Writing process

I feel like I'm writing the same book in parallel universes or something. One is quite normal, in past tense and everything laid out. The other is in present, with all kinds of revelations about my character. The thing is, the scenes that deal with one particular thread of the story come out in present, and everything else about everyone else is in past. Also, when I start writing scenes in present, I find myself writing new, yet roughly parallel scenes that cover the same emotional ground as those I came up with in past tense. Two versions of the same story running side by side. I've never had a first draft do anything as strange as this. My character has a degree of rationalization and is in denial about some things, so perhaps this is happening because every time I get a glimpse inside his mind and he realizes it, he shoves me out, and I get to narrate from the outside again.

No, I haven't gotten enough sleep, and yes, I have too much going on at the moment. But hey, I also 446 words, which is 446 words more than yesterday.

Off for a last-minute shopping trip before stuffing everyone into Halloween costumes. Halloween is mostly a holiday for teenagers to wear scary costumes and have parties here in Germany, but we've been invited to a party that teenagers are running for kids. There will be hot dogs; I don't know if there will be candy. But finding costumes for people while it's fall break (a week off school) and I'm on foot with four kids is um...well, let's just say that shopping under those conditions is roughly equivalent to emptying your wallet on the ground, dousing the contents with gasoline, and setting it on fire, okay? Next time there's a holiday I'm buying everything over the internet. I hear Amazon sells milk that way.

And um, Happy Halloween, everyone!