The picture is of beautiful Lake Erie.
The antagonist in my next book is Lucy.
I’m thrilled with every turn in my draft of Blind Conviction.

Which one of those statements is a lie?

The truth is my husky is building a raft out of fallen branches and vine in the backyard before we float away from all this rain, I never tell anyone who my antagonists are, and if the rough draft of Blind Conviction was going more smoothly I’d know for a fact it’s garbage, versus twisting my hair in my hands in front of the computer every day, needling myself about plot decisions and character point-of-view.

These are the stormy times of the author crafting a new tale. One minute being chewed alive by plot bunnies, unable to grab the ideas by the ears fast enough, and the next, scrolling through yesterday’s work, cursing yourself for being such an incompetent twit.

Obviously, the goal is to get from the endlessly cloudy, rainy rough draft to a place like the picture above – the warm, sunny Caribbean, “buy me I’m your’s” novel. At least I’ve been writing long enough to realize I’ll have to fight my way there, and the story will be better for it. That my self-doubt and reanalysis of character motivation are part of the process. Typing the story into shape, growing along with my characters (hopefully my writing, not physically from snacking), bringing it into focus until the final result is picture perfect. Because let me tell you . . . when it’s all written and done, when I hear a reader describe that very picture to me after they read the book, it’s one of the best stories I can hear. Not because I wrote it, but because they experienced what I envisioned.

Until then with Blind Conviction, I must return to my pursuit of Tortola . . .

Years ago my critique partner encouraged me to keep track of my “rough draft” bloopers since they tend to make me laugh when I’m editing. Some are mere type-os, while others (because I’m typing too fast for accuracy) auto-correct inserts a different word than I intend. And of course who doesn’t love a humorous split modifier every now and then . . . as long as these errors occur in a ROUGH draft. (When an author finds something much later, that she’s missed repeatedly . . . a very different reaction occurs.)

In honor of Monday, here are a few bloopers . . .

Inflatable Men:

“She even knows older draping and sewing techniques her piers have neglected to study—”

Wow, those planks of wood better get on the stick with draping concepts . . .


Here’s spelling auto-correct highjacking a tension filled scene on a subway car . . .

She breathed in his calzone, the familiar scent making her taste buds lurch with passion . . .

I suppose if Celia were a chef instead of a fashion designer that might have worked, but the word I was going for with the sensory experience was “cologne”. Though I’m convinced I was hungry for lunch when I wrote that because I used “taste buds”.


Blind Conviction:

FBI agents potentially wear a lot of equipment but I didn’t realize my character would carry one of these in the line of duty.

Her abdominal muscles clenched around her shutter.

Hey, how about “shudder” instead? Might be less painful . . .

I caught this one right after I wrote it, but still it’s funny.

If so, she would remain in her roll and be taken into custody along with the suspect.

My question: How would they get the handcuffs on with all that dough?

I’ll add as I find . . .

Before I named Project Six a few weeks ago I had a blog reader pose the question, “Is there a Project Five?”

Yes. My fifth manuscript, Separating, is more of a literary fiction work. I’ve set it aside temporarily because I don’t feel right now is the time to be “pitching” it. Because it’s a different market from the rest of my manuscripts I didn’t include it on this website, but just like my other works, I’ll strive to find its place on the bookshelves. Thank you for the question!