A Change of Thanksgiving Plans, Edinburgh Dreaming & Nanowrimo

Well, my great plan to spend Thanksgiving in Philadelphia is bust. I hadn't checked my schedule properly and my evening class will still be in session until 7 December. I may still go to Philadelphia in December but I won't be spending Christmas there. This year, I want to spend Christmas either in Stockholm or somewhere warm with just Tord beside me. If I go to Philly in December, it will only be for ten days. I want to be in Stockholm a few days before Christmas.

Tord has also mentioned going to Edinburgh again--which thrills me to bits!

I love Edinburgh. Something about the city speaks to me. I like to joke that in a past life I must have lived there but I think the most evocative thing about Edinburgh is the combination of its architecture and the weather. There's something very moody there, the contrast of light and shadow. The first time I went there I fell in love with the city's rainswept streets and the awe-inspiring castle. It was winter and everyone said we were crazy for going there in January. The weather actually reminded me of Philadelphia in winter. I wasn't bothered by the cold rain (though I hate hate hate it in Stockholm). I loved how eerie it felt walking along King's Stables Road and passing St. Cuthbert's cemetery just after midnight when a heavy fog blanketed the city.

In June, we went to Edinburgh again so I could do some research for a novel I'm working on. This time we walked along the Water of Leith, explored Stockbridge and Dean Village as well as a lovely afternoon stroll in the Royal Botanic Garden. In the evenings we popped into the Oxford Bar for pints and World Cup fever. The barkeep changed Tord's name to Jimmy MacDougall, just out of prison. While enjoying our pints and watching the Italy-US match, we met an older couple who were going to visit their daughter in New York in September; it would be their first trip to the United States. We stayed at the Bonham and had a fantastic view of the Firth of Forth from our fourth floor room.

I could go to Edinburgh again in a heartbeat.

Now...Only a few more days until the start of Nanowrimo. I have been scribbling notes for how I'd like this year's Nanowrimo novel to progress. So far, I have ten pages of notes. At first I wasn't sure what I would write about. I thought I'd just let the muse lead me--which I did last time. But this time, I've decided to write a romance. Okay, the last novel was sort of chick lit/romance and so is this one... Anyway, I decided to write this year's novel because I read someone else's novel, hated the female main character [who was just so god-awful annoying I wanted to slap her] and thought, "This book sucks! I could write a similar story better!" So I'm going to put my money where my mouth is and set about doing just that. On November 1 I will be typing away, trying to get at least 3000 words written of my 3000 word/day challenge. Once it's done, I ought to have a good enough first draft to use as a springboard for a good revision, which could then be sent out to agents.

We shall see, we shall see...