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Slow and steady wins the race, so they say. Not too sure about that, but I’ve finally made a small amount of progress on False Perceptions this week. Last week I spent a considerable amount of time whining that I needed to insert a scene. All I knew was what the outcome of the scene had to be, but I had no idea of what the ingredients would be. I didn’t want to throw something brand new in there that would open up the need for more sub-plots to tie off at the other end. I wracked my brain. Maripat asked if I’d tried free-writing through my stuck spot. Duh. I know that. I ALWAYS do that, but somehow I hadn’t gotten there yet.

Then Lisa popped online; she is one of my critquers who was already familiar with the story. We tossed things back and forth for a couple of hours and found just the right scene to move forward by about five chapters. I’d already decided the scene needed moving, but I’d thought to put it in later, not earlier. With some adjustments, it works perfectly here and best of all pulls something like triple duty.

It introduces the setting in which the climax takes place close to the end of the novel, and introduces a couple of other vital concepts of how things work in the Sphere. It doesn’t matter so much when that info is in there so long as it’s before the climax somewhere. The main thing was that Treyan observed Cae with tousled and flower-strewn hair, hugging two children, but he doesn’t know who she is yet. A very important bit, that. I got a good start on the scene yesterday and finished it off today, along with the short remaining scene to that chapter, and I’m very happy with how it turned out.

That *completes* four chapters out of thirty-three, and I’m back to chapters with minor adjustments to them for awhile. I think I’ll enjoy the tweaking and adjusting that is coming up; I have learned a couple of new things this week about some of my characters. I’ve been working with them for two years and have gone through the entire novel twice before; you’d think I would know them already. Apparently I am a slow learner.

PS, we’re up to six calves and the weather is fifteen below freezing as I write, with a howling east wind. Sounds like perfect calving weather…