I am not doing well with the R.I.P. Challenge. Despite a strong start in which I finished half the challenge in short order, I have stalled toward the end and have not been reading much. I am blaming my iPhone. I have too many cool apps now, such as the Scrabble app, which have taken me away from reading. I am not at all certain I can finish my remaining two books, Dracula and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, without some serious focus over the last week. I’m reading Dracula on the iPhone, and judging from the progress bar along the top, I’m nearly 2/3 through the book. I have only read two chapters of We Have Always Lived in the Castle though.

Another distraction from reading has been my planning for NaNoWriMo. You can see my profile here. I am excited about my project, but I’m kind of at a loss as to what my plot will be. I think I know who my main characters are. I have worked up a plan that includes helpful websites, character maps, inspirational pictures and music, and possible plot ideas in Curio, but I don’t know what my “conflict” is. I don’t know what my story will be. Some ideas I’m playing with include:

• a retelling of a Shakespearean play (leaning toward Macbeth or Cymbeline—and of the two, leaning more toward the latter) in the Kentucky coal fields
• feuding families embroiled in murder
• the hero’s journey
• Greek tragedy in KY coal fields
• unfounded murder accusation and imprisonment

The retelling idea is intriguing, but ambitious, and I’m not sure I am up for it. If I go with feuding families or murder, what is the story? Why am I telling the story? So I am not feeling really ready, and it starts in about a week.