my adoring fans just want to know

I've got a question for ya. So do you layer as you write or do you wait until you finish your first draft and go back and layer? Just curious...:)

Well, Sherrinda, yes.

Now I have the sinking suspicion you are going "Huh?"

I can't write a scene in one draft without doing some edits. But not a whole lot of edits. I'm currently working on a new scene in my Victorian. It's actually going to take the place of what had been chapters 5-7.

I began at the end of what I wanted to keep: Heroine talking to housekeeper. Instead of having a chat at the bottom of the stairs, they head down the hall to where a birthday party is being held and the party guests are waiting for the heroine. Some of their conversation during the walk is earlier draft stuff. But the moment the heroine enters the room, it's all a new scene.

What's there? About a page or so. I stopped because I wasn't sure how I wanted the next part of the scene to progress because I needed to get the hero in the room. So I left the scene and went to where the hero was. Originally that scene was 6 or 7 pages. Now it's 2 and half of what's there is new stuff.

As I was difting off to bed the other night, I was thinking about Mary Connealy's Seeker blog post on chapter ending and opening hooks. My cp Kristen has a skill for coming up with great one. Not me.

But I'm a firm believer it's a skill that I could learn. You can too.

Anyhoo, back to my moment...I got this idea to end the hero's scene with him saying or thinking about how the woman he marries has to be great with babies. So the heroine's scene would then open with her grimacing at teh baby she's holding. She then says, "What am I supposed to do with this....this...well, I'm not very good with babies. Please take her back."

I understand how some writers just write a first draft without thinking too much about what actually falls out on the page. I can't.

So I suppose my answer would be I edit as I go, I layer as I go.

When I begin the day writing, I generally read the previous scene to get a feel for the mood and the characters. Then I tackle the new scene.

In all seriousness, I don't think I could write on an Alpha Smart where I couldn't go back and edit as I go. To me, that's like writing blind. Maybe I could if I had a very detailed plot outline and character worksheets all written.


Thanks, Jody and Sherrinda, for the compliments about my judging skills. While I haven't always been a judge I'd want to have, I feel like in the last two years I've finally found a comfortable groove.

My day of funk

If you're looking for some witty comment or warped family story that relates leftover parmesean chicken to writing, then you've come to the wrong blog.

Today at least.

My e-mail server is having issues.

I.S.S.U.E.S!!!!

Has been for the last three days. Can you imagine being unable to send and e-mail for three days?

Now I'm off to sign up for a g-mail account.

My life, My visa

I love shopping.

No, that's not true. I love finding bargains.

On Saturday I had to take oldest son to the mall to find him an Easter shirt. Lemme see if I can find some pics of the lovely building. Not the best shot, but I didn't feel like scurrying the internet to find a better one. Although I did find that the mall has its own wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Pump_Town_Centerikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Pump_Town_Center

Anyhoo, I'd actually been to the mall a day earlier with my four younger kids. Their grandmother graciously offered to buy my oldest daughter and both of my boys an outfit for Easter since their great-grandmother had bought the two youngest girls beautiful pink dresses. While the picture gives the dress an almost irridescent pink look to it, the dress is a lovely true pink.

They wore their dresses with pink ruffly socks and white shoes. Too cute.

I would say that Jadan picked out his own shirt, but the boy didn't. Every one he liked wasn't Easter-appropriate. Yes, I've worn Hard Rock Cafe and Wonder Woman tee-shirts to church, but not on Easter. Needless to say, I had to ax the green skull t-shirt he repeatedly mentioned he liked.

After much looking, and I mean much looking while his sisters played chase whoever is pushing Niley in the stroller, we settled on this.-->

Jadan likes green. While he wasn't too keen on watching his 5-year-old sister, he does like matching the youngest, Niley. We wanted to get one like it for his older brother, Matt, but the largest size was a 16. He could wear that size, but I would have felt better about getting an 18.

I'd post a picture of Jerah's dress, but I can't find it on the Dillard's website. It's kinda like a babydoll-cut dress while the bottom hem reminds me of the 1980s balloon valances. The main color is brown, with read, pink, orange, and white polka-dots. She wore it with white capri leggings and matching white flats like her sisters got.

So back to my main story, on Saturday I had to take Matt to the mall because the shirt Jerah and I picked out for him...well, he liked it but "I can't wear a shirt that cost $40. I'll have to spend all my time telling my friends, 'Don't touch The Shirt.'"

<--That's it right there.

The details: Short-sleeve cotton mesh polo shirt in white/red and blue stripes featuring: 2-button placket, polo player embroidery on the chest, ribbed polo collar and armbands, and uneven vented hem.

I'm not sure if I should be proud or sad that my son, in good conscience, wouldn't wear a shirt that he knew cost $40. Not that he hasn't before. He just never saw the price tag.

So back to the mall I went. He ended up getting a shirt from C28.

http://www.c28.com/

I can't find a picture of it, but it's an Ezekial brand. I really like the Santify brand better, but the shirt he picked out was a button-up casual shirt.

Hmm, I had a point to this post and it wasn't about my kids' Easter clothes.

Oh, while I was at Dillard's returning Matt's too-expensive-for-him-to-wear shirt, I noticed they were having an Take an additional 50% off anything already 70% off already. While I suck at math, I knew that meant "Bargains galore!"

I hadn't planned on buying a new outfit for Easter for me, but who can resist a crazy sale. Granted, I could have spent an hour skimming through the racks and not finding anything. And that would have been okay with me, because I enjoy the hunt--the idea that a hidden treasure could be there if I'm persistent to keep looking. Ended up I bought an outfit...or two.

My $89 skirt cost $11.75.

My $68 sweater cost $5.00.

Oh, and I got a stylish Michael Kors ivory sweater for $12, regular $108.

Now here's my point: Sometimes we are too focused on one thing in our writing that we don't keep one part of our brain on the lookout for a new insight into a major or minor character.

As I was working on my Victorian last week, adding another layer of characterization and introspection, I realized my heroine's aunt was a flat character. The only external detail about her is that she's wearing a gray dress. (Her dialogue, though, does show her personality.) Well, I got to thinking, why wear grey? Oh, she's a widow.

Well, duh.

But let's take it a step further, why is it so important to her to wear grey?

Wanna know what she told me?

To bring out the gray in her chestnut hair. Now that's an odd thought. What woman in her right mind would intentionally want to draw attention to the few strands of gray in her hair? She's only 40. She, conceiveably, marry again and have a child or two.

So I decided to chase this rabbit a bit.

Let's say she has an admirer.

And he weekly sends her a letter expressing his love and proposing marriage.

How does Aunt respond? She dutifully reads the letter then discards it. Now if she didn't feel at least something for the man, she wouldn't read the letters. Yet, she does read them and doesn't ever respond. Still the man continues to pursue. Now how will this thread play out? I'm not sure, but as I continue adding this additional layer of characterization and introspection to the story, I'm looking forward to see what happens.

It always pays to keep an eye out for something different/new/fresh/cheap.