Nice progress on LUCY over the past few days.  First and foremost, I’ve reached the page 75 twist, so all that remains is the rest of Act 2 and all of Act 3.  Not surprisingly, the former is more daunting than the latter.  I know what to put into Act 3; it’s what comes between where I am now and there.  But I’ve made it through seemingly impassable impasses before, so I’ll keep reminding myself to be patient and sally forth.

I also decided I had too much going on, so I took what I had and started hacking and slashing what wasn’t absolutely necessary to the story.  I took out more than I expected, including a sequence I really liked, but went against everything Lucy herself represents.  I think that section is a little stronger for it.

It also helped reduce the number of scenes per quarter in Act 2, so now it doesn’t seem as cluttered or drawn-out.

What’s really great about this kind of rewriting process is that while I may get rid of something I thought fit perfectly, I try to figure out what would also work, possibly even better, in that same spot.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  As long as the script is better for it.

Movie of the Moment:  Western fan that I am, I was hoping to take V to see RANGO this past weekend.  She wanted to stay home, so we ended up renting DIARY OF A WIMPY KID.  V really liked the books, and the commercials upon its theatrical release were all over our TV at the time, plus she had a 6am hockey game earlier that morning, so I figured I would sleep during the show.

No such luck.  The movie was fun, especially the younger you are.  It adhered to the general tone of the books, which is basically that the main character is a selfish but well-meaning jerk during his first year of middle school.

If you have pre- or tween-aged kids, or want to relive the hell that was junior high, then you should probably give this a try.