A few more weeks and it will be a different story all together. (9 more to go!)
Several writey type things are happening. One, I'm still submitting work for publishers. I'm sure I will post about it if I get picked up by an agent. I think my head might explode from excitement.
Two, I got my issue of the May/June 'Writer's Digest' and my (real) name is actually in print! Yay! So that's super fun. I will post the story that won the Honorable Mention here in a few days.
Three, I've started editing Becca's story. I still don't have any idea how it is going to end. But I think if I go over the beginning chapters and adjust them to match the later chapters better, I'll have more of an idea about what I want.
The writing itself started out very light and snarky, but as it went I feel it grew to be more serious. Maybe that was a reflection of her growing and realizing what was at stake. But I also feel a disconnect between the first bit of it and the second. Mostly because at the beginning, I was sure she and Jeff would end up...not together, since one of them had to die, but coming to an understanding of sorts.
As I went along, though, I really started rooting for Kevin. Whether he dies in the end or not is still up in the air. I do realize that the girl torn between two guys who both love her is perhaps the single most overdone plot in the the history of mankind. I bet I could think of half a dozen books with that plot right now. Ready go:
1. The Iliad.
2. Sense and Sensibility
3. Twilight (by the way...blech.)
4. Legends of the Fall. Technically three guys, but same idea. And it's a movie. Whatever.
5. Her Prairie Knight, by B. M. Bower, whom I lurv as a writer. She's hilarious.
6. Um....
Okay, five. Five plots off the top of my head that have a 'oh-woe-is-me-how-shall-I-choose-between-them?' plot. Still.
I suppose its how I work work the plot that makes all the different. There are only so many different stories. And that, I suppose, is the secret to being a great story teller, as opposed to a good writer.
Sigh...
This post kind of got long, as usual, but here's the next bit of the 500 Word Challenge. Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty-Four
Word Count: 529
Renee bounced with impatience on the front walk, wringing her hands together.
Colton put a hand on her shoulder. “Calm down.”
“I can’t!” she said, tapping her foot.
He had to smile at her whine. “You’re going to be sick.”
“No, I’m n-” she gasped, her hand shading her eyes. A black car pulled in. It had barely clear the gate when the back door opened and a man and a woman came rushing out. Renee launched herself at them. Colton stayed well back as they cried, each talking over the other. Her parents held her between them, pressing kisses to her forehead, looking at her face, hugging her.
Colton blinked his eyes clear. He missed his parents. They weren’t as demonstrative as Renee’s family obviously was, but they had been good loving people.
“This is Colton Savage.” Renee said, leading them over.
Colton held her mother as the woman sobbed into his shoulder.
“Thank you,” Mr. White said, shaking his hand. Renee had his eyes, the same shape to her face. Colton could well believe they’d been out backpacking; Mr. White looked like a mountain man, his beard shaggy.
“I can’t believe it!” Mrs. White said, dashing tears from her cheeks. “I just can’t believe it!”
Colton herded them inside, all three of them talking at once. Rosa and Mancini were bestowed with grateful hugs and tears as well. Rosa took in stride, but Mancini made a quick exit.
Colton listened absently as Renee told her story yet again. Even she sounded bored with it, using the same phrases, the same descriptions. She reached over and squeezed his hand.
“And Colton wouldn’t take no for an answer.” She said, smiling at him. He managed a smile back. He realized Mr. White was peering at him oddly.
“Please, you must be hungry,” he said, standing. “Rosa?”
“Of course. Right this way.” The woman bustled Renee and her mother out of the room.
Colton was not surprised when Mr. White held him back, his strong hand on his shoulder.
“Colton, is it?”
“Yes, sir.”
The man looked up at him, wiry and hard, everything Renee and her mother weren’t. “I have to thank you for helping my daughter, Colton.”
“I had to. I lo-”
“Lucky, that she found a Spanish national so eager to marry her and give her some rights here in this country, just when she needed it most.”
Colton stared blankly back. “Yes.”
Mr. White smiled. “Let’s go eat.”
Colton watched them eat, the White’s doing justice to Rosa skill.
“You can stay here,” Renee offered. “Colton has an extra bedroom, if you want.”
Colton’s stomach tightened at the thought of having to sleep with Renee again, even if it was necessary.
Mrs. White laughed. “A hotel would be fine, if Colton wouldn’t mind?” She took his hand and patted it. “I know its expensive, you flying us out here and everything.”
“Its no problem,” he assured her. “I’ll have Alice find something close by.”
Mrs. White planted a kiss on his cheek before he could stop her. She was crying again, hugging Renee close.
Colton excused himself to call Alice form the safety of his office.
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