Boone's Top Ten

Boone, my now sixty pound chocolate lab puppy, insists I record his top ten list of favorite activities:

10) Chewing dog crate -- Thinks it is just one mondo doggy toy, not an apartment.

9) Pawing through garbage can -- Can easily knock it over now.

8) Drinking coffee from cups on side table -- He loves his java. What a Seattle dog.

7) Destroying stuffed animals -- Shreds them and tosses stuffing into air like snowflakes.

6) Eating --- Everything.

5) Licking refrigerator door -- In hopes it will open and he can snarf everything down.

4) Sleeping -- On my side of the bed. Kicking legs out like frogman. Snoring. Running in sleep, which boots me in the behind.

3) Fetching -- Anything he can find. Anything you throw. Even in the house.

2) Nosing people -- In odd places. At odd times. Lately does this when I'm at my desk trying to write.

1) Showering -- He is now known as the Shower Bandit. The minute the water kicks on, he opens the bathroom door (lock inexplicably not a problem) and sticks his head around the shower curtain to see what's happening. Will lay on bathroom rug until showeree is done and then helps dry the person off by licking droplets off legs. Yes, my dog is weird.

But I love him! And so does his ancient German Shepherd sister. Will post some pictures this week. It's snowing here and he's having a blast tearing through the flakes, barking and racing in circles. Gotta love puppies in the snow.

Golden Heart Babies

I finally can post, now that my two entries for the Golden Heart are in tip-top shape and ready to ship out today. I actually wrote an eight page synopsis yesterday from the bones of a two pager -- which was pretty amazing for me to do in one day. My brain is consequently toast this morning...

Eight pages seemed like a lot, compared to last year's entry which had a five page synopsis, but this WIP is more complicated. All of my books are complicated, damnit!

Rereading last year's entry and synopsis did make me smile though. I really am proud of that finalist MS. I had to sit back in my chair and say, "Damn. This is pretty good." That's always a good feeling.

Good luck to all the Golden Heart entrants! I can't wait to judge this winter!

How Sweet the Bitter End

I wrote the final sentence of my WIP's first draft today. Wah. Hoo. Hmm... Expected fireworks, explosions, at least some freaking confetti.

Okay, not really. It will never be like the first time I finished writing a novel. That time was I screaming, "I can't believe I did it!" and boucing around the house for days. Writing a novel was a goal I'd had for years. It was a sweet success.

This time, after multiple manuscripts completed, I guess I'm more aware of the work ahead. Aware that I will edit, revise, plug scenes into spreadsheets, revise again. Aware that I'll be thrown back into polishing and refining and then forced to hit the publishing pavement. Ack.

A good thing did happen though. I caught myself getting emotional as I wrote a father-daughter scene toward the end of the book. The kind of talk scene my own dad calls a "come to Jesus" session. I love when the people in my stories reach these cathartic moments, forcing me to dig deep for the feelings, the right words. I teared up a bit. Then again, although there are funny moments in it, this book has themes of forgiveness, eternal love, self-acceptance, and the regrets that haunt us. If I didn't feel something at the end, I would have been worried.

So, now to go back and tweak my synopsis to fit the changes I've made since beginning the story. I do like having the synopsis in at least skeletal form when I begin. It's much easier for me to rewrite it then to begin from scratch. And then, the work continues! Spreadsheets, revisions, the works.

Ah, sweet mystery of writing...

The End is Near!

*Whew!* I have written 54,700 words of my 60-65k manuscript.

This is always the happy but tension-filled slide to the end of the book. I know my characters, I know what should happen at the climax of the book, all the players are on the chess board, so to speak.

But, I suck at chess. Or maybe suck is too strong of a word. I'm just not that great at it.

In my defense, I only learned to play chess in sophomore year of college. My boyfriend at the time, an egotistical photography student still in love with his devil of an ex-girlfriend, taught me to play. Then, when I won my first game against a mutual friend, my BF, watching from the sidelines, laughed and said I could have won three moves ago. Grrrrr.

Maybe I'm too spontaneous a decision-maker to be good at chess. When I do play, I'm looking at say, the next three moves. Those people who can see five moves of her own and her opponents? Totally not me.

In my writing, I see this is a good light. I'm open to the moment, to my characters who are acting on the stage I've built in my story. If I truly know them, they will do what they do "in character". They will show me possibilities my subconscious mind only hinted at. And the lovely verisimilitude that made shows like Seinfeld so great will surface in my novel. Loose ends magically tie. Things I never imagined connected will connect.

And if they don't? Well, that's the beauty of a novel -- and the vast difference between it and a true chess game -- you can go back! Enhancing, shading, foreshadowing, changing, scultpting? Every thing is fair game in revisions. :)

Did I mention I love revising?

Lunch with Susan & Jen

My local chapter of RWA had a fabulous meeting this weekend -- lunch with best-selling authors Susan Andersen and Jen Heaton (aka Desire author Caroline Cross). Although the food was fabulous (loved that Thai chicken salad) my favorite part was the question-answer session.

Susan and Jen answered all sorts of queries about the industry, their careers, their work. I was touched by their generousity and candor. What a gift to all of us working toward our own publication goals!

Some highlights from the conversation...

* Your writing/career problems don't magically disappear when you sell. There are always new things to tackle, new things about yourself to learn.

* Perserverance is the key to a successful writing career.

* A good synopsis focuses on the emotional arc of the characters. What internally will change from beginning to end of the story? How will they grow emotionally?

* If you get stuck in the middle of your story, work backwards from the climax of the story.

And now... to get on to my WIP. Nearing the 50k mark and feeling the "good pressure" of having to tie up the loose ends.

Good luck with your writing this week everyone!!

It's All About the Words

Well, I hit a milestone today -- 48k on my WIP! For someone writing stories of 60-65k this is like the beginning of the end. I'm literally at my heroine's "black moment" in my story. Woo hoo!

Of course, this black moment isn't quite what I had imagined. Then again, when I began the draft, I planned the final conflict more than I thought about the black moment because, in my experience, the black moment (bearing in mind the GMC of your character) can grow organically from the story that comes before.

And this black moment did not disappoint. It'll all end well, but how my heroine is going to get out of the ugly, ugly situation she's found herself in is... (to quote Shakespeare in Love) a mystery.

Good thing I love a good puzzle. After all, I'm writing to surprise myself. If I can do that, then I know I'm into something good, something compelling.

I can't wait to get to the keyboard in the morning. Don'tcha love that feeling??!!

Halloween in the Country

Well, after a three year holiday drought, we actually got TWO trick-or-treaters last night! Yay! One little witch and a hunter. (Only in a rural town do you find parents encouraging little kids to don camo clothes and safety orange vests...)

Boone's costume was a bust. I dressed him as a kind of ghost. Okay, yeah, he was wearing a lame t-shirt. A lame t-shirt I forgot to remove when I let him out to go potty. Yep, draw your own conclusions on that one. I'm a genius, I know.

Cruising right along on the writing though. Am past the 45,000 word marker! Woo hoo! Just about 15,000 or so to go, and lots of little threads are poking up through the story material begging to be tied off. Love this part of writing a manuscript. The Wheeee sound you hear is me sliding downhill toward the finish line!

I have been using the "fun proposal" I've been wanting to write as a reward to get myself to finish the draft of the WIP. I can't believe how easy it is to write when you're hot to start another idea. Then, soon, you forget all about the reward and get back into the draft. At least that seems to be working for me.

Have you ever found any motivating tricks that work for you?

Okay, so back to the WIP I go. Good luck on your writing goals this week, everyone!