As I told friends, I could disappear forever into the plotholes, and it’s so rough, I could lop off a limb on the jagged edges, but I’m about to go edit–and that’s when magic happens–when you see what you have, and how your unconscious has been plotting behind your back. I know a story/synopsis is working when I start to see things circling back–motivation, emotion. The story starts weaving itself together.
Very busy around our house. As you can see, Georgie loves when babies come to visit!
I also thought I’d be better at keeping up with my blog! But since I’m not, a quick catch-up! My Medical Blitz got rejected, but I’m submitting something else. I have almost three chapters and the beginning of a synopsis. Hoping to have it all shiny and lovely and ready to submit by Monday.
Speedbo @ www.seekerville.com
I’m also doing Speedbo. Having done a whole lot of synopsis planning yesterday, I’m behind on producing words, but I can catch up with some sprinting–which I plan to do.
Come for Navarro, stay for the competition!
Also, yesterday, one of my favorite shows started a new season. I cannot explain my weird addiction to Inkmaster (Dave Navarro. Could he be the reason?), but I LOVE that show. Maybe it’s because the artists remind me of writers. They all act so tough, but they’re so sensitive. Their feelings get hurt, and watching them take critique is like having to face a public rejection of my favorite written darlings. We writers put our thoughts and daydreams and the way we think right out there on the page–hoping everyone (literally) will read, but rejection always reminds me that I’m an introvert and I don’t have to wave my personal thoughts all over the place!
Finally, I need to exercise, but I have a stinking sore throat and my sinuses are about fourteen sizes tighter than normal. I hate to whine, but for heaven’s sake! Sore throat! I reckon I’ll just mosey on out and go as far as I can on a walk. (Sorry for the whining!)
Until the beginning of November I have too much to do. I’ve finished the pages of my proposal–the first three chapters. Still wrestling with the synopsis. My friend, Karen Whiddon and I call them Snopes, after Faulkner’s rather slippery barn burning family. You just can’t pin them down!
We also have stuff going on around our abode. I had to buy a dress for one of the things. I’ve been to two conferences. I have a doc checkup. (Ludicrous white jacket phobia) 🙁
And, we have a family reunion. I’m trying to write that snopes into submission so I don’t have to worry about it while I’m hanging out with my family.
Plus, I have to exercise every day. (Hate exercise.) And I dropped my iPod. The only thing worse than exercising is exercising without music or Netflix. I don’t even have time to get my iPod repaired.
This afternoon, at 5 p.m. Eastern/2 p.m. Pacific, I’ll be at the Facebook Launch Party for A Heartwarming Christmas! Stop by if you can!
I love the phrase, “at random.” Don’t know why. Some words just feel good and sound good.
It’s Friday, and I have too much to do, so this is going to be a random post. Just things that pop into my head.
The clouds have rolled in. I love cloudy days. And the leaves are changing. Fall is on its way. I guess it’s technically here, but it takes so long to arrive in the south, and then, if you aren’t careful, the winds blow up, and autumn is over. Well, autumn is all over the ground.
But I do love to walk through the leaves, so even that is good.
I’m working on a synopsis and feeling not good enough. Writers are a funny mix of “look at my words” and “please don’t notice I’m here.” It’s like having two trains running full steam in your head at one time. The trick is to turn those trains into workhorses that carry your words and your characters and your plots where you want them to go, and then to have the wisdom and the assurance to button it up and call the trip well started.
Several months ago, I started doing Yoga with Adriene. I’d tried yoga before, but I’d never loved it. I find Adriene so peaceful, and then a friend suggested a class. Normally, I’m so klutzy, classes can be a mistake–you know–as if the zombie horde (still stuck on iZombie!) has descended on your building in the guise of a woman taking yoga. But for some reason known best only to the mysterious universe, yoga class and I get along. I love it. Absolutely love it. I’ve been busy and stressed and traveling so much I haven’t been home on class days.
You lived! I’m so happy I’ll have food in my dish!
Until today! Yay! I’m picking up a friend. We’re going to warm up on the treadmill, and then go to class. That is a perfect day! Even with exercise.
So, a last, random note. I tried to take George, aka the writing assistant, out to take a look at the start of our fall leaves. Georgie isn’t a normal cat. He prefers to do his outdoor hunting from behind the glass of indoors. So, he didn’t really thank me for getting near the threshold to the deck. We agreed he might prefer to wait inside. He likes to keep an eye on anyone foolish enough to venture outside, and he was glad to see me survive and return.
Why is there a British cop show on top of our synopsis?
I love Wednesdays, because you still have a few days of week left, but I start to feel all crowded by the things I haven’t done. Today, I have to have my nails done. It’s the only girly thing I do, and they look as if I’ve been grinding them on sandpaper. Could have done it yesterday, but by the time I thought of it, I was at the gym, and no one wants to face me in a nail salon after that. I need them done by tomorrow for a conference I’m doing that starts tomorrow night. So–that’s one thing.
Another is the synopsis. I’m still not finished. Gave up on typing. I started taking notes on paper. Then, I gave up on that and went to bed. I had breakfast in the workspace (guest bed), and turned on Vera (another Peril on the Screen post to come) to watch while I devoured my boiled egg, string cheese, and toast with a schmear of peanut butter and blackberry Allfruit. Mmmmmmm. (Rambling here because you aren’t allowed to ramble in a synopsis. I’m getting it out of my system.)
Georgie, the Writing Assistant, clearly feels Vera and breakfast time are over!
Is the grass always greener on the other side of the Characterization Fence?
I’d love to break the rules. I’m naturally someone who wants to do the right thing. I come from a long line of rule breakers, and while they terrify me, I secretly wish I could be a little more like them. A friend once told me that behind my back in high school, people called me “Miss Pure Panties.” That probably tells you all and too much about me. I have a super-sized conscience, but I’m not proud of it, and I don’t love toting it around. (Often frozen inside it.)
Today, I’m writing a synopsis on a new project. I’m about to submit to agents, and I’m scared I can’t do it. I’d love to break the rules and fling out a flashy synopsis that can’t possibly seem as if it came from follow-the-rules Anna. I’ve heard of people who just go “I sat down and it poured out.” That’s not who I am. I’m digging deep and finding some answers. Sadly, I discovered my heroine, who’s broken the rules all her life is now afraid of breaking them because she’s done some ugly things. But at the same moment, I realized I really am that boring do-gooder girl from high school.
So much for blogging regularly. I’m having a January as busy as the holidays. Lots of stuff going on around the abode and with the family. Do you ever find yourself planning around the stack of errands you face in a day? It’s like treading water in mud.
So, today, around errands, I’m writing a synopsis. A snopes, my CP and I call them, because they are surely as insidiously evil as Faulkner’s barn-burning family. 🙂
I’ve mentioned this before–I don’t often post on the weekends, but rain in our area has apparently sent the satellite into perhaps fatal shock, so I thought I’d just catch up–from the coffee shop again.
Also, I’m working on a 2-page synopsis for the three chapters I have–yay!–finished for my new proposal, and I need a moment to breathe. Cramming a whole story into two pages, when you know all its nooks and crannies is like–trying to cram my cat into the new Kitty Pirate Ship we bought him yesterday. He’d fit, but he’s not having it! 🙂 This story is proving just as intractable. I’ve taken several whacks at this thing and even stopped to finish the rest of the chapters first. I’m still too heavy on plot, not being clever enough with emotion yet.
I remember the blinding moment early in my career when I realized the emotional journey was more vital than the plot for a romance. Someone (I’d credit if I could remember whom) once told me the plot is the hanger on which the emotional journey drapes. And that is true. Back to staking Lucio and Catie’s emotional journey!
Here’s hoping the satellite revives and I can someday post from home again!
I’m battling away with “the short form.” It’s making me suspect I talk too much. How to cram a story into essentially
Did not unravel the mystery of nesting pages the way I want them nested, but I added an ungainly mess of articles I’ve written over the years: “Building Character,” “Hooks and Transitions,” and “Growing an Idea.” I didn’t even manage to get linking right, but if you scroll, you can read them. Right now, the work part of writing comes first, so I need to finish this snopes.
In the meantime, I’m perched on the bed in our guest room, working (out of the way. Maybe no one will notice I’m here), and I suddenly noticed I have a writer’s stack of stuff with me. (A Kindle, two books, and a movie. Cause a device holding I’m not sure how many books at this point is not quite enough!)
The yellow looking book is Kate Walker’s 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance. If you are, like me, writing romance, you need that one.
Better get back to rasslin’ that snopes! (Synopses are easily as wicked as a Faulkner barn-burning family!)