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Once I settled on a time for my story, I dove right in and started to write. The problem with not plotting is finding out that you have to rewrite and rewriting causes its own set of problems. You throw something out but your mind remembers that you’ve written that piece of information so you allude to it in another scene.

That’s why having someone else help you critique the work is so important. Ever pick up a book and become enthralled with the first 3 – 5 chapters only to become disillusioned by mid-story? I think a lot of critique groups work with the first couple of chapters before the author gets excited about another project and begins posting it. That’s the way it was with On the Silver Edge of Time. I don’t think I ever posted past chapter five for this story. Why? Because it really did have a lot of internal problems that I just couldn’t figure out. Not until I’d written 7 previous books and gained a better handle on how to weave the story together.
I did find one critique partner who very enthusiastically read the entire book and was very frank with me when I needed her to be. Her insight proved invaluable. (Thanks big time, Sharon.)

So, the story sat for a long time before I opened it back up and did some much needed "weeding." The characters sprang to life and I grew excited about working on it again.