Farewell, Darling Scenes!

~~There come a time when you have to admit defeat; when  scene you've slaved over and cried about, refuses to get in line and march properly into its place in your plot. It's always a scene that you think is an absolute necessity to bolster your theme, define your character, or reveal some deep, dark secret. And yet, it refuses to open its heart and sing. I've been working on two such scenes since February. If I'm honest, I'll admit that these two scenes have tortured me for over two years.

~~It took a great post on Letting Go by Jen at All the World's Our Page to to make me wake up the the truth. So join with me in saying a fond farewell to "South Pacific" and "Samantha's Essay." I've mined the key discoveries and found more natural places for them. In fact, on my reread this morning of the newly reconstituted "Cherry Beach" scene, I was amazed that I'd not seen this before now. I've learned my lesson. When the next thorny scene refuses to be beaten into submission, I won't be as slow to cut the little darling and re-imagine the whole thing. I know my WIP will be better for the lesson.

~~What about you? Do you have some scenes that won't behave? What do you do with them--cut or keep plugging along until they submit?

~~Happy writing! ; )

Sweet, Cute, and Productive

~~In the last two weeks, I've been very occupied with the Mall at the End of Time House Party at the Book and Writers Forum. I thought you needed an update.

• I've written 14,000 words
• Learned who Alex Singer is (more on that in a bit)
• Gotten way behind on my awards (see below)
• And submitted "Tea With My Inner Editor" to a magazine. Keep your fingers crossed.

~~Now for the full report of Alex Singer. I'll add a bit I posted on the HP denouement thread:

 When we started two weeks ago, I knew that Alex Singer was the son of Mack Singer and Sandra Roberts, that she never told Mack about Alex, that he showed up in Mack's life shortly after he marries Laura Grace, and then deploys to Afghanistan. I knew he would have TBI and come to live with my Cherry Hill family with all the problems of integrating a new family member with disabilities. I'd written no scenes with Alex in them. Now I know who he is, how he will respond to the care and love of his family, how hard it will be to accept his condition and learn to live again. Not to mention that he will learn to love as well. With all the revelations I've learned, I can mine how Alex will learn to accept love, give love, heal, and realize he is still the young man who was willing to die for his country.

~~Seriously Cute Blogger and Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award

Thanks to Deniz, one of my House Party buddies, I have two new awards.

Seriously Cute--I need to list five books/ TV programs/ films I've experienced in the last twelve months. Are you kidding? Only five? I thought I'd do five authors instead:

~~Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy
~~Lois McMaster Bujold's Challion trilogy
~~Catherine Asaro's Skolian Empire series (13 books)
~~Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants
~~Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees

There are others, but I'll stop at five.

Irresistibly Sweet--I need to list seven random facts

1. Max has started barking at the rotating photos I use for my screen saver--especially when one of him and Casey pops up.
2. When my momma, sister, and I went on a long ride together in June, we discussed our old boyfriends. Really. It was fun, too.
3. We put our huge Norfolk Island Pine on the deck for the summer. It's secretly a transformer. When wet, it's conical shaped and when dry, its cantilevered limbs lift again.
4. I've picked up four new followers lately. Thank you!
5. I'm about 60% done with the rough draft of FRIENDLY FIRE. ; )
6. It's too hot! We've had 24 days of 90+ degrees in June. July is following in line with the possibility of triple digits next week.
7. My husband has washed and waxed both the car and truck in the last two days.

There was a tag somewhere in the last month and I can't remember who tagged me. Nor can I remember the 7 funny questions except for the "Are you hot?" I think #6 answers that one.

~~Now  to pass on these awards:
Here's the people who have commented on my last blog post:

Mary Mary
JillyBean
Another Author
Madeline Bartos
And the lovely Charlotte Rains Dixon who I owe for "Tea With My Inner Editor"

Have a great day, everyone! ; )

The Mall at the End of Time--Play With a Purpose

~~I know you think I've fallen off the end of the Earth, but I've been busy. Really! I've been writing a lot just not here in the Shade. My buddies at the Books and Writers Forum have gotten a new House Party off the ground and I'm participating. I can think of no better place to practice writing. The members are great critique partners and we love each other's work. A house party is a specific setting created by one of the members so that multiple writers can bring characters from their works in progress. We create long, involved story lines that can sometimes cross over and have characters in more than one place. 

~~Our current setting is The Mall at the End of Time, created by Ron Wadaski. Go HERE for the warm up party. Warning: We are talking Armageddon consequences that must be foiled by a combination of characters including mine, Alex Singer. In warm ups we let anything hit the fan in order to get our fingers, brains, and words going. This time is no exception.

~~Since Friday, July 1, we have shifted into the official party--HERE. Our theme is Warriors and Lovers with an underpinning of fear. Believe me, every character has something to fear.

~~I've written 10,000 words in the warm up and I've already written 780 in the official House Party. Who knows where I'll end up. All I know is that I will know who Alexander Singer is when I'm done. When I need him in LINE OF FIRE, Cherry Hill Book 2, I'll be ready. ; )