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Showing posts from May, 2009

First five chapters

I'm trying to hone in on the first five chapters. I think I'll spend the majority of my time on this until I feel like I've got what I want, then go on to the rest. ANd I think I'm taking off the music on this site. It always scares me because I forget. I like the music, but one can take only so many jump-starts like that!

Seven days of no writing makes one weak

Battling stomach flu makes it nearly impossible for me to write. Thinking hurt. But, the last few days, as I'm recovering, I actually had a plot break through that I'm working into my story. I think it will help build the tension toward the end and not let the climax be too abrupt. And I've been working on my comedy side. My husband thinks I might have edited out all my funny scenes. I'm doing some research on being funny, like reading the Princess Bride, one of my all-time favorite funny books.

Despite the missing contacts...

WEll, I can either see or type. I can't do both. But notwithstanding that, I revised a story I wrote eleven an a half years ago to send in to a contest. Maybe I'll expand it and write it into a novel. Anyway, I got some interesting feedback. My sister said it sounded like it was written at a college level (does that mean well-written or hard to read?) My mom liked it (phew!) and offered a few suggestions. And my sister-in-law loved it. But those people have the same sense of humor, so of course they like it. And what if it is written above the ease of understandablity? It's supposed to be a childern's short story. Anyway, 100 people or so get honorable mentions, if I don't get one of those, then I know it's time to go back and look at my writing.

Two things

One, my son lost my contacts over the weekend, and writing with an old pair of glasses is horrible on the eyes. My glasses are as old as my oldest daughter, nearly six years old. My left eye is so blurry I can't read the screen. Needless to say, that's a little bit of a setback. T'is better than trying to type with nothing to aid my vision. I tried that on a children's book I'm writing and I had to hold my laptop up to my chest to read, then put it down on my lap to type. It was slow going. Second, I read the newsletter from Writer's Digest talking about scenes. It had some suggestions on how to make my scenes more compelling. Thankfully, I won't have to rewrite major chunks of my story, just add a few lines to make sure my POV character's motivations are clear. But I think that was the magical missing piece keeping my novel from being the NYTBS. I'll work on that tonight.

On Editing

I hope I'm not editing the life out of my book.

Bummed

I went to Borders on Saturday and found out that there is a book with a similar character as my heroine. I'll have to admit I'm bummed. The premise is different. And the story is way different. Mine is funnier. But it still bums me.