I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
Captain’s Log, Stardate 08.24.2005 I’ve actually gotten a lot done on the novella this week. I’ve been writing during my peak time—midnight and beyond—and wrote a powerful scene last night. My heroine had to face her insecurities about her weight and dieting, and it was both easy and hard to write because I’ve faced the same things. Today, my friend Dineen gave really good insight into the first couple chapters—she said the first chapter was kind of slow and suggested cutting it. When I did (and rewrote chapter two as the new chapter one), everyone I’ve talked to said the new version moves faster and gets the story across better. The new version cut about 1000 words, too. This novella is looking to be longer than I expected, but I still haven’t done extensive rewrites and I already know places I could cut. I’m hoping the novella isn’t longer than 30K. I think I could cut 5K without too much blood and guts. I’m so much more hopeful these past few days. I’ve been w...