The Election is over, so now I get back to writing

While the election results for the Florida governor's race and the US Senate seat were disappointing for me, I still need to live my life.  That means writing away.  Writing means reading, too: reading what I've written so far to check that my storyline is intact and that the words convey the right meaning and feeling.  By "right" I mean, what I intended to express.  Reading also means reading others' stories, words of inspiration and words of encouragement.

In all of this, I'm finding the more I empower my protagonist, the more I realize I must empower myself to match her.  Even though most of the novel is based on a true story, there is some fictionalizing involved.  As Michelle Delphinia grows, I find she grew because her real life counterpart grew.  Where she needs to excel, I must excel behind her and catch up or lose sight of the way she's going.

All the characters tend to stray from the final chapter.  They take on a life of their own, and I must corral them to make sure we all make it to the climax and resolution.

Because it's based on a true story, it doesn't necessarily follow every single rule of storytelling.  There are villains who don't show up until much later.  All I can say is life broke the rule and it's a detail to which I'll remain true.

I've gotten satisfactory and helpful feedback from a few different sources, including my writing coach, my writers group and you.  I'll be forever grateful that you've taken time out of your day, away from your activities and perhaps from your own writing, to read Chapter 1.  I'm an untested writer.  You have no way of knowing whether my style is like JK Rowling or Ken Follett or some long forgotten novelist that no one ever read twice.

While the decision to post an entire chapter came partially out of insecurity, I had to honor it.  To shore up my guts, I've decided not to post another chapter.  Now that I've addressed the comments that I felt were crucial, the rest is up to my private consultations with my coach and writers group.

Life is amazing, isn't it?

I've seen many quotes that comparison is the thief of joy and we'd all be much better off if we didn't compare ourselves to others.  However, the human brain is deeply hardwired to make comparisons, so I'm not going to undo that.  My writing compares favorably in certain ways to others' writing, and just as good in other ways, and perhaps needs boning up in yet other ways.

I'll figure it all out.  Sooner or later, the book will be finished.  I refuse to take 10 years to write my first novel.  I'm anticipating that my coach and I will have a finished manuscript to send to a literary agents by March 2019.

What matters is ultimately it's my story to tell in my own language.  Body language, facial expression, words, tone of voice.  It all matters.  It all develops characters.  It reveals what I've observed.

The book is a soup of sorts.  Stone soup, perhaps, where many members of my village brought a different ingredient for flavor and nourishment, and in turn we all get fed.

Doesn't matter who's in the governor's mansion in Tallahassee.


Make someone else's day magical!
Mackenzie