Knits up the raveled sleeve of care

Finally got some sleep. I was feeling physically ill from want of sleep but today, finally, there's no work, no contractor coming in to work on the apartment, no noisy party outside, and I could finally sleep in.

I am less than inspired on the book. Heck, I got mildly inspired by the thought of pulling an edit on the trunk novel (Shirato) and getting that out there. (That thought came out of house cleaning...in a roundabout way.)

Also new thoughts on Japan. What I wanted to do with it is too far along certain paths in the overall character arc. So I'm reconsidering which book in the series to do next. The "Paris" book, if I could figure out how to do it in a way that doesn't amplify my current faults. Or something new. I want to get her to Paris before Notre Dame burns but I have a few winter months to play. Boston maybe. Good thing the Big Dig is dug already...

(Yeah, there it is again. The "where do you get your ideas." Writing archaeology adventures, no week goes by without reading about something that would be cool to write about.)

(That said, I could use an idea that would work well in winter. I should go through my list of Fox-related titles and through the sticky elements of the character arcs. All I have at moment is I'd like an adventure that gets her some additional notoriety -- that sets up Japan better -- and that gives her a chance to get some more acting in and otherwise work on her poise before she has to pull off the Great Deception necessary for the Japan book. And also one with no romance at all. And it would be nice to get into some solid history. Not that London during the War isn't, but how about something from an era where there aren't living witnesses?)

(I'd like to send her mountain climbing some time, but winter and mountains is suicide. So is going to check out the Duga radar. Although I would like something outdoors. Central America? All the adventure archaeologists head that way eventually...  I guess I should hit up my travel experiences too but I'm running out of places I've been.)

***

I think the scene I'm stalled on now is another "the perfect is enemy of the good" problem. I had this idea of the big heart-to-heart between Penny and Graham being where she finally explained what happened in Athens, they read Linnet's diary where she talks about her intentions to join up, and Graham cautions her on the pitfalls of the path of heroism. More-or-less. It's complicated.

But the diary isn't lining up. Linnet's relationship with Wentworth needed another chapter to develop, and unless I can kick the discovery back a day the visit by Orde Wingate has to wait for next entry. And the Athens stuff -- at this point it feel better for Penny to indulge in a "how did I end up here?" when she's in the flooding Zero Room under Nine Elms.

Oops. Was that a spoiler?

Sigh. I had dreams of this great scene that would bring everything together. I haven't learned how to write that well yet, though. So the delay in getting back to work on the current scene is basically me letting go of the what could have been and sitting down to write the what must be.

In fact I think I'm coming all the way around until the discussion is in terse exchanges in the middle of something else. Quite possibly running after the suspect.