Dem bones, dem bones...

Bones are on my mind today.

First, thanks to Paula's generousity, I'm unstuck with my synopsis and am making good progress towards a resolution! Whoo-hoo!

Paula shared a fun and helpful image she learned from Angela Hunt for developing the essense of a story--and ba-da-bing! out pops a summary.

And yes, there's a skeleton involved.

So I doodled away with my femurs and ribs and even the little coccyx bone down at the base of the spine, and the essence of the story finally took form on the page. Not that I didn't know it before, I'd just gotten myself into a real mental ker-fuffle and my brain didn't know which thought to follow.

Muchas gracias, Paula!

Skeletons (of the Dias de los Muertos variety) also charmed Brad Whittington. (I've never met Mr. Whittington, but he sounds like one heck of a guy. I mean, how can I fault a man who's willing to post a picture of himself posed with fried mystery meat on a stick?) Anyway, today marks the inauguration of Brad's first blog, Eating Fred. If you're a fan of Austin eateries, or just like Dias de los Muertos skeletons, go check out the joint he visited--or at least read about it. Also check out the Fred books, a serio-comic series about the son of a preacher-man growing up in pea-sized Fred, Texas.

(He's got a bit of that Cha look about him, doesn't he, Ro?)


And finally, looking toward the day when we will all die and go on to be something else...or maybe the same person, who didn't stay dead...I'll be chatting up Waking Lazarus tomorrow, the debut novel of TL Hines, a man who likes to stand behind trees so he can jump out and holler, "Boo."

Until then, break a leg folks!

NB: Over at Lisa Samson's blog, Brad helpfully explains the origin of this photo, and claims the mystery meat is actually coconut shrimp. He doesn't disavow any relationship to Ted, but if he reads this blog, he probably will soon.