Editorial Video

I don't write on weekends and so have no updates, but if you want to understand how an editorial revision request can sometimes feel, check out this video at Youtube: (blogger isn't allowing the link, let me try just putting in the website)_
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo1XFz0kac0



Nina, I've got your question and I'm pondering!

Stalled

I'm down to roughly the last 50 pages of the historical and I've stalled out. I always do. I have to juggle the remaining problems in the most dramatic manner possible, and drama just doesn't come naturally to me. Yeah, I know, get another profession.

So I spent the morning re-reading earlier pages, adding bits of information that I let fall from earlier scenes, jotting notes of threads I need to pick up in the final pages. I'm not there yet, but I'll hope something dramatic occurs to me over the weekend!

After researching NC laws for my contemp, I'm now about to start filling up the newest section of my custom-built bookcase. Wheeee!

One Step at a Time

My recovering wounded hero keeps saying this, one step at a time. Somedays, that's all I can manage. I can only dream of the good old days when I used to do three things at once and plan the next three. If I can just keep moving forward, I count myself lucky.

Got my pages written on the historical this morning and my hero pulled a surprise on me, even at this late date. Now all I have to do is figure out how in heck to carry it out.

Intended to concentrate on the heroine's character for the new proposal but got sidetracked on names. I was trying to draw up genealogy charts for the two main families of my made-up town because one of the town fathers is gonna keel over in the first chapter, and I had to know how my heroine was related to him. Entire charts of people I'll never use just so I know a relationship. And the charts required names. I got a little tired of Dghtr #1-A, Son #2-B. Confusing. So it's time to make the people come to life. Which sucked me into reading census lists and newspapers and historical information for the area in question.

Sometimes, my steps are sideways.

Third Turning Point Conquered!

Sort of. A little. Words written, at least. Goal accomplished. Now, must apply lessons and go home. Rewriting will happen later. Probably for another year at the rate I work.

So I gave myself permission to work on the contemp proposal for a little while today. I want a series, with the town as character and overriding story arc. I always start with characters, but I"ve never started with the town as one. At the moment, it's merely an intellectual exercise. I've been researching the area I want to set it in. I already knew most of this stuff but it's nice to be reminded of pirates and settlers and plantations, even though this will be a contemporary. It's like knowing what grade school your hero went to--there's a difference between a little six classroom school in the country and a huge complex in the city. You might never use the information, but you know your hero better for knowing how he was brought up.

All I'm doing now is concocting a stew though. Hard to judge where it's going. Hope it goes faster than the bookshelves though! Still don't have that second section ready.

Back to Business--Oh well

In all fairness, if I'm to rantabout bad days, I must admit to having the occasional good one. This wasn't a good one. "G" But I did get my e-mail straightened out after much huffing, puffing, and many threats to blow up various and assorted servers. Then I spent hours at the dentist. Oh well.

I've done a modicum of research for the new contemp proposal but spend most of my writing time today snail-crawling through the historical's climactic turning point. I know other people claim that once they get past the midpoint, they merrily rush through the last pages because it's all coming together. Not me.

I merrily rush through the first half of the book because it's all a fun new world and I'm just along for the ride. The last half requires that I get my act together and figure out where in heck it is I'm going and how I'm going to get there without crashing dramatically. Or maybe I should crash dramatically. That's the point of a climax isn't it? Oh well. I like my characters too much to maim them, so I have to get them out of the runaway freight train with life and limb intact. And it's HARD!

I'm waiting for my husband to finish a few more shelves so I can start transferring my hardcover books to my brand new built-in bookshelves. I'll try to remember to take pictures. It's only been six months since this project started and we're still not there yet, but almost!

Crabby Day at Black Rock

I can't call it a Bad Day. Some people have really bad days but this just qualified as unproductive in sooooooo many ways. Half hour errands that took two hours. Major tree cutting, sawing, noise-producing distractions and unable to figure out how to plug in earphones with fancy new monitor and built-in speakers. And email server and broadband service not speaking to each other--wasted hours (and an entire deleted email folder, so if you've emailed recently, you're history, like my address book, sorry) attempting to get either tech support to admit to their problem. Ha. Like that happened.

I managed to struggle out a few pages of the historical but the new contemp just stares at me balefully. I'm developing a town history. Anyone got any zany characters they'd like to see immortalized?

Oh, and did I mention feedblitz.com the other day? Brain too fried to remember and too tired to read through all this to find out. You sign in at feedblitz.com and tell it what blogs you want to follow, and they send them directly to your mailbox! Absolutely fantastic, if I had a mailbox. Which I currently don't.