Structure....

Today was the final day of summer church group - I was very proud of my two girls.  Little Tootsie looked so darn cute singing along to the songs (once she got over her initial shyness - bless), and Big Toots was thrilled because her group won THE SPECIAL PRIZE.  I'm so proud of both of them - they've been a real credit to the family.  And now they're away for their holiday.....I'll miss them.

My plan for next week is to write, write, write!  Tomorrow I will make sure the guinea pigs are cleaned out, basic levels of hygiene and cleanliness are achieved around the house, and that I have enough chocolate, tea and food to last me the week.  I will also be purchasing a large stack of index cards.  A suggestion from The Story Book.  I think it will help me work out the structure of the book, to ensure I'm creating enough conflict, coming up with knowledge gaps, and resolving everything by the end of the book.

The idea is that you write the main points of your plot on cards and place them on a timeline.  Then, you work out what needs to happen before that event, or what needs to happen after it.  And all the time you need to ask yourself if you have a protagonist, an antagonist, conflicts, changes in values, inciting incidents, turning points, knowledge gaps etc etc etc.  There's no such thing as a basic beginning, middle and end when you're writing a book! 

But I've decided that I'm not going to spend more than one day on that.  Because the most important thing is to be creative!  I'll let you know how I get on...