Thankful Thursday and NOT Being the Bear

First, I want to say a HUGE thank you to Judge Vaughn Walker for declaring Prop 8…

UNCONSTITUTIONAL!

Yes, it seems like a big Duh! on the one hand, and I know there is more battle coming, but over here in California, many, many of us (really!) are dancing for joy at the breaking-through-the-clouds moment of common sense Judge Walker demonstrated yesterday. I have to tell you that, at election time, judges are often a category I don’t vote in, simply because I have never even heard the name of any of the candidates. Well, I will remember Walker’s name now, you can bet, and he’s got my vote for anything he wants to run for in the future.

Here’s how my heart is feeling:

And, second, the writing thought for the day: I am NOT being the bear. Did you all hear the news story about the bear who took the Corolla for a little joy ride? Here’s the photo:

Look at that bear. Despite the fact that he has probably already eaten the peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich he originally went into the car for, he does not look happy. In fact, he looks, what? Trapped. Yes, that’s what I’d say. Completely stuck, unable to turn around, unable–as my husband asked about–to break out that windshield and escape.

Yesterday, I plotted a scene that makes a big direction change in one of my story threads. Early in the story, in this draft, my MC gets very excited about something, and you can see that she is hooked to the level of serious convert, that she will be riding this plotline and making it her own. Well, in the 100 or so pages since, I have pretty much dropped that thread, even forgotten about it. So I decided it was time to bring it back, write something about it, knowing very well that I will have to add a scene or two in the middle to support things. And I took the thread away from my MC. I gave it to someone else. Of course MC will be on the thread and will, at some point, take a strand of it up for herself, but for now she’s not driving it; her friend is.

Is this the right choice? Obviously, I don’t know yet. But it feels right for today–it feels like I am, unlike the bear, maneuvering myself (and my MC) out of a trapped position. I’m one of the deputies with the long rope that opened the car door (and then stood way back, I’m guessing) to let the bear get out and go on its way.

Is there some place where you feel like you’ve, even maybe, written yourself into a corner. Should you try backing slowly out and seeing if there’s a door waiting, somewhere in another direction? Don’t be the bear–check it out and see where it takes you.