My Main Character's Spiritual Guides

The main characters in my stories are always independent, stubbornly so, maybe because I'm stubbornly independent. I learned at an early age that the only person one can depend on is herself. Now, that's probably just my individual experience, but that's the reality I know. Thus, while my MC's always have a friend or associate to bounce things off, they mostly solve their problems on their own. My current novel is definitely a departure.

"Spiritual guide" is likely a misnomer. I have not one, but two of what I'll call "life coaches" popping in and out of my story, and they're very different from one another. These two may be stand-ins for the main character's conscience. She's made a couple of big choices ~ on impulse or emotion, and the consequences are not good. One might look at these two characters as admonishers, but each of them is more subtle than that in their approach. Burt, the MC's old friend, possesses too much grace to flat out tell Leah she's wrong; instead he chooses his words carefully in order to lead her in the right direction. Paula, on the other hand, doesn't give advice, either blatantly or subtly. She's big on anecdotes. Most of the time, Leah doesn't even get the relevance of what Paula's saying or if there is any relevance ~ Paula is a talker. She can opine for hours, mainly about her own past experiences. Eventually, though, those utterances start to sink in.

I admit, it's nice that one of my MC's finally has someone to lean on. The world she is now plugged into is completely foreign. And returning to Chance ensures uncomfortable encounters with friends she abandoned. Paula and Burt have distinct ways of guiding her. I like how different each of them is and how they show up at different times in Leah's life. 

Yes, my writing nowadays is sporadic ~ an hour here, an hour there. I'm not making much progress. I did write half a scene yesterday in which Paula calls. Once Leah found herself back in Chance, she avoided every phone call, but now she's finally back on the road to Nashville, when Paula calls in the early hours of the morning. Paula is the usual Paula, carrying on two conversations at a time, one with her assistant and the other with Leah, confusing Leah, who isn't sure who her mentor is addressing at any given moment. It's time for Leah to finally 'fess up and she's sure that Paula will be disgusted. The superstar has a long history of hard knocks that she battled through and surely has no use for someone who gives up so easily. 

I left off with Paula ready to offer some of her roundabout pearls of wisdom, but I haven't decided what that wisdom will be. Generally I'll just let dialogue scenes develop organically, but I need something pithy in this spot. I don't think I've found that yet.

I'm confident I'll come up with the right words. My MO now is to not worry. The words will come when they come, the story will be finished when it's finished. What little I've managed to write is pleasing to me, at least. Mostly.

I could, however, use a life coach looking over my shoulder.