What an awful week

My sleep cycle is utterly screwed up right now. Most nights I can't sleep because of the humidity. When I can, it's late when I wake up. I'm hoping there's a break in the weather sometime soon. Otherwise it'll be October before I'll be sleeping normally again.

The maintenance types took the screens out yesterday. I was actually surprised they didn't store them inside today, taking up space. Instead they put them outside on the not-balcony. A couple of hours later, though, we had a heavy thunderstorm plow through the area, sending all screens flying. Hopefully they'll dry out.

Still no word on the job I interviewed for. I timed my intererview with the ALA conference and July 4th holiday, so no one has been around.

The naming of characters is a difficult matter, it isn't just one of your holiday games...

The library has a lovely photography exhibit downstairs for the WWII nut. Reims, France, has become our sister city and they loaned us an exhibit from the Musee de la Redittion. The photographs were taken by Al Meserlin, a photographer on Eisenhower's staff, during and after the surrender in May 1945.

I've been doing some thinking about why I'm having trouble writing lately. Names are being particularly troublesome lately. I used to have no qualms with giving a character a name during a random exercise, even it was understood that "Fred" or "Nina" would be a placeholder name. Now I'll freeze up. I'll use those dread epithets "the immortal" or "the princess" before I'll name them. Logically I'll think the important thing is the writing. Get the story out and then worry about names. But names are as much character as anything else.

And I've started second guessing myself lately. It's all about the "don't"s in my head. Don't pick a "J" name because someone will think it's a Mary Sue. Don't pick that one you already have used too many like it. Or don't choose that one unless you want to broadcast to the world that you read/watch/obsess over that book/show/movie/comic.

I know friends who never reuse names, even in other exercises. I also have friends sventhelost notably that we tease because they have several characters with the same name.

The whole process is very frustrating. I used to pick names without thinking. I get them from everywhere. One of my recent characters Selinda was inspired by a recent listening of Wagner's "Die Walkure". I think I'm getting afraid my names are too obvious in their sources... or worse, they'll come off as too fluffy fantasy.

Or maybe it's just the summer doldrums combining with my lack of sleep. The rest of my body hasn't been too cooperative lately. Why should the writing part of my brain be any different?