What a week it’s been. While there has been progress on many fronts, reversals abound, also. One front that showed significant progress was Murder by the Mile. For some time now I have struggled with a particular section of the book that I felt wandered and didn't add to the overall story narrative. Finally on Wednesday last week, I discovered that the story was missing an narrative thread, and once I started correcting that, the story fell into place.
It's always exciting to me when a story takes some life of its own. In the story, a certain number of pages are torn out of a book. This is important for the plot, and I had thought that the murderer torn the pages out since they pointed to him. However, I was never completely sure about how he knew the pages existed and why he would tear the pages out since the information was available in other places. While working on the book, a different character tore the pages out for very good reasons of her own. And once that character tore the pages out, it opened up a whole avenue that I hadn't even considered.
Mostly I spent this week working on Murder by the Mile. I did some household chores, ran errands, had dinner with a friend on Monday, had lunch with a friend on Wednesday, caught up with several friends on the telephone, spent too much time on Facebook and with Farmville 2, and that’s my week.
Jean read the first chapter of Murder by the Mile, and said some nice things about it, which I appreciated. I think it's the strongest beginning that I've ever written. It's the rest of the dang book has given me so much trouble. I'm on course for the book to come out this summer, barring unforeseen circumstances. I will be pleased when it is published.
There is a personality conflict within the writers group that I'm not sure what to do about. One of the members is a bit overbearing and way too critical. He has alienated several members who came to me after the meeting last Saturday and wanted me to fix the problem. The bylaws of the club really don't give me the authority to remove him from the club, and I don’t want to do that anyway. I also think they should stand up to him more and not expect me to fix their problem. I don't think he's been that bad. We'll see what develops.
This week I intend to:
– work on Murder by the Mile,
– household chores,
– work on decluttering the garage,
– eat at least five servings of vegetables and fruit per day. I just read a book about the health benefits of doing so by Dr. Amen. I don't know if I think it would do everything he says it will do, but I do think it will be good for me,
– update all my various websites,
– launch the publicity for a new Author of the Month,
– work on the new 2013 anthology for the writers group,
– and naturally try to keep my head above water and the black dog off my ass.
I hope things are going well for everyone and that you're getting lots of writing done. Have a great week.
4 comments:
Stephen said "ass." Tee-hee.
Sounds like the honeymoon is over for leading the writer's group. As long as you counseled them to stand up to him more, that makes sense (ie, you did more than think about what they should do but also communicated that to them). I seem to recall you mentioning how troublesome this member has been in the past. I hope he has some redeeming qualities.
Anxious to read more Murder by the Mile. I'm glad you figured out how to keep it moving.
Yes, I told them to stand up to him. I also told them that I would cut the arguments off if it seemed to get too heated. Although he can be rude, I also think they're too sensitive at times.
I'm anxious for you to read more of it, too, Jean! I'm having to redo a scene in Chapter 2, but when that is finished, would you like to read it? Maybe even Chapter 3 because I don't think I have to redo anything in it.
I may be getting a potty mouth. :)
I like it. You need to put that black dog in his place, and it's NOT on your ass.
Sounds like you did the right thing with the discontented group, and too sensitive is not good either.
I would like to read it. Send it when ready!
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