Saturday, December 22, 2001 ( 9:49 PM ) On the wall!

I got some good help last night from a writer in an AOL chatroom. She suggested I tape a large sheet of paper (butcher paper or newsprint) on the wall, and do a new outline of the novel on that. That's just what I needed... a way to see the whole thing all at once - like a timeline.

That much empty wall space is hard to find here, but I've got a large penboard that we use for homeschooling. I cleaned it off to re-outline my novel. In doing this, I found the part that was troubling me - a large spot in the middle where I needed more evidence against the true criminals. Though I found the spot, I was still unable to fill it, until my boyfriend offered to work on it with me. With his help, we came up with a new character to add to the story. She is vibrant, interesting, and possesses information that is critically needed. I will weave her into the manuscript ... it will be much better now. Suddenly I think I may have a novel that is worth publishing, rather than one I just did for practice. #