Today is a good day! I have a clean desk (which won’t last long), a cover propped up in front of me for inspiration (this cover is very inspiring, don’t you think?), and a plot all worked out on an inch-high stack of index cards. I’m much more organized than usual, but I’ve left enough room in the plot for the characters to break loose and assert themselves, as they always do.

I’ve also written about fifty pages of rough draft, including the first meeting between the hero and heroine (the “meet cute,” which takes place at a funeral this time), and some introductory wrangling between the two of them. I can never get the plot to work out until I’ve spent some quality time getting to know the characters. I need to know who they are and how they’ll respond to challenges before I start torturing them with all the troubles I’m going to throw at them in this book.

So today I’ll get to sit down and write for real, once I’ve transferred those index cards into a narrative outline.

In between writing sessions, I’ll be shelving books. We moved all my bookcases to Stillwater yesterday and got them situated, so I’ll be able to gather all my friends around me and organize them so I can find what I need.

And, of course, I’ll be taking a long walk in the woods with three dogs and a camera.

Like I said, today is a good day. In the immortal words of Google, I’m feeling lucky!