Thank Goodness for The Zamboni

Happy March. It's about time it showed up.

I have the Junior Worlds Figure Skating Ladies (or as I think of them- Little Women) competition on in the background, but they're on a zamboni break before the final two flights (Go, brilliant young Americans, go!), so I figured I'd throw in a fast blog entry to bring you up to date on Possible Third Book.

I adore it. I love every word of it. I love its words so much I have to go back and add some more.

What I'm doing these days is throwing all the bleakity bleak in, and then thinking about how much of it I can remove when I come to my senses. It's become kind of a game for me- put it in and figure out how to take it out. It's a good thing I keep going back and adding more words, because once I edit out the excessive bleakity bleak, the book will only be 12 pages long.

It turns out that when characters refer to the time before that nasty moon/meteor encounter, they call it the Time Before. The book is dividing itself into three sections. The first is called Probation, the second Since The Time Before, and the third (which I'll start when the skating ends) will be The Power. I've already written the ending of the book, since it's a little different than what I originally planned.

The second section starts with the 5th year anniversary of the moon/meteor, and includes Jon's visit with the troupe and Gracie's confession to Caitlin of her past. I love the book's structure; everything just seems to fall into place so easily.

All right. When do I not ask something of you, my beloved slowly gained readership? I'm going to set up a non-binding resolution poll over on the left side of the page concerning the book's title. I'd always planned on calling P3B Starry Night, but the book just hasn't gone in that direction. My friend Christy, who is very very smart, says I can't call it Story Of O Without Sex, should Harcourt ever agree to read it. So I need a title.

I've come up with two possibilities- After The Time Before and Since The Time Before. The latter is more euphonious, but it's also more ambiguous, so I'm ambivalent. That is, by the way, the classiest sentence I've ever written. Anyway, a quick perusal of Amazon seems to show both titles are available for the taking.

So I'm going to ask you to vote on which you prefer. Fool that I am, I'll include a none of the above option. This won't necessarily be a majority rules situation (and, of course, even if P3B becomes 3B, Harcourt will have the final say on its title- maybe it'll want Story Of O Without Sex), but I am curious as to your preferences.

All right. The skaters are warming up. I'll post this entry and the non-binding resolution masquerading as a poll and return to the world of triple lutzes.

Thanks again for your help and imput. You're all champions to me!

PS- Ooh ooh, what if Harcourt decides to call it Story Of O With Sex? I'd better go back and add a whole lot more words, just in case.