Madder Men

I watched Eureka last night. I like the way the plots usually boil down to analogs of what Sheriff Carter is going through raising his daughter. Last night it was the rebellious teenager symbolized by the runaway, sentient and spoiled brat drone. Sure, sometimes it’s a bit of a stretch, and never very subtle, but I like the characters and their interactions. The show reminds me of a lighter version of The Dead Zone.

Then I watched three episodes of Mad Men to get me to the middle of Season 1. Now I understand a bit more about Don’s mysterious other name and previous life, but only a little. I wonder if that is going to be explored in more depth or if we’ll always have to speculate about why someone would start a new life with a new name. I wonder if the actors are all becoming cigarette addicts. I half expect the kids to crack out the cigarettes, as they seem to be the only ones immune to the habit. I loved the panicked look on Peter’s face when he thought he was out of a job. And what’s the deal with the crazy stocking-footed CEO?

I finished my pencil-and-paper edit this morning, keyed in the changes, and started another readthrough. It’s the kind of story where I have to be very careful about how I word certain things. I want to foreshadow what’s to come without giving away too much or having it seem like the narrator has been capricious about which pieces of information to divulge and which to secrete until the proper moment.

Once I polish this one a little, it will sit around for a while as I have stories in with all the markets where I want to send this one, so I’ll have to wait for a response from one of them before I send it out.

Next up: while I’m waiting to hear my agent’s response to the novel he’s currently reviewing, I’m going to take a stab at a YA story. I have the opening scene and the title all set.