Chop, Chop

   Oh, it's so hard to obliterate my character's childhood! It's important to start the story closer to her work as a writer, so I had to "kill my darlings" and to leave so much out. It does make it tighter and more focused. But aaaaghh! Leaving out her friendship with mice in her grandmother's kitchen, her father leaving the family, her marriage to a crook, her divorce, traveling to the Florida capitol with her sufragette friends, joining the Red Cross and traveling to Europe...so sad. But it's a picture book. Kep it simple. Why is keeping it simple so hard??