Welcome to Graphite

Well, Eladnref, actually (that's Ferndale spelled backwards, in case you're not the type that automagically transposes oddly spelled words).

Last night was the first time in a long time I actually did more than noodle on Revival. I had printed out a bunch of close-up views of Ferndale, Calif., from Google Maps, cut them out and taped them together awhile ago.

Yesterday evening I scanned the map in, transposed it, and printed out a negative image of it (so streets would be darker than the surrounding buildings).

Here's a copy of that map.

Then I traced the paths of the streets and added a few more. Then I got to start placing things on the map: the church, the cemetary, some shops, the "fatal intersection," the high school, etc. Streets got named, keeping as close to what I had written in my first draft as possible (I was a bit ambitious in naming one of the streets 14th St., they only go up to 8th now). I think I got down everything I need.

Providential moment: As I was naming streets, I had everything named but Mill St. I looked around the map, searching for a spot to shoehorn it in. There was only one street left, a little one. But it was right on the river. Suh-weetness.

Now alls I need is a local event explaining why all the local papers are sold out and I can start the rewrite in earnest.