WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 4th

I am so tired!

Day started well. I've been doing this 'rise at dawn' thing for several weeks now, so I was thrilled Vanessa was willing to get up early and go walk through the eucalyptus groves and tide pools near her home, where we watched a large group of pelicans diving for a cornered school of fish at Spooners Cove.

Vanessa went to class and I drove North, for breakfast in Cambria. The stretch of California coast from Cambria up through Monterey might be my favorite part of the USA. I filmed elephant seals, hiked along sea-cliffs, and scrawled endlessly in my notebook - developing the outline for the novel and writing some new passages by pen.

Unfortunately I started to stress out as I neared Monterey: I got stuck behind some *really* slow people on PCH and then hit Monterey Bay Area Rush Hour. I was very late to my Monterey 'write-in" and found myself typing furiously to somehow get some official writing done before meeting my sister Katharine for dinner in Santa Cruz. I wrote the opening paragraphs of Chs 3 and 4 (although I still haven't started 2). My therapist would not approve of my stress level today.

I wrote a thousand words for 5106 total. But I should be at 8000 by today. I have to catch up before the end of the week!

This novel needs a serious, honest-to-goodness 8 hour day, and that's what I'm going to give it when I wake up tomorrow morning.