Very proud of ourselves, ain't we?

And the answer is, "Yes!" I've been getting more and more dedicated to busting out work on my book with every passing day, so I'm feeling pleased as punch with myself. Although I feel sorry for my poor husband, who gets to hear about all the neat stuff I'm researching until his eyes glaze over. He's really quite patient, you know, to listen as much as he does.

Today I had fun trolling through the DSM-IV (that's the diagnostic manual in psych) to see if what I planned for my characters makes sense, in terms of symptoms, presentation, and fit. You see, as a former psych grad student, there's nothing I hate more than seeing terms misapplied, and I laugh like a loon when I read these descriptions of a "glamorous" disorder like Dissociative Identity Disorder and note that the author didn't do their research like they should've. It's pretty funny, really. I suppose anyone in a profession either gets mad or scoffs at books or movies, going, "Hey! That's TOTALLY not how we do things!" Guess that means I have to do that myself, when I write about fields I haven't studied in. Time to read up on police procedure, and maybe tap Jason's cousin Tim for advice :)

I also read more about symbolism, and I think I figured out some of the important details for my characters, you know the ones that make you feel like they're real people? Not some poor schmuck on the page jumping through hoops to do my bidding. It's like in pornos, where some dude shows up to deliver a pizza or clean the pool, and 5 minutes later everybody's knocking boots? It's not like either person is a REAL person, in this scenario. Nobody cares if they get abducted by aliens or fall into their own woodchipper, because they don't feel real. This is not something I care to do in my book. I WANT people to care when they fall into the woodchipper (no, really, that's not part of the book...not this one, anyway).

I'm feeling pretty motivated to finish up my research tomorrow, and because I'm more than halfway through an excellent book on structuring my novel, will be in the homestretch on that as well. Ooooh, it's getting so exciting, seeing the general shape of it take place! Can't wait until the planning stages are done and I get to write the beautiful thing! Can't wait for you all to see it, read it, and (hopefully) enjoy it.

Well, it's 9 o'clock and all's well. If I drank much beer, it'd be Miller time, but mostly I'm a teetotaler these days, busy dispelling the myth that all writers are f---ed up, neurotic, alcoholic, drug-addicted messes. Well...okay, maybe a little glass of wine to celebrate a good day? We'll keep it our little secret, shall we? I like being an iconoclast too much ;)