If I'd Known Then What I Know Now . . .

. . . Spence and Sadie would have been a lot easier to write. It's the groping through to understanding the characters that takes so blinkin' much time!

Once you know where they've been, it's easy to see what they should have been doing back in chapter two or three or four. Hell, it's easy to see what they should have done yesterday. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. And unlike real life, it's actually useful in books. You can go back and change things. You can let them open doors they left closed in earlier versions. You can yank useless people out of the book and stick in dead husbands where they are required (trust me, sometimes they are. Who knew? No, not here. Not this book.).

Anyway, if I'd known then what I know now, I could have written the book in a month. And I wouldn't have had nearly the stress. Of course that's not over yet. Because everything I know now I can use back there. And will.

But the stuff I don't know yet . . . well, that's the hard part. If I knew now what I'll know tomorrow, writing would be lots faster and less messy.

But at least we're gathering momentum now. We just might get this thing finished by the time we're supposed to. And Spence and Sadie and I can have a well-earned rest. We won't be going to Fiji for it, though. But Montana is a fine place to be. So's a wedding. Happily ever afters everywhere -- but work to do first.

Don't forget the contest on my website. If you haven't entered, please do. The dogs will thank you! (They get treats to choose winners. Everybody -- canine at least -- wins that way).