The ever fascinating novel-writing process. . . .

By the way, I got stuck on my Chapter 4. It's so ridiculous because I have planned EXACTLY what is going to happen and I'm still puttering around trying to figure out how to write it.

See, I had this plan to spend a few paragraphs talking about mundane things and then launch into something truly interesting-- my characters visiting an opening in a rock set high on a cliff where dozens of eagles roost. But I found, when I began writing, that the mundane things at the beginning were rather important and required attention. So, here I am on my sixth page of the mundane things and counting.

A chapter has to be a miniture story all by itself, beginning somewhere, leading somewhere else, and ending at a point that makes it worth it to the reader to go on to the next chapter. Chapters that don't do these things are boring, frustrating, and off-putting to a reader. And without readers, novelists shrivel up and die. They must have readers or they have no food. :)

So anyway, someday soon, this book will be finished and I'll have a real editor to help me make my story better. I need all the help I can get.