Shar 5: Finding Shar and Milton

~ Jenny

We got hit by snow and ice last night and today, but since it’ll be in the forties by Wednesday, and I’ve got plenty of food and heat, it’s not a problem. Watching Oklahoma and the other states get hit so badly puts it all into perspective. I probably can’t get out of my driveway, but I don’t need to, either. But wherever we put Clitoris, there’s going to be sun and no snow. Seasons, yes, snow and ice, no. What’s it like in North Carolina? That seems like a good compromise. We were talking about Oregon and Washington, but I need sun; these grim winter month knock me out.

On the other hand, snowed it with dogs and a SAD light makes it bearable, plus I had a lot of work to do today. Krissie was working all day since she got her computer back, and Lani took the day off since her Act 2 scenes are done and her kids were home, so there was nobody in Campfire to talk to. Very sad. So I started at the beginning of Act 1 in an effort to find Shar. I’ve been writing her off the top of my head, trying to get to know her, and I just wasn’t getting her on the page. But with all by one of my Act Two scenes done, it was time to figure her out. So I spent a lot of today just thinking about Shar, figuring out where she’s been and what she wants and how the things that are happening to her are going to change her. And then I got Act One out again and tweaked all the scenes with what I’d figured out.

Then I let the dogs out into the cold, icy night, figuring they’d be back in record time. I left the door open because it was so cold and went to check in a storeroom for something, and when I came back,there were Wolfie and Veronica at the top of the stairs, finished with the cold. No Milton. I stuck my head out the back and yelled, “Milton!” and didn’t hear anything, so I shut the door, figuring he’d gone upstairs with them. Nope. No Milton. So I put my boots on, saying bad things about a puppy, and got a flashlight and went out to find him.

He was digging a hole. To China evidently since he’d gotten pretty far on it. I picked him up and said, “Moron puppy,” and carried him. We are definitely going to work on the “come here!” command as soon as I get a break from this book.

Then I went back and Lani had sent a description of Daisy’s mother that was terrific, so I did one for Shar’s mother, and then I went through the scenes in Act Two, tweaking them, instead of my last scene in Act Two. Next we’re meeting in Campfire to talk about Act Two and look at each other’s revisions, but I think Act One is really close to finished, and Act Two will be a snap to revise, too. Then Act Three and Four are the short acts and I’m thinking we’ll have that first draft done by the first of the year. I know I keep saying this, but I can’t believe how fast this is going. And it’s good stuff.

So the good news for today is, I found Shar and Milton. Who could ask for anything more?

22 thoughts on “Shar 5: Finding Shar and Milton”

  1. Clitoris is the kind of place name you could ind in the hills of the south, so North Carolina is a great place for it. I love North Carolina.

  2. Eastern Oregon and Washington have all the sun you need, but also dust, snow, ice, and wind. That missile base needs those underground buildings to deal with the elements. What about Sedona or Flagstaff?
    On the otherhand, North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains are beautiful. My aunt live in Columbia which is the Isothermal region. The gulf weather flows up there to keep things warmer. In Forest City they have the Isothermal Community College — is that the only college named after a weather phenomenom?

  3. Florida has all the warmth and sun you want and then some. Sometimes too much — like Persephone’s experiencing hot flashes.

    We also have hurricane season but six months can pass with no actual storms hitting. We get credit for worrying about them, however.

    Think of the adventure of evacuating with your menagerie. It’s one of the reasons I opted for two smaller dogs. There are more hotel chains that will accept dogs 25 pounds and smaller.

    Speaking of multiple dogs . . . Are any of your crew exhibiting “resource guarding” behavior where you’re the resource? My pups sometimes get a little too territorial about which one gets to be on my lap. We’re working on good “share Mommy” behavior. They’re learning.

    Now if I can just keep Pyxi from strolling on the coffee table like it’s a runway.

  4. I don’t know about North Carolina…I live in New England but most of my co-workers are located in NC. And they do get snow and ice at least once a year and when they do it completely shuts down the state. (They use ROAD GRADERS to clear the main roads…for the local roads they believe in the “God” method of snow removal: “God, in his infinite wisdom, has decided to give us this snow, and in his time, he will see fit to remove it.”) On the other hand, for an area that has seasons, it just seems WRONG that it was 80 degrees down there on Wednesday, and 76 degrees on Thursday, while 700 miles further north we were getting 8 inches of snow. South Carolina, especially the eastern part may be better. Check with Bob?

    I agree with hollygee in thinking maybe the Southwest? Central New Mexico might also have possibilities.

  5. What about South Texas. We get “winter” for three days in January, maybe. No they don’t plow or scrap, it’s not cost effiecent. The sun comes out and it melts!!!!

    It’s been real nice here all week. Well Tuesday was a little warm.

  6. Clitoris has to be located in South Alabama where the weather for 11 1/2 months out of the year is described as “hot and humid” (need I say more?). Our weathermen give a humidity index along with the temperature to let everyone know what the weather really feels like. Last week everyone was wearing shorts because it was 80 degrees. You could put it on the Delta near Mobile and the Dolly Parton bridges (the two bridges rise above the flat delta making 2 big mounds). Yes, the “Deep” South is the place for Clitoris. It makes perfect sense.

  7. As CathyS. said, it snows in NC. Actually, the ice storms are worse. We’re liable to get 3-4 ice storms a winter. A gazillion accidents where people are sliding all over the roads, 360’s, etc. There’ll be much more snow in the mountains – blowing, drifting, generally difficult to live with.

    Even Atlanta gets snow.

  8. Ah, that Milton. You gotta love the kid.
    I was at Duke Univ. Medical Center in the late seventies and loved it. Loved NC except for the snow, oh and the humidity in August. Ick! We had one bad winter too many and I left and headed for Miami Beach. The steamy heat, constant frizzy hair and 3pm rain, was a pain in the butt down there. Moved to Los Angeles, temperature was about right but after twenty five years of battling traffic, moved to the CA desert. The spring, the fall and winter are delightful here, but the summer is brutal.

    I guess no place is perfect. If you need sun come visit me. We do have a light dusting of snow on the mountain tops but gorgeous blue skies and bright sun, around seventy most days, but cold at night. Perfect walking weather.
    D&G sounds like it is coming together well. Can’t wait. Happy writing, surround yourself with dogs and stay warm.

  11. Well, if you want nice weather pretty much all year round, the California Wine Country has got it all. We get a dusting of snow at “higher elevations”, i.e. a hundred feet above sea level, which is pretty high around here, maybe once every ten or so years. Not much frost, let alone ice storms, and no humidity in the summer to speak of. We have seasons, just very politely behaved ones. ;+)

    When I lived in Baltimore, I spent the first winter in tears every time they forecast snow. All the lawns were dead. No leaves on the trees. No flowers growing in January. Man, it was barren for a someone who grew up in California. I loved Baltimore, just not the weather.

  12. It is possible Milton and my dog Kahlua are trying to build an underground tunnel so they can meet in the middle. We have a lovely mud hole in our back yard.

  13. Well, Clitoris is definately no where near where I live – in northern Canada. We get snow and winter (ie nothing is growing and the trees don’t have leaves) for eight months and on Dec 21 we will have seven hours and six minute of daylight. Does not make it easy on those of us who have SAD but vitamin D is working wonders for me – she said, not being a doctor nor playing one on tv. However, in exchange for apx 60 days of less than eight hours of daylight we have six months of more than 12 hours of light and on the longest day we have about 17.5 hours and the rest of the time it’s just twilight.

  14. Forget about Sedona and Flagstaff unless you want floods as well as snow. You might compromise like Elizabeth Lowell–summers in the San Juan Islands and winters in Flagstaff.

    How about the central-to-northern California Coast, somewhere between Mendocino and Big Sur?

    http://gocalifornia.about.com/library/graphics/ca_map_coast.gif

    I believe they get fog, but I love fog myself.

    I believe Tucson might also be a possibility.

  15. Tucson is pretty much okay, but the summer heat can be killer. I didn’t mind it in my 20s, but even then it was just plain hot. Great lifestyle for us, though – small apartment complex, pool no one used but us, gas grills and picnic tables under the olive trees etc. And the period of the monsoon, for about two months in the summer, can be daunting and humid.

    I took a job down there, expecting a “warm” winter. Imagine my disgust when it snowed. Of course, it only does that once in a blue moon, but it had to do it the year I was there. Still, I liked Tucson a lot.

  16. San Jose is the one place I’ve lived that has the nicest weather all year round. 56 and sunny in the winter, flowers in February, and it only gets really hot in the summer for about one week per year. And, then, all you have to do is go spend the day in Monterey. Mostly, its mid-seventies and sunny. But, the cost of housing will kill you.

    I liked Tucson too. We lived within walking distance of Sabino Canyon. I’m actually thinking of moving back there once Sunshine goes to college. These bleary cold Kentucky days are getting me down. I’m too old for this crap!

  17. Take a look at Southern California. The last snow in San Diego was in 1967. All of 1 and a half inches. It does get into the 30s once in a while. I remember my brothers house in the San Fernando Valley with 4 inches of snow on the roof…way back when.

    Looking forward to D & G

  18. I don’t do earthquakes.

    I told my cousin Russ that–he lives in Long Beach–and he said, “We haven’t had an earthquake since the last riot!”

    I assume this is Californian humor.

  20. Clitoris would be perfect in North Carolina – or anywhere in the mid-Atlantic Bible Belt region…

    Milton, Milton. Too young we’ll just say he’s too YOUNG to come in from the cold instead of the alternative! Did he at least have on a sweater? 🙂

  22. Consider Colorado. Yes, there’s snow (which is considered a good thing here) but there’s sun and blue skies at the same time.

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