Tika was hiding. Not play hiding like she used to do with Toby, but real hiding.
"Tika!...Has anyone seen Tika?"
Tika spied her mother's legs through the slatted closet door and tried to hold still so she didn't give herself away.
"Don't fuss Molly. The house is sealed, she's probably just playing."
Tika stifled a giggle. Tika's mother told her not to fuss all the time, so Gamma Dora telling Tika's mom not to fuss was hilarious.
"Come help me with the stuffing."
Tika watched her mother's legs pause, then turn and follow Gamma Dora's voice back out towards the kitchen. Tika sagged against the vacuum cleaner. It was dark and quiet in the closet, which was nice, but she wished that Toby was going to come looking for her. Her mother wouldn't actually look like you were supposed to, but would just call Tika and then add on punishments until Tika came out. That wasn't any fun. Toby would look everywhere for her. Even in drawers that he knew were too small for her, all the while saying things like "where could Tika be?" She used to look forward to the day of turkey and pie, and seeing Toby, even when the Black came and the adults got all sad, Tika still enjoyed her time with Toby. Now she hated this day. She hated all the adults fake-smiling as they stuffed their faces full of food, watched the picture-screen box, and pretended that tomorrow wasn't tomorrow. Tomorrow was the Black and the Black had taken Toby. The closet door opened and light spilled down onto Tika.
"There you are, Tika."
It was her Aunt Carene, Toby's mom. Her eyes were always red and her hair was always messy now.
"It's dinner time."
Tika didn't get up. "I don't want to eat dinner."
Her aunt knelt down beside her. "I don't either. But we have to."
"Why?"
"We have to sacrifice the turkey to the Black. You know that."
Tika shook her head. "It didn't help Toby."
Her aunt's lower lip trembled. "It doesn't always work, but we have to try."
"Why?"
"So the Black doesn't take you too."
Staring into her aunt's eyes, Tika thought that without the red, they would look like Toby's eyes. "Is that why you still eat dinner?"
Her aunt nodded.
"Even the yams?"
Her aunt smiled...well as much as her aunt ever smiled now.
Tika nodded back. "Okay." She took her aunt's hand. "But I'm not eating the yams."
Aunt Carene stood and pulled Tika out of the closet. "You don't have to...yet."

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.

Well, another interesting thing that researching this latest book has done for me is made me totally change the main character from Marie Curie to her daughter Irene. Science minded like her mother, she braved the front lines of WWI with Marie to administer X-rays to injured troops. Irene was 17 at the start of WWI and makes a much better pulp heroine with possible romantic interests. Oh, and by-the-by, Marie also had another daughter Eve, who lived to be one-hundred and two, was a pianist, journalist in WWII, writer, playwright, and worked for Unicef and NATO! I think that Eve will have to be the heroine of the sequel...but I digress. Anyway, just wanted to give another insight into how researching and plotting a book can completely change your ideas about it and make it into something even better?

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.

Happy Friday the 13th, everyone! So far there are two things that I've learned from researching my novel this year: 1) Research may completely turn your ideas for a story upside down, and 2) research can lead to more research. For example, I wanted my story to be a tale of a plucky young and single Marie Curie saving the world after an accidental atomic explosion at her laboratory just prior to WWI. Problem: Marie Curie was 47 years old with two children at the start of WWI. Hmmm...that changes things a bit. Also, as far as research leading to more research, let's say you start by researching foreign policy in France around 1909. Well, then you come upon the Franco-German Accord and have to research that, but then you read about Jules Cambon and maybe you have to research him too...you see my point. Deciding what is important to my book and what will not be important in my book is difficult to impossible at present, so deciding what is important to research and what is not, is also impossible. I guess that is why they say that the research that is obvious in a novel is only the tip of the iceberg. So I've still got a long way to go...

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.

Hello there! I hope that if you are doing NaNoWriMo this year, this post finds you not too frazzled nearing the end of your first week. And, if you are not doing NaNo this year, please forgive me another post about it, but I felt that I had to clarify. I am not doing a standard NaNo this year, even though NaNo is responsible for 4 out of 5 of my finished novels. The novel I want to write this time does not lend itself to NaNo well and will be my first plotted novel. You see, I found out about 800 words in, that you cannot write an alternate history without knowing what the real history is to begin with. So, in lieu of 50,000 words this November, I am devoting the month of November to researching and planning my novel. I am excited but also a twee bit daunted by the prospect of plotting, it being my first time and all, but there is no other way to write this book since it is about real people and not just characters that live only in my head. So wish me luck and expect a few more blog posts about my trials, tribulations, and hopefully triumphs as a novice plotter.

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.