Maybe only writers will truly understand this, but I desperately wish someone would invent a method of recording thoughts and dream.

I suppose most dreams would probably seem nonsensical if made into a viewable movie, but I have had some really cool dreams that, while unbelievable, I’ve wished I could hold on to or revisit.

Then today, while swimming, scenes from Cry Baby Cry started flipping through my head almost immediately while doing laps. Not only did I have a break through on a chapter I’ve been struggling with for weeks, but kept  another pivotal scene, several minor character sketches, a Facebook post, and a blog entry blossomed into being during the forty minutes I swam back and forth.

I kept repeating them in my mind over and over, fearful I’d completely forget them by the time I finished, dried off, dressed, and drove back home to my computer. I think I have captured most of them. There’s this blog post, for one thing, and I finished my chapter and started the next one. Click the quote below to read an excerpt of my brain flood and let me know if it was worth rememebring.

It wasn’t a romantic embrace, although she’d imagined that happening quite a few times in the darkness of her lonely room at night. It was an “I’ve got you” hug, a “don’t worry about a thing” that was comforting and warm and believable. She never wanted him to let go.

At just over 25,000 words, Cry Baby Cry has reached the one-third point. In other words, the end of Act One. To jump start Act Two I need to knot the embroidery threads I’ve been laying in so that I can start to unravel the individual strands of clues I’ve planted so far.

The knot that I think I need to use is the scene I wrote earlier of Jo meeting Lily’s father. Originally, I thought this scene would not happen until much later in the book, but now I realize making Lou Beckett suspicious that Jo’s visit might be connected to his missing daughter can be the complication needed to rachet up the suspense. Just when Jo thinks she has finally found a safe place for Lily, she messes it up without realizing it.

Here’s a quote from Lily’s father below. You can click on it to read the whole scene again if you haven’t already.

“Martin gives a rousing sermon anytime, but you should hear him when he’s under a tent. Just like Jesus himself must have sounded from the Sermon on the Mount. Yes, certainly. You must come and see for yourself. Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?”