Week 8:

Boy howdy! Once I turned my MC loose and let her run wild, not only did my story take off in another whole direction, I was able to finish the first draft. Now the task of the holy rewrite. My publisher was correct, though. Until I gave up the notion of the story being about family, I couldn’t let the new story evolve. I was restricted by what I knew and what I felt my characters would and wouldn’t do. I was keeping them inside the box. What I needed to do was open that box and set my characters free.

The first cleansing was to make sure I removed all family names and locations. Next, I had to let my characters grow. Heck, I had no clue where the story would take me. I just knew it had to go. After I’d stewed for a week and plotted in my mind, the big challenge was just to jump back in, put my BIC (butt in chair) and write the dang story. That’s the real secret to writing….BIC and write the dang story. Then the real fun begins. Next week: the rewrite.

Week 7:

Okay, I’m going to fess up. I didn’t write one word last week. I did, however, stir the pot occasionally. In previous post, I mentioned the new twists and turns my plot seems to be taking. I stewed over that a bit. I toyed with the idea of Mason becoming the new HT (heart throb) my friend, Nancy, hinted at. I even visualized Laurel’s angst when she recognized these new feelings-her questions, her blushes, her denial. Then, I realized that’s what I’m experiencing- angst over whether or not I can get the commitment of the original story out of my head, feelings of inadequacy of being able to make such a huge change in my story, denial of being able to write something worthy enough to re-submit to this same publisher.

While I’m fessin’ up, I’ll also admit the last feeling is the biggest one. Can I do it? Can I take my safe little story to a whole new level and make it worthy to send off to the publisher? Or do I cut my losses and accept another, “It’s good, but…”

After all, I AM busy.

Week 6

Ever feel like your ‘best laid plans …often go astray’? MOUNTAIN LAUREL just is NOT cooperating. My re-write is in week six and the only light at the end of the tunnel is definitely a fast-coming freight train. But even that analogy is appropriate. The original story was based on my parent’s first date and, even though I’m somewhat writing my dad out of this version, he would later marry my mom and pursue a job on the railroad. So the train might just hang around for awhile to haunt me. That said, little did I see another character demanding so much attention. My valuable writing buddy pointed out “Mason” had developed into a potential “heart throb” and I should give him a bigger role. She said my target audience would enjoy Mason and want to know more about him. And after all, it’s all about identifying your target audience and giving them what they want, right?


In this case, my target audience is middle-grade to young adult. And girls. What does every middle-grade to young adult girl like? BOYS. So now, instead of the story being all about Laurel and William, I need to have someone crush on Mason. Laurel’s sister, Mary, or Laurel, herself? What will that do to my story line? Is it important to always color between the lines or can I finally accept the fact MOUNTAIN LAUREL is no longer the story I wanted to write in the beginning? Where will this new journey take me? The real questions is: Am I brave enough to buckle up the seat belt and find out?

Week 5:

Well, I had my first major rewrite. One chapter got a whole new facelift. It went from one voice-that of a teenage boy, to the MC (main character)-a teenage girl. For obvious reasons, a lot of the material was chunked. It simply wouldn’t work. Hopefully, this way I’ll be able to keep a couple of the stories that need telling. Hopefully, I won’t compromise my MC. And hopefully, I’ll end up with a tighter, better story-one with a beginning, a middle and an end.


Thirteen years on this one story and I’m nowhere close to having a finished project. Boy, going over Niagara Falls in a barrel would have been easier. No, wait! According to my good friend and author, Nancy Allen, that wasn’t easy, either. In Barreling Over Niagara Falls: The Story of Annie Edson Taylor Nancy used literary techniques such as analogies, alliteration, rhythm and internal rhyme to tell a real-life story. That type of writing is called Non-fiction.

My book, Mountain Laurel is called Historical fiction-a story based loosely on fact. With this type of writing, the author has more leniency. Family tales can be preserved with a flair of the imagination to pack a wallop. That’s what I want to do: pack a wallop.