More queries? Check!

by with No Comment Blind Date BrideProgressStoriesSynopses

My task for “Operation Treat Writing Like a Day Job” today? Query letters.

I sent out 3 more e-queries this morning. Unlike last week, no responses awaited me at the end of the day. But that’s OK. I didn’t expect them to.

Not sure what’s on the list for Saturday. Perhaps some writing on Meg & Matt. Then again, maybe not. I may have more pressing matters to attend to.

Once I got to the office this afternoon, it hit me: I’m going to need a synopsis and query letter for “Blind Date Bride.”

However, since I just finished the first draft, I’m wondering if I should wait. I’ve read it through a couple of times and still like it just the way it is … perhaps it’s time to wait for some outside feedback.

Queries and synopses are not my favorite things to write. Anyone out there really like doing them?

Started & finished

by with No Comment Blind Date BrideStories

I started my new scene in “Blind Date Bride” last night after work and finished it this morning, as soon as I woke up. I didn’t even get out of bed — just hauled the laptop into bed with me and started banging away on the keys.

As Hannibal said in “The A-Team,” I love it when a plan comes together!

Now, it’s time for some printing and then passing my beloved first-born single-title novel off to one of my NARWA sisters …

These are both scary and exciting times, my friends.

Time to write

by with No Comment Blind Date BrideStories

It’s nearly 1:30 a.m. and I’m ready to leave work (after spending an hour playing Bejeweled and generally wasting time online).

Figured that if I post that I’m going to go home and write, I’ll actually do it. Right?

I actually had a great idea for an extra scene in “Blind Date Bride” on the drive up from the Boyfriend’s this morning. It was writing itself … and it’ll extend the post-black moment, pre-reunion part of the story that feels rushed every time I read it through.

So the plan is to head home now and start writing it. I don’t need to go to bed until 3 a.m. anyway! 😀

I also need to send out a couple of queries that I didn’t get around to doing on Monday.

A successful writing week

by with 2 Comments Blind Date BrideMeg & MattOSNBProgressStories

Last Saturday, we had our NARWA meeting and I was inspired to launch “Operation Treat Writing Like a Day Job.”

Today I capped off my operation, which admittedly isn’t as amusing as “Operation Snag Mike Brad,” with another good day. I wrote 1,421 words on Meg & Matt’s story (still untitled) in two writing sessions — one at Starbucks and one at the house.

That brings the week’s total word count to 6,209. I’m 6 percent finished with NARWA’s 100K word count challenge. Can I get a woo-hoo?

I’d have stayed at Starbucks longer, but I was falling asleep in my chair. I left because I kept thinking about how embarrassed I’d be to wake up drooling. Well, that and the fact that I couldn’t stay awake long enough to concentrate … I really like my writing time at the Bucks, and I don’t want to do anything to embarrass myself so I can’t show my face there again.

Once I got home — and helped shovel off our deck (again!) — I was awake enough to start writing again. Now, about 400 words later, I’m ready to nod off again.

So even though it’s very early for me (only 10 p.m.), I think I’m heading off to bed.  The operation continues tomorrow with the start of Week 2 … perhaps it’s time to do a little more editing on “Blind Date Bride.” And Monday, I’ll ship off a couple more query letters.

Checking in

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I’d call Day 1 of “Operation Treat Writing Like a Day Job” an unqualified success.

I spent about 2 1/2 hours finishing the read-through on my rough draft of “Blind Date Bride” and revised my query for “Operation Snag Mike Brad.”

So even though I didn’t get many actual words written, I did accomplish quite a bit. Lucky me, I’m done with work early … so it’s time to head home for more computer time. I may actually even write a few words so I can say I have a word count for the day.

I think I’ll try to write a couple of pages on Meg & Matt’s story tonight. Hmm. Maybe I need a title for that one. Can’t keep calling it “Meg & Matt’s Story” for the rest of my life! 😀

But first, I need some dinner. I started work at 3:45, and by the time I hit a breaking point, we were so close to finished with the Monday paper that I didn’t want to leave for an hour. That means now, I’m starved!

* * *

I’m back. Had a surprisingly filling baked potato topped with cheese, veggies, bacon bits and reduced-fat sour cream for dinner, then wrote some more.

Added a Word Count Countdown ticker from writertopia.com to my sidebar. That’s right: 307 down, 99,693 to go! (I’m stepping up for the NARWA Word Count Club challenge — 100K words in 2010.)

Very little

by with One Comment ProgressQuery Letters

I got a little writing done today … very little. I’d say I wrote about a page — a far cry from the heady days of November when I was writing 2,000 words a day.

Guess I’ll look at the positive: It’s a page more than I wrote yesterday.

I’ve actually been a little lazy since finishing the first draft of “Blind Date Bride” last month. I haven’t been writing much, though I did finish my query letter … I think. I’m waiting for some feedback from my writer friends.

The problem is, I’m not sure what I want to work on now. I can’t make up my mind. I’ve dabbled with Cassie & Dustin’s story and today I wrote on Meg & Matt. I could also go back to Drew & Lainy’s story, or Bree & Mike’s.

I think, now that I’ve figured out how to print on both sides of the paper with the Boyfriend’s new printer, I’m going to print out a copy of “Blind Date Bride” so I can give it a good read-through. I didn’t want to waste 350 sheets on a first draft … even if it might be the best thing I’ve ever written.

Lost my voice

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… Literally. I was unable to talk above a whisper yesterday. Even now, my voice is all scratchy and it hurts to talk.

Being without a voice gave me pause and made me think about what it would be like to lose my writing voice: Not much fun.

Some writers struggle to find their voices. Not me. I’ve always known where mine was. For as long as I can remember, people have told me I write like I talk. They can hear my “voice” in the words on the paper. In fact, I once got an e-mail from a guy who wanted to meet me because liked my  column in the newspaper. (No romance developed, but we became friends.)

Not much has been happening on the writing front. I’m still working on that query — I think the tables are about to turn so I can start kicking its butt. (About time. I’m tired of feeling battered and bruised.) I’m also about to print out “Blind Date Bride” so I can read through it and start editing.

Our NARWA meeting is a little less than a week away, on Jan. 16. I’m excited for that. It always gives me a writing nudge.

Shouting it from the rooftops!

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I only went to bed three hours ago, but when the Boyfriend called this morning on his way to work, I was too excited to go back to sleep.

Why? I finished “Blind Date Bride” early this morning. It was about 5 a.m. After an early night at work (due to the blizzard, we cleared the paper by 9 p.m. — why can’t we do that EVERY night?), I headed back to the house to write.

At first, I sat with the laptop on my lap while I watched TV. Then, at 11 p.m., the satellite dish went out. It was just me, the laptop and iTunes on the computer.

I was on a roll. Since Kelly helped me talk through my Black Moment, and I already knew exactly how I wanted it to end (with a wedding — a real one, to contrast with the TV-network-hosted one at the book’s start), I just kept going … and going … and going.

Like the Energizer Bunny, I wrote, until — at a little before 5 a.m., I thought the momentous words “The End.” 90,300 words, 334 pages double-spaced in Times New Roman.

My question? What do I do now? I’ve  been so focused on finishing this thing that I’m at a bit of a loss.

I think I’m going to set it aside for a few days at least, and then give it a good read-through so I can start editing.

Today, since I’m not driving anywhere, I bake! I have several batches of WW-friendly cookies planned. (Originally I’d planned to bake AND write. Maybe I’ll work on one of the other two WIPs on my computer … or start working on that query letter for my GH entry, “Operation Snag Mike Brad.”

So many options … and the rest of the week stretches before me, a “staycation” on my schedule. I’m off through the weekend. Woo-hoo!

It’s official

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I’m up to the part of the book I hate — the dreaded “black moment” where I have to break my characters up just so they can get to their Happily Ever After.

I have two problems with this:

  1. I like my characters. I love that they’re together and happy. I don’t want to torture them by breaking them apart.
  2. I’m not quite sure how to get them there. The heroine, having been abused by an ex, has issues with men, especially men of the hero’s size (tall, dark and handsome). Of course he can’t actually hit her, or no one would like him. (Plus, it’d be out of character.) But she has to feel threatened enough to walk out on him.

Aargh! This is the hard part!

Coming faster now

by with No Comment NaNoWriMo 09Progress

With just a little more than 8,000 words to write to hit the 90K mark needed for a single-title contemporary, I’m finding words are just pouring out of my head an onto the page.

Where was all this enthusiasm last week, when I needed it to end the NaNo with a less-pathetic word count?

Oh well. If  I can keep this momentum going, I’ll soon be typing the momentous words: “First draft complete!”

How exciting that will be! I’ve never finished a full-length MS before. All my others are category length. I can’t wait.

First up? Setting it aside for a few weeks, at least, before a read-through. In those weeks, I’ll be starting to shop for an agent for “Operation Snag Mike/Brad,” the GH entry.

Now that I’ve decided to get my rear in gear, things are starting to happen for me. How thrilling! 😀