Making a Breakthrough

I’ve been stalled on chapter 7 on my newest book for a while now. My gut feeling told me that something was very wrong, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Yesterday I tried to summarize my book in a single sentence, and let me tell you, it was almost impossible. The working summary is this: A healer has to choose between a steadfast man who loves her and the wounded knight who broke her heart years ago. Once I worked out the sentence, it started to clarify the story. My critique partners will tell you I’m very guilty of “cluttering” the story with too many threads. :loser: Hope I have it worked out now.

Anyway, after that, I started focusing on my hero. I knew my heroine–her goals, her motivations, but not his. I took him apart, trying to understand the way a man would perceive a debilitating injury. Now we women know, in real life, there are two types of men: those who act like babies when they’re sick :hissyfit:and those who pretend they’re just fine, even when they’re about to fall over. The latter is a more heroic in a romance novel. That’s when I zeroed in on the problem: my hero was a whiner. But the good news? I can fix him. Now that I’ve discovered where I went off course, I can drag this book back to where it needs to be. AND! To make things even better, I found the source of their romantic conflict. Oooh, and is it ever good! Love that.

In other news, my son is discovering that age 4 requires more responsibility. He’s having to learn things the hard way. As a mom, it bothers me, but I’m convinced that I’m doing the right thing. He doesn’t keep his room clean, and we have a new policy in the household. Any toys that are not put away on time are confiscated. I have a plastic tub FULL of toys right now. Last night was the kicker. One of his treasured toys, Woody from Toy Story, was left out. He was outraged, and there were many tears at bedtime. Still, he has to learn to put his things away when he’s finished playing. Either way, he’ll accomplish this eventually–either by not having any toys left or by finally getting the message. I wonder how long it will take?

Anyone have any thoughts to share on what worked for them?