ACTION!

Yesterday afternoon Shannon and I went to the coffee shop to revise. (Did I really need a Breve and an Orange Dreamcicle drink?)We settled side by side on the leather sofa. I dreaded the scene that I was approaching. It was an important scene. The scene on the page was merely a skeleton of what it needed to be. The scene needed flesh and muscle. It was an action scene.

Many times, I want to write simply "and then they fought," or some such spare statement of what happened. But readers like to be shown. As writers we have to pull them into the story and let them experience what is happening. So I took a big breath and geared up to slow down.

Then as if by reading my thoughts, Shannon said, "I hate writing action scenes."

I laughed. "So do I."

"I just want to hurry up and get it over with."

There are some genes I hoped not to pass down to my daughter.



***Congratulations to the first three August winners: Pamela Wilson from San Antonio, Texas, Elizabeth Nelson from Shreveport, LA 71115, and Linda Hoiseth from Lima, Peru. You each won a signed hardback copy of Piper Reed Navy Brat. Stay tuned for next week's drawing.