The Other Shoe Dropped — Ohio 4 and the Friday “Say WHAT?!”

In the first version of these novels, I had one main character who I was having do a lot of chasing around because my main character was being stubbornly stupid about an activity that was bad for her — except she refused to see it. I made her smarter. And because she stopped doing stubbornly… Continue reading The Other Shoe Dropped — Ohio 4 and the Friday “Say WHAT?!”

Ohio 3 is now done in first draft!

57,841 words total. I like the story. I love the ending. And now the novel gets to sit quietly for a while as I plot the replacement Ohio 4. In revision, it will probably get a bit longer. Most of my stuff does. Based on some very good advice, I am, however, now considering doing… Continue reading Ohio 3 is now done in first draft!

Evil Afoot — 2077 words, and I got a nice bit of a cliffhanger at the end

Very pleased with the nasty situation in which I’ve dumped my MC — she’s going to have a rough rest of the week, too. Evil is a foot (it left its footprint all over everydamnthing, in fact…) and my MC is in the process of using what she discovered to lead the bad guys into… Continue reading Evil Afoot — 2077 words, and I got a nice bit of a cliffhanger at the end

A tricky bit to figure out for tomorrow… BUT done for today.

Tomorrow my MC has to figure out how to contact (and then rescue) someone important trapped behind enemy lines without breaking the rules that forbid her from having any contact with the enemy. I already know how she’s going to do this. I just need to figure out how to make it smooth, and clean,… Continue reading A tricky bit to figure out for tomorrow… BUT done for today.

Today was SOLID — and eventful: 2121 words, and 51,559 total

I’m over the hump and heading toward the ending now, and today’s scene and tomorrow’s scene are dark, and pretty scary for my MC and her folks, with a massive chance of things going so wrong that she could — with just one mistake — lose everything she has come to love (and not just… Continue reading Today was SOLID — and eventful: 2121 words, and 51,559 total

Ohio 3, and the Shoe-Drop Moment

There’s the “make yourself cry” moment, and there was some of that today. I did, indeed, make myself cry. Again. There was a bit of making myself laugh. There was giving my character one moment I would take in a heartbeat if someone could just stop the world and roll back time. And there was… Continue reading Ohio 3, and the Shoe-Drop Moment

Today was BIG… good words, but also landed a huge PIVOT scene

And made myself cry. That might not seem like a big deal. But this was a crucial scene in the book in which my MC has just come through an massive ordeal, and found one moment in time in which she got to say goodbye to her person in the world — the one who’d… Continue reading Today was BIG… good words, but also landed a huge PIVOT scene

That which cannot be unseen… 45,783 and 699 for the day.

This was a tough scene to write. It was emotional, and painful, and just mean. But it allowed me to bring together two characters who need to build a relationship that’s going to affect the rest of the novels… And it sets me up to bring BACK a character who has been silent so far… Continue reading That which cannot be unseen… 45,783 and 699 for the day.

Today was a heavy, brutal rip-through… but I like what I got in the end

I hit a part of the novel today that I got way, way wrong in first draft. And while I’d estimate that in FACT I wrote close to 2000 words — over a period of three straight hours of hauling ass — what I was left with after ripping out that big first-draft nosedive into… Continue reading Today was a heavy, brutal rip-through… but I like what I got in the end

Got ALL of Chapter 7 today — 4080 words, and JOY! (And a total count of 43,265)

Today’s writing turned into what’s mostly a dark, mean chapter — there’s a lot of bad stuff going on for my MC and someone really important to her. Except for this one luminous, beautiful moment that made come together and just really sing. This was one of the chapters I got very close to right… Continue reading Got ALL of Chapter 7 today — 4080 words, and JOY! (And a total count of 43,265)