Despite the Republican insistence on going total ‘dirka dirka jihad‘ as an approach to governance, I am having a pretty decent week.

I’ve had some insights into a secondary character in my novel that I think brings out a more fully realized character and provides a nice bit of motivation for why she does what she does. She also surprised me by being married to another woman. I’ve heard author talk before about that their characters tell them whats what, but that’s not really how I operate. In this case I had started considering the spousal relations for Katarina and I know I did not want the usual power-couple you find in politics. Once i had the broad outlines of the kind of person for her spouse, I let my mind wander through scenes with different spouses and different bits of dialog.  Again and again I kept coming back to the same, off-world Scandinavian blonde. If that’s where my thoughts keep ending up, like some sort of orbit, then that where I need to be.

Also things look up on the job prospect. Right now I am a  temp but I’ve been told that my bosses are very pleased with my work and so I think when the probationary period ends it is likely that I will transition to a full time regular and unionized employee.