Morning Pages Exercise

 So, I'm supposed to try doing these morning page dealios again to help with my writing. I don't really know what to write about this morning but I'm supposed to just type a bit for like 20 minutes. Speaking of which, I should probably start a timer. Okay, timer started.

I don't really want to talk about my book right now because I don't think that's supposed to help either, I'm supposed to write about anything I want to write about. I kind of do want to talk about my book though, because the only other thing I have going on in my life right now is that I'm looking for a job. Which isn't going the greatest, but hopefully I'll find something soon. I'm being a tad bit picky about it, to be fair.

Okay, so I stayed up pretty late last night, like until 2am working on outlining my book. I followed the 27 section outline, which actually was pretty helpful and I think kept me on track for the most part. This morning I kind of started fleshing out my beginning.

[Got distracted with a text message, bad.]

Anyway, so I had some overall thoughts about my book, maybe as series stuff, I am not sure. First of all, one of the major plot arcs is Chandler and Cassie's backstories, right? So, I have Cassandra a child prodigy of parents who were super famous magicians, but who died tragically when she was like in middle school or something in a fire. Since this isn't going to be for others to see, I can talk about the plot twists, but Cassandra's parents (Oliver and Lily - yes I pulled a Harry Potter), were actually "accidentally" murdered by Peter Blackstone, her uncle and Oliver's brother, who was secretly really jealous of them. Or maybe he just did it on accident and was trying to cover it up the entire time, I don't know. Anyway, Cassie was raised by her uncle for the remainder of her childhood, and was very badly treated. She started trying to figure out if Peter had anything to do with her parents death as she got older, and she ended up having to flee in college to get away from him/protect herself. 

So basically, Peter knows Cassie is trying to figure him out, so huge issue number one. Her parents death is also the reason she decides not to pursue magic, because it's too painful for her (vs. wanting to honor their legacy). Maybe this changes later on in the series, but for now that's what happens.

Now, as far as Chandler goes, we open with him in a huge debate with his dad about working for the college that his dad owns (the circus/performing college). Chandler is going through an intense divorce with his wife/ex-wife Jeanne, and we don't know a lot about it at first, but she's basically kind of crazy/has a lot of drama. I think I will have her redeem herself later on in the series, but for now she's just a loony. So, during this fight, the previous night he had one last stand with Jeanne, and is regretting it that morning because he got shit faced and didn't think. So, he's upset about that, then his dad starts threatening to take away his lifestyle (he's filthy rich) and the circus and everything, which we don't really know he's more upset about the circus than the money, but anyway.

I stole from my other book with the idea that Chandler kind of inherited the circus from his grandmother, who saw his talent and ability. The grandmother never really liked Gabriel, Chandler's father, thinking he was too rigid and he was just kind of always a rude, cruel person and misunderstood. I'll have to dig into him deeper later, but anyway, for now he's just an ass and a jealous ass because Chandler got his mother's legacy, and he didn't. But Gabriel is super freaking wealthy, and somehow managed to inherit all of Chandler's grandmother's money, and then make his own. So he owns literally everything, and without him funding the circus, there'd be no circus. So, the circus and the business is in Chandler's name, but without Gabriel it wouldn't exist at all, so they're at a stalemate.

[Checked phone again, wow, bad bad bad.]

After the argument, a little bit of a time skip happens and we go to auditions for the following school year, which Chandler is forced to attend. Chandler and Jeanne have just finalized their divorce now, but she's there too, since she's a part of the school as a teacher and on the board for auditions. It's super awkward. Chandler is injured this time around from an accident like a short while prior. He fell while doing a silk maneuver and ended up bruising a rib and hurting his knee pretty badly. It also really messed with him mentally. So, while he helps Cassie with her audition, he's also fighting his anxiety about the silks, so he more just coaches vs actually helps her.

We find out later that the injury Chandler suffered was sabotage on Gabriel's behalf, trying to force his hand in retiring from the circus/unable to perform. 

Okay, not quite 20 minutes but I think I'm good for today. I definitely think I wrote the equivalent of three pages trying to flesh this out, so hopefully that helps. I might try to do one more thing to warm myself up before I start writing, but we'll see.