Synchronicity?

I have had a really interesting experience this evening. Well, interesting to me. I was working on the plot outline for my current book when it occurred to me to look up the main characters' names and see what they meant. I thought this was a classic procrastination activity, but the results were actually fascinating. I chose the names with very little thought, going purely on instinct, but when I looked them up I saw that their meanings were actually very close to the characters' personalities. So much so that it was a little spooky. I had never read any of these name meanings before, as far as I know, but perhaps some snippets of information were buried in my sub-conscious ready to jump out of my ear (I take things very literally), tap me on the head and say "Oi! Good character name. Use it."

I realise this post would be a lot more effective if I gave you examples, but I am pathologically superstitious about revealing details of whatever I'm working on, so it will have to remain vague for now. For a far more coherent and interesting discussion on naming characters, I refer you to Anne Mini's ever-useful blog.

In more humdrum news, I made good progress with the Essay of Doom today. I have almost 10,000 words of raw material that need to be hammered and honed into a 5,000-word essay - still, that's a far, far better position to be in than starting with a blank page, I think.

Yellow makes me happy

It has been a tough couple of days. Not due to anything external, because everything is good, really, but just in my own head. My obsessive-compulsive tendencies have got worse since LOML left. I was working really hard to overcome them, so it's depressing to slide back into old habits. I have a ritual of checking appliances and doors before bed and before I leave the house that I can repeat up to ten times. It's getting to the point where it's actually having an impact on the way I live - making me late for appointments or making me stay up way too late.

Anyway, on the good side of things, I found a pair of yellow high heels today. As my sister and I walked into the shoe shop, I told her, "I've been looking for yellow heels for ages, but I don't think I'm going to find any." And five minutes later, in the Last Pairs section, we find a pair of yellow heels that were exactly what I had pictured, and on sale. The universe obviously heard me!

(Not to be picky, but it would be nice if the universe had made them just a smidgen wider across the toes. But hey, I'm not going to complain. Much.)

Edited to add: the compulsive door-checking and so on is a hang-over from life in Zimbabwe, where we lived in houses that resembled prisons, and were constantly at risk. Logically, I know that it is much safer here. Unfortunately, though, my emotions refuse to listen to logic! Silly things.