tragic post-halloween synopsis.

Today is November 1, and you know what that means, don't you? That's right: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). This is the month where I challenge myself NOT to edit as I go. I think this could be a metaphor for my life, but I'll just focus on the writing aspect of it for now.

I have an idea. At the beach, I worked on the outline some more. I have done some character development. I have a synopsis. And herein lies the problem. Here it is:

Lara Lynne Ramsay is a barista by day, a ghost hunter by night. She's slunk back to seaside Mercy, Georgia after three miscarriages, one failed marriage, and a bankrupt restaurant she ventured into after throwing away a twenty year career. She's had to move in with her OCD-bipolar-control freak mother who is driving Lara crazy. To escape the memories that haunt her and the stark realities of the present, she hides out in the 250 year old dank basement of the Mercy Perks coffee shop, endlessley researching and writing down stories of her hometown's bloody, tragic history: rebellious colonists, brutal British soldiers, thieving pirates, and other dead citizens of long ago Mercy. Rather than fear them, Lara feels an affinity to her town's ghosts; they seem as lost as she feels.

So caught up in her historical research and ghost stories, Lara never realizes she is being watched with intensity by two different men--one long dead, one very alive--both of whom want to possess her for greatly different reasons. Little by little, Mercy begins experiencing a rash of unexplained paranormal activity, and Lara's ghost hunting business explodes, giving her hope that she may have finally found her dream job. But when Captain Nicholas Rye not only reveals himself but also his plans for Lara, she knows she'll have to make a choice between good and evil...or life and death.

The problem with this synopsis is that I think it sounds like the back of a paperback trashy romance novel from 1995. Or a summary of a bad soap opera. Also, I can't think of a good title for this novel or where to place it in terms of genre. Right now, the title is THE HORROR OF MERCY ISLAND and I've stuck it under Horror/Suspense. But it's not really a horror story as much as it's just a story about a chick who digs ghosts and is trying to figure herself the hell out. But it's not chick lit, because I don't want to write chick lit. It's not really women's fiction, but maybe it is--I don't know. It's in the I Don't Know category. Where's THAT genre section at Barnes & Nobel?

I am no Stephen King, by the way. Nobody's getting gored up in this, and it's not going to make you want to sleep with the lights on. 

Jesus God, I hate it when I have no idea what I'm doing...THIS is why I edit as I go, people. Exactly why.

At any rate, we had Halloween. I have taken all the Twix, peanut butter cups, and Snickers and put them somewhere only *I* know about. I just saw on Facebook where a friend said her mom used to do that to her Halloween stash and told her it was the annual Mom Tax. Brilliant!

At our house, we do the Switch Witch. I heard about this concept when M was 3, and I fell in love with it. It's a win-win, I think: they get to have fun trick or treating, then we let her pick out 10 pieces of must eat candy (and I take all the Twix, peanut butter cups, and Snickers for the Mom Tax), and the rest goes out to the front porch. The Switch Witch comes, takes it all, and leaves a present in return. We don't have to have 10 billion pounds of candy in the house (except for several Twix bars that are gone by 2 pm November 1) and M gets a cool gift. The Switch Witch: aka the Tooth Fairy's cousin. I told my class about her yesterday and they were utterly horrified. She is not popular like Santa Claus.

At any rate, it's 4:30 AM as I write this, and thank god! Because the Switch Witch fell asleep at 10 PM last night before she put out the present and took the candy, and that could have been tragic.

Tragic. Like my synopsis.