back in the saddle

I finally got the summary of my novel organized into a place where I'm fairly happy with it. I'm sure it needs a lot of work still, but at least I have a solid foundation to start with. First drafts are one thing, but if your plot is flawed and it depends on a sequence of events for a mystery you might as well get the plot in line before you start chipping away at lofty revisions. At least, this is my thinking.

I set up a new document, pasted my first draft into it and labeled it "Second Draft." I sat down with my summary, my notes, and my cup of coffee and began this tedious process of rewriting.

And it sucks!

I can't sit as long as my brain wants me to because my chair is wood and HARD and I have a bony ass that falls asleep right when I'm on a roll. Not to mention my fear of blood clots. I swear my calf is throbbing more than usual.

Also, I don't have a desk and the bottom of my laptop is hot. Add the 100 degree Las Vegas weather and now my thighs are drenched in sweat.

Plus, my back hurts from hunching over to type.

In conclusion, my butt is asleep, I feel a blood clot coming on, my thighs are sweaty and my back is sore.

Why am I doing this again?

Oh right..I'm a writer.

P.S. HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

Quote of the Day: The only cure for writer's block is insomnia. ~Merit Antares

on our way

It's that time again. Getting back to business. The business of writing.

Maura, Shae, and I have embarked on another step in the journey to publication. We've all finished first drafts (though Shae deemed hers more fire worthy than anything else ;-)) and now we need to get these suckers revised and agent and/or editor ready. Maura has already done one round of revisions and in my honest opinion she doesn't have much further to go. Shae would just like to get back into the writing scene again. Me, I'm just the procrastinator of the century and a moody one at that.

The return to the writing scene is exactly what the focus of our next step is about. Writing for the sake of writing! Maura has been journaling, which is awesome, and Shae has been writing for the camera, and I have been...blogging. Sometimes. I've been slacking on my goals as my mood has fallen, I've let reality has seep into my creative side. Not good!

Thus, the plan is as follows....

1)Each week we will be posting one writing exercise that we have done from a source of our choosing on our blogs.

2)Each week we will complete one current manuscript goal until....well, for me, until I've sent it off to my prospective agents.

I'm excited and looking forward to working with my girls, as well as my characters, again :-)

Quote of the Day: When we see a natural style we are quite amazed and delighted, because we expected to see an author and find a man. ~Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 1670

specific writing goals for 2009

REVISED January 2, 2009

Writing Goals for 2008

1) Complete first single title novel (100,000 words) – Tentative Title: COT by November 30, 2008 and submit to an agent.

a) Finish first draft by October 15, 2008 (1000 words per day) Finished first draft

2) Complete one category romance (50,000 words) by December 31, 2008 and submit to publisher or agent.

a) Characters done by August 31, 2008.
b) Plot done by September 10, 2008.
c) Outline done by September 15, 2008.
d) First draft done by November 15, 2008 (800 words per day) Finished first draft

3) Begin character and plot for second single title novel in series (100,000 words) - Tentative Title: TRT before end of the year. Did not complete this

a) Prepare synopsis.

Writing Goals for 2009

1) Complete COT by February 28, 2009.

a) Revise first draft by February 1, 2009.
b) Prepare synopsis and synopsis of other two novels in series for agents.

2) Complete TRT by April 31, 2009.

a) Finish first draft by March 31, 2009.

3) Complete first category romance (50,000 words) by February 28, 2009.

4) Complete third single title novel in series (100,000 words) – Tentative Title: WAED by June 31, 2009.

a) Prepare synopsis after character and plot work.

5) Complete second category romance (50,000 words) by April 30, 2009.

6) Complete fourth single title novel (100,000 words; new series or stand alone) by August 30, 2009.

7) Complete third category romance (50,000 words) by October 31, 2009.

8) Complete fifth single title novel (100,000 words) by November 30, 2009.

9) Complete fourth category romance (50,000 words) by December 31, 2009.

NINE BOOKS BY 2010!!! WOOHOO!!!

Quote of the Day: Do not put statements in the negative form.
And don't start sentences with a conjunction.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a
great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
De-accession euphemisms.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.
~William Safire, "Great Rules of Writing"

all about me

It's time.

Yes, it's time to do this.

Blog.

As an aspiring writer blogging is inevitable and some may say, a necessary evil. Maybe that's too harsh, but for me, I think it's now a must.

I write romance and hope to have my first novel completed by August. That means I need to put myself out there; shmooze, if you will, via the internet highway. Every writer I know seems to have a blog and for good reason. They have books they need to publicize. Heck, they need to publicize themselves.

Which is why I'm here embarking on the adventure of a lifetime. The pursuit of a dream. To become a writer.

At 30, I've decided I can't hold out any longer. I pushed this whole writing business into the back of my mind, where it sat, sometimes impatiently, until one day last year it reared up and forced me to look at my life. And then I got depressed.

Don't get me wrong, I've done some....stuff, been some places, made some friends. But I wasn't aiming towards anything in particular. I have no career, just a series of unrelated and unsatisfying jobs. I have no home, just a place that I stay because I haven't the means to go anywhere else. And I have no purpose, other than to keep hope alive that one day I will. Pretty sad, huh? Yeah, I thought so.

So, I did some serious soul-searching and this time listened to this writing thing. I realized I had enjoyed and excelled at writing since I was able to read. And read I did for the majority of the time I spent alone as a child. I could lose myself in books, escaping from reality, or sometimes, improving upon it. I even wrote a romance in 7th grade. I still have it, though I pity the person who comes upon it when I'm dead and gone. It really is bad. But hey, it's complete. From then on, I've written poems, essays, synopsi, character charts and outlines of stories that burst forth from my brain and dare I say, heart. But these have never gone the way of my first attempt - actual completion.

I'm getting closer though. And determination and motivation is slowly chipping away at all the crap - insecurities, procrastination, etc. - that prevents me from being more productive than naught. So, I'm optimistic. I think romance writers kinda have to be, since our livelihood depends on a happy ending.

Thus, my adventure begins and this blog is here to see it come to fruition. It could also help with the next mega obstacle called publication.....the after effects of promotion.

It's time.

Welcome to the adventure....I mean, my Blog.