Well, it's been a massively unproductive last few days, so I decided to finally listen to my comfort meter and head to a coffeeshop. I went with another writer friend on a work-date, and we sat for four and a half hours in the Starbucks on top of Borders, typing away on our laptops. It was fun, it felt decadent and lazy, AND I managed to get so much work done! It was incredible. And, needless to say, I'm also feeling soooooo much better personally as well as feeling reassured about my work-levels. It's amazing how much better I work when I'm in an environment that's comfortable and makes me happy, while at the same time being isolated from the internet and all other fiddling distractions--and, best of all, when I'm there with another working person, which somehow makes me focus so much more on my own work.

Happy me. :)

I've just inserted a red herring into the first half of Masks & Shadows. We'll see how well it works...I've decided to weave it in, leave it while I finish up the rest of the draft, and only then look back at it (with, I hope, a cool head) and decide whether I want to keep it or not.

Reminded me of something Jasper Fforde said at EasterCon, about his plans to use a character named "Red Herring" in one of his future novels and leave the readers guessing about whether or not he really is one... ;)