Torn Between Two Lovers

 

 

“I love westerns and the reason I love really good westerns is because they are really classical. Their structure is like a Roman tragedy. Lots of violence, lots of vengeance and occasionally redemption. They are wonderfully brutal.” Paul Bettany

I hate to be overly dramatic, but I do feel as though I am torn between two lovers. For the last two years I’ve worked on a western historical romance. It is all about a minister turned gun for hire and the woman he’s trying to track down. I love the story and it has a lot of potential, but lacks something.  I’ve edited it and edited it again but it still needs a lot more work. Every time I read the above quote from Paul Bettany I get chills because he sums up beautifully not only how I feel about my story, but how I want my readers to feel about my book once they’ve read it. I feel as though I need to keep plugging at Luke and Honey’s story so that it can be as wonderfully brutal as Paul thinks really good westerns can be.

But then there is my other love. If you are a writer you know that for every good story you work on, there is that other story that wants to lure you away so you can bring it to life. My other story is a contemporary romance about a hot butch who only dates lesbians and the bisexual girl that she can’t get out of her head. And when I say Eli is hot, I mean she is burn your panties off hot. She keeps telling me to stop dinking around with that old western and let her come out and play. To be honest, playing with her would be really fun. Plus, I’d feel like I’ve accomplished something by writing something new instead of rehashing the old story.

So instead of writing, I’ve been in limbo, working on neither book, but thinking about both. This has to end, I need to make a decision and get my butt in the chair and my fingers on the keyboard. I’m toying with the idea of working on both. That way I can polish up my western and still get a chance to bring Eli to life. Wish me luck, I only hope Eli doesn’t wind up sounding like a nineteenth century cowboy J