Page numbers and symbols, as my friend K in NYC says, are helpful to beginning to order one’s novel world. So that happened today in the composition book. I tend to use hearts and geometric shapes from high school essay writing days. “Get ready to manage  a ton of data,” said one writer in response to one of those writing tips forums.

And, in the composition book now, a notes side (left) and a Actual Words for the Book side (right).

And then I blended half of the things in the fridge and put it in balls, rolled it in cornmeal, and fried it…ta dah, fridge fritters!

Now for ways to wake up earlier. As the summer grinds on and afternoons become an exercise in grim maintenance of the mind, I think earlier in the AM and earlier in the PM might be good to adopt.

It’s strange when you finish writing around or a bit after noon–the rest of the day feels sort of like you’re in an air pocket or something. I watched the Czechs play Portugal, and took a crazy long walk. I saw two 20 or 19 somethings on the path ahead of me, and I could tell with certainty that the boy really liked the girl–he kept finding reasons to be close to her on the path, where their hands would brush. He also walked with his shoulders strikingly broad–as if he puffed his chest out a bit out of excitement or pride of walking with her. At one point they both erupted in laughter at something she said, and he spontaneously threw his arm around her shoulders, and then hastened to drop it–slowly, so it brushed her lower back. She didn’t lean into him in response, but something about her posture told me that although he might be the pursuer, she trusted him and welcomed it. I can’t put my finger on it…her head maybe leaned away a bit, but the rest of her swiveled toward him. Like she knew he was on her side in important ways.

Tomorrow, a dog visits the studiola. That dog is Stella.