Making progress

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I had the day off but did not spend it with the Boyfriend, which was a bummer for me, but great for the novel.

I headed to Starbucks, ordered some low-fat coffee cake and an unsweetened iced tea and set up camp near an outlet. A couple of hours later, I’d rewritten a couple of scenes, using suggestions from the critique I got last week. (She was definitely right. She didn’t tell me a whole lot that I hadn’t already started to suspect on my own.)

Already, I can feel an improvement. Brad is shaping up to be a lot less boring. And still I’m at about 58,000 words, which leaves me with plenty of room to rewrite the remainder.

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.

More work than I thought

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Whipping my first manuscript into shape for the Golden Heart contest is turning out to be more work than I thought it’d be.

I thought it’d be easier to do a little editing on Brad and Erin’s story than it would to write another 40,000 words to finish my current WIP.

Ha! Was I wrong. Between Harlequin changing its length requirement (resulting in a 10,000+ word trim) and my unwelcome discovery that my hero is boring, I’m doing as much — if not more — than I’d have had to do to finish the other one.

In fact, my other characters are calling me back to them. Kari and Damien’s story wants to be finished … and soon.

Well, it’s just going to have to wait. I’m going to finish fixing my first baby up for the contest, and then I’ll get back to work on Kari and Damien’s story.

Derailed or disheartened?

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I just might be a little bit of both tonight. In the past two days, I’ve only done the bare minimum: Read through a couple of chapters, trying to edit and polish them yet again.

I also spent some time clearing out my gmail inbox. I’m the editor for the Northern Arizona RWA newsletter, and I belong to the newsletter editor’s loop at Yahoo groups. That means I get a ton of e-mailed articles from other newsletters — all on various aspects of writing.

As I was reading through some of them, trying to decide if I wanted to share them in our newsletter, I found myself trying to apply their advice to my own story.

Avoid using adverbs most of the time. Most of your dialogue tags should be “character said.” Make sure your title is original. Know your characters inside and out. Watch for shifting points of view.

It’s all good — make that great — advice. But when I try to think about all those things (and more!) while I’m going through my manuscript for the hundredth time, I get overwhelmed. I wonder if it’s good enough … if I’m good enough.

Don’t get me wrong: I know this manuscript needs help. It’s the first one I finished, and I’ve learned a lot since writing it. I’ve been fixing it up, but a part of me wonders if it’ll ever be good enough … or if I should just abandon it and move on to one of my many other candidates.

My mind is set, though. It will be my Golden Heart entry this year. Next year is soon enough for my current WIP, which is much, much better from the get-go.

At least that’s my opinion … and right now, mine is the one that counts.

Making progress

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I spent some more time editing my Golden Heart entry today.

The good news is that the pages I plan to submit, including the synopsis, total exactly 55, the required amount.

The bad news? I still think the synopsis is better than the manuscript itself.

There’s more good news, though: I’ve cut the manuscript down to 58,000 words, leaving myself a couple thousand for rewriting. And I still have about six chapters to go through, so maybe I can cut some more.

Of synopses and manuscripts

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I spent some time working on my Golden Heart entry today. It was the first time in a long time I’ve looked at my synopsis. Upon reading through it, I had two thoughts:

— This is good. I may be more ready to submit this baby than I thought.

— The synopsis is quite possibly better than the manuscript itself.

How does that happen? Well, the story is the first one I completed, written back in 1998-99 and rewritten sometime in ’03 or so. The synopsis was written later than that, when I entered a contest — I’ve forgotten which one.

The bigger question may be, “How do I fix it?” I’m open to suggestions.

Perhaps it’s just that I’ve been reading and re-reading the manuscript for a week or more now, trying to cut it from 71,000 words to 60,000, whereas I read the synopsis for the first time tonight.

I sure hope so.