Nano Neurosis

It's NaNoWriMo month. This means that I'm writing a novel in a month. At least that's the idea. I did this last year with Psyquake and made it to the end as a winner. The book I'm working on this year is LETTERS FOR STEPS, a book about a missionary in Ecuador and one of his contacts, a girl from Colorado, USA, who is living in Ecuador for a lark. She's a photographer and lives above the restaurant she works in.

For much of it, I'm depending a lot on my daughter, N. for her mission experiences and knowledge of the area and people. I am taking other stories and anecdotes from other friends and relatives. The rub has been in trying to make it an engaging story without having Elder Holloway unlock his heart. N. is adamant that he can have not a smidgen of romantic regard for her.

On the other hand I have several examples of people who went back later and married people from their mission. So I'm really having to be careful as I tell this story. It's a tightrope dance.

It's taking lots of research on Ecuador--people, habits, clothing, population counts, etc., which slows me down a bit, along with tightrope part. My first visit was to Chimborazo volcano, the highest mountain near the equator. From there I went to llamas and alpacas and thence to street food of Guaranda. Soon I'll be looking up info about monkeys and the Colorado Indian tribe.

I love writing! You learn so much while doing it!