Had dinner tonight with two friends, and one said "So, have you been taking less freelance to focus on your writing?" and I laughed and laughed heartily. I did talk of my commitment to write at least one page a day starting in January, which sounded good as dinner conversation but will be hard for me to keep to, I think. You would think that after this summer's fright fest I would be on a second draft by now, but no. Although I have set in motion other healthy habits, the writing is not coming as it should. The novel writing I've been doing is not enough to make a dent (or a ream, or substitute a better thought here). I know what needs to be done -- how to make the time -- but right now I'm not willing to do it. ack.

My goal: Get enough holiday shopping done early in December so that I can use some of my December vacation time to write!

I did come up with an idea for the subplot involving the best friend of the main character. Not sure though how much to develop this, how distracting it might become. Not ever having written a novel, I have no idea how "forward" the subplot can be before it is too much. I know only the styles of the books I edit (never having read one of these paperback romance novels for entertainment), and those books always have friends in some kind of escapade while the main people are going down their own path. We'll see.

Currently my favorite stranger blog is called The Book Bitches (rather entertaining!), and their post for 11/15/05 is called Romance Novels Pet Peeves. I agree with many of their points. Pretty good list!