The rare double post. There I was, all depressed about The Spare, staring at my file list trying to figure where to wield the scalpel next when, wham. Inspiration. Bring it all up front. Indeed, SA suspects OW, and why not, when she was found nearly dead along with AA and his wife. She can't recall that night. The inquest cleared her. Back to writing. I think this solves just about everything. Almost.

About the same word count still. I did the attraction stuff, but it's not complete yet. Only now the back half is wretched. Am thinking of having TV accuse OW of AA's death, something to make SA and OW a sort of Peter Whimsy thing. But, keeping to the positive, I know how to fix this stuff now. No re-writing language, it's total re-write of scenes. Put something at stake... Sometimes I really hate this. I wish I were a writing genius instead of a plodder. I wish the story would fix itself while I'm checking my email. Plus, I wish I would win the lottery. Back to work.

91.7K. Today, I had a bit of dispair. I was reading through again, and I was bored. Arghh! But, never fear. I have figured out how to fix it. OW and SA are too much at odds, so SA is going to be attracted to her from the get go. But he's afraid his feelings for her will get in the way of discovering what really happened to AA and is perhaps a bit too fastidious about investigation. Oh, I can feel the resonance. Yay. The parts I fixed before seem to have stayed fixed. Fidding with TV has worked well. And, though I'm writing this now, I'm anxious to get back and finish my read through, which is fab. Interesting sidenote: On Friday late AM, Lord Ruin was suddenly 5,011 on Amazon and it stayed in the 5,000s until 11:00pm. Curious. Then it went to 12,812, which is still higher than it had been, and, now it's also higher on BN too. So, apparently it's true that watching the rankings can make you crazy. Am still getting very complimentary emails from readers, which is really, really nice. Plus, it's perfectly clear that I need to do the Sinclair sisters next. Emily or Lucy? Or a real surprise, and make it Mary?

The Spare: 91,282 and counting. Yesterday, I did a paper read through and the first 45-50% is pretty darn good. I got annoyed whenever I had to put it down, always a good sign. Then it got choppy, which I expected. Choppy, not wretched, this is a fine distinction to make. So, hey! I reordered some chapters. For a change. But only a few and that was after I laid out a chronology of the ghost stuff which showed me what would be more effective where. And tonight I started in on a chapter and boy was I surprised. I scared myself with the creepy elements I put in, I got the shivers, I swear. I expect I'll have this puppy up to 100K shortly and then it will need to be whittled down. I think I have to shift a few scenes futher up, the interview with Dr. R probably needs to move up in order to lay a solid foundation for SA's suspicion, especially since the weekend's edits ended with that scene having an unexpected ending that really works.

The Spare is (as of this moment) at 90,252 words. Guess what? I reordered the chapters again. That's because now the ghost stuff now happens in very tight timeframe so I had to move a lot of stuff around, but it was a great idea and I wish I knew why I didn't think of it before. SA is actually actively investigating his suspicions about OW and I'm starting to get that nice "layered" effect of meaning and interpretation. Don't think TV needs a brother, I've given that part to an existing character. (Remember, less is more). Am working hard to make TV ambiguously bad. Very bad in the past, no doubt, but is he bad now? A very good question! Villains are more interesting and compelling when there is doubt, plus flat out bad is kind of trite and though convenient, thoughtless. Today, Lord Ruin was 14,419 at Amazon and yesterday I got an email say it had been nominated for a Golden Rose award for best Regency. Flattering, though I can't possibly win. Julia Quinn's Mr. Bridgerton book is in the category, which I loved, not to mention many other really fine writers. But it's a nice thought! Well, back to work.

Things are going well with my new structure. I can feel OW and SA taking on complexity and shape. Am thinking of giving TV a brother, Olivia used to love him, but the Incident with TV puts the kaibash on that and he marries someone else. That's just a notion right now. We'll see. Less is more, including fewer characters so we'll see. Haven't laid all the groundwork for the major events yet, but have begun to do so. As a side note, today, Lord Ruin was 17,938 in the Amazon rankings. There are now 4 reviews of it, very nice ones, too. Today, a friend told me it was a 10 ten pick at Waldenbooks, that it had sold out and they were ordering more. How is it I am so clueless about sales? Also today, I got three really nice emails from readers who said they loved Lord Ruin. They're still coming in at about 1-3 a week, and so far no one has hated it.

Epiphany. Or is the word Plotiphany? Well, whatever it was, two days ago I had it. I have restructured the chapters (Not again? - Yes, again. As many times as it takes.) Anyway, all the eerie stuff happens in a specifically alotted time period. Up to that, all is normal between OW and SA. Been bumping up and down between 87-88K words, since I've had to rip out the spy- feeling stuff and replace it with something else. TV is back to being bad. And he was bad to OW not years ago but right before AA died, and well, gosh, I think it's gonna work out great. I have some messy spots right now and still some important scenes to write to complete the ending, but I know exactly what sort of stuff has to happen. So, on track I think. I felt OW as a person the other day, which is quite a relief. The changes affect SA most, but I think it really adds to the tension of the sort of man he is and the fate that awaits him.

I'be been polishing, etc, working on my list of action items. Back up to 87K words. Last night I had an interesting idea. I think I might cut back on the ghost stuff and bring the OW SA stuff into the forefront. Naturally, this would be a lot of work, but I feel it would improve the pacing. I need to think about it a bit more, but it's one of those ideas that pop into my head and refuse to go away....