Back to the Laptop

It was back to work on the new book this afternoon after a ten-mile run with a friend and before a long winter's nap. I'm still struggling with what the thesis for this book will be. I think the story may be leading me toward humility (as the theme of the story, not for me personally--however, that would be good, too). Another issue is whether the story will take same "shape" as Mumsi Meets a Lion: as in, exposition followed by big pause (or "big paws"--sorry, couldn't resist) and then some foreshadowing of the major problem, followed by incident, incident, incident--all interspersed with mantra restatements, and so on. So far, the story just feels different. And it's slow going. Right now I'm just putting blanks or italicizing where I need to (e.g., a person's name or what the Samburu use for a certain task or the words I think I'll want in Swahili--all things I'll have to research). Oh, well, back at it for another hour or so . . .