T Minus 4 Days to Secret Society Girl and a Digger Gave to Me

Today’s winner is:

ikkinala!

Congratulations! Enjoy your prize, a shimmery, cooling Bath and Body Works Lip Gloss (with handy dandy makeup mirror), in the official Secret Society Girl flavor of 312 Pomegranate Martini.

Why Pomegranate martini? Well, you’ll just have to read the book to find out!

(Please email me with your address to receive your prize.)

As for the rest of you: leave your comment here to enter into tomorrow’s giveaway! We’re getting down to the very important numbers now (see above) … there’s no telling what Diana may give away next!
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In other news I had a superlative writing experience yesterday. And no, I’m not talking about my fun radio interview with Bill Thompson, who is such a cool cat, and told me all kinds of facts you wish you never knew about dollar bills. No, this was another something that happened to me while I was writing, one of those things that convinces me I’m on the right track with a scene. For me, writing is often like hiking a blazed trail, not always sure I know where I’m going, occasionally in the dark and gloomy woods, and my only clue are these infrequent flashes of the emerald city beyond. A tiny peek, a little glimpse.

Yesterday’s emerald went thusly: As I wrote a scene, I had the distinct impression I was missing something. I kept going back and reading the scene. Had I failed to include one of the logical follow throughs of the dialogue’s argument? Had I full engaged the senses? Had I missed an opportunity to make a joke or to tug at the heartstrings? Had I, perchance, contradicted myself with something I wrote earlier? The feeling gnawed at me until at last I decided to skim the earlier chapters, and as soon as I did, I discovered that not only was my current scene in shape, but it also contained a bit of character subtext I didn’t even realize was in there. It threw the scene into sudden crystallization and made it so much more perfect. What I had previously thought was a throwaway line took on shades of meaning and a dark joke.

I loved it! And I didn’t even know it was there. Man, I adore those emeralds. Live for them.
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PS: Check out this new blog I discovered: http://allisonwinnscotch.blogspot.com. She’s a debut novelist and writes for magazines like IN STYLE WEDDINGS, REDBOOK, and GLAMOUR. If I ever get around to updating my blogroll, etc., I shall add it. 🙂

PPS: Last day of pitch practice over at the Romance Divas forum. Take advantage of me (::eyebrow wiggle::) while you still can!