Chapter 2, and the concept of accidental procrastination

(Image: Chapter 2, The Guardians of the Light: A crowd of grey-eyed men and women, including Bennie's father.)

Welcome back for Chapter Two! And if you’re just joining, welcome! It’s still a ghost town around here so I feel like I’m talking to myself. If you’re reading or even just snooping, feel free to drop in and say hi! You never know who else is lurking, waiting for someone to start a conversation.

This chapter, like the first, underwent considerable changes before the relaunch, primarily because I wanted Bennie’s mom to have a more active role in the story. I didn’t find the old version of events plausible given Sandra’s personality. That’s also something that changed—her name. Originally she was Bonnie, and the backstory included memories of Bennie being teased for their similar name’s and her mom’s overprotective nature as a kid. While it wasn’t a far-fetched concept, ultimately the two similar names proved very confusing to some readers and so I adapted.

I also like the updates to this chapter because it gave me a chance to expand a little more on Bennie’s normal life without getting too boring. You ever notice how easy it is to accidentally skip all the “real life” for the sake of the adventure, but then you later see how unevenly balanced the story became? If you’re a writer and you’ve had that problem, I promise you’re not alone. I know several others who deal with it too. It’s a relatable struggle—as is Bennie’s accidental procrastination. After all, how many of us get online for “just a few minutes” and wind up inadvertently killing hours?
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If you’re guilty of that (fess up, we’ve all done it), I have a trick for you. Set the timer on your phone to go off in a few minutes so you stay on track. It does worlds of good for my productivity if I time myself for an hour of work followed by 10 minute breaks. Try it!