I got back from a family reunion last night, at o'dark thirty in the early morning. It was nice seeing some dear and new faces. I remember the old folks always saying, "family is the most important thing." Now that I'm reaching the point in my life where I crave companionship, and some young ones of my own someday, I understand far more then before.

I did some shooting at the gather too. Just a few shots here and there. Maybe I'll renovate my photography blog and show 'em all off.

Maybe while I'm at it I'll create a space where my extended family can communicate with each other via the web. I have the knowledge, skills, and resources - it is how I earn my daily bread, after all. :-P

On the six hour drive home I shared the story of my novel with my brother. He's an avid science fiction/fantasy reader, but very impatient with poorly written stories. In recent years I've learned to trust his opinion on worthwhile reading material. He was in rapt the entire time, asking questions with great excitement. He even said he got goosebumps at certain points.

Lots of good things. :)

In the process I think I figured out how I should develop my novel. I'm very much an auditory person. I think I need to speak the story in order to write it.

For the past six months or so I've put a great deal of thought into how to best write a novel - or for me, a series of novels. Seems I can't just sit down and let the mind juices pour onto a page without losing track of where I've come and where I'm going, even though I've come pretty far with journal writing. I've had long talks with multiple friends about the writing process, two of whom are working on their own god-awfully long stories as well. The one who's mind I respect most thinks a series of structured outlines is the most effective method. All I know is that there's no fucking way I'm going to write outlines about a story. When it comes to communicating feelings and ideas I can't stand putting creative energy into structured forms like outlines. They seem so unnatural, so contrary to the very heart of the medium "novel writing."

A family member of mine is a comic book artist. With a resource like that potentially available to me maybe I should consider a strong graphic element in my story as well.

Time for this young hippy to head to bed.