Train of Thought

I am in the last few days of wrapping up the manuscript for this gd novel.  The last two chapters need more work.  The murder scene in chapter 10 will have to wait until last.  I am running out of gummy treats (my writing reward for accomplishing a few paragraphs at a time).

This weekend I managed to collect the first few excerpts that needed response from my SMEs (Subject Matter Experts)  One is for history, terminologies and semblance of believability for sections related to the Roman Catholic Church.  I spoke with my RCC SME last night over the phone and she agreed that since this story took place between 1969 and the mid-1970's, there's room for creative license.  It is fiction, after all...

The other SME is for trains. I have a pretty good memory of the sights and sounds from growing up near TWO train tracks: one CP Rail and the other a CN line that ran along the Seguin River just below our old neighbourhood.  The one that stands out more vividly is the Canadian Pacific Rail train and the huge trestle that still spans across the Seguin River.  I need clarification the models and sounds to make the story have some historical correctness. 

One fond childhood memory I have is waving from our backyard at the CP passenger trains as they streamed through and observing if someone waved back.  If a freight train was passing through on a boring afternoon, we would count the stream of cars.

My favourite section was the caboose as that was the term of endearment bestowed upon me by my parents.  One of my ten older siblings has an interesting theory about our conception dates.  If it wasn't related to a birthday present ;-), New Years or Valentines Day, it must have been due to an early morning train passing through and waking up Dad.  If he couldn't get back to sleep or it was too early to get up, what else was a warm-blooded man to do?

Well, time to focus on the story again.  Back to more tapping away at the keyboard.  

Thanks for visiting and reading along... or just passing through.

T