It’s in the mail

by with No Comment ContestsNaNoWriMo 09

This time, I mean my Golden Heart entry — all 246 pages of it, plus the disk with  my full MS on it. I dropped it off at the post office sometime between 11 a.m. and noon.

It felt like such a momentous occasion. I was so darn proud of myself I had to call the Boyfriend right away and tell him it was done.

It wasn’t until I drove back across town that I had a moment of panic. Did I really put the disk with my full MS on it in the box? I know I did … because if I didn’t, where is it? Not in the car … So I’m sure it’s right where it’s supposed to be — on its merry way to RWA HQ.

I had some credit on my Picazzo’s loyalty card, so I treated myself to one of my favorite lunches — a slice of pizza and caesar side salad. Delicious! And the momentous occasion of entering my first Golden Heart competition deserved to be celebrated.

So celebrate I did. Now, on to the next project: Trying to catch up on my NaNo word count. I should be able to make good headway this weekend, because I’m not working. Not only am I not working, but I also have a NARWA meeting — and I always get fired up to write when I go to those.

My problem is that I usually have to head back home and go to work … and by the time I get home after a long day/night at work, I’m too tired and/or have lost that motivation. Not this time. A weekend stretches before me with just two commitments: the meeting Saturday morning and Boyfriend time Sunday evening.

20,000 words, here I come!

2 pounds, 13 3/4 ounces

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That’s how much my Golden Heart entry weighs. It’s 36 pages of 6-page synopsis and 210 pages of the first 42 pages of my MS.

How do I know how much it weighs? Easy — I put it on my trusty kitchen scale. (I knew there had to be a use for it besides weighing food!)

I have decided it’s time to let my entry go. I can’t read through it one more time without going absolutely bonkers. Besides, If I hang onto it much longer, I’ll be paying extra for express shipping — and since the Boyfriend is fronting me the money to pay for the mailing, he’d appreciate it if I didn’t have to do that.

I felt an enormous sense of accomplishment after printing out those six copies. I called one of my NARWA friends and told her that it was done. She’s still working on her entry (in a different category).

As an aside, my Brother laser printer works great. I bought it a couple of years ago, fairly cheap. At the time, I had an iMac still running on OS9, and it was one of the few printers that was OS9 compatible. I’m glad, because my pages look beautiful — much better than they would on an inkjet printer.

I plan to head to the Post Office either Thursday or Friday, depending on when the Boyfriend gets me that money. My next NARWA meeting is Saturday, and I have the weekend off.

Now, instead of devoting it to finishing the GH entry, I can concentrate on upping my NaNo word count. I managed to break 14.5K today, but that’s still low compared to everyone else.

Down but not out

by with One Comment ContestsNaNoWriMo 09

Today I thought I was ready to print my full MS for the GH entry.  Unfortunately, it was the first time I’d noticed that all my pages were 1.5-spaced instead of double-spaced.

That’s ALL the pages — in the full MS and what I thought was getting close to a perfect GH entry.

When I put my 45 pages into double-spaced format, they suddenly grew to 57 pages — and that’s much too long. (With a six-page synopsis, I can only have 49 pages in my entry — and I can’t cut down the synopsis any more.)

Of course, I now have to find a new hook to end my entry on. I think it’s on the new Page 47, but I’m not sure. I don’t like it nearly as much as the old hook, but I don’t want to end on Page 49, because that’s even less of a hook … and I can’t end it much before Page 47 without cutting out a crucial scene.

This is a problem I can overcome. And I’m glad I noticed now instead of AFTER I sent it off. That would be a crappy way to get disqualified!

On the NaNo front, I wrote about a thousand more words today. That gives me 64 more pages than I had last month. Not too shabby!

Limping along

by with 3 Comments ContestsNaNoWriMo 09Progress

That’s what my blog is doing … I haven’t been giving it as much attention as I should, I guess.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been giving the NaNo the attention it needs, either. After a great write-in with friends Wednesday morning (at which the MS topped 10,400 words), I was woefully lazy on Thursday and Friday. This morning, I managed to write another couple hundred words …

The good news is I realized this morning (as I lamented my lack of progress over the last few days) that I have 55 more pages of Blind Date Bride than I did before I started the NaNo on Nov. 1.

So I might not be where I should be word-count wise, but I’m much better off than I’d be had I not signed up for NaNo.

As for the GH entry, I spent some time last night making the edits from my last read-through. It looks like I’m going to be shipping off 500+ pages, though (6 copies of the 45-page entry, 6 copies of a 6-page synopsis and a 216-page full MS).

Wow! That’s a lot of pages. Wonder how much that’ll cost me?

Shipped off

by with 2 Comments ContestsProgress

Hmm. I just realized I made it sound like my Golden Heart entry is in the mail.

Sadly, that’s not the case. I did, however, send in my query, synopsis and first 5 pages of MS to the Ohio Valley RWA Enchanted Words contest, beating their Nov. 1 deadline by two full days!

It was easier than I imagined, because it was an online submission. All I had to do was attach my document to the online entry form and pay through PayPal.

Totally cool. And now, it’s time to get back to work on the old GH entry.

Actually, I’m thinking it’s about ready to go. I’ve been finding myself re-adding words that I took out on my last read-through, and I’m pretty sure that means I’ve fiddled with it enough. 😀

I zapped it off to one of my writer friends who said she’d take a look.

Now it’s on to something else. I’m still contemplating signing up for the NaNoWriMo. I’d better decide soon, since it starts Sunday! I figure if nothing else, it’ll give me a kick in the butt to finish writing the 40,000 words I need to finish “Blind Date Bride.”

I’m half afraid that if I do sign up, I’ll spend more time fiddling around in the online forums than I do writing, though. Any words of wisdom on that subject from you who have done NaNo before?

Getting serious

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I saw a link to this contest over the weekend and decided that since it’s pretty much what I’m already working to compile for the Golden Heart, I might as well go for it.

For the Ohio Valley RWA “Enchanted Words” contest, I need my synopsis (check), the first five pages of manuscript (pretty much as done as they’re going to get) and a query letter.

Query letter? Oh no! I know I need one of those to start looking for an agent, but I don’t have one yet.

Wait! That’s not entirely true. Last spring, NARWA had a hands-on query-writing workshop as a follow-up to Brenda Novak’s talk on query letters. I frantically dug through all the half-full spiral-bound notebooks in the house and car until I found it: My query letter.

Remarkably, it was pretty much finished — and not too bad. I spent some time this morning reworking it, and my contest entry is just about good to go.

Still working on the GH entry. A friend of mine self-imposed an Oct. 31 deadline so she can do the NaNoWriMo without the GH hanging over her head … I decided against doing the NaNo this year because I won’t have time — but I want to do it in 2010. (Last I heard, she was formatting her entry. More power to her.)

Writing ‘guy’?

by with No Comment ContestsMusings

How is it that something I never thought much about before last week is now popping up everywhere?

I just checked out The Seekers blog, and their latest post is about “writing ‘guy.'”

Last week, after checking out another post, I found myself asking if guys really speak in shorter sentences. (It was something I’d never considered — guess that’s the curse of having a loquacious boyfriend.)

Apparently, most men aren’t so talkative … and they’re not as tortured by feelings as our heroines are. Who knew that while she’s torturing herself with a play-by-play of what went wrong on their latest date, he’s thinking about car repairs?

At least that’s Dave Barry’s take, as posted at Seekerville. I think I need to get his book … or some other one that’ll help my men sound more like men.

Hmm. Something else to worry about before I send off the manuscript to the Golden Heart contest. Aargh!

Well, at least I had a productive morning before our NARWA board meeting yesterday. And we had a great meeting. Now it’s time to get to work on the next issue of our chapter’s newsletter.

Oh, jeez … more stuff to do. Why’d I have to go and think about that?

Blogging seems to be falling by the wayside

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As I get more involved in rewriting Brad and Erin’s story, I’m finding less and less time to blog — both here and on my other blog.

I guess I should take that as a good sign, eh? 😀

Today, I had a pleasant lunch (complete with sinful dessert) with a writer friend from NARWA. We’re both entering the 2010 Golden Heart (in different categories) and met to talk about our progress.

I passed along some of the tips I got in my critique, because they seemed to apply to her manuscript, too.

It’d be fantastic if we both were able to final in the contest … but I’m not counting on it, especially since I’ve never entered before. I’ve heard some people enter for years before finally getting the call that they’ve finaled.

Guess it’s a good thing that I’m still relatively young. I still have long years of writing ahead of me!

Definitely more work than I thought

by with One Comment ContestsMusings

Got my critique back this afternoon, and I was right: The manuscript definitely needs some help.

I’m not going to lie: It was a bit unnerving to see all that “red ink” on my pages. But it was also edifying, because she said a lot of the same things I’ve been thinking.

Just the other day, I started to wonder if I spent too much of the first page and a half setting the scene … and sure enough, Shea suggested I cut the first page or so and start with more action.

She also pointed out that I need to keep the thread about the book Erin gets for her birthday going — and I’d noticed it’s not as strong a presence as I’d like.

As for Brad, she didn’t exactly call him boring … but she did point out that he’s, well, “bland” … and that’s just a nicer word for dull as dirt.

So it looks like I have my work cut out for me. Good thing I’m up for the challenge. I got an e-mail confirmation today from RWA that they’ve received my entry.

Your manuscript, Operation Snag Brad, has been entered in the Contemporary Series Romance Category of the 2010 Golden Heart Contest sponsored by Romance Writers of America, Inc.  Please send six copies of the partial manuscript, six synopses, and one full manuscript to (address)

Guess I won’t be getting back to Kari and Damien anytime soon. Fixing up Brad and Erin is going to take up all my free time between now and Dec. 2. 😀

But when I’m done, it should be a much stronger — and hopefully sell-able — story.

It really does say my name!

I won!

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No, I didn’t win the Golden Heart … Technically, I haven’t even submitted yet, although my check is in the mail to reserve my spot.

It really does say my name!
It really does say my name!

I did, however, win a critique of the first 15 pages of my entry from the gals over at the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood. (They’re the 2009 GH finalists.) That’s a photo of the Web page, blurry as it is. Trust me, it’s my name there under “Day 2 Winner.”

That’s right: I’m finally the lucky one. (I rarely win anything. When I go to the casino, the Boyfriend wins a pile of cash and I lose as much as he wins …) I was so excited to see my name listed as the winner.

Then reality set in and I started thinking, “What if she says it sucks?” I don’t have time to completely revamp the thing before the contest deadline.

I’ve been assured that we all have those moments of doubt where we think we suck (thanks, Anne Marie!). And it is better to get some feedback now, when there’s still time to improve the entry. By this time tomorrow, those first 15 pages will be in my critiquer’s capable hands.

I can’t wait to get some feedback.