Research is done. Preparatory research anyway; when you write a novel, research isn't done until the novel is finished. Also, the revisions of the outline that the research made necessary are finished.

I had a nightmare last night. A nightmare about the novel I'm about to begin writing. Not about how hard it will be to write, or how it will suck, but actually a plot related nightmare. That's nice. It's encouraging. I mean, think about it, this novel is so scary that it gives me nightmares before I've even started writing it.

I will begin the actual writing on Monday. The weekend will be busy with other work-related stuff, so I plan to kick back and relax tonight. Okay, so I won't really be relaxing, I'll spend the weekend thinking about where and how to start the novel.

- Will I start it with the mysterious deaths of 50 people? No, I don't think so, that would go too far back into the timeline.

- Will I start it with the funeral of Henry Lacroix, who is one of those 50? Again, no, for the same reason.

- Will I start it with the opening of Henry Lacroix's grave, where his father and his brother discover that the body is missing? That, so far, is my favorite, but it makes me wonder about how to put in the reason why they open the grave, how they get the idea that they need to check.

- Since there are 50 mysteriously dead people in the story, the opening that I favor right now is that the relatives of one of them has just discovered that the body of their dead family member is missing and tells the Lacroix family. I think that sets things up well -- mysterious deaths, weird goings-on, introduces some of the main characters and establishes their motivations. I think that of the possible openings, this one is the strongest.