Novel Writing Lesson: My characters are not my friends.

From the first page of notes, I already knew what a couple of Holly's biggest challenges would be. Holly is the main character in my novel, and while a handful of those challenges quickly morphed into different ones, conflict was never far from my mind. It's been years since I accepted the fact that readers and viewers won't care about a story if it doesn't have conflict. Got it. Check. My character has to face some hardship. It's a given I was ready to deal with.

Then a couple of weeks ago, Dena Harris and I spent a day working together. Ahem, working and playing and talking. More than half of our conversations turned toward writing; it's

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Almost makes me nostalgic for adolescence

Almost...

My extreme downsizing hobby during the season of fierce acquisition

They tell me that yesterday was Black Friday. Of course I know it was; everybody knows that in the US, the day after Thanksgiving begins the retail season's push to get us to buy, buy, buy! But I am not participating this year. Not like in years past, anyway.

Instead? I'm about to head over to my storage unit and pack up some more things to rid myself of. The gorgeous dresses I wore in Michelle and Betsy's wedding? I ask you: what is it I thought I was going to ever do with those dresses? So today, they're going. Along with many, many more clothes which will actually serve someone's needs instead of collecting dust for me. Same with the contents of a file cabinet I can't remember the last time I opened. Sure, I need some files. But darlins,

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