Early Wednesday I got a sudden gut hit

6/1/07 -- Early Wednesday I got a sudden gut hit that maybe I needed to spend even MORE time on character development in order to proceed with STORM MOUNTAIN. At first skeptical of my own intuition, I resisted. After all, hadn't I already spent tons of time creating well-rounded players for my drama? Shouldn't I be racing onward with my rewrite? The manuscript IS due in New York by October 1. Just what else did I need to know?

Still, the notion wouldn't go away, so I went away instead.  For a run, that is. It's my default cure for writer's block. Hit the trail and I can pretty much count on a solution of some sort by the time I haul my sweaty self back in the door.

It worked. Halfway up Bald Hill I realized that the what else I needed to know was how the characters in my story handle grief. (Yep, turns out STORM MOUNTAIN is an adventure-survival saga, but also an exploration of the different ways people handle grief.) So I spent the next two plus days thinking, making notes, and writing about how my characters deal with losing someone they love. I'm refocused and really ready to roll.

Here's the cool thing: my bet is that the time spent delving deeper into character will actually save me time in the long run. Stay tuned. We'll see . . .