Big Day

Yesterday [Monday] was pretty horrible. Pain when I bumped my leg on the cart. Humiliation when I heard "my" team talking about the state tournament they're going to this weekend. Nice of them to ask.

That cut me hard, and I left before they could see me crying. I am retired from softball. Fuck them.

I did some writing this morning, exercised a little and played guitar for about five minutes.

It occurs to me that there are some intrinsic weaknesses in my book. The biggest one is that the "goal" Parker is working for isn't big enough. There needs to be more setup for why it's so important to him to get to his mom. Is he a momma's boy? Then that won't work, because the readers are momma's boys who don't want to read about themselves.

Both Parker and Kelsey need to be more likeable. They need to get along better with each other. Or maybe...maybe they don't. Maybe it would be better to separate them pretty quickly, then have them work toward the goal (see above) and come at it from separate angles.

So, what is this nifty goal? Ah ha! Now Parker's nifty is still to get to his mother, and he's ditching again. But this time he's ditching for a Really Good Reason - Kelsey is going to turn into a zombie. It's with her that he decides he can't off people, even ravenous dead ones, so he's going to leave her somewhere and get back on the road.

Yesterday [Tuesday] I re-did an outline of sorts for chapter six. Kate is adament that I continue without rewriting, but I feel like I need it to keep the characters intact in my head. They really veered off in a weird direction.