Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The Sun is out, the Paint is ready.

We've been so blessed with awesome weather this March break. Above 10 degrees Celsius since Saturday, and no rain so far. I lift praise for all this wonderful weather and family time this week. He is so good! I hope you're experiencing resurrection type weather, too. Spring--new life--is truly in the air here.

Our eldest is having a painting party tomorrow and Thursday to bring new life to her room. In preparation, her bedroom contents is cluttering our family room. The middle beauty isn't impressed. She can't look left or right without being horrified by mess, clutter, and ugliness, as she puts it. So mom wonders why her own room can get in the state it so often does. I guess her mess, clutter, ugliness is somehow more pleasant for her to look at than her sisters. Do any of you have children like this? Children with selective acceptances?

But I digress, let's get onto writing.

Since this is the season of vacationing around here. It dawned on me that I haven't read any stories that have a vacation plopped in the middle of the story. Wouldn't that little diversion add some realism to a story? And think of the conflict it could provide.

We plan our vacations months in advance, so it would certainly be reasonable to find our characters "stuck" with a vacation to go on when in the midst of a new, sparkling relationship (thinking romances here as I so often do). What if the vacation was a family reunion type? A mix of bliss and upheaval. Oh what fun a writer could have with that.

I'm starting to think that this scenario could come in handy for a sagging middle. What do you think? What realistic twists have you incorporated in your stories to boost an otherwise sagging middle?


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

P.S. The family is going for a little jaunt today and I'm hoping to bring back some wondrous pics for tomorrows post. Check back tomorrow if the wonders of the world interest you.

2 comments:

Jody Hedlund said...

Hi Eileen,

I definitely have children who expect more of others than of themselves! I feel like I'm constantly saying, "Don't worry about the speck in someone else's eye when you have a log in your own."

Sagging middles are definitely a challenge! I'm not sure what else to do, except dig deeper into the what-if possibilities. I've been trying to do that with each scene, crafting each one more uniquely and with more conflict.

Jessica Nelson said...

Hmmm, twists... I like poking up a new piece of info right when the mc's are starting to like each other, something to shake them up a bit. :-) Not sure if it works yet though. LOL

Enjoy your time together!