Monica

It's still snowing, and I don't want to jinx anything, but...

It's looking like we were well outside the bombogenesis perimeter.

Yes, "bombogenesis" is a real word! It refers to a storm where barometric pressure drops by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. With this particular storm, the barometric pressure dropped a mind-boggling 44 millibars, but it dropped somewhat to the south and east of where I'm located. Which made for some crazy totals over comparatively short distances: Like 15" in Fishkill but only 5" in Poughkeepsie.

We ended up getting around five inches of the Hideous White Stuff here.

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We expected snow all day yesterday, but it didn't come. Instead, it was just dismal and grey and awful. I went into the office and sat there reading Midnight In the Garden of Good & Evil, which left me with a deep desire to visit Savannah even though the best thing about Midnight In the Garden of Good & Evil is its title.

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In the evening, Ichabod upset me on the phone by reminding me my housing options would be considerably better if I didn't have pets.

Of course, I know he's right, but the kiskas have more-or-less saved my sanity these last few extremely difficult months. They have functioned effectively as a family for me; they are good company and affectionate in their highly idiosyncratic way. As awful as this place is, I'd rather live here forever than give up my gurlZ.

But I hope it won't come to that.

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Writing-wise, I am preparing to embark upon the Daria portion of the novel.

Ideally, I would pull this off with a Jennifer-Egan-style switch of the PoV voice. Realistically, I may not be a good enough writer to do this. The important thing here, though, is not to show off my dazzling writerly gifts but to finish the damn thing however best I can.

To that end, I am setting up an interview with real-life Daria.

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Here is a photograph of real-life Daria:



She's very beautiful, as you can see! Kinda Snow White-ish with that pure white overflip.

What I'm primarily interested in is her sexual relationship with Brian.

Grazia and Neal don't have a sexual relationship, so in the first part of the book, Neal combines the best qualities of a father and a wisecracking teddy bear.

But in the second part of the book, Neal must come across as an erotic god!

Which should be challenging.

I've read my share of porn & erotica over the years. And written it, too. For pay! 😀 My porn was always criticized for "too much story"! I guess the sexual tropes that turn most people on do very little for me; it's always the relationships that drive the sex that make it hot for me. The single most erotic book I ever read was Susannah Moore's In the Cut, wherein a professor of English stumbles into an affair with a homicide detective who drives her mad with desire with a strange little crooking gesture he does with his forefinger.

So, yes, I have to study up on real-life Neal's kinks.

But I also have to figure out what it feels like to be so fluent in three languages (as Daria is) that the languages all swirl together in your brain, and what it feels like to be that seductive—because real-life Daria is oh-so-seductive.

Also, I have to come up with a rescue situation that can play analogously to Grazia's cult rescue. Doesn't have to be as dramatic. But that's a connecting thematic element in each of the three parts of the book: Neal saves each of the women in some way.