I haven’t quite caught up, but I’m making good progress. My word count is now 12,328, so I’m stopping at 10:30 pm to try to get a decent night’s sleep. (Like Jessica mentioned in her comment, I can only do five hour nights on a temporary basis. )
Right now, I’m writing the morning of the viewing for Elizabeth’s husband. I’ve been listening to Adagio in G Minor for Strings and Organ from Baroque Favorites. It’s a beautiful, melancholy, mournful piece. I just keep it on repeat, and it helps me stay focused on grieving (which is, thankfully, not something I’ve had much experience with).
Coincidentally, there were two book reviews in the paper this week on books that deal with grieving. Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking sounds fascinating, though I can’t read it until I am done with my own writing. But the ideas presented in the book review, about how even a sane, rationale person begins to fantasize during grief, have worked themselves into Elizabeth’s response to her husband’s sudden death.
I’m posting the next excerpt from Chapter Two. It introduces Kate, Elizabeth’s sister. She’s generally everything Elizabeth’s not, and they have a competitive, love/hate relationship throughout the novel.
