Don’t know why it is that some chapters get done in two days and others take THREE MONTHS! But that is how it goes.
Chapter Twenty Six was one of the recalcitrant type. I started it in May, or maybe even April, but I just couldn’t seem to get it to go anywhere. At first, I thought it was because I was distracted (probably by the romantic life of Rachel Griffin. John made an amused comment the other day about Rachel’s “many boyfriends,” and my eight year old, who was standing by, leapt to her defense, shouting stalwartly, “Mom’s character doesn’t have many boyfriends. She only has–” He stuck out two fingers, like a victory sign. “–two!” For reasons I cannot put into words, this amused me tremendously.)
However, as I was reading my current novel to my family (i.e. my mom and brother), I suddenly realized what was wrong with the chapter: I was writing about the wrong thing. The book is nearly done, and yet I was babbling on about all sorts of non essentials, the kind of thing that would go much better in Volume Two. (This realization was not nearly as embarrassing as the one I made at Boy Scout camp, when I realized that I had sent my character to a certain place to find out the all important X, and when she was there, I forgot to have her ask about X. Gah!)
So, I went back and revamped.
Last night, I finished it again. I’m sure a little polishing will be needed, but this time it actually works. Finally, on to the next scene! (Which is entirely different than I thought it would be before Boy Scout camp, because I realized that the stuff in that scene needed to go in the next book, too. ;-)