Nano, First Night

I am not attending the "first night" of Nanowrimo at Denny 's because a) I can no longer stand the smell of greasy burgers, cooking meat, etc (it is the only thing that brings on chemo nausea anymore for me, a vegetarian), and b)...I am so tired from traipsing around with my little Munchkin.  She was so darling when we came home and said, "I want to put all my candy into a big bowl and all of us can share it." I love her generous little spirit.

I will, however, use this time to make a dent in my book about Asha, and commit to setting up important interviews, starting with some of the detectives who worked the case and began to connect McClish with the crime.

I spoke to a friend last night online and he said he admires me for committing to this book despite its subject matter. I told him that this book is to show Asha as a light in the world that was taken away, and that, though her story is unique to her, there have been millions of women whose light has been extinguished because someone, somewhere, thought they were a problem.  That I stand in the world and live today despite all I have gone through means, for me, that I have a responsibility to bear witness.  These women can no longer speak for themselves, but I can delineate the magnitude of their loss. It is all I, as a writer, can do.