Another application is sent off into the ether. Though I know PH received it, because they emailed me back to ask me to reformat my writing sample.

I think I've figured out a direction for a character in my novel. He does a very bad thing and I wasn't certain what motivates him to do it, but things slid into place last night as I was lying in bed trying to work it out. I just have to WRITE IT. But it's going to require a bit of research first, and disturbing research at that. Tough, but I never want to feel as though I'm closing myself off to reality if being open to it is necessary.

The Way the Crow Flies is building effectively. It opens with a poetic description of the murder scene of an unidentified young girl, and after 125 pages it returns to the scene again, leaving the reader wondering how the dots will be connected. Very effective tension. I loved Fall On Your Knees and while this novel only has flashes of that novel's storytelling process I'm still a big fan of MacDonald's prose.

Last night Andrea and I watched Clueless in bed. I'd never seen it. It was light fare punctuated with moments of self-awareness here and there that made it enjoyable. It certainly prescribes a healthy dose of kitschy mid-90's pop culture, for better or for "oh god what were they thinking?". Side note: I watched The Princess Bride earlier in the day, so yesterday turned out to be a Wallace Shawn-fest. I now have a huge craving to take in My Dinner With Andre again.

Chili's on. I'm making my first batch since the failed venture just after I moved into Riverside. So far so good, but we'll see how it simmers.

Andrea and I had lunch/breakfast at Eggspectations today. Afterwards I went grocery shopping for chili ingredients. When I got home I worked on a song. It's now almost ready for a bass track. I'm also working on a cover but it's sounding kind of bare. Need to put some pepper on it. I'm hungry.

I started reading Ann-Marie MacDonald's 800-page opus The Way the Crow Flies. Last night I polished off Wayson Choy's lovely All That Matters, which completes my most recent collection of the novels by writers who were giving workshops at Humber in July. I emailed Joe last night to ask for a employment reference and to tell him that I should have the first chapter of my novel drafted for next week. I've effectively set a deadline for myself.

I watched Singles before going to bed last night simply because I wanted to hear Kyra Sedgwick's character talk about how great it felt to have her own place.