Day Two: July 3, 2013

Day Two: July 3, 2013.  Collapsed from excitement and exhaustion last night. Despite a slow start I had a productive day. Using previous notes I combed through Chapter Seven: At the Door and tweaked, revised and edited.  The thrilling thing about revision is that's where the real writing occurs. Once the  characters take over anything can happen on the page.  For example, when a character has a choice to make and you think you know what he or she will do he or she does the opposite.

Had company this afternoon, not a rattlesnake or Bobcat. Dorland's caretaker, Robert, and his wife Janice knocked on the door, coincidentally as I worked on "At the Door." Both visual artists who paint and teach in the studio here, they also make sure the residents have everything they need. Well

you know I now have a radio thanks to Robert.

Other tools that writers need: Yellow highlighters and mosquito wipes. Yes, I'm so sweet the bugs have bitten me up already while reading craft books, which require me to highlight in yellow and annotate in pen.

According to the late William Sloane, author of The Craft of Writing, "I believe that fiction is as much of a reality as any other experience a reader undertakes. Call it vicarious if you like, but the reader is not a spectator, he is a participant" (40).

Here is tonight's real sunset for you to enjoy . . .