• shopping in Honolulu in the late '40s/early '50s?
• Hawai'i from a young, white, military wife's POV--in the late '40s/early '50s?
• military housing in that era?

One of the primary plot questions I've been gnawing on:

Was Rita really a party gal by nature? Was she heavily influenced, and if so, should I establish that as one of her main motivations? Is her Depression and despair reason enough to drive her to "the terrible, terrible thing she's done"? Or do I need to add to the dynamic by providing her with something to run to, in addition to the thing she's running from?

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I didn't stop writing last night until about 5:00 AM. I can't believe I wrote all that. I just kept going and going and going. I got to 23k, and thought, Okay, I'll just up it 500 more words. No problem.

So, I wrote about 23,400, and I thought, Well look--just a little over 500 more words, and I'll break the next 1,000.

When I got to about 24,300, I thought, Hey...just a little more, and I'll hit the Halfway Mark!

I intend to do it again tonight. I'm going to CC's to see what I can accomplish there in an hour. I put out the notice for Lafayette, but I can't say for certain anyone will show up. It doesn't matter, though. I'll be happy to get away to write anyway.

I'm taking the boy. He'll use the laptop while I handwrite. Tia says she intends to go, too, so we'll see. Only thing I'm concerned about is coffee money.