS moonshiners and revenuers, small-town governments with big-time crooks in office, cops both corrupt and courageous, and one hell of a paranormal twist:
Project: Shouting Distance
Deadline: March 1, 2015
New words written: 1585
Present total word count: 5100



Things Accomplished in Fiction: Wrapped up the first chapter and/or finished introducing POV character #1; started chapter 2 and began introducing POV character #2; emptied a basement full of Surprise! super-creepy porn and sent away a very embarrassed ghost*; got a phone call from a loved one.

Things Accomplished in Real Life: Neighborhood jaunt with dog; went to Normal Park Museum Magnet and rambled at some 8th graders about steampunk (re: a social studies project about the Industrial Revolution); went to lunch with husband.

Cat Other: We're experiencing some back-sliding re: the kitty Valium + collar solution; she's started yowling during the day again (though not NEARLY to previous levels), and we've got some midnight yowling again, too - though likewise, still reduced from previous levels. At least now when she yowls, she doesn't seem to require "rescuing" - and instead, she finds her own way back to bed within a minute or two. Sulkily. Like we SHOULD have gone to get her, but hey, screw you guys. She can find the bed her own damn self.

Speculative Cat Other: It's weird...the sedative doesn't really seem to sedate her so much as make her...I don't know. Clearer, maybe. Calmer. Less confused, even, without leaving her groggy or uncomfortable. So I think we're bumping her up to the 1/2 pill tonight - and we'll dose her at the absolute last minute before bedtime, with hopes of curtailing the pre-dawn Song Of My People extravaganza.

Dog Other: Greyson has another dog-playdate (and I have a lunch date) over at The Cooj's house on Friday. The Cooj himself (the 3-legged shepherd mix) is coming back to stay with us over Valentine's day, and the continued socialization is good for them both. And me, too :) Pictures will ensue!

Bonus! Other: I got my Guest Letter of Agreement for DragonCon today! [:: throws confetti ::] So I'll see some of you nice people in Atlanta this fall! [:: happydance ::]

Yet Further Other: YOU GUYS. Don't forget - Jacaranda drops on the 31st of this month! And I hear through the grapevine that supplies of the print edition are, shall we say, excessively limited at this point. Click right here to preorder while you still can, or nab yourself a digital version - available now for $4.99 via the usual suspects: Get Jacaranda for your Kindle ; Grab Jacranda for your Nook ; Pick up Jacaranda for your Kobo .

Number of fiction words so far this year: 13,399

Greysongram.




* Because life is stranger than fiction, I loosely based this incident on something that actually happened to some friends of mine - after they bought a house at auction on the courthouse steps. The owner had died and left ... shall we say ... a most interesting (and weirdly specific) collection behind. If his ghost wasn't embarrassed, it damn well ought to have been.