En route for Antsirabe

Though I doubt it's going to change anything, I feel like I have to work up to what happened to us in Antsirabe. I just don't have it in me today to rehash all that. Perhaps now would be the better time because then I would keep the account bare and relatively free of vitriol. But meh. Tomorrow or the day after or... But I'll get around to it because people need to be put on their guard.

So, instead, I give you the next logical step in our journey: Tana to Antsirabe by taxi brousse.

We woke up early on the 16th, and the nice people from the hotel (Saint Pierre Annexe) let us hire their car to take us to the taxi station for a very reasonable price. The station is on the edge of Tana, a place called Fasan Karana (not sure of the spelling or if it is one word or two), which means "tomb of the Indians." Not because there are tombs but because that is where the Indian population has a place to incinerate their dead.

As soon as our driver parked, our 4x4 was swamped by touts. I would have preferred to sit in the car, but we had to get out and face the mob to reach a taxi. Naturally, the touts tried their tactics of snatching our bags so they could lead us to the taxi that would give them a finder's fee, but we quickly slung the sacks on our backs and were carried forward by the tide. Sadly, we don't have any pictures of the mayhem and packed parking lot--it was not a place you wanted to pull out your camera.

With the "help" of our "friends" we found a taxi leaving for Anstirabe in fifteen minutes, promised the ticket taker. An hour and fifty minutes later, give or take a few, we set off.

( A few pics and link to more )

Three hours later (wow, actually the published time the trip takes), we arrived in Antsirabe and had to face the touts and guides all over again. Only this time, pousse-pousse drivers (pushers, pullers?) were added to the mix.

Breaking it down

 I have a scene list worked out for Witherwilds. It's erroneous because things have evolved, but it's a handy guide to have all the same. Not so handy when it's packed away in a box on a USB key and a backup CD.

It's in Excel formant anyhow, and I wanted to use Scrivener's note card/corkboard feature to work with chapter order. (Thanks,  secritcrush  for the software rec!) So, yesterday, I spent several  hours nutting out the scenes I need for book one of the trilogy. Before, I listed all of them up to the end of the story, but I wasn't sure where my book breaks would fall.

I want to work towards a big whammy for all the POVs, and I want those black moments to fall as near to the end of this volume as possible. The difficulty with having 5 POVs, who aren't in the same country, facing the same problems/events, is synchronizing them. Welcome to Timeline Hell.

I finally got a layout that is pretty close to workable. It comes to a total of 32 chapters. If I average 4K/chapter, we are once again looking at a 120K project. And here I was so hoping it would be 100K max. *sigh*

I have 7.5 of those 32 chapters written. For ease, let's say I'll have that half finished today. So, 8 of 32. I'm 1/4 of the way through. I want to achieve FIrst Draft by Sept 15, a week before I go globetrotting.  Only 24 chapters to go! says she with falsely bright enthusiasm.

You see where this is going, don't you?

Yes, I want to set a goal.

If I can write two chapters a week, I can get that first draft. I will have weeks, like when we leave Mayotte and first arrive back in France, the week of my b-i-l's wedding,  the times we must dedicate to family visits, the obligatory trip to Sancerre, etc. etc. when I'll be hard pressed to write that much. However, before we leave here, I should have a few weeks where I can do more than two.  I think I can make it balance out.

I really, really want to do this. And if I really, really do, then I really, really can.