A writer writes. That’s how I’ve generally defined being a writer, and why I generally feel good about myself as a writer.

However, not a lot of writing went on this week. Let’s just say that emotionally and physically it was a really rough week for me, and leave it at that.

The writing that did go on — well — I think it’s good. I know it’s better than what I had.

What happened is this: I started to look, really look at the first half of the prologue. And I figured out that not only was it bad, it sucked. There were good lines here and there, but there was no flow. While I was writing the book, I’d think of things that I needed to include in the prologue, and I’d just kind of thrown them in.

So I fell back on one of my tried and true methods of rewriting: I retyped the prologue. I tell myself that I’m making a virtue of a vice. Though I’m a fast typist, I hate retyping things. Don’t want to redo it. Am far too lazy. So by retyping, it forces me to really look at every sentence, every word. And if it doesn’t belong, I cut it, so I don’t have to retype it. Plus, it makes me really think about the flow of information.

The first half of the prologue went from 1600 to 1300 words. Which is good. Tonight I’m going to do as much as I can with the second half of the prologue, and will probably have to retype that as well. But the second half will grow, not shrink, I’m afraid. The book will be as long as the story needs.

The other thing that’s been very difficult for me is to let go of my “schedule.” I’d wanted to finish the novel and send it to my first readers by the end of this month. Ha! I’ve told myself that it’s okay if it takes me another 6 months to finish the rewrites. I resent it, hate it, in fact. But if that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes.

I hope ya’ll are having a lovely weekend. I had a sleep over last night with the crew. There were homemade cream puffs with chocolate whipped cream, Tarot card readings, Scattagories, and bad 1970’s porn. A great time was had by all. Today I walked 5 miles as part of my training for the 3-day breast cancer walk. I’m going to feel it a little tomorrow, but not too bad. It was good to move, good to clear my system. Tomorrow I walk 4 miles, making 16 miles the total for the week. (It’s a 24 week training period before the walk.)