Last Week Off

My staycation is 2/3 done. Haven’t accomplished as much as I needed to, but I worked hard the whole time. I really enjoyed my visit with family in Indianapolis and seeing iris friend Bonnie. I have cut grass and weeded and worked mostly in the yard. Also did some really needed house cleaning. I worked on the long form of the outline last night and am ready to begin work on Ch 21 of Lincoln. I never completed Ch 20, but I need to totally rework it and am just not in the mood yet. I want to finish the novel and rewrite it up to that point again, building up to the first courtroom scene properly. I feel it would be a waste of time to work on it now.

So today I write Ch 21 and get as far as I can on it before I read on Wednesday. I have updated the outline and am printing it out now. This is a transition chapter between the two courtroom chapters. Hopefully it will build tension leading into the climax in chapter 22. Yes, I’m that close to the end. This will be the last time I can attend Scribes until August. I hope I can finish the rough draft of the book in those two months and begin the rewrite. That is my goal. As you’ve already heard, summertime is a busy time for me with the yard. I’m trying to find ways to make it easier. I write, but I still have to live life.

The courtroom dramas I watched and analyzed have helped me. I learned several different ways to handle a courtroom scene and what types of conflict and obstacles can be put in the protagonist’s path. Of course, when you’re working with real history, you are limited. Still, it is fiction. I hope the results will be something that people will find educational and entertaining. I’m writing the kind of story I like to read myself.