Hello my faithful followers!

You may be disappointed to see that my post (chapter sixteen, page one) is missing today.  My deepest apologies.  Here is where the rubber meets the road folks.  I have mentioned in a past blog (here and here) some of the struggles I've had in attempting this little adventure.  Well, here is another.  No journey is complete without bumps and bruises.

Typically when I receive a story and begin to write it, I don't worry too much about the things that don't make any sense to me.  I only focus on writing it down.  Often there are scenes or tidbits of information that I can not explain as I 'm writing.  (Remember I see these stories in my mind as a movie.  I, like you, only see the part that is in front of me.  I have to travel through the story chronologically in order to find the ending.  And often there are these little items that I cannot account for or justify to the story while I'm writing it.  Never failing though, God always provides a solution by the end.

When I am finished writing the story, I can go back and edit those loose ends.  The amazing thing is most of

them turn out to be small woven pieces of theme that I could not see what they were connected to until I was finished.  However even though they fit and finally make sense where they are, I still have to tidy them up and make the connections more complete.  (Because they were unplanned connections ... see?)

I will give you one example right from our current story.  If you remember back to the first chapter, there is a scene in the airport washroom.  Cathie meets an over-friendly woman who insists on Cathie fixing her appearance.  As I wrote the story elements down I kept thinking her instance on lipstick was over the top.  I rewrote the scene a couple times but in the end only felt peace about leaving it in.  I desperately hoped that you as a reader would skim over it and soon forget about it.  Did you?

I only realized the importance of her lipstick a few days ago when I went back and made revisions (on my copy - not on line).  The lipstick is paramount to the dress, which both are important to an experience Cathie has once she returns home.  (Opps - spolier!)  I had a private moment of thankful praise to God that He "insisted" I put the lipstick in even if I thought I shouldn't.

For about a month I have been struggling with one scene.  I could not get past it no matter what I tried.  That scene would be today's post.  It is so closely linked to the ending; I know that much.  However I can not get it to make sense.  My hope is that it will once the ending is written but we are still a long way off of that.  So due to the fact that I will not be able to edit it I am choosing not to print it on line at all.  Sorry.  There is no peace in my heart with this scene so I must trust that God has a purpose for it that I am missing.

I do have a few regrets about the story you've read so far.  I allowed pride to make my choices for me in several occasions and we all know what happens to the prideful - I have regretted those decisions.

I left out information earlier because I felt too rushed to research it fully.  So I decided it was more important to me what the readers thought about my story writing abilities than it mattered about what was on my heart.  I do not want to make that mistake again.

So, I will give you a brief explanation of the missing scene and we will move on to a very exciting chapter.  Our plot is about to swing on us here, so I think once you start reading past this point you will forget all about my omission.  (I hope!)

Thank you for understanding.  I appreciate every one of you, readers and visitors - even if I don't know who you are.  This writing adventure is a very personal thing to me and I probably would have kept it that way for a long time.  However what good is a story that helps people understand their walk with God if nobody reads it.  (Wise words from a DLF - dear little friend!)

Here we go!