Planning a novel

I've been reading a lot and not writing as much as I'd like, but I feel like I'm doing what I need to do, so it's all OK.

I have been working on characters and plot planning. It's really interesting how I can pass four hours rather quickly just researching my characters. Carrie is the protagonist. Her past, including her immediate family members, all act as antagonists.

One technique I've picked up is scene planning. If you've read Sid Field's book on writing screen plays, you know what I mean about scene planning. He wrote about using index cards to decide what scenes you need and what order. I'm using my computer instead of index cards, but other than that, it's all the same.

I might be speaking at a conference next summer about tips and tricks for writing and tracking changes for a novel using MS Word. If you have a question, post it. What do you think of the title "Tracking the beast"?

Quick Review: I just read the memoir "Blowing my cover: my life as a CIA spy" by Lindsay Moran. It was an easy read. The first half of the book is all about her training. The second half is more interesting; she's a rather banal spy in Macedonia. The CIA training highlights the troubles with our CIA. It seems they waste a lot of money and energy on training that many case officers ("spies") don't really need. And then if you're already ticked off at the $8 trillion debt the US is wracking up, you'll get even madder when you read about the silly people the CIA has on its payroll. (BTW, Saddam Hussein was on the payroll for much of the Reagan admin.)

In any case, the ending is what should have comprised most of the book. Still, it's an interesting read. I hope she writes another book about her experiences, although I'm sure the CIA will redact much of it. I got a kick out of Emma and Emily (aka Amy and Annie). The names are all made up, but then the author thanks Amy and Annie in the acknowledgments section. I hope that was intentional. Doh!

Now back to the novel...