The main file of Boneyard King was getting too unwieldly to open, so I saved it, and began a new file with the newest chapter.

Much less expensive than buying a new laptop with a better processor, more RAM…if not nearly as much fun.  🙂

I recognized that I was floundering in the last couple chapters, and have decided to try outlining the chapter before I write it.  This is a new thing for me; the general outline I do before beginning a project is only a paragraph or two long.  The chapter outlines I’ve done so far have been twice that length.

And of course, the outlines don’t hold up very long.  Still, it’s been helpful to know that when I start a chapter, I have a goal in mind as to what I’m going to accomplish in that chapter.

Here’s an excerpt from the latest:

Like the town, the Middle Mountain bar wasn’t much to look at.  It was crowded at the moment, full of passengers who realized that there was nothing else in town to go to or do.  Randall recognized some of them—people who had opened the door to his compartment, then backed out hurriedly after seeing his scars.  Now they stared at him, whispering as he walked by.  Now he was intruding on them.  And he didn’t have the good grace to back away, to let the door close in front of him and find a friendlier place to sit.

Witch.

Yes.

Randall slid into a stool at the bar.  Before Alloway, he could have never fit onto one of these things.  His belly would have pushed him out.  How easy it was now.  He fit smoothly between the people on either side of him, and even though they leaned away from him, he remembered how it was to be near them, elbow to elbow for just a moment.