November 29, 2003
Plucky

Update:
As of 3:00 p.m. on 11/29 I have 39,072 words.

Morale: I have 33 hours to write 11,000 words. No time for morale!

Excerpt:

"I’m going to refer you to a colleague of mine. I think you would benefit from several sessions with her."

"You’re sending me to another therapist? You know, I really think this could exacerbate my abandonment issues."

"You don’t have abandonment issues. See, look." He flips back several pages in his notebook. Even across the room I can read the block letters: NO ABANDONMENT ISSUES.

"But my – "

He cuts me off by tapping the notebook emphatically.

"How can I not have abandonment issues? I’m an orphan, damn it!"

"But you are a remarkably hostile adult orphan, not a cute child orphan like Tiny Tim."

"Tiny Tim wasn’t an orphan."

"Are you sure?"

"Completely."

"Then who am I thinking of?"

"It should be Oliver Twist, but knowing you it’s probably Little Orphan Annie."

"Yes, Little Orphan Annie. Thank you. My point is that you can’t embrace that archetype."

"But just last week you told me to be more plucky."

"That’s ridiculous – you’re much too old to be plucky."

"That’s exactly what I said."