Progress

I am only halfway through the revisions for The Outlaw Bride and already I have cut 40,000 words and managed to get the page count (single spaced) down from 287 pages to 248. There are a couple scenes I need to add in, but since I still have quite a bit to cut out I think it will balance out in the end. The big work will come in making everything flow back together and not read as if it's been hacked apart, but that job is appearing much less daunting now that I've broken it down.

I have figured out the problems I was having with how to end the story now that I changed certain elements in it, and that's ironed out. I will have to remove quite a few scenes and write some new ones, but at least now I know where the story is going, even if I'm not quite certain of how it will play out on paper exactly. I'll figure that out when the time comes. I know what needs to happen, it's just a matter of making it work within the plot context and not sounding contrived. But I'm optimistic.

And I managed to keep Rudy in the picture, although I had to cut out Eli. They're the animal contingent of the book. Rudy is the big Irish wolfhound the hero is blackmailed into keeping for his niece. Eli was a little kitten but it began to sound repetitive with the whole animal thread, so I cut one of them out. And being a dog person, and a big fan of the Irish wolfhound, Rudy won the draw.

I remember when I was a teenager my family had to go to this party at my Dad's boss's summer house. The thing was about twice the size of my house and I hated the idea of having to spend an afternoon with a bunch of pretentious rich people. I knew their kids and I didn't particularly like any of them. They were shallow and vapid and I had about as much use for them as I did a bad rash. But as we were driving up to the place I could see the beach and there were these gray dots on the horizon walking near the water. I got all excited and yelled out - hey they have ponies! Things were looking up! I scrambled out of the car, knocking my siblings aside and anyone else who got in my way as I made a beeline for the beach. Forget being polite and saying hello to the host, there were ponies! I tore down the path and came to skidding stop when I hit the beach, toppling into the sand. What I thought was a pony, ambled over, tongue lolling out the side of its mouth. I stared up from my prone position into the biggest dog I had ever seen in my life. I had seen pictures in books before, but I had never seen an Irish wolfhound up close and personal. Damn. Those things are large. And so gentle and friendly. From that day forward, my favorite dog was the Irish Wolfhound. I'm guessing they'll pop up in my writing quite a bit.

Meanwhile, Hot Guy has left town again, but he did stop into the office before he left so I did get to see him. He came over and said hello, making my day. He's hotter than I remember and I'm thinking he really needs to visit more. I think we should set up a visitation schedule. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays work really good for me.