_I am coming up  for air, short of completion of my current chapter edit in my near completed novel to relax with my blogs. The blogs are a great way to write in a more relaxed chatty way.  Writing a well researched historical novel is the equivalent of completing Online degree completion programs.

This sort of chat spread out over 110,000 words of a novel just has to be pruned back hard however, the novel has to flow quickly or it would bore a reader to tears.  I'm sure we have all experienced books like that and i am possibly more critical than most.  With so much in life I love doing, I cannot stand to waste time reading a boring slow moving novel. 

I have set myself a goal to edit 10,000 words a day in my current novel, though I am only 1/4 of the way to that target at midday today and need a break.

I can see the part ahead of me can be dramatically shortened. It doesn't take me a lot of courage to remove a few hundred words, but to cut out a few thousand...I think I need a cup of coffee to give me the strength to do that.   

This is why it pays to leave a novel alone for a while following an edit, so you have the courage to prune heavily when you come back.

What shocks me is that I see almost a page full does work but the story will not suffer if any of it is removed and I am thinking that more action and less of long character building talk is going to keep my reader's hooked into my story. What a thrill it would be to write a fast paced story that people do not want to put down.   To there I have it...my sin of pride showing and a self pep talk to and coffee to give me the courage to get the chainsaw into this chapter and remove everything that is not propelling you forward.  :-). 

• What a year of rural living. Three high floods, a haystack explosion 100 meters from us, and a mouse plague. lol, It is ALL cleaned up inside and even the renovations from the damage fixed up and we are now in a lovely position to enjoy the benefits instead of the yucky bits of rural living, :-). We saw a dozen Emu in the paddocks today, black swans nesting, I can begin walks instead of just cleaning for exercise tomorrow :-)

 Living in the country as we do, I cannot protect against forces of nature but I can make sure I have a great roadside assistance program. 

The haystack explosion was caused by the farmer harvesting the hay while it was still damp.  It composted in the centre and generated so much heat it exploded outward, burst into flame as soon as it came in contact with air. It was like a fire ball forking outward. 
I thought it was a lightening bolt. There was a boom over our heads and a flash like lightening went into three of my neighbours homes, We were protected by the big maple tree in front of the house, it hit the tree and sent the foliage flying, it crashed branches out of the maple trees and sent them flying everywhere. Then the haystack was on fire. It had exploded from inside apparently. It was very dramatic. I had never seen a haystack explode before. I heard they could do this.
It gave me an idea for a scene I could use in my Australian novel.

I illustrated this post with a gift card of Mirinatwa Gap,  Grampians Victoria, created from the original oil painting by myself, Kathy Shell.  Art & Art Print Gifts can be viewed & purchased from :-
Kathy Shell