I’m at the end of the draft novel–the last four chapters or so. I’ve been spending days on it. Endings are so important. The climactic scene is here and trying to decide, Should it go this way or that? How much to tie things up, or not? I like when books don’t end entirely neatly, when there are some things left undone, left a bit vague.

I’m also working and reworking a love scene. How it should go–should they get together or not? What’s enough and what’s too much? If this were a romance novel, it seems that it would be easy. I could have heaving bosoms and rippled chests and purple prose. And that would be fine.

But what the protagonist ends up doing with her high school sweetheart is telling, in terms of her character, and his, and so I keep tweaking.

Love scenes are–ahem–hard to write. Elizabeth Benedict’s book, The Joy of Writing Sex is so good. Benedict is a literary novelist and essayist. I always enjoy her writing.

I never planned to read The Horse Whisperer, but I saw it in the UCI-Extension lending library and I borrowed it. It contains a very short but strong love scene close to the beginning. I was impressed with how Evans handled it. I’ve only read a little bit of the book, but I can see already why Redford bought it to make into a movie.