Ep. 291: Yearly Schedule Scheduled Late

Bookbinding

 

The second book of 2024 (maybe I’ll stop numbering them. Maybe.) is a 2024 Schedule delivered to the client halfway through January of 2024; a bit late. But not as late as the next one.

It’s an A4-sized schedule perfectly bound (a style that uses a lot of glue, not that I bound it perfectly) of 16 pages (two for each month and some endpapers).

The cover is of a textured paper I acquired years ago plus two parallel red lines of the same type of paper indicating the front. The client then attached their favorite stamps on the front. The back is decoration-free.

The client complained the numbers for the days was too big taking up valuable writing space. But, fortunately, not so big the client requested a re-do. However, as the client orders schedules from me regularly, I’ve adjusted the letter size. 

Fiction

I continue working on Molly Bright. In order to familiarize myself with the inner workings of the characters, I’ve started reading it from the beginning and editing as I go. I believe I’m making it clearer to understand, more dramatic, and further develop the characters. While it is basically an action novel, it is overall character-driven.

Here’s the basic plot:

Woman gets kidnapped; strangers try to find & help her. 

Here are the characters:

Sawako, a Japanese computer whiz/chemist, spends five months avoiding a religious group who want her to make a dirty bomb.To relax she surfs on a beach in Miyazaki on her way to Kagoshima. The religious group finds her and snatches her off the beach.

Molly, a buyer for a housewares company, is in Japan buying housewares. She surfs on the same beach in Miyazaki on her way to Kagoshima. She sees Sawako get kidnapped. She also gets a good look at the kidnapper; the only eye witness.

Early, a recent vagabond, surfs the same beach (Ibii, Miyazaki). He sees the kidnapping but not the kidnapper. Together Molly and Early run to the police. At the police station they meet Merengue, a Japanese vagabond, who speaks English. They discover the kidnappers are in Osaka.

In Osaka, they meet Frank, an former gangster turned ramen shop owner, and Arisa, a craft maker with health issues, who help Molly, Early, & Merengue discover the kidnapper’s hideout. Violence ensues.

And there are a few important supporting characters:

• Bald Headed Guy the man in charge of Sawako’s kidnapping and a religious leader;
• Henchman, his second in charge who is not so enamored with the religion;
• Keiko and Kyosuke, Sawako’s parents who are university professors (she in chemistry, he in English);
• Tachibana, a former gang member turned university professor who teaches with Kyosuke. 

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