Not yet satisfied with the last few chapters (20-24) of Charade, I'm going to give them one more read and rewrite tomorrow before setting the novel aside to "cure."
When I was a kid, my extended family liked to get together in Sharpsville, Indiana at my grandparents' home to make homemade ice cream. After rounding up the crushed ice, the salt, and the ice cream maker in addition to cooking the ingredients just so, the time eventually came to pour the concoction into the metal cylinder, dip in the paddles and begin to turn the crank.
Everyone took turns at the crank in the beginning, but when the paddles began to resist, elbow grease and brawn took over. Of course, someone had to stand on the wooden bucket full of ice and salt above the silver canister spinning round and round and full to the brim of almost frozen ice cream to keep it steady while the crank groaned as it turned. Sometimes the ice cream expanded so much it oozed out through the top and leaked into the ice and salt.
When the crank could be turned no more, then the whole shebang: the big wooden bucket full of rapidly melting ice, the silver canister full of ice cream, crank and all got wrapped in blankets until after supper. Anticipation of the creamy results of all that labor hung in the air all during supper while the ice cream cured.
Not until the dishes were done and put away did the adults finally make their leisurely way out back to unwrap the prize, lift the canister from the icy bucket, wipe the salt and water off, and oh so carefully lift the lid. The paddles were pulled and licked by a lucky bystander while the scooping and serving began. The secret's in the "cure" the old folks claimed, and I'm sure they were right.
As Charade "cures," I wait to see if the taste will reflect the effort, and if the anticipation of reading it with new eyes will make all the difference. The ingredients I used were fresh, and I certainly cranked and cranked and cranked until I couldn't crank anymore. Hopefully, when I get to lick the paddle, I'll be able to tell if my readers will be lining up asking for yet another scoop of Arrowstar and Company.
Wishing you savory turkey, sweet marshmallow covered yams, lots of pies with ice cream and plenty of reasons to be thankful on Thursday. God bless Abraham Lincoln for making "giving thanks" a national holiday. Amen!
Thanking my lucky stars for all of you,
Cheryl
We-Tired and Writing - Cheryl Thomas writes fiction about women of the American Southwest.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Mad Dash to Victory
I'm currently reading a 784-page novel, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I'm fascinated by her compelling descriptions and characterizations. Her ability to engage her readers with prose so full of meaning it's impossible to skip even a word of it, makes me wonder how I can possibly hope to reach that level of skill as a writer. I'm in awe of her talent and completely baffled at how she manages to spill out so many pages without writing one boring or unnecessary sentence.
In editor mode now, I'm pushing toward finishing Charade with a word count goal set somewhere around 70,000. I've got 6,000 more words to write to reach that ballpark number, and I want to make the prose that results worth the reader's time and compelling enough to give depth of character and place without adding unnecessary and therefore boring filler. Ugh! I hate even admitting to thinking about adding such fatty, spare-tire prose to round out the skinny creature I've got running toward the finish. How do I make this anemic second draft into a robust, six-pack-sporting Adonis?
Yes, I'm still plagued by uncertainty and hesitation when it comes to laying bare my artistic passions on the pages of a novel for discerning readers to peruse. Maybe I can console myself with the old adage that says if you're not nervous before you go on stage, then your performance won't be worth a fart. Or something along those lines. I think I made up the part about the fart.
I haven't formulated satisfying answers to my questioning as yet, but maybe the key lies in just slogging ahead with as much skill as I currently possess and hoping for the best. At least I recognize the pitfalls of adding words just to fill space. Maybe, at this point in my writing career, I have developed some degree of mastery in my craft that will allow me to reach for some small degree of what I've seen possible by reading Tartt.
Today's tidbit: Practice, practice, practice whatever your craft may be until the melody you're making fits perfectly the lyrics of your song.
Thanks for humming along while I run like mad to the finish,
Cheryl
In editor mode now, I'm pushing toward finishing Charade with a word count goal set somewhere around 70,000. I've got 6,000 more words to write to reach that ballpark number, and I want to make the prose that results worth the reader's time and compelling enough to give depth of character and place without adding unnecessary and therefore boring filler. Ugh! I hate even admitting to thinking about adding such fatty, spare-tire prose to round out the skinny creature I've got running toward the finish. How do I make this anemic second draft into a robust, six-pack-sporting Adonis?
Yes, I'm still plagued by uncertainty and hesitation when it comes to laying bare my artistic passions on the pages of a novel for discerning readers to peruse. Maybe I can console myself with the old adage that says if you're not nervous before you go on stage, then your performance won't be worth a fart. Or something along those lines. I think I made up the part about the fart.
I haven't formulated satisfying answers to my questioning as yet, but maybe the key lies in just slogging ahead with as much skill as I currently possess and hoping for the best. At least I recognize the pitfalls of adding words just to fill space. Maybe, at this point in my writing career, I have developed some degree of mastery in my craft that will allow me to reach for some small degree of what I've seen possible by reading Tartt.
Today's tidbit: Practice, practice, practice whatever your craft may be until the melody you're making fits perfectly the lyrics of your song.
Thanks for humming along while I run like mad to the finish,
Cheryl
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Charade's Skeleton Gets Connected!
Natalie Goldberg wrote a self-help book for writers called Writing Down the Bones. I have it on my bookshelf and have read it numerous times for inspiration and practical pointers.
It occurred to me that "writing down the bones" is a great metaphor for getting the first draft of a novel down on paper. Yesterday I wrote all the way to the end of Charade, completing over 60,000 words. With 10,000 words, give or take, left to write I'll start back at Chapter 1 polishing and rewriting what I've already written.
During the editing process I'll find connections I failed to notice during the skeletal phase of the writing. I'll be able to link these connections in more obvious ways so the reader catches them too. For instance, I might find a reference to Valentines Day in Chapter One and notice a connection in say, Chapter 10. I'll make this subtle link more obvious, so the reader might have an ah-ha moment remembering the earlier reference.
In my writing, not all these links are intended during the creative process. Much of the time they're accidental references that, when made more robust, give the reader a nice little jolt of remembrance and insight into the larger plot. It's the place in a novel when you might say, "I wondered why Star said that in the first chapter. Okay, now I get it. That's clever."
What a rush to read through the entire first draft of the novel! Creating the flow of the plot, being aware of the story arc and finding the right words challenges any writer and involves a large amount of hard work. Editing, on the other hand, becomes a wild and crazy scavenger hunt for missing descriptions, opportunities to improve the build up to a crisis and work with weak characterizations. It's exciting stuff and much more fun than staring at a blank page and fearing no words will emerge to fill it.
Yesterday when I noticed I'd reached the magical 60,000 words at just the right place and time for the characters, I jumped up, ran out to the garage, where my husband stood with greasy hands shoved inside the guts of an antique motorcycle he's restoring for one of his clients, and did a little happy dance to mark the successfully constructed "skeleton." I love those moments when I reach a personally-designed hallmark in my work and feel like celebrating. That's the real joy of the creative process.
Now, it's time to put flesh, running shorts and track shoes on the bones and sprint toward the finish line. It's good to have you as an audience along the way cheering, yelling, and offering Gatorade. I treasure your loyal support!
Today's Tidbit: "I am a rock, I am an island." NOT!
Celebrate whenever, wherever you get the chance,
Cheryl
It occurred to me that "writing down the bones" is a great metaphor for getting the first draft of a novel down on paper. Yesterday I wrote all the way to the end of Charade, completing over 60,000 words. With 10,000 words, give or take, left to write I'll start back at Chapter 1 polishing and rewriting what I've already written.
During the editing process I'll find connections I failed to notice during the skeletal phase of the writing. I'll be able to link these connections in more obvious ways so the reader catches them too. For instance, I might find a reference to Valentines Day in Chapter One and notice a connection in say, Chapter 10. I'll make this subtle link more obvious, so the reader might have an ah-ha moment remembering the earlier reference.
In my writing, not all these links are intended during the creative process. Much of the time they're accidental references that, when made more robust, give the reader a nice little jolt of remembrance and insight into the larger plot. It's the place in a novel when you might say, "I wondered why Star said that in the first chapter. Okay, now I get it. That's clever."
What a rush to read through the entire first draft of the novel! Creating the flow of the plot, being aware of the story arc and finding the right words challenges any writer and involves a large amount of hard work. Editing, on the other hand, becomes a wild and crazy scavenger hunt for missing descriptions, opportunities to improve the build up to a crisis and work with weak characterizations. It's exciting stuff and much more fun than staring at a blank page and fearing no words will emerge to fill it.
Yesterday when I noticed I'd reached the magical 60,000 words at just the right place and time for the characters, I jumped up, ran out to the garage, where my husband stood with greasy hands shoved inside the guts of an antique motorcycle he's restoring for one of his clients, and did a little happy dance to mark the successfully constructed "skeleton." I love those moments when I reach a personally-designed hallmark in my work and feel like celebrating. That's the real joy of the creative process.
Now, it's time to put flesh, running shorts and track shoes on the bones and sprint toward the finish line. It's good to have you as an audience along the way cheering, yelling, and offering Gatorade. I treasure your loyal support!
Today's Tidbit: "I am a rock, I am an island." NOT!
Celebrate whenever, wherever you get the chance,
Cheryl
Monday, November 4, 2013
On Sale Now!!!
Arrowstar and Honor Bound are now listed for 99 cents at amazon.com/author/cherylthomas beginning today with the price increasing in increments daily back to the list price of $6.99 on November 10. You might want to take advantage of this opportunity to read Arrowstar prior to the release of the second in the series, Charade in December.
Meanwhile . . . "back at the ranch" Charade has worked its way up to well over 50,000 words, approaching the finish line. Today the fog has cleared, and I'm ready to unravel some knotty problems plaguing one of my favorite characters. She won't be well after today's writing, but she should be well on her way out of the trouble she's been in for a few chapters - not to "let the cat out of the bag." If you've read Arrowstar you might infer something about the plot from my use of two tired old clichés. Good luck!
I'm anxious to finish Charade and publish it on the Kindle platform on Amazon, so I can get busy writing more blog entries, tweeting, and marketing these first three novels and writing two more companion novellas. Please look for A Train Robber's Tale and The Storm Women for Kindle toward the middle of 2014. The first being a companion to Arrowstar and the second a compliment to Charade. I think you'll enjoy these fictional "historical" novellas written under the pseudonym Star Lance, the protagonist of the Arrowstar novels.
As I approach the conclusion of Charade, I'm feeling as if I've finally allowed myself the commitment and discipline needed to continue down the path of authorship. Maybe I'm even ready to use Amazon's Create Space to produce some physical copies of the books. It would feel incredible to place them on my bookshelf alongside works of other favorite authors. I've saved the publications containing my freelance work for magazines and newspapers over the years, but shelving five novels by the end of 2014 would be euphoric beyond my imagination.
Thanks for reading what I write both here and in your e-book collection. I hope you're eagerly anticipating more of Star's adventures in small-town Western living. Charade takes her far beyond the familiar places where you might expect to find her. By the way, there's a new sheriff in town and his name is Rafferty. He's a former Chicago cop and itching to dig into what he imagines might be a slower pace of policing in such an out-of-the-mainstream place like Mineral City, Arizona. Could be he's got that wrong!
Take away thought: There's been nothing like writing a novel as a way to discover what bizarre memorabilia reside in the recesses of the mind.
Read On!!!
Cheryl
Meanwhile . . . "back at the ranch" Charade has worked its way up to well over 50,000 words, approaching the finish line. Today the fog has cleared, and I'm ready to unravel some knotty problems plaguing one of my favorite characters. She won't be well after today's writing, but she should be well on her way out of the trouble she's been in for a few chapters - not to "let the cat out of the bag." If you've read Arrowstar you might infer something about the plot from my use of two tired old clichés. Good luck!
I'm anxious to finish Charade and publish it on the Kindle platform on Amazon, so I can get busy writing more blog entries, tweeting, and marketing these first three novels and writing two more companion novellas. Please look for A Train Robber's Tale and The Storm Women for Kindle toward the middle of 2014. The first being a companion to Arrowstar and the second a compliment to Charade. I think you'll enjoy these fictional "historical" novellas written under the pseudonym Star Lance, the protagonist of the Arrowstar novels.
As I approach the conclusion of Charade, I'm feeling as if I've finally allowed myself the commitment and discipline needed to continue down the path of authorship. Maybe I'm even ready to use Amazon's Create Space to produce some physical copies of the books. It would feel incredible to place them on my bookshelf alongside works of other favorite authors. I've saved the publications containing my freelance work for magazines and newspapers over the years, but shelving five novels by the end of 2014 would be euphoric beyond my imagination.
Thanks for reading what I write both here and in your e-book collection. I hope you're eagerly anticipating more of Star's adventures in small-town Western living. Charade takes her far beyond the familiar places where you might expect to find her. By the way, there's a new sheriff in town and his name is Rafferty. He's a former Chicago cop and itching to dig into what he imagines might be a slower pace of policing in such an out-of-the-mainstream place like Mineral City, Arizona. Could be he's got that wrong!
Take away thought: There's been nothing like writing a novel as a way to discover what bizarre memorabilia reside in the recesses of the mind.
Read On!!!
Cheryl
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Whittle and Write
When I set out to write novels several years ago, I had no idea how all-consuming a commitment writing and marketing requires. Having just recently started writing this blog, then rashly adding a do-it-yourself website, while investigating Amazon's Create Space and uploading each of my own Kindle books, that realization burns bright.
Little by little I've tried to whittle my life's pursuits to a very slim few in order to throw myself into this battle to get noticed, get read, get an agent and ultimately a publisher. It's so innocent the way I allow myself to take on projects when, if I took a minute to consider, I don't have any available time to complete.
Over the years I've divested myself of strumming the guitar, playing tennis, taking myself and my dogs on weekend camping trips, practicing the culinary arts, and learning Italian. I have retained reading voraciously, half-hearted gardening, book club, nurturing a handful of close friends and writing weekly promotional material and other articles. As a necessity, I also escape the desert by traveling far away during the sizzling Phoenix summers and visiting my kids.
I'm now into writing the second half of Charade, but approach the computer with more and more trepidation. What if I can't continue to produce the words that will build the bridge to the end of my story? I might get stuck trying to lead my characters into and through the crisis and recovery phases of their lives in the intelligent and enjoyable way my readers deserve.
Tomorrow I'm "master of ceremonies" at book club. I've prepared for that today and will enjoy the discussion of the book Mrs. Kennedy and Me written by Clint Hill with Lisa McCubbin. Hill, a secret service agent assigned to protect Jackie during her time in the White House relates a tender story of friendship and tragedy. I won't be at the computer all day Monday, but I'll be relating to people and ideas in hopes of stimulating my creative juices.
By the way, I'm determined to be more consistent with this blog, so you can count on it on Sunday afternoons. I hope.
Take Away: Whittle while you work. Isn't that a song?
Write on!
Little by little I've tried to whittle my life's pursuits to a very slim few in order to throw myself into this battle to get noticed, get read, get an agent and ultimately a publisher. It's so innocent the way I allow myself to take on projects when, if I took a minute to consider, I don't have any available time to complete.
Over the years I've divested myself of strumming the guitar, playing tennis, taking myself and my dogs on weekend camping trips, practicing the culinary arts, and learning Italian. I have retained reading voraciously, half-hearted gardening, book club, nurturing a handful of close friends and writing weekly promotional material and other articles. As a necessity, I also escape the desert by traveling far away during the sizzling Phoenix summers and visiting my kids.
I'm now into writing the second half of Charade, but approach the computer with more and more trepidation. What if I can't continue to produce the words that will build the bridge to the end of my story? I might get stuck trying to lead my characters into and through the crisis and recovery phases of their lives in the intelligent and enjoyable way my readers deserve.
Tomorrow I'm "master of ceremonies" at book club. I've prepared for that today and will enjoy the discussion of the book Mrs. Kennedy and Me written by Clint Hill with Lisa McCubbin. Hill, a secret service agent assigned to protect Jackie during her time in the White House relates a tender story of friendship and tragedy. I won't be at the computer all day Monday, but I'll be relating to people and ideas in hopes of stimulating my creative juices.
By the way, I'm determined to be more consistent with this blog, so you can count on it on Sunday afternoons. I hope.
Take Away: Whittle while you work. Isn't that a song?
Write on!
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Time Travel
I've been a time traveler this past month and landed for two weeks back home in Kokomo, Indiana in 1963. Kokomo High School's Class of '63, 50-year reunion rocked!!! Visiting with friends from the old neighborhood and taking a tour through both McKinley Elementary and the former KHS building downtown brought memories shooting into my brain like lasers.
Sixth grade classroom doors conjured up the names of teachers who long-ago tapped pencils behind each one. Amazing how the sight of wide staircases and long hallways bracketed with classroom doorways call vivid pictures and people to mind so quickly. All five of us former classmates recall the big Christmas tree decked out in the front hallway and the crush of kids packed around it singing carols before heading home for the holiday vacation. Yes, the Christian God still went to school in the 50's.
Back home for a week now, I have been scurrying around opening mail, paying bills, doing laundry and basically avoiding writing one word on the novel. Charade, I vaguely remember is the title I finally landed on for Novel #3. I'm almost half finished. I know I keep repeating that milestone. It gives me hope that somehow I'm going to finish and SOON.
Time travel warps my sense of well-being I'm finding out. There has always seemed to be a long, long road stretching out in front of me to drive ahead on. Now, I'm seeing roadblocks and cliffs ahead. Maybe I won't get where I'm going in time. There's less road left than I've already traveled. Quick, someone pull me back from the edge.
And then someone did. . . I've heard from people whose old friendships have rekindled and ignited. They're rooting for me. They're asking when the new novel will be finished. They're waiting to read what I'm writing. Inspiration and fresh hope zings in on the electronic wings of Facebook and email.
Tidbit for Today: Live in the present, draw inspiration from the past, and believe in yourself as much as everyone else does.
Write On!
Cheryl
Sixth grade classroom doors conjured up the names of teachers who long-ago tapped pencils behind each one. Amazing how the sight of wide staircases and long hallways bracketed with classroom doorways call vivid pictures and people to mind so quickly. All five of us former classmates recall the big Christmas tree decked out in the front hallway and the crush of kids packed around it singing carols before heading home for the holiday vacation. Yes, the Christian God still went to school in the 50's.
Back home for a week now, I have been scurrying around opening mail, paying bills, doing laundry and basically avoiding writing one word on the novel. Charade, I vaguely remember is the title I finally landed on for Novel #3. I'm almost half finished. I know I keep repeating that milestone. It gives me hope that somehow I'm going to finish and SOON.
Time travel warps my sense of well-being I'm finding out. There has always seemed to be a long, long road stretching out in front of me to drive ahead on. Now, I'm seeing roadblocks and cliffs ahead. Maybe I won't get where I'm going in time. There's less road left than I've already traveled. Quick, someone pull me back from the edge.
And then someone did. . . I've heard from people whose old friendships have rekindled and ignited. They're rooting for me. They're asking when the new novel will be finished. They're waiting to read what I'm writing. Inspiration and fresh hope zings in on the electronic wings of Facebook and email.
Tidbit for Today: Live in the present, draw inspiration from the past, and believe in yourself as much as everyone else does.
Write On!
Cheryl
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Word Count - 30,500!
I'm writing again finally! Putting this blog together seems to make it easier to sit down at my computer. It's less stressful to write the blog because I don't need to keep so many threads in place in my head, nor pause to do Internet research when I get stuck not knowing my subject matter well enough.
When I wrote Arrowstar, it seemed as if the vast space given to a novel quickly became an endless desert I kept struggling to cross. The more I wrote, the less tightly written I felt the book became as I tired to "make it long enough."
I'm a student of journalism and having taken newswriting courses at Arizona State University back in the 80s, I'd learned how to communicate the news using the least amount of words possible. Tackling a novel gave me freedom to describe people and places in great detail, while keeping in mind the admonition that each tidbit I choose to include must contribute something vital to the storytelling.
The number of pages in a novel varies according to what font you might be using and where your page margins are set. It also varies with the page layout chosen for publication. I've found "number of words" to be the best measure of my writing progress on a novel. I finally realized this as I wrote Arrowstar. I felt the book was complete, but I struggled on with the writing because the number of pages I'd written didn't seem right. Then, when I began looking at word count, I knew I could trust my gut feeling it was time to wrap up the writing.
I consulted several resources about word count for the various kinds of novels and found the length I needed varied from 50,000 words up to 120,000. I settled on somewhere between 70,000 and 80,000 to judge my creative progress. Knowing those numbers helps me determine where I am in the story arc.
As I outlined this novel (something I couldn't seem to do with Arrowstar), I divided the novel into the three obvious sections all writing manuals list: Beginning, Middle, and End. Then I began thinking within those boundaries. I lost focus by the time I got halfway through the Middle section, so the rest of the outline seems sketchy now that I've reached that point.
I need the characters to speak to me as I write and let the story take shape in the process. However, it has been a plus up to this point knowing where the next chapter would lead.
Looking at a story arc diagram today, I realized how it would have served me well to think about the "crisis" points in this story in more depth when creating my outline. The arc suggests a couple of "bumps in the road" for the characters as the story ramps up followed by two more "crisis" points halfway through the middle leading up to the climax and falling action.
Another thing I read today made me think about how a focus on the characters and their troubles, personalities, wants, needs and desires must drive the plot. If I focus more on where the characters want to go, then the plot will work itself out just by letting the characters live in the story!
It makes sense to me looking at plot development that way, so today I'll pay more attention to what my characters are trying to tell me. However, I'll also need to take some time to research some of the finer points of ranching. Although I've had dreams of being a cowgirl, I'm really nothing more that an "urban cowgirl." I know zilch about ranching and turning a profit doing it.
Here's what cheered me up considerably yesterday as I got serious about getting more words into this story: I've written a bit more than 30,500 words. That means I'm quickly sneaking up on the middle of the story! I'll have to hustle to finish by the end of the year, but now I feel like I can drive toward the end and begin the fun editing that ensues when smoothing out the more subtle and finer points of the story.
Here's today's little light bulb: Structure, routines, goals and maps help give meaning and direction to living, and that same scaffolding holds the elements of a novel together.
Write on!
Cheryl
When I wrote Arrowstar, it seemed as if the vast space given to a novel quickly became an endless desert I kept struggling to cross. The more I wrote, the less tightly written I felt the book became as I tired to "make it long enough."
I'm a student of journalism and having taken newswriting courses at Arizona State University back in the 80s, I'd learned how to communicate the news using the least amount of words possible. Tackling a novel gave me freedom to describe people and places in great detail, while keeping in mind the admonition that each tidbit I choose to include must contribute something vital to the storytelling.
The number of pages in a novel varies according to what font you might be using and where your page margins are set. It also varies with the page layout chosen for publication. I've found "number of words" to be the best measure of my writing progress on a novel. I finally realized this as I wrote Arrowstar. I felt the book was complete, but I struggled on with the writing because the number of pages I'd written didn't seem right. Then, when I began looking at word count, I knew I could trust my gut feeling it was time to wrap up the writing.
I consulted several resources about word count for the various kinds of novels and found the length I needed varied from 50,000 words up to 120,000. I settled on somewhere between 70,000 and 80,000 to judge my creative progress. Knowing those numbers helps me determine where I am in the story arc.
As I outlined this novel (something I couldn't seem to do with Arrowstar), I divided the novel into the three obvious sections all writing manuals list: Beginning, Middle, and End. Then I began thinking within those boundaries. I lost focus by the time I got halfway through the Middle section, so the rest of the outline seems sketchy now that I've reached that point.
I need the characters to speak to me as I write and let the story take shape in the process. However, it has been a plus up to this point knowing where the next chapter would lead.
Looking at a story arc diagram today, I realized how it would have served me well to think about the "crisis" points in this story in more depth when creating my outline. The arc suggests a couple of "bumps in the road" for the characters as the story ramps up followed by two more "crisis" points halfway through the middle leading up to the climax and falling action.
Another thing I read today made me think about how a focus on the characters and their troubles, personalities, wants, needs and desires must drive the plot. If I focus more on where the characters want to go, then the plot will work itself out just by letting the characters live in the story!
It makes sense to me looking at plot development that way, so today I'll pay more attention to what my characters are trying to tell me. However, I'll also need to take some time to research some of the finer points of ranching. Although I've had dreams of being a cowgirl, I'm really nothing more that an "urban cowgirl." I know zilch about ranching and turning a profit doing it.
Here's what cheered me up considerably yesterday as I got serious about getting more words into this story: I've written a bit more than 30,500 words. That means I'm quickly sneaking up on the middle of the story! I'll have to hustle to finish by the end of the year, but now I feel like I can drive toward the end and begin the fun editing that ensues when smoothing out the more subtle and finer points of the story.
Here's today's little light bulb: Structure, routines, goals and maps help give meaning and direction to living, and that same scaffolding holds the elements of a novel together.
Write on!
Cheryl
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