Freedy Filkins, International Jewel Thief. 1.

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Woke up with this running through my head:

Freedy Filkins, International Jewel Thief.

1.)

The new recruit lived in an earth house, built into the side of a hill.  It was great.  Warm and dry in the winter, cool and dry in the summer.  I knocked on the rounded door and could hear Mr. Filkins rustling about inside, until he finally poked his tousled head out the door.

"What do you want?"

"Good morning, Mr. Filkins.  I'm here to offer you a job with the Lorn Mountain Foundation.  It will require a small adventure.  You would be highly paid for your services."

"Bug off."  He slammed the door.

I shook my head.   Oh, he was going on adventure, he just didn’t know it yet.  He hadn't quite blown his entire inheritance, but his bank balance was quickly diminishing.  I’d just hurry the process along a little.

Chuckling to myself, I marked the door with chalk for the recruitment team.

He'd be the perfect thief:  quiet, timid and unobtrusive."


A little rough, but that's how it came to me.

Strange.  What does this remind me of?  Heh.

**********

Linda has friends coming over this afternoon, so she's bustling around the house while I'm trying to read my morning paper and drink my coffee.  My routine.

"Are you bustling?"

"Yes.  Sorry."

What she really wants to say is, "Get off your butt and start vacuuming."

I'm ignoring what she isn't saying.

***********

Amazing how many people think Bend is a liberal town.

When really it's a mix of white flight and red neck and "I've got mine and I want to keep it."

With a liberal overlay.

**********

How is it possible that there could be 1,326 students homeless in Bend last year?  Yes, I know it's a loose definition, but nevertheless.

There is a rather condescending current article in Der Spiegal, clucking their disapproval of America's willful descent into third world status.

Damn socialists!  With their social networks and all!  With their high taxes and functional infrastructure!

**********

Looking for small advantages in the shopping calendar.

Thanksgiving coming so early:  Maybe a small advantage, though just as likely that people will take a shopping hiatus longer than the usual.

Tuesday Christmas and New Years:

Would think people would shop through Monday.  I'm thinking Wednesday is a good kickoff to after Christmas.

Also, with New Years on Tuesday, I'd be thinking they wouldn't start school again until the 7th.  (Not confirmed.)

Probably averages out in the end -- but having more valid shopping days can't hurt.

**********

So I'm thinking I have the basic plot of the book finished.

Then last night, while writing notes, I realize that I'm missing a very obvious scene late in the book, that might turn into two scenes.

This book just keeps growing.

Once I decided to develop the characters more fully in the first third of the book, it necessitates my bringing them back into the story in the last third of the book to have a satisfying emotional resolution.

I've just got to stop thinking I'm finished.  I even printed out two full manuscripts last Monday, using up 500 pages and an ink cartridge and a half, only to get my brilliant new idea that afternoon which made the printed copies obsolete.

I just started this book off on the wrong foot.  It was going to be all snarky and clever and short and snappy.   Maybe it should be.  But it didn't feel like a book.

A book has a story arc -- a story arc has characters and plot.

At first, I didn't put sufficient thought into plot and character.

Loosey, goosey from now on.