Musings & Thoughts for Saturday, June 1, 2024, or: Breaking the Deadlock – Reunion: Coda’s Chapter 17 Gets a Third Scene…At Long Last

Late Morning, Saturday, June 1, 2024, Madison, New Hampshire

Madison Summer Almanac

Hi, there. Welcome to my first blog entry for Summer 2024. Today marks the beginning of meteorological summer – the summer solstice won’t be here till Thursday, June 20 – in the Northern Hemisphere. While it is not as hot and humid as it is in Florida, it’s warming up here in my corner of New England. Currently, the temperature is 71°F (22°C) under sunny conditions. With humidity at 37% and the wind blowing from the northwest at 4 MPH (6 Km/H), the feels-like temperature is 81°F (27°C). Today’s forecast calls for sunny skies and a high of 79°F (26°C). Tonight, the skies will be clear. The low will be 44°F (7°C).

How I Fought and Conquered the Beast of Chapter 17, Scene Three: A Writer’s Tale

It took me a long time and a lot of agony, battling self-doubt, false starts, and a nasty writer’s block, but I finally managed to craft a third scene for Reunion: Coda’s Chapter 17 (aka That Moment Divine) yesterday afternoon.  

I won’t lie, though, it was hard. Even with the outline I begrudgingly hashed out on Thursday, I struggled for hours to find the story I wanted to tell. I only wrote the opening line of the scene at 3:30 PM, an hour and a half into my afternoon shift. It took me another 30 minutes to get the first paragraph done. I was doubtful about my writing, but I resolved to keep hammering on those keys in the hope that I’d have at least a scene halfway done by my self-set “end work” deadline of 6 PM.  

But around 5 o’clock, I hit a sweet spot in the story where I penned the words ” I’m left standing, a smile spreading across my face. Round Three, it seems, is on the horizon, and I’m more than ready to meet it head-on.” I went over what I had written a few times to see if it was a full scene. I wondered, “Does this have a clear start, middle, and finish? Does it flow well? Does it have the right mix of humor, romance, character growth, and continuity?”  

I spent some time mulling over these questions, and I finally decided that yes, for sure, the scene ticked all of my boxes, and even though it was short – it had 531 words or about three 6 X 9 pages – it was a whole scene.

Here’s an excerpt from That Moment Divine’s third scene:

Echoes of the Past: Embracing the Present

       Sunday, March 12, 2000, 1:30 PM EST

The afternoon light bathes the living room in a soft glow, the kind that only a New York spring can bring. It’s 1:30 PM, and the city’s heartbeat thrums through the window, a distant yet constant reminder of the world beyond these walls.

Maddie stands by the window, her silhouette outlined against the cityscape, dressed in jeans and a crisp sky-blue blouse. She is the picture of casual elegance, a stark contrast to the Maddie of the Moonglow Club, yet no less captivating.

I sit at my desk, surrounded by the three books (Triumph in the Pacific – 1944-1945, Lost Victory: Desert Storm 1991, and Uncertain Trumpets: Operation Market-Garden, September 1944) that Maddie purchased from Book Culture. They are not just relics of history, but signs of something more intimate. I think about what to write, holding the pen in my hand. “To the most stunning woman who ever graced the Moonglow Club…” I scribble, brief and simple, but full of all the unspoken words that linger between us.

Handing her the signed books, her gratitude comes not just in words but in the soft press of her lips against mine — a kiss that speaks volumes.

Weekend Dilemma: To Write or Not to Write….

Saturday is here, the start of a normal weekend break, but I’m torn between working on Scene Four (the chapter demands it) or relaxing today and tomorrow and resuming novel-writing on Monday. I have some chores to do and some downtime to enjoy, but I’m also anxious about failing to meet my midsummer launch date for Reunion: Coda.

Choices, choices.