Vacation was good.

We spent last Monday afternoon on Navy Pier. Took the architectural river tour, which was nice. Younger daughter is flirting with the idea of becoming an architect and she was keen on the tour.

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Back to writing now after the layoff. Toying with a character and whether he's an amputee or quadraplegic. I made the mistake of tackling Duma Key during my time off and while I had read the first chapter way back when it first came out, I'm miffed at how much its main character's experience (even from that brief reading) influenced one of the plot points I'm addressing.

I'll have to see what the UWG thinks about it. I should complete a new chapter (or two) by next Monday's meeting and I may submit the first three chapters and the new material to see how they feel about the tweaks I've made.

Started work on the fourth chapter today. Holiday weekend put a crimp in my routine, so I'm sitting at 14-15 pages for the manuscript rather than the 21 pages I want. It probably didn't help that I edited the pages I had after the UWG meeting, but what I did change helped the manuscript's flow.

At least, I'm still in love with the direction I'm taking.

I know it's likely the UWG members will complain when they get the new chapters four weeks from now, because I'm introducing two new characters before circling back to the main characters introduced in the first chapters. I'm walking a fine line here, because the book needs to stay under 90,000 words to comply with the Fresh Blood contest rules. I don't think I'll go beyond the characters I'm introducing within the fourth chapter. It's possible these three sets can serve as the triangle on which I'm hanging my plot. There's enough room for action and theme in all areas.

I'll update my progress meter over on LJ sometime this weekend when I'm finished with the fourth chapter. As it stands, I've 102 days left to finish the manuscript by my self-imposed 9/6 deadline.