Remember these? I LOVE my word processing program!

Yes, 26,137 words. You didn’t misread it. I don’t think I have EVER had this many words stuffed into a single document belonging to me. 🙂

Is it difficult? A week ago I would have told you, “Aw, hell, naw! This is a piece of cake.” Today I say, “OMG, yes, this is harder than I thought it would be.”

Here’s what happened:  I struggled with the story over the weekend. I just couldn’t find the a way to convey what I wanted, and I was seriously concerned that maybe I’d run out of words and ideas. I didn’t like anything that was hitting the page, so I typed and deleted, retyped, and deleted, again. (THAT is painful.)

The youngest son and I un-decorated the house yesterday and after getting the living room back to normal, I was excited that I had the entire remainder of the day ahead of me to write.

Yeah, okay. I think I may have gotten all of 500 words out. I just could not find my groove, and it stressed me out. By six o’clock last night, I gave up and decided to blow some brain cells on my favorite Facebook games. (Don’t judge me. We all have our little habits.)

Today, however, I could feel the story coming back to life, and I could not wait to get out of the office and come home and curl up on my little corner of the bed and get started.

Lo and behold, I went from just over 23K words to where I am now, and I am SO relieved. I was truly worried that I wouldn’t be able to go further.

So to celebrate being shy of thirty thousand words, I want to introduce you to my inner psycho-bitch; THE WOMAN.

We first meet The Woman in the beginning of the story.

Wait! I forgot to tell you what the novel is about. *face palm* This is the story of an infant abduction, which is a nightmare to any new parent. This tale is peppered with unique characters; the prophetic dreamer that “sees” bits and pieces of the events leading up to the crime, a skeptical detective who is assigned to the case, a nurse who is expecting, a young wife (who is also expecting), and The Woman – who is planning to abduct a baby. The story leads us through the months prior to the birth through the eyes of several of the characters, then the abduction, and then the investigation of the crime. During the first part of the tale, the back stories of many of the characters are shared and we start to see how and why everyone has turned out the way that they have.

So back to The Woman…She can’t have children. She’s tried everything, and even tries dealing with a fertility specialist and is told that she is barren. Of course, our antagonist  doesn’t believe him, telling herself that the process of trying to become pregnant in such a clinical setting simply stressed her body out into NOT becoming pregnant. The steps that The Woman takes to try to become pregnant on her own, once again, are risky and dangerous, but we start to see patterns emerging with our disturbed woman. She is a binge drinker. She takes risks to get what she wants, from stalking to trying to obtain false birth documentation for “her” baby. She is not above illegally gaining entry to places she has no business being, and she has a nasty, nasty temper. She really has no limitations regarding what she does to get what she wants, and one might think she’s promiscuous, but she really isn’t; she just knows that sometimes sex will get a girl what she needs, and she simply uses that to her advantage. Just sayin’…

When the idea of this theme started making its way around my mind, I REALLY hated The Woman, and thought, “Well, that’s fine…she’ll totally get hers in the end, because I can kill her off and not go to prison.” Now that her character has developed, pretty much on its own, I find that I actually feel sorry for this crazy woman.

I hope that the coming days will allow me to put forth a few thousand more words. Perhaps at 40,000 words we can celebrate by getting to know Toni DeLuca, medical office manager and prophetic dreamer.

I appreciate you sticking with me through this adventure.

I have to confess, seeing yet ANOTHER friend’s work on Amazon yesterday (and yes, I ordered the paperback) lit a hotter fire under my ass, and I swore to myself that I WOULD finish this story. No, it’s not a New Year’s resolution…It’s simply a lifestyle change. Ha ha…

Until Next Time…