Trying to shoot a clockwork wolf.

I’ve been taking a break from writing. Not a huge long one, but a small one, intended to give my hands a rest and help to jog my brain into allowing me a peek into the last half of the book I’m writing. I’ve been sitting on the same scene for days, and though I wrote about 300 words yesterday, I’m still at a standstill. There’s a wolf in the distance, and the protagonist is trying to stop it from being shot. Which might mean he has to shoot his lover. Did I mention he’s in one of the hells? Right. Um. Sure. It’s the least trippy of the hell narrative bits, but at the same time it’s a highly emotional scene–because it’s so close to reality, I think. He’s basically reliving a very vivid memory, but this time changing it.

Anyway. “Shooting a wolf” is slowly becoming my catch phrase around here. I still haven’t shot it yet. But it needs to be done. I hope to inform the world of the scene (and chapter’s) conclusion in the next day or so, and that way I can move on to a chase scene followed by a surprising moment of intimacy between characters who up until this point have hated each other entirely.

And then there’s the matter of Dinah. She’s been lurking in the dark corners of this book, waiting and watching, and it’s becoming apparent that she wants her own POV. At least a few times. If you’ve read Castledeck and the Arabella, then she’s familiar to you. What you might not know is how she’s connected to both stories. She’s a lot more than she seems from that bit in the short story–essentially she’s a spy and reformed (sort of) courtesan. I think she’s the spice needed to add some flavor to the womens’ POV in Dustman, a contrast to her cousin Marna and a foil for Ash…

Not that you particularly care, but there it is. Thinking aloud and all that crap.

But! Progress is being done, and in light of my own keeping up with stuff. I am, in fact, approaching that halfway point rather steadily… Here’s to small victories!