I have a nostalgic recollection of what it’s like to be in the midst of a blizzard. As a kid, I used to love to go outside and play in the snow. There’s a particular kind of quiet in a snowfield. Sound is dulled and amplified at the same time. I love the sound snow makes when you step into it or ski across it. However, I don’t envy people having to deal with the 12-36″ of the stuff that’s due to come down over the next couple of days, or the complications it will cause with travel, both local and long-range.
As for what it’s like here—I sat outside on the back deck while I was writing yesterday afternoon so, quite nice thank you very much.
The novella I’m working on is set in a New England winter, so maybe this storm will provide fodder and inspiration. It’s coming along very well. I crossed the 10,000 word mark this weekend, which isn’t bad for a week’s work. It’s the most I’ve written in such a short period in ages. As I mentioned before, I’m doing this longhand, also something I haven’t done in ages. I wasn’t looking forward to transcribing it when I was finished, though. However, my wife mentioned some free dictation software for the iPad (Dragon Dictation). Between yesterday afternoon and this morning, I dictated all of the work to present and got it converted into Word. It didn’t take long to fall into a rhythm, saying things like “new line,” “begin quote,” “dash,” “new paragraph” as I was reading along. There are a lot of mistakes and misunderstandings to be corrected, but it’s a big step forward without having to do all that typing. I also validated my estimated word count. I was a touch high, assuming 250 words per page when after 44 pages the real average is 236. I’m hoping to be done with the first draft by the end of February, if not sooner. Every morning I wake up knowing what comes next, which is always good.
I finished the second season of The Fall last weekend. This is the British crime drama starring Gillian Anderson as an English police superintendent in Belfast to perform a review on a murder case that has had little traction in a month. She soon discovers they’re dealing with a serial offender (Jamie Dornan), who is one sick puppy. The two seasons are really one long season with an interminable break between them. Season 1 ends on a cliffhanger and the story picks up straight away in Season 2 in the same place. It’s a slow, deliberately paced series that doesn’t gloss over the processing of crime scenes or the minutia of interrogations. Anderson’s character is quite interesting, strong, forceful, unflappable, and Dornan’s is twisted, controlling, and ingratiating. Though Anderson and Dornan are almost never together in scenes, the show is mostly a cat-and-mouse chess match between them, with some other good characters thrown in, including a saucy fifteen-year-old babysitter who is emotionally seduced by Dornan’s character. I hope there’s a third season.
