Busy, Busy

I spent some time this morning making up brochures for Bookfest this weekend. I made 15 so far and may make some more.

While those were printing up, I got back onto some plotting for the new Windsong Lake book. I knew that Stefanie would be invited to a country manor house to figure out a mystery, but I had no idea what that mystery really was. Yesterday, I sat down and began drawing a family tree for the characters inhabiting the house and figuring out what the "secret" was that Stefanie is supposed to uncover. I bounced back and forth between my diagram and typed notes about who had things to hide and who wanted them revealed, i.e., motives. I think I have most of that ironed out now, as well as a device for getting Stefanie and Paul into Mongan Manor. Some of what I figured out may change down the road, but I think I've got a solid plot now. While my booklets were printing, I made a clean copy of the family tree and am now figuring out the dates of birth of each person. The person who invites Stefanie to Mongan Manor doesn't want anyone to know the real reason, so she says it's because she has commissioned Stefanie to do a painting of the manor as a gift to one of the clan's matriarchs. That fits nicely with why a family gathering is being invaded by a stranger. More details to be worked out before I get into the scene where the invitation is given.

I also was struck by the notion that "Where Power Lies" is too long. There's a nagging memory in my head about the number 80,000, as in word count. At 82,280, that nagging urged me to do some more cutting this morning. Now it's down to 80,648, and I'll be looking to trim just a bit more. None of this means any plot changes--just cutting out some stuff that really isn't necessary. Will another proofreading be necessary in the face of all this chopping? Probably.  (*sigh*)