What to do?

by with 4 Comments Blind Date BrideMeg & MattOSNBSynopses

What to do, what to do?

I’m at a bit of a loss again. After writing more than 1,000 words on Meg and Matt’s story yesterday, I’ve hit a block. If I take a page of advice from the “write quickly and often” book, I’ll sit down and make myself write something — anything.

But maybe I should continue working on my new synopsis for “Operation Snag Mike Brad” — the one that puts more emphasis on the conflict (you know, the one that may or may not actually exist in the story. I’m trying. It really does have more conflict than it used to.)

I’m not sure it’s worth sending out more queries on that one until I resolve the conflict issue.

Or perhaps I should do something else altogether. “Blind Date Bride” needs a query letter and synopsis. I’m thinking about taking an online synopsis-writing class that starts in March, though … so maybe I should wait on that.

This is the story of my life these days: I seem to have a short attention span. I can’t settle down to any one project. Yet I need to keep making progress on my Word Count Club goal. I don’t want to be the one to fail.

I also need an editor’s note for the next NARWA newsletter. I’m thinking my topic will be … drumroll, please … rejection. I’ve certainly handled enough of it lately to consider myself an expert! 😉

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?

2 pounds, 13 3/4 ounces

by with No Comment ContestsProgress

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?

Still plugging away

by with No Comment Uncategorized

No, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth … even if it might seem like I did. I’ve been busy, busy, busy trying to balance my writing life with the day job and my attempt to hit my goal weight (which I’m still 15 pounds away from, darn it).

I still wonder if I might have bitten off more than I can chew this month, but I’m trying my darnedest.

A quick update:

• The NaNo MS is up to nearly 10,500 words (and that’s 10,500 more words than I had at the beginning of November!).

• I’ve printed out another paper copy of the GH entry (pages and synopsis) to read through tonight. I plan to make any final changes and hit the post office tomorrow. It’s payday, and I need to pay for the mailing while I have the money to do it!

That’s what I’ve been up to. How about you?

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?

Almost ready …

by with No Comment Progress

Today, I finished tweaking the ending of my first MS, the one I’m entering in the Golden Heart. I deleted some stuff, added in new things and am now pretty happy with it.

I also went through the on-paper edits in my first 48 pages, the pages that are going off to the GH.

Next up? Updating the synopsis a bit to reflect the new ending and another paper copy of both it and the entry.

I’ll be killing a few more trees, but it’s worth it to be that much closer to getting this entry in tiptop shape!

I’m also wondering if I should get a preview of what to expect by entering this contest. I’d need to write a query letter, but I’ll need one of those anyway if I’m going to start looking for an agent.

Using ink …

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I’m not going to say “wasting,” even if that’s what it feels like.

That’s right. I printed out the first 48 pages of my MS, which is where I want to end my GH entry, and my still-6-ish-page synopsis yesterday. I figure that sometimes I see things on paper that I don’t see on my computer screen.

Odd how that works: I can read over something a dozen (or more!) times on-screen, and see something I totally missed on a paper copy.

I’ll chalk that one up to “things that make you go hmm” …

Great. Now that song is running through my head. Guess that’s better than Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA,” which was running through my head one day last week, driving me absolutely batty.

Dose of inspiration

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I spotted this quote on a pretty leather-bound journal at Barnes & Noble when I took my extra-long dinner break there last night:

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it, you will land among the stars.

It was a nice reminder to “go for it,” “just do it” or any number of motivational sayings. We all need a little shot of enthusiasm from time to time.

Today, I spent some quality time with my synopsis. I’d like to pare it to 4 or 5 pages. Right now it’s about 5 1/3.