Full Sail – Page 4 – Annie DeMoranville

Soup of the Week: Zuppa Toscana – Spicy Potato Soup

Revisiting from 2023:

I was under the weather all weekend and this soup seemed like the perfect remedy.

Spicy Potato Soup (Zuppa Toscana)

1/4 cup butter
1 yellow onion, diced
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne
½ lb spicy ground sausage (or ground beef)
¼ tsp crushed red pepper (opt)
1 bay leaf (remove before serving)
1 tsp crushed garlic
32 oz chicken broth
6 potatoes, well scrubbed, unpeeled – cubed or thinly sliced
2 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste
8 oz shredded cheddar or jack (opt – I like parmesan myself)

saucepan or instant pot

Work Wednesday: Rounding the Corner

white rubber duck lying prone on a brown table, legs outstretched wondering where life went wrong

A gift from a friend who knows me well

Rewrites are progressing. Got past the awful chapter, it will have to be reviewed and tweaked a few more times, I’m sure. I am determined to power through the few remaining chapters in the next week.

Work Wednesday: Act Two

Grove of yellow and red aspen trees — Lars Leber Photography Marshall Pass LarsLeber.com

I love fall. We have very few reds here, unlike the East Coast, but the Aspens do their best to help us forget that. I’m not complaining, My wildflower front yard has some spectacular fall into winter colors that hang out until spring.

A fall tree lined path with multi colors — Fall in Boston

This week went well. I’m traveling again, so I made an effort to do some substantial writing over the weekend before I left. Where I felt like Act One needed all the main characters fleshed out more, Act Two is more about storytelling transitions.

Work Wednesday: TJ Speaks

Dark haired woman standing at a window — Delilah by Henry Clive 1930

Continuing the discussion on the rewrites for Full Sail and what is working and what is most definitely not.

By the time I was editing chapters twelve and thirteen, I knew I had to stop and regroup. The entire feel of the book was off. And most importantly, I had lost TJ’s voice around chapter five.

Dancer in yellow, dancer in red dancing a tango

TJ’s voice is complex and filled with self-deprecation, humor, self-doubt and defiance. Sharp edges and deep emotions. And somehow, I had flattened out all her fun curves.

The only way I knew to find her again was to go back to the beginning. And the beginning was Run Aground. I queued up the audiobook and began to rediscover my muse.

When I can manage to write again, I think she is back strong, in all her depth and complexity. I suspect, as I return to the process, she’ll bring me comfort as we complete our journey together.

Work Wednesday: Joy of Rewriting

I wrote this on social media this week: “I feel like I have hammered and honed chapter two into a lovely opening to act 1.” No matter how I might gripe about the process, rewrites are actually very satisfying. Watching a story come sharply into focus is thrilling.

Old calendar poster of pin-up girl, her dog and a sports car on the beach

As I mentioned last week, Full Sail, the third book in the TJ Wilde Trilogy, needs some major rewrites. The problems were glaring by the time I hit chapters twelve and thirteen.