I have 3 almost-three-year-old grandchildren plus a couple of younger ones and one who is 8. There are others too but they are either/and older and live too far away to visit often. So I decided it was time to invest in a swing set to attract said grandchildren to visit Gramma more often. And enjoy it more.

I studied the sale flyers and this is what I picked.   Doesn’t it look nice.

This is what we got. Of course, I knew it would require some assembly. My son agreed to do the construction for me. 

So we unpacked it and sorted out all the pieces. That’s when we discovered a few pieces missing. Only a few, mind you. But you can’t make a swing set with pieces missing.

I couldn’t help but think it is a lot like my stories. I’ve been editing for months (or so it seems). And discovering  I can’t build a strong story with pieces missing. I have to have character and plot. I have to have conflict and attraction. I have to have tension and sweet scenes. I have to have character growth, and plot development. Not to mention romantic development and a spiritual arc. I have to have variety of sentences, strong verbs, colorful nouns and proper dialogue tags. If I short myself on any of these, the story doesn’t hold together. 

There are days when I feel a little frustrated. But I want the story to be strong so I edit, edit, edit until both I and the editor are happy.

Now if I can get the missing parts shipped and a strong swing set built.