Going to See Jonah

It is cold outside and I am in full hibernation mode. The urge to cook great food is upon me. I have one hour to get a pot of soup going and get sweet and sour meatballs ready for the Crockpot. Then I will settle into writing.

Work required a little bit more of my concentration than the previous two days did. Today I actually had to think about the job a bit. That, of course, did not stop me from thinking about Lives Lived.

Over the past two days I have been writing and reading scenes that are already written in search of the best portrayal of various situations in the book. I will admit that there is a certain level of frustration when you are reading nine versions of a scene and the difference between them is just a few lines. After a while your eyes start to swim and you can’t tell the keep pile from the one you plan on sticking in a box. I have just about every piece of paper, typed or written in pencil and pen that has ever had anything to do with Lives Lived. There are still several boxes I’ve yet to even pull out because I want to get through the few I have out first.

Of course reading a ton of scenes, many of which are duplicates is tedious. So, I’ve decided to take what I have right now and expand on it. It is better to spend the time making the scenes that I have together better than to search for more snippets of scenes that are just okay.

Tonight I want to work on building up Jonah’s story. Last night I found some really cool stuff about Jonah and his past. There is one scene with his parents that is just beautifully written. I know that because most of the scenes are just okay, they need some revision but this particular scene just pulls you in. The details are clear and you can actually visualize this scene. I want to go back to that scene and fall into it. Spending some time with Jonah and his family in their little house in northern Quebec will help me see how they live.

Jonah is calling me. He’s got something to tell me so I am going to see him. There is something in his story that is missing and we are going to bring it out together. It is important to me that the parallels are clear and that it is evident that Jonah and Gabrielle have had very similar experiences even though they are from totally different places. I need that to be evident.

By the end of the evening I hope to have some strong scenes completed in regards to Jonah and his family. Part of the night will be spent on research and putting myself in the places that the Dubois’ are and the other half will be spent writing and reading over previous writings. Sounds like a very productive evening. Let’s get started.