Ping's problem is my problem

Monday night I took the night off from tidying up Course Corrections before I put it down for a rest and I worked on a more detailed outline for the short story idea instead.

In the course of that, I eventually got out of Ping why he and Jeri don't have a relationship (she had expressed an interest, and that would have been a while ago by now).

And here I hit up against one problem of blogging -- it's public. I don't know who's going to see this tomorrow or five years down the road. When Ping first told me his problem, I didn't entirely make the connection and spent a day and half in a sudden, dark murk of depression that caused some bad old habits to reassert themselves. (I'd thought I had those well in heel, but that's a whole different discussion). Wednesday, it finally clicked. Ping's problem is my problem. One I didn't want to talk about even more than he doesn't want to talk about it. 

The good news is that this story now has an engine, in my head. The fire in the belly has been stoked. He's going to face his demon. So I don't have to face mine. And if you see this post after reading the story, five years down the line (you know who you are) -- I'm sorry.

So anyway there's my emotional arc for the story. From denial to admission, maybe we'll get to acceptance too. The action arc will provide the straw to break the camel's back. Okay, maybe more of a 500-pound barbell but YKWIM. Go big or go home, right? Now to knit the action arc and the emotion arc together. And see what Jeri's response is.