Cheryl Wyatt

I skipped church today. I hadn't wanted to esp'ly since it was a special service with 4 members of our small church being baptized - and I report everything for the 'newsfromthepews' blog - but I told my dh that I'd made a commitment here and then the pastor picked the 31st for the service. He mainly picked today b/c he wanted it done before cold weather set in since we do it outside.

So, dh took the boys along with the camcorder, my digital camera and my voice recorder so at least I'll still be able to do the church blog when this weekend's over.

But do you know what? My boys finally decided to take the plunge - yes, they got baptized without me being there. Mind, it's all on video tape. I know it's not the same, but...actually, I was 7 mos pregnant with my youngest when I got baptized so I guess I was there with him when he first took the plunge.  or I guess, he was actually with me. LOL

One of my deadlines this month was to enter LI author Cheryl Wyatt's Aug Prompt contest. I've entered every month this year and didn't want to skip. Esp'ly since I'd already started it. So I worked on it until I'd honed it down to 310 words. But it was still 10 words over. With the deadline a day away, I set it aside.

I opened OUTLAW but shortly hit a wall. Usually, I write the POV from the H & h only, but this time I started considering a 3rd. In the wip, the h is kidnapped but leaves clues for her Pa to follow. So, when I hit the wall, I decided to switch to her Pa's POV. It worked. I added 4 scenes to add anticipation where the reader would now know that her freedom was possible but just out of reach. By the time my 3rd POV caught up to my 'wall', the story flowed once more.

Interruptions in my day included:

Yippee!!!

Love Inspired author, Cheryl Wyatt, runs a contest on her blog every month. When I first saw Cheryl's July word list and prompt lines, I knew the theme was a crime scene. But, I don't write suspense.

As usual, I copied the prompt list to a word doc and filed it way. And, as usual, every few days, I'd open the doc and look at the list.

Slowly, the words merged into a crime story.

But...I write tender romances filled with faith and forgiveness. I don't write horrendous, frightening, gory stories.

Cheryl's prompt contest, though, is a challenge. I thrive on challenge. For 2 weeks I thought about Cheryl's list.

No - I didn't win the Big Finish 2 contest, but I did win a new book and some chocolate!