Hello,

I’m eager to get my second book completed or at least a rewrite down, yet its taking time because I’m adding more, fleshing out seriously as I go along. I have been reading a lot because my kid has football practice so I read while I wait and write some too. Yet, the reading has alerted me to something I must walk as a dangerous fine line: details, how much detail I want to use when describing a character, a room, the weather.

I cleave to Elmore Leonard’s rule of writing: skip the boring details, how a character looks, how everything else looks . I believe in this one hundred percent though some parts of writing need details because it gives a scene a depth or feel such as fear and you can only do this by description, the key for me doing it right is by doing it very little.

I try to describe what I need to using only a few words, the best ones which need no explanation, ones that get in and out and don’t detract from the story but keep it moving. I work on this through pages of rewriting like everyone else and still don’t know if I get it right, yet I keep at it until I have cut down to the bone which is my goal and which I feel is what the readers most prefer; not to wade through gunk but get to the story—hopefully a terrific one-- because getting to it is the purpose.

Keep trying, writing, rewriting, never giving up; it’s worth it, it’s everything.

If you have any comments or suggestions please e-mail me at my new address: mathewsla@hotmail.com

Until next time, God willing,

Lori