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 Read more…
My work week starts today, after a four-day weekend. I’m also gearing up for a busy week with NARWA. Thursday is our board meeting, and Saturday is plot group. I can’t wait! I love the chance to talk with other writers, work toward making our chapter better and get inspiration to Read more…
A quick update: I’ve been editing up a storm on my Golden Heart entry. I’m 111 pages into the 213. I’ve been rewriting — adding things and taking some out — and am still right at about 58,000 words. I’m looking forward to the next installment of the Ruby Slippered Read more…
I thought I was making good progress in getting my manuscript ready for the Golden Heart competition. I’ve edited 80 pages, trying to dig deeper into the minds of my characters and getting rid of a lot of “he said, she said” tags, replacing them with action tags instead. I’ve Read more…
I want to know why I seem to get more writing done at Starbucks than I do in my own home. I guess it’s the distraction factor. At Starbucks, the TV is not on (though there is music), so I don’t get sucked into the lives of those poor hapless Read more…
As I get more involved in rewriting Brad and Erin’s story, I’m finding less and less time to blog — both here and on my other blog. I guess I should take that as a good sign, eh? 😀 Today, I had a pleasant lunch (complete with sinful dessert) with Read more…
I had the day off but did not spend it with the Boyfriend, which was a bummer for me, but great for the novel. I headed to Starbucks, ordered some low-fat coffee cake and an unsweetened iced tea and set up camp near an outlet. A couple of hours later, Read more…
I spent some time this weekend looking through Debra Dixon’s infamous “Goal, Motivation and Conflict,” in case you couldn’t tell. The goal, of course, is “what.” Motivation is the “why.” And conflict is the “why not.” Your character wants _______ because ______ but ________. It seems so easy. Yet when Read more…
Got my critique back this afternoon, and I was right: The manuscript definitely needs some help. I’m not going to lie: It was a bit unnerving to see all that “red ink” on my pages. But it was also edifying, because she said a lot of the same things I’ve Read more…
The next meeting of my RWA chapter, Northern Arizona Romance Writers of America, is on Saturday, and I can’t wait. We’re going to have a guest speaker, Linda Style, talk to us about layering stories and subplots. It should be interesting. It will pose a challenge for my diet, because Read more…