Tonight is my weekly writing night. Every Thursday evening, my wife kisses me good bye, and I head off to some secluded parking lot to write in peace. For those keeping track (which I think is at a grand total of noone), I've been stuck editing chapter fourteen for a couple months now. Last week, I managed to make some progress, but ended up moving on to chapter fifteen, deciding I'll come back to fourteen this week.
That's tonight. This chapter will be the end of me. Well, the end of this story. A thorn in my flesh, really. I can't seem to get it right. I've written it. I've rewritten it. I've edited it. And now I'm rewriting it again.
Have you ever watched a movie or read a book where everything is going along nicely, then, suddenly, something really really convenient happens. Like, the detective who has lost all traces of the suspect "accidently" stumbles about some clue that the otherwise meticulous criminal "accidently" dropped? Or worse yet, the hero of the story is stranded in the middle of the ocean with no hope of being rescued when, miraculously, this boat shows up out of the blue captained by none other than the author himself? (Yes...this latter case actually happened in a book I read...and I have henceforth declared I will never pick up another Clive Cussler book again!)
My problem is that, if not done right, that's what could end up happening in this scene. I have to get my characters from location A to location B, despite the fact they really have no reason to go to location B. But, the whole second half the book falls apart if they don't get to location B.
But I think I have it all worked out now. I think I have come up with a convincing scenario. But tonight is the night. Write it right night. I have to do it tonight if I'm going to make my goal of finishing this thing by the end of the year. So, wish me luck. On second thought, don't. Because "luck" is exactly what doesn't work in a plot. Instead, wish me "you can write it right, Ryan".
On a side note...I got a note from Melanie. You know...Melanie? Melanie Lynne Hauser? The one who wrote Confessions of Super Mom that I blogged about last week? Come on, now. Pay attention here. Anyhow, she seems to have forgotten about me stalking her temporarily and agreed to the interview. So, you can look forward to that soon. (In the meantime, you have gone out and bought her book haven't you?)
