Herbs and Break Time

So today's project is designing one of my character's pharmacopoeia.

I've hit this point in the practice story where I can reasonably break it off into another chunk. I think, if I'm going to tell a story about approximately 10 years of a person's life, I need to break that down into manageable chunks. So I sort of envisioned it as a trilogy, and I think I can safely start us off on Part 3 now. of course I haven't mentioned that yet. There is the small part of me not so sure. But the Journey part of the story is really over now, so there's no point in hanging around in a story with that title. I don't know. It'll work out as I write it, I guess.

Meantime, one of my leads is an herbalist whose skills are about to come into play, so I am having to drop everything for a couple of days and look some stuff up. It's also a nice break from actually writing prose. My brain is feeling a little rickety narrative-wise. I know what happens next, but I'm a little worn out for getting that on the page. I don't know why either, unless Julia Cameron is right and sometimes the well runs dry. Either way, I can't write a character knowing her herbal business if I don't have at least a rudimentary understanding as well. Nothing huge, mind you. I don't need to train as a homeopath. Just enough that I know not to have her give some well-known poison as a cure!

I'm reminded of the late, great Rodney Dangerfield, who when asked if he would leave the hospital soon after his heart surgery, noted that if it went badly he'd be out fastest of all. Bless him, he was right, too.

So I'm trying to put together a cheat sheet for myself as a way of drilling this somewhat dry information into my head. It's interesting, but I'm having trouble retaining it because there are no human beings involved. My mom called me right: I only care if there's a body attached. A clinician, I'm not.

Onward, the power of the internets! And, um, some books and stuff too!

And one non-sequiter little zinger courtesy of the late Paul Lynde: asked if one tips in a motel the same as a hotel, he asked, "For half an hour?!"

Go watch old 'Hollywood Squares' episodes and enjoy for yourself.