Every writer has heard “kill your darlings,” and unfortunately, we all have to do it sometime, mercilessly cut scenes we really love. But who says those poor murdered darlings have to stay dead? Can’t they live in some other form (like this blog)?

The one below used to be in Chapter 11 of Macdeath. During this scene, Ivy meets her Uncle Bob  over lunch at Toyko Express, where she tells him she’s lost her waitress job at the Olive Garden (and he realizes she’s in need of money). Ivy begins by saying:

“Don’t know any rich guy who wants to be a patron of the arts, do you?”

Bob smiled and his chins tripled. “Actually, I just heard about this website…”

      “Yeah?” A patron of the arts website? Maybe there were grants for individual actors or something.

“Yeah, it’s a place where young women like yourself…”

“Young women?” Hmm.

Bob rewound. “Where women artists can go online to meet patrons who’ll support them.”

      This had potential. I rummaged around in my bag and found a pen and an old bill to write on.

“What’s the website?” I asked, my pen poised over the back of the envelope.

“Sugardaddy.com”

        I threw the pen at him. Typical Uncle Bob. The thing is, every so often he’d tell you something for real, so you had to be prepared.

He caught the pen, and slid it back across the table. He looked at the envelope I’d pulled out of my purse. “Hey, you never opened that.”

I looked down. Oops. I turned the envelope over. It was from the electricity company, and it was over a month old. Bob gazed at me, a question in his eyes and teriyaki sauce on his chin.

“Oh, I’ve got automatic bill pay now,” I said, sliding the bill back into my bag.