As Thy Day...

You know you've had a crazy day when you've been to Dulles International Airport three times in 12 hours. My oldest son returned to Cairo on Wednesday, but it wasn't easy. Weather led to delayed flights, cancelled flights, and one flight that taxied down the runway and had to come back. He finally made it, but his bags didn't.

My youngest is dealing with the ice storm in Kentucky. His car froze. Literally. He had a good 2 inches of ice on it. Not a problem, except it developed a terrible leak. It's a hose (no problem), freeze plugs, (a medium problem), a radiator (a big problem) or a cracked engine block (adios 1972 Chevy Nova). We'll know in a few days what the verdict is.

So I've had lots of phone calls, which means very little writing has gotten done. Such is life . . . family first. As a friend once said, "A book won't love you." People matter to God and people matter to me. There's a Bible verse that says, "As thy day, so shall thy strength be." God gives us what we need when we need it. I'm kind of hoping he thinks I need a quiet day to finish up Chapter 21... we'll see!

Frozen Pizza

I have a lot for which to be grateful. At the top of the list--at least for tonight--is the fact that my husband actually likes Safeway-brand frozen pizza. That's what he's getting tonight. I'll throw together a salad for me, then I'll get back to work on Kansas Courtship.

I've hit the homestretch. I can see the end! I've still got some serious rewriting to do, but I'm on the last chapters. I'm extra-happy because a few days ago I hit a snag. The hero suffers a terrible injury. The wound gets infected and it's life-threatening. I thought infection would set in fairly quickly. Wrong! I checked with a doctor and found out infection takes 10-14 days to really get going. So what do I do with Zeb for those two weeks?

As things turned out, it's a perfect time to add a scene with the continuing characters from the first two books. I hadn't done enough with that secondary romance, but the problem's now fixed. As annoyed as I get when research gets in the way of fiction, being historically accurate always improves the story.

Wednesday Nights!

Have you walked into a Bible study, taken a seat at a round table, and found yourself talking with the other women as if you'd known them all your lives? That's what has happened with the latest DVD Bible Study I'm taking. It's called "Anointed Transformed Redeemed." The study is on the life of David and is team-taught by Patricia Shirer, Beth Moore and Kay Arthur.

The teaching's great. It's exactly what I need to hear right now. I walked out of the room feeling inspired and humbled, and very much in awe of what God has done in my life. It's easy to take things for granted, to forget that he's made my dreams come true with a great husband, sons who have become men, and a career that's growing each day.

The teaching's great, but just as important is the fellowship with the other women at the table. We are all on this amazing journey, in different places and with different kinds of baggage, but somehow we're all pulling together. It's great!

Gotta to do my homework : )

Chugging Along

I'm at the point where I want to be DONE with this book! I've thoroughly enjoyed working on it. I love Zeb and Nora. Everything's cool, but I'm plumb-tuckered out! I've got a draft of 73,000 words. As of today 57,700 are polished and ready to go.

Never did I think I'd get to the point as a writer where I'd say, "Whew, only 15,000 words to go. That's about 4 chapters and an epilogue. I've got a very rough draft, which means I'll be going over the ending twice. I also run into a wall and am changing the original synopsis. No surprise there! I write a synopsis and generally never look at it again. If I'm stuck, I'll scan it to see what *won't* work, then I forge ahead.

Here's to forging! I hope to be done by February 1st, just in time to do promo for Maverick Preacher.

RT Review

Romantic Times gave The Maverick Preacher a very nice 4 star review. Even better, the cover's on the review page. I was delighted to see it!

A reader said the hero looks like Chris Martin from ColdPlay. Here'a picture of Chris Martin. What do you think? I think there's a ColdPlay fan in the Harlequin Art Department! I had no intention of writing a rock star preacher, but I sure don't mind a cover that gets attention. What do you think? Does the maverick preacher look like Chris Martin?

Writing Fast

I do this with every book . . . I decided that this is the ms I'll finish in less than six months. I set schedules. I make goals. I get up early. I keep track of my word count on a Post-It note. I-I-I! One of these days, I'll learn to say, "Okay, Lord. All in your good time."

The bottom line is that I need those last weeks to polish the story. I can get a ms written in, say, 4-1/2 months, but it won't be very good. I find the best parts of the story--the little things that make it thoughtful--during the second rewrite. Yep. The second rewrite. Not the first draft. Not the first rewrite. It's the third pass through a story where I find the images that really fit the characters.

I just polished a scene with a secondary character plucks a sunflower. It fits her perfectly. In the first draft, she didn't even notice the flower. Neither did I. I was thinking about other things. In the second, she looked at the grass. In this draft, she plucked the flower, twirled it and remembered dancing in Boston. Now she's homesick : )

It takes what it takes . . . For me, it's three drafts, one last read-through and then proofreading.

Back to it!

Writing Lesson

My first-ever ms had the hero and heroine trapped together in a cabin. The sheriff made a visit, and the bad guy had a POV. The story pretty much had two main characters and not much else.

The current ms has enough characters to fill a bus. It's Book #3 in a continuity. I've got my own hero and heroine, plus the h/h's from the two prior books, plus a cast of characters related to the continuity elements. Seriously, I need both hands and both feet to count them. I just counted 19, but I'm probably forgetting someone!

The h/h's from the prior books have important roles as friends. I usually give my h/h each a friend or mentor, someone to talk to, so this works well.

The continuity elements work, too. They're well integrated, so it's not distracting. Some of the characters really are peripheral. Aha! Make that 21 characters : ) I forgot the pastor and his wife. Anyhow, the story is coming together.

This is what I've learned: it's easier to keep the action in a book moving when there's a lot going on. I tend to go deep, deep, deep into my characters. I like writing introspection, then go back and cut it or change it to dialogue. With a busload of characters, I don't have time for a lot of rambling. I have to use every word to advance one plot or another. And I have to use the plots to advance and build the characters.

This ms has been a real learning experience, a good one. Now if I can just make word count! I'm at 67,000 words with 2-1/2 chapters and an epilogue to go. Target length is 70,000 to 75,000. It's going to take some editing, but I think it's going to work.

Back to it!