Day 11: 80 Pages and Babies

I got to 80 pages today.

I had to do a lot of research today, though I'm not sure how much of it I want to recollect here. I needed to research miscarriages, and, unfortunately, while in the process of looking for pictures of what a thirteen-week fetus looks like in utero, I encountered a number of pictures of aborted fetuses. These pictures were among the most horrible things I've seen, and I won't soon forget them. I'm pro-choice, and I always will be, but that doesn't mean I'm immune to the sight of a fetus out of the womb before its time.

Seeing the pictures and researching the emotional responses of women who have had miscarriages affected me more than I thought it would; I had to take a break after a while and research something totally unrelated (I job-hunted for my husband). I got my 3.75 pages done, but I have to wonder if what I'm putting this character through is just too much, if it isn't believable. I'm itching to have someone read what I've written so far (other than a literary agent who read 20 pages), but I'm also nervous. I've invested a quarter of my vacation in it so far, so it would be hard for me to hear that it's terrible. I wrote 41 pages in May.

The woman who is pregnant in the building across from me is having a boy in August who they're naming Cory. I stopped short of telling her that I now follow her routine of coming and going every day from my home-office window. I'd say have a good weekend, but I'm fairly certain no one is reading this, so I'll have a good weekend instead, and be back on Monday.