It’s raining pretty hard in the city of Huntsville today. I woke to the sound of my phone blaring a severe weather alert. “OMG MAYBE POSSIBLY FLASH FLOOD YOU NEED TO BE AWAKE FOR THIS” it yelled at me, and it took everything I had not to throw it against the wall. It was raining so hard you really couldn’t hear anything else unless you turned up your iPod extra loud. (Radiohead, Rufus Wainwright, Snow Patrol weather.) Loud enough you couldn’t actually have a conversation with anyone more than three feet away.

This is writing weather.

I’ve been in sort of a “dire doom and gloom” phase of this alpha draft, so this weather works out fine. I’ve been doing the “hop around the outline” method, picking out whatever section of the plot feels like fun to write at the moment. Eventually my trademark humor will find its way in (Mac is still a narrator after all) but for the time being, I’m enjoying the dark and destructive tendencies of other characters. You know, Impressive Danger Stuff.

My non-writing goal this week is to get rid of lots of crap in my house. Slowly whittling down all the sentimental stuff I’ve hoarded over the years. Maybe it’s growing up, but eventually you realize you don’t need the stuff to have the memories.

/cast iPod [Rufus Wainwright – The Art Teacher]