Saturday, May 23, 2009

I'M THREE QUARTERS DONE WITH RUN!!!


I was thinking just now how much I enjoy writing my middle grade novel RUN!! It wasn't too long ago I was stuck in the middle of it, why I don't know, but I now feel I'm three quarters done, which is huge for me. This is a first draft but I've done a lot of editing as I've written it, so perhaps there won't be a lot more to do, at least that's what I'm hoping.

I have a family of two girls and a boy fleeing an abusive home in 1924 and ending up in New York City. The boy, Ben, gets left behind in Penn Central and hooks up with a boy named Abel who knows everything you need to know about getting along in Penn Central. The girls, Kate and Pearl, are settled in a wonderful home with a woman named Esther but are threatened with exposure when her nephew arrives and find themselves on the run again. They settle in a old men's hotel so
decrepit Pearl, the younger, nearly faints at the prospect of staying there.

At this point some nasty rats come into the picture for the girls; for Ben and Abel, the problem is fleas. The girls prove to be the means for salvation for the old men in the hotel. Ben and Abel find getting rid of the fleas is more difficult, involving ultimately a run-in with some nasty older boys and a
perilous run for safety into the night minus their clothes.

What gets Kate and Pearl and Ben together once again is some mysterious gifts which arrive in Penn Station earmarked for Abel. Ben's and Abel's mysterious benefactor will bring everybody together at the end and Ben will have to make a difficult decision: whether to stay with Abel in Penn Station, or rejoin his sisters on the run.

4 comments:

JKB said...

WHOHOOO!!!! MARSH!!!!

3/4 finished is FAAAAAABULOUS!

Whohoo!!!

marsh to the fore said...

I feel really good! I may be way off--there may be more coming than I think--but for now that's how I see it.

I feel good!

Heidi Willis said...

3/4 is awesome!! Way to go!

The last part will go fast. Getting it started, deciding how you want it all to go, is the hardest part. It's all downhill from here!

marsh to the fore said...

Downhill! I hadn't thought of that! Way to go YAY!