Oh my, oh my.

The novel is coming along better than could be expected for someone with as short an attention span as mine. I've written twelve pages so far. I went ahead and wrote the prologue and introduced my main character a bit who, in my first draft at least, is solely based on me. As I said before, I began writing in the middle, with what is freshest in my head. I was correct in my assumption that it would help me be more able to separate the necessary from the unnecessary elements of my story, but I also wonder if that's why I've ONLY written twelve pages so far. But really, as far as the more recent stuff goes, I've said about all there is to say. I don't think I need to overburden myself writing page upon page about the last month of my life, as life changing as it has been. I think the bulk of my writing material will be based on my relationships with my ex and my husband. Of course, I've told my husband I'm writing a book based on my life. He was not thrilled. He thinks he's going to come off looking bad. I told him flat out, "Of course you won't. The character who's analogous to you will though." That's kind of a bitchy thing to say, but he put me through enough that I think changing his name and the details of our issues is more than he deserves. And I'm pretty certain about using a pen name. I don't want mom disowning me either. :) As it goes right now, I'm writing my first draft as absolute non-fiction and with little to no dialog. Basically it's more of a fleshed-out outline. Once I get all the topics I cover onto paper, I can go back and sensationalize and fictionalize and change names and details. Ideally, none of the players in this story will ever be the wiser that I've written about them. It's an interesting process... very therapeutic, and also very time consuming. Both very good things.