The deadline loometh...

I have a month to left to polish THE WARLORD'S BRIDE. That may sound like a lot, but it's not. Not the way I work. I'm still at the stage where it can take me two hours to go through a scene. That's about par for the course, because here's what I'm using those hours for:

I'm trying to ensure that the pace is right. I'm still doing slashing and moving and rewriting -- a lot.

I'm making sure I've got information where it works best, and not somewhere else.

I'm smoothing out the tone, so it sounds like I sat down and wrote this in one afternoon, not over several months, during which I wrote through a host of moods and life events that had an impact on the tone of the work on any given day.

I'm trying to weed out anachronisms, or anything that sounds too modern. I'm not a fan of the "thee, 'twas, 'twere" school of medieval setting, because I feel that it gets in the way, rather than enhancing the story, but I do try not to use anything that sounds too 20-21st century.

I'm adding description, particularly of setting, clothing and meals.

I'm trying to make the love scenes more sensual and emotionally powerful.

I'm trying to make sure my characters' motives are clear and understandable, and that the secondary characters aren't stealing the show (two scenes with secondary characters have either been severely shortened or cut -- the jury's still out on the second).

I'm also trying to take a daily walk and get my recently delivered antique china cabinet ready for the china, and moving around other items. I'm only doing a bit a day on that. I still make dinner and do laundry (got my clothesline up -- yeah!). And spend time with the family and friends. I don't shut myself away and have meals brought to my door.

Law and Order reruns (original and SVU) are out, except for the first half-hour of Law & Order at 1 p.m., the bits with Lenny, because a girl has to eat lunch sometime and it's Lenny!

I'm still watching my evening TV shows, because after a day on the writing, the brain isn't much good for anything else except vegging in front of the TV. I also need breaks, or the shoulders and back aches.

Unfortunately, it means I won't have much time for anything on the computer except working, because of the time involved and muscle issues, so blog posts will be at a minimum.

So until next week, adios and think of me, with my sharpened #2 pencils and computer, trying to make it sound like I just sat down one day and decided to tell a story.