Unless you literally live under a rock, you may have noticed inflation. For example, I needed to repair my tomato cages, since they’re not as young as they once were. I’d heard the metal clamps to fix them were ten cents each.
For nine years off and on, I’ve been raising chickens. It’s not been the skip-through-the-park I expected. They’ve gotten mauled by dogs, possums, coons, and each other. They’ve been carried off by foxes. They’ve been stolen by hawks.
The phrase “murder your darlings” comes from Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, a writer from over a hundred years ago. It means to sharpen the axe by shaving off unneeded words—even those that are darling to us.
For months, I’ve been struggling with a villain in the novel I’m writing. Some days when I write, inspiration hits me like a freight train. Other days, it’s grueling work for every syllable.