Process - Staying With It... Barely

I have discovered a new problem - research. Can't live without it and can't live with it, at least not with my personality type. Scout's budget figures prominently in this story and so does her lack of access to healthcare. And I know the life, so I am certain the figures work out to cause the situation in which she finds herself.

I am equally certain that life has not improved greatly over the years for restaurant workers - waitrons - so it stands to reason that what I found to be true twenty years ago is still largely the same. The trouble is, I know that some of the details have changed and to be credible with this story, it's important to take these changes into consideration. If I don't, then there's the risk that readers will throw out the entire premise because of some (relatively) small hole in the logic. I don't believe it has to be airtight; I do want it to be plausible though.

My solution, go trolling the internet for the facts. The trouble is, just as I cannot go into a library without sitting down to read every third book my hand touches (and that's exercising a huge amount of restraint), it is difficult for me to go out in search of information on the internet without getting caught up in so much of what I find there. It definitely happened to me yesterday.

I found myself totally fascinated with bitterwaitress and IDespiseMyJob - my experiences have never been quite so horrible as this... but they've come close. Very close. As a coach it's my basic function in life these days to think more optimistically about how I can choose my own experiences (and help others choose theirs) and yet as a former food service person myself, I can totally empathize. At least I know that I did not imagine the difficulties I faced when I was doing that work. And I can confirm that it's not really much better than it ever was.

So I spent a lot of time absorbing their stories. Today or tomorrow I'll probably get around to asking the questions that I need to have answered. It may have to wait though - I'm sure I can find scenes to write that don't entail getting lost in internet-land and then I can bring my word count back up.

While I managed to fritter away time during the day that I could have spent writing, I did manage to get some done in the evening. I'm liking the boat anchor laptop. Nothing to do with that thing but write. Having finished the extremely voluminous Strange & Norell, writing in bed seemed like a good habit to get into. I was able to crank out nearly 700 words in little more time than I usually take to get sleepy reading. And the laptop is easier to hold than that last book.

Daily Total - 689
Running Total - 2437