14. Seriously, Beth?

I edited yesterday’s post to say that I actually edited my story. With my cat Dobby.

Cats are super helpful with the writing process. Not at all distracting and they never walk across your laptop and close out of what you’re working on. By never I mean always.

Did I mention I have three cats? Let’s talk more about them later.

I went back and edited that post because I wanted to have some kind of accountability. My accountability for my goal of writing most days out of the year is this blog. When I say I’m going to do something away from the blog…how do I prove that I’m actually doing the thing?

So I posted a picture for proof. I think that will be a good way to keep accountability when editing.

Moving on!

I enjoyed going through all the drafts for story #1.

I definitely hacked away at some of it and added more details. I also found way more spelling and grammar errors than I thought I would.

While I do purposely make errors for effect, I’ve always thought I was pretty good at the technical part of writing. Spelling and Grammar. (<-see? that’s not correct grammar, but it’s on purpose.)

I want to start today’s writing where we come back from a flashback to Beth stomping on the road. I’ve been debating on what is going to be the shocking thing that happens either on her way home or once she arrives home.

Let’s try something. Story #1 Continued.

Beth finally saw the family farmhouse in the distance. She ignored another call from Alec. He was not a fan of her walking by herself and would definitely not be thrilled she was walking alone in the dark. She would get to the house safe and sound and then tell him what happened. How she threw a tantrum at the board meeting and kicked a chair.

Seriously, Beth?

The walk was finally doing her good. That fury from the meeting and from the last year was getting taken out on the dirt road. Her focus had turned more to making sure she made it home safely. She finally started to feel the chill of the air. Her blood was no longer boiling.

Shivering and panting, she pressed on.

A car was coming over the hill, headlights on bright. Beth sidestepped out of the way into the ditch. In her slight panic, she had missed a giant hole in the long grass. Had the sun been shining, it would have been obvious, but that wasn’t the case here.

As Beth stepped in the unseen hole with her right foot, the other foot slipped on the dewy grass. She heard and felt a small snap in her ankle. As soon as the pain had registered, she reached down towards her right foot, causing her body to tumble down the embankment. Head over heels she went.

Despite the sharp pain and her being in a ditch on the side of the road, all Beth could think was, “Alec can’t know this happened.” She couldn’t let him be right. Beth was an independent woman who wanted to believe she could do things like go places by herself.

Alec understood Beth’s need for independence. He knew she was strong and smart and capable. Feminist ideas were somewhat new to him, but he did his best to be supportive.

What Alec really worried about was everyone else. When they were in the city, Alec worried about creepy strangers. He worried about the unknown. Here, he worried about the known.

People liked to believe that small town meant friendly, happy, perfect. Alec knew this wasn’t true. Both his mom and dad had grown up in small town Nebraska. Irene liked to sweep all of the nasty town business under the rug. She stuck to who had died and from what illness. Alec’s dad, George, however, tended to talk when drinking.

One particularly unsettling story Alec had listened to concerned some townies and “the Mexicans.” There were quite a few farmhands from Mexico in Crystal Lake, Nebraska. It was unskilled labor and the farmers were happy to pay under the table.

There was a separate section of town where all the Mexican immigrants lived. Mostly houses for rent; no bank would give them a loan for a home. Since there was only one elementary and one high school, the two sides of town tended to mix more than just at work.

This particular story happened at the high school.

Story #1 Setting

So I changed the town name from a town I knew to a town called Crystal Lake, Nebraska. I knew there was a Crystal Lake in Illinois, but I thought I was being clever and making it Crystal Lake, Nebraska. Turns out, that’s a real place, too. Ooops.

Thankfully I don’t personally know anyone who lives there. But I still want the town name to be fake.

So now I get to brainstorm town names and use my friend Google to tell me if it’s real or not.

I’d also like to note that I didn’t even take the story where I thought I would. I went into more backstory, this time about the town.

I wonder what will happen to Beth now that she is stuck in a ditch? I honestly don’t know, but I have an idea!