Sometimes I get worried I’m rushing through the plot lines too quickly and sometimes I worry that I’m not moving the story along quickly enough. For a first draft, however, I try not to get bogged down with pacing. I try to think, now that this character knows that, what would she logically do next? Then I start writing.

Last week, the chapters I finished seemed to do more character building than actual suspense plotting, although hopefully the tension of their personal stories will keep the pages turning.

First I tried to imagine what Lily was going through all alone with her unwanted baby.

“Shh, Rosie, shh.” She crawled over to the baby box and patted the writhing, wailing human inside. “Quiet, please. Quiet.”

Next, I visited Avril in her apartment and found she was dreaming, which gives some insight, I hope, into the decisions she’s made in her life.

In her dreams, Avril was kneeling in front of Lily again, hands held out to catch the baby sliding out of the girl. “Push,” she told Lily and suddenly there it was, slipping into Avril’s waiting fingers like a pit from a cherry.