February 2021

What I’m reading

February was a month for savoring books, and I read some great ones.

In fact, I did something this month I never do: I read the same book — Tana French’s The Searcher — not once, but twice, back to back. The first time through, I read for the joy of story. The second time, I paid close attention to pacing, character development, and especially word choice. The story’s pacing matched my February mood, developing slowly and inevitably toward an explosive end, giving plenty of space for the reader (uh, me) to become invested in each character and each thread before the walloping ending. Along the way, I was fascinated by how a few well-chosen words and phrases scattered over 400+ pages flavor the whole story.

Lesson noted.

But The Searcher wasn’t the only great book I read in February. I also read The Survivors, Jane Harper’s latest brilliant release. Her books are auto-buy for me, always excellent. Rounding out the month were Waiting for the Night Song by Julie Carrick Dalton, The Last Trial by Scott Turow, and Unspeakable Things by Jess Lourey.

I made excellent reading choices this month.

Miscellany

— An unexpected bright spot in the month came in the form of an email from a high school librarian who saw my short story in Life is Short and Then You Die and made the connection between my last name and one of her stats teachers in grad school, my late mother-in-law. I was so touched she took the time to look me up and share her memories of Nona with me. “I just wanted to let you know that her memory is alive and well,” she wrote, “and that seeing your name made me think immediately of her with a great deal of fondness.”

— I started the month off right by joining a Sisters in Crime virtual write-in — a discussion of character development followed by time to write together virtually. I so miss in person conferences and readings and signings. The virtual events fill a hole in my heart, but I can’t wait for the day when we’re together again for real.

— The Springsteen Super Bowl commercial, filmed near Lebanon, Kansas, recalled memories of a 2013 day trip my family took to the little chapel featured in the commercial.

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What I’m writing

Me, a confirmed pantser…plotting? 

Sort of.

Inspired by Jane Harper’s discussion of her writing process during the U.S. launch of The Survivors, I spent most of the month blocking out scenes, collecting snippets of dialog and description, and thinking through the shape of my next WIP. As a result, I have a rough road map of about 15k words — so not a concise outline, by any stretch.

Several times as I made notes for a scene, I wanted to jump in and begin writing immediately, the way I always have. But when I came back later, I could see the scene needed to change, to be moved to a different place in the manuscript for a better story or smoother flow, or to be deleted altogether. So much easier to do at this stage than after I’ve written 80k, right? Maybe there’s something to this plotting business, after all.

Will this bloated outline help me avoid the pitfalls of the overwriting I’ve done in the past? Will I be as excited to write the scenes later as I was when I dreamed them up? Will this streamline my writing process once and for all?

I DON’T KNOW! STAY TUNED!