Haven’t done this for a while: writing from 11 pm to 1 am. In my so far unending quest for an agreeable time and place to swim, I went to the late swim, which ended at 10:30. Then I came home and tackled one of the 4 key scenes from the first part of Graveyards, that I either don’t have or don’t have in the form I’d like. 2100 words of monologue later, I’m part way into one character’s story, feeling my way around inside her mood and her machinations. Any time any character of mine tells someone else something, whether it’s information or their story, there’s an agenda at work. They want something, to make sure what the other person knows is shaped by them, or to engage the other person’s sympathies; they want the other person to take action on their behalf, or not to take action on someone else’s behalf. So many different types of struggle can be waged in words. (I’ve mentioned elsewhere my liking for drama). This monologue will need massive cuts, or it will be 10 000 words long by the time she has covered all the strategic terrain she intends to, but first I must write out everything that comes, and then I will pare it to the essentials, move some parts of it to fill out other scenes. I like the kind of looseness that comes when I stay up until my eyes practically close on their own. Though I will not like the consequences in the morrow. I used to write a lot like this in my 20s; I’m not sure that I had more stamina, maybe I was simply less responsible about maintaining quality of mind for my day-work.