Stirrings of NaNoness...

NaNoWriMo starts in less than six weeks, and until now I've been wracking my brains as to what to write this year.

The other day, when I was talking to Hubby about books, writing, and maybe NaNo (I can't exactly remember what), it came to me that some of my favorite writers write in the first person (d'uh!). Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, PG Wodehouse, Rex Stout - they all write in first person, using one person to tell the tale. Dr. Watson, Bertie Wooster, Archie Goodwin - all have very distinctive voices, and through their eyes, you see the story unfold. I don't know why it didn't occur to me before, but the problem with my first stab at an original novel was having too many people. I had at least nine characters, all telling their part of the story through their eyes - but very few of them had a strong, compelling voice. There were just too many characters all talking at once.

I've always thought they were good characters, with interesting backstories and powers. Marcus and Julio especially were especially interesting to me, especially with Marcus being disabled and trying to look at the world as he did. With him, the whole coffee shop business was fun. I enjoyed Elise when I roleplayed with her.

So, I decided to take these characters, put them in a less modern, more magical setting, and tell the tale in  the third person. The problem lately, though, has been the setting. Somehow, this evening (at IHOP, of all places) the phrase "the house on the corner" popped into my head, and with it, a vision of the outside of the house - from the street. That opened up a whole lot of ideas. I think I'll be working to develop the setting, add the new characters needed, and write some backstories. I'm very tempted, too, to make this a sort of magical steampunk. Been reading too much Girl Genius, I guess. Not sure if I can pull it off, though.

All this while taking care of Hubby, the house, the kids, the cats, the dog, and trying to make progress on my WIPs. At least I got the grocery shopping done.

A close call... I guess.

Yes, two in one day.

We almost ended up with a new cat today. A black kitten followed Boy #2 to his bus stop, and his tender heart (still mourning Tika, I think) didn't want to see the little one try to cross the main road and be hit. So he came back home, teary-eyed and worried, with the kitten following him all the way. He opened the front door, and this kitten just walked right in! He (the kitten is male) allowed us to pick him up, pet him... he was bold as brass and sweet-tempered. But we were in a hurry to get Hubby to work, and the Boy to school (his bus was running very late, according to the transportation people), so we put the kitten in the backyard. Last we saw of him, Cotton was doing her best to drive him away.

When I got home from my first shopping run, I didn't see the tyke, and figured he'd wandered off. Then I got a call from the gal next door. She asked if we had adopted a new kitten. Seems he went as far as the space beneath her husband's work van, and one of her boys found him. He then walked into THEIR house, bold as brass, and was sweet with their baby, so they were thinking of keeping the kitten - as long as we hadn't claimed him.

I was so happy. I'm not really ready for another cat (though I saw a tortoiseshell kitten on my way back from shopping that I wanted to stop and kidnap - reminded me so much of Tika). And when we do get another cat, I want to go through the shelter, and get a color that we don't already have. So, for the neighbors to take on this little one (where Boy #2 can see him every day) was a really blessing to me. She told me she thinks she knows where the kitten came from, and was going to check with them to see if it was alright to adopt him. She also wanted to run it by her hubby, but mentioned that they'd been thinking about another animal for a while, and this guy had such a sweet temperment that he'd be great for their family. She'd even named him; they have a cat named Lucy and now they'd have a Linus, too.