Well, that was harder than it needed to be

[rolanni]

I am now the proud possessor of a complete 2005 tide table for Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Only took thirty minutes and three refined searches for something that should've been dead easy. *sigh*

A file crate has been pressed into duty from basement retirement so that I can keep all my notes and maps and things in one spot. I don't usually work this way, and the sheer paperage attending this project is ...frightening. I've been gathering information and making false starts for something over five months. I was just about ready to throw in the towel; it looked like nothing was going to jell; that in fact I had too much information.

Then, someone mooched along into my head and allowed as how he was the hero of the piece, complete with name, and I felt the Big Pile of Info I'd amassed shift and stir and take on meaning as bits redistributed themselves, associating in ways that began to make sense.

Soon after the hero's arrival, I found my lead, and with my lead, my narrator and voice. It's an "I" book, and I really don't like to write in first person. Was resisting doing another project in first person, in fact. For this story, though, the "I" not only feels right, it feels comfortable.


In other news, the backlogged SRM orders have been filled, laundry is this close to being done, and kinzel is (re)stringing Cat5 like a madman. Must say the new arrangement is much neater than the old. For the first time in years, I can close the door to my office!

The almost-full moon is up, and Scrabble is asleep on top my file cabinet. Time to get to work...

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Glurk! For a second ol' dyslexia brain here read that Kinzel was restringing cats!

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

Mm yes, I was trying to review in my mind the roster of Cats in grade to see who the unlucky #5 might be -- but I'm sure Kinzel would use only the finest violin string components for the job...and the cat would be back in perfect working order in no time...

[anghara.livejournal.com]

Then, someone mooched along into my head and allowed as how he was the hero of the piece, complete with name, and I felt the Big Pile of Info I'd amassed shift and stir and take on meaning as bits redistributed themselves, associating in ways that began to make sense.

Oh THANK you! I am so glad someone else out there writes books in the same manner that I do - when strange characters wander out of the woodwork, introduce themselves, and things start happening...

Old Orchard Beach

[ramblin-phyl.livejournal.com]

I remember Old Orchard Beach! Back in the dark ages when I was in grade school we lived in Cape Elizabeth for 18 months. We visited Old Orchard Beach many times. The fun house and house of mirrors stick in my mind and the incredibly cold water on the beach.

What is this book about if you need tide tables for this (former?) resort town?

Irene

Re: Old Orchard Beach

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Old Orchard Beach is still a resort town, though they're starting the move to condominimize. The "carny" at the foot of the pier has been torn down to accommodate a huge block of $400,000+ condos. I expect the rest of Palace Playland will follow in the next couple years, and then OOB won't be a resort town, anymore; it'll be another place that the rich people from Away can afford to live and the people who grew up in town, can't.

Tide tables were needed because I don't want to be telling people that X was on the beach and the tide was coming in, when it fact, the tide was going out on that day at that time. Pesky verifiable facts...