Killing My Darlings

All of my efforts to avoid catching my husband’s bug last week failed in their original intent, which became apparent Wednesday night when I realized I’d caught his sore throat. Thankfully, though, all that extra garlic and vitamin C I consumed did seem to lessen the severity of my illness, as it never moved up into my sinuses like it did with poor Matt. My sore throat lasted several days, and I felt pretty achy and run-down, but at least I could breathe. Even so, I’d anticipated being much sicker than what I ended up being and wrapped up my essential work early and gave myself a few days off to rest. That meant a pretty uneventful Easter Sunday, but at least it was relaxing. Now I’m feeling much better, albeit not quite 100 percent.

I didn’t write while I was feeling blechy. The last bit I did was Wednesday night, when I added 509 words to Radium Town. I added another 300 or so this morning, and then tonight I scrubbed more than 1300, including all of the excerpts I posted last week, because that scene just was not working. But then I started over on it and added 522 new words, and the scene is flowing much better now. That brings the total word count so far to 6,433. Here’s a rough, non-spoilery snapshot of today’s output:

Betty had been surprised to see the two cowboys, although if she’d thought about what Will had told her that morning about his father, she might have thought to expect him there. By the look on Will’s face when she’d first been shown into the parlor, he hadn’t expected her, either. Had there been approval mixed with the surprise on his face?

At first Betty had dismissed the notion. She wore a simple dress of pea-green silk and white cotton lace that she had sewn herself. It fit fine, and it was suitable enough for a formal dinner, but it hardly matched the finery of the mayors’ wives, or even the delicate cobalt embroidery on Mrs. Bayless’s black dress. She’d done her short brown hair up in such a way that it looked feminine and didn’t call attention to how little of it there was. She was presentable, but hardly dressed to draw attention.

Nevertheless, as they’d entered the dining room, Will had taken her arm and whispered, “You look right pretty tonight, Betty.”

She’d felt herself flush at the compliment, and warmth again started to spread across her chest and up her neck at the memory. A burst of laughter brought her back to the present, and she returned her attention to Tom Mix, who was regaling the other guests with an account of how Betty had bested Will that morning at the train station.

“Did you really shock him?” asked one of the wives. Betty wasn’t sure which was which, but was fairly certain it was Mrs. Rohde.

“Not enough to do permanent damage,” Betty assured her.

“I don’t know about that,” said Will. “Some of my hair got singed.”

“I said permanent,” Betty pointed out. “Hair will grow back.”

In other news, I finally started researching agents and agencies today. I also de-listed Dominion of the Damned from all the places that had it for sale. You might surmise that these two things are related, and you would be correct.  I’m sure I’ll have more to say about that in the coming days and weeks.