we are power, we’re devotion, love each other with abandon

Before I get into my writerly ways let me just say, diabetes is going to steer me around the bend. Today I was bad. I ate fries for lunch and pizza for dinner. My sugar is 90. Two days ago I ate nothing but proteins and my sugar was 360.... WHY?

So into the writing crap. I have been thinking about timing of scenes this week. Early this week I watched The Night House and finished reading The Witch's Orchard. Let me start with House. This was a horror movie and without spoiling too much, she is learning terrible things about her dead husband (while dealing with what she thinks is his ghost). After learning this, when the ghost wants to get frisky, she's into it.

And I'm thinking what woman who learns her husband might have been murdering women who look like her is going to want him touching all over her? Had this scene come before she learned this about her husband, maybe it would have hit they way they wanted it to (unless disbelief was their goal)


Same thing with Orchard, it went a place SO many stories have gone. The protagonist nearly gets killed, does get injured and then in spite of having her leg torn open and breaking in meth lab explosion fumes, feels like having sex. If there is one thing you'll see in my sex scenes, they don't tend to come after times like this because it makes no sense to me. I suppose the whole 'nearly died celebrate life' thing is a trope. It's just one that has me rolling my eyes. Having had some serious injuries, I can tell you sex is the last thing on my mind in those times.

In my novel (still need to get more betas on this) I DID mess up the timing. I ended up having to reorder things and expand some of the beginning in order for the timing to not feel off.

How do you handle timing? Do you find timing issues that bother you?


OPEN CALLS

Anomaly July 2025 Window Science fiction stories under 300 words in length

Brink Literary Magazine July 2025 Window Hybrid fiction with the theme of Obsession

Fraidy Cat Quarterly Volume 7 Rage

The Quiet Ones 2025 Window Quiet Horror and Intimate-Scale Dystopian Fiction

The 13th Floor 30,000-50,000 word stories that take place on the mysterious 13th floor! (details in the post)

The Orange & Bee July 2025 Window Original and contemporary short stories, poems, and essays that explore, expand on, and subvert the rich traditions of international folklore, with a strong focus on fairy tales (though we also sometimes dabble in other forms of folklore, such as fables, myths, and legends)

Ten Manuscript Publishers Open to Direct Submissions in June 2025


Fish Barrel Review: Now Seeking Submissions

36 Themed Calls and Contests for June 2025.

star crossed



From Around the Web

Advance to Adaptation

Three Strategies for Creating Progressively Escalating Complications

The Art of the Twist: Adding Surprise to Your Story Structure


How to Publish a Novel in 2025

Unusual Writing Formats: When Your Story Demands Footnotes, Letters, or a Series of Haikus

Tim Weed: Five Things I Learned Writing The Afterlife Project



From Betty

Six Important Differences Between Filmed and Narrated Stories


Ten Easy Jokes for Your Dialogue

Why the Mysterious Badass Hero Is a Trap For New Writers

Seven Ways to Create Rifts Between Close Characters

The Strategic Author's Guide to Amazon's Kindle Unlimited

Dual Protagonists


Communication is the Key to Critique Partner Success (still looking for new members for mine)

Three Strategies for Creating Progressively Escalating Complications

The Importance of Beginning a Book with Publishing End Goals in Mind

Your protagonist’s plans are useful, especially when they don’t pan out

How Do I Deliver My Self-Published Book to a Reader?.

Adventuring in Utah Gave Me Insight into Important Writing Truths: Part 1 The Brutal Beginning

Six “Soft Skills” To Make You a Better Writer

Be All-Seeing By Writing Third Person Omniscient