Hey there, blog readers. I got a lot going on today—plus, I’m still playing catch-up after that whole hour was ripped away from me with last week’s time change—so let’s jump right into the story of the week. Thank you, Karen Meyer, for a prompt that’s been on the list for quite a while.

This Wasn’t Even a Remote Possibility

They were an unlikely pair. Charlie watched trash TV while Madeline, a viewing snob, preferred premium cable or PBS.

One day, Charlie cajoled her into watching Strip Poker Mud Wrestling, and Madeline, instantly hooked, began a rapid descent into mindless TV.

“I’m worried,” Charlie said. “Now she’s bingeing shows even I think are dumb. I’m having some professionals over tonight to help out.”

“Be careful,” his friend warned. “Those interventions usually blow up.”

“Intervention? These are reality producers. They want her to star in Trash TV Junkies. They pay great, plus free premium cable—not that she’ll ever watch that again.”

Prompt: Uncorrupted

NOVEL UPDATE:

Last week you watched and read as I seemed to talk myself into at least considering a change of plans regarding next steps on Questionable Characters. After thinking about it a bit, I decided that I am indeed going to alter my plan of attack as I move forward with my novel. I am now going to do major cleanup but not major reconstruction on the book at this point. My goal is to fix the blatantly obvious problems like plot holes, story logic issues and continuity/consistency errors, as well as grammatical stuff (I know—I’m probably talking over your head when I use professional writer jargon like “grammatical stuff”).

If possible, I’d also like to get my page count down. Once I’ve accomplished those tasks, I plan to send it off to a development editor—someone who will help me address the big picture issues before I take another swing at it with draft number two. Even though this does not follow the method used in the rewrite book I really like, I feel like this might really be the best course moving forward for me. To that end, I will be intensifying my search for an editor while I am working on cleaning up my first draft. Since the search is officially underway, if any of you writers out there have any great recommendations for a development editor, PLEASE send the info my way and I’ll be forever grateful. If it works out, I may even name my next grandchild after you.

Finally, here’s an early warning for two upcoming events. On Friday, April 12th, I’ll be going to some kind of poetry slam in downtown Monterey where I plan to compete. Let’s see how my little 101-word stories do against legit poetry. It could be a total train wreck OR it might be hilarious. Look for more deets as it gets closer. I’ll also be at BookSmart in Morgan Hill on Saturday, April 27th for the annual Independent Bookstore Day. Last year I made appearances in Morgan Hill, San Jose, and Pleasanton for the big event. Not sure how it will go this year so stay tuned for more on that as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

Scotty out