Made good progress this morning. Of course, in pondering a really lame piece of dialog, I was reminded I need to be able to defend why my words are appearing in this particular production. Even more critical, my words need to be able stand on their own for why they are in the story, because I won’t always be there to explain for them. I’ll have to deal with this. I can’t articulate it (and let me tell you, this is personal, internal conflict, but does the reader get this?). I envision the critique conversation about my work may go something like the first couple paragraphs in this article by a writer who participated in a Jennifer Crusie summer writing course.

Like most difficult things, I’m mulling this over and thinking about it (somehow, I believe this will provide, “The Answer”). While pondering this greater challenge, I’m dealing with a smaller problem. I had a chapter called “The Last Thursday Night.” I got to thinking, “Why is there a last Thursday? Because there’s a First Saturday.” Well, heck, nobody wants to hear a rehash about what’s been going on before. They want to hear what happens at the First of something. So I deleted 1300 words of “rerun,” and I’m trying to find 1300 words of “new” stuff. I’m listening to my comedy tracks for inspiration. Maybe Bill Cosby has some technique that will work–something like “Go Carts” would be cool. And who could not get into something like “Chicken Heart?” But the Bear has a little bit different voice. I love George Carlin, but I’m not sure he’s right for the Bear. The only other thing I have is an old Roseanne Barr album I picked up in a bargain bin. She’s not right for the Bear either. I have some Whoopi Goldberg on VHS somewhere. But I know in my heart of hearts, her voice is different from the Bear’s, too. And now I’m reminded I need to expand my comedy track collection. Heavy sigh.