Here Piggy Piggy

My city and county shut down all the schools for a few days due to the SWINE FLU PANDEMIC. Or is it the "STORM OF THE CENTURY?" Not sure, but in an effort to prevent future lawsuits, err, probable but not caused infections, or any real sense, the county shut everything down. 

Ah, now how long will the school year be? Do I need to panic? No. My daughter is old enough to fend for herself and so I could write to my heart's content.

I finally plowed through the second scene in the the second chapter. It took me 4 or more hours to work on it, but it reads better. Not great, but better. Then I worked on the 3rd chapter and polished it. It took about an hour and a half to do three scenes. Whew. 

Tomorrow I polish up my synopsis and edit it and my query letter. I must get this out the door soon.

I also have to take care to stay healthy--and sane in an insane world.

Big MAC

Yesterday I went to my second tutorial at the APPLE store. This time I remembered to bring my silver card that would give me access to the great one-to-one portal. Wow, insert card and voila, a whole new world is opened!

Well, it's not that simple. First, I was introduced to a young man who was prepared to walk me through all my MAC questions. We skipped basic keyboarding etc., because, well, I'm not completely ignorant when it comes to computers. We entered into the portal using my membership number on the silver credit card. Then the young man proceeded to teach me all kinds of cool things and make my MAC world a little brighter.

I now have ITUNES on my MAC Account! I can get music now!! I am so excited--well I can after I take both Laptops into the store and have them configured on Friday (whoot!). I am also versed in IDisk and Mobile Me (a bit). IDisk is a wondrous way to back up my files to a big computer in some sky located in Neptune--not really--but it feels that way to me. Any way, here is the BEAUTY of this IDisk. I can access all my files and work on them FROM ANY COMPUTER I USE ANYWHERE!!! How amazing is that? I am shivering with excitement about it. Whoot!!

Now that brings me to all the passwords and user names I have to remember. I have one user name for the majority of my APPLE connections, and another for -- let me refer to my little silver APPLE notebook--Mobile Me. I will learn more about Mobile Me and IWeb at my next session. 

Oh how did I ever live before the MAC?

Will I Ever Finish Chapter Two-Scene Two?

I'm bogged down. Stuck in mud. Wanting to move forward, but catching my feet and tripping. When I think I have a solution, I go to write, and it drops away--it doesn't work. And this is the second chapter. I need it to read well. I want my first three chapters to be GOLDEN. I need them to go to Ellora's Cave. I have sworn off all contests until I finish the revision AGAIN and I keep finding more stuff to fix. Argh.

I spent 3 hours on the second chapter. Most of them on the second scene. I am desperate to make my mostly Alpha male not come off as a slime, so I've toned down a lot of what I had written. But then I lose the erotic elements that I want to showcase. Double argh.

I am devoting 1 hour to it this morning. Then I am moving forward to Chapter 3, regardless if it the second chapter is finished. I need this to work for me. Perhaps moving forward will give me some insight. At this point, I want to cut the damn scene altogether, but that leaves me hanging at the end of the first scene. The other solution is to call a trusted writing friend and ask her what to do. Another solution is to vomit anything onto the page and see if a fraction of it is fixable. 

I want to submit this piece and get it out of my hair. I have a pretty good query letter and my synopsis is shaping up nicely.  I am determined to have three chapters to send by mid-May. I think that's what bogging me down. The self-imposed deadline. But once I am finally "called"--this will be my life.

Hair pulling and gnashing of teeth come with the territory--all writers suffer from this angst: published or not!  

A Weekend Break

I am still on medication, but I am definitely on the mend. I can't wait to get the test results back so I know what I am dealing with and we can fix it! Friday night I went shopping with my daughter and then home to cookout. Just as we were wrapping up a late night grill session and getting ready to sit down, the doorbell rang. My crazy, ineffectual neighbor showed up with her 10 yr. daughter -- locked out. The whole scenario was weird. I think if we hadn't pushed for her to call her husband to see if he was home with the other two children, she'd have stayed the night. We finally convinced her to go check if he was home after three unanswered calls. We told her to leave her daughter with us until she got home and knew if she could get in. We got a call a few minutes later, yeah, he was home. So my daughter walked her's home and we finally ate our meal at 8:30PM! 

Now what husband comes home after his wife and daughter, walks in the door and sees they're not there, and doesn't freak out about where the other half of his family is????? I tell you, there is a story in this situation. One I am afraid isn't good. But what to do? I feel for the children. But I don't know what is going on other than idiocy and complete lack of planning. These two shouldn't have had one child, let alone three. So sad. But unless I see evidence of real abuse, I cannot do a thing to help them. 

On Saturday I hosted a baby shower for my other neighbor. It was so much fun. And I met some wonderful people. We had all ages here from teenager to grandmother. Beautiful homemade blankets, quilted and crocheted, were given. Blankets with the baby's name on it, presents for big sister, adorable clothes, practical items. As always, bring a group of women together and there is laughter and a sense of hope for the future. And we are all very happy for this family. She'd had a terrible miscarriage, one that almost killed her, nearly a year ago. Now they are welcoming a new baby girl into their family and they are ecstatic. 

This family is a good family. A family where all are involved in the process of parenting, loving and raising the children. And what a difference it makes. Their first child is a delight--a bundle of love and affection filled with hugs and enthusiasm for all she greets. I have no worries for this family.

Two days: two views. 

Today we are focusing on family here at home. First my darling daughter has an early voice lesson. Off to the best voice coach we go. Then when we return, we've planned omelets and bacon we three. Then the usual homework and hanging out, grilling tonight, chillaxing with each other. Our daughter is 14, almost 15, and she is a mature (usually) and giving individual with optimism for her future. I'd like to think we had a bit a of a hand in guiding her in that direction. 

We have three stories this weekend. One a sad family filled with characters that could be in a OPRAH Book Club novel. In another, we have an Inspirational Love Story filled with family and love and values. In ours? Well, I guess we are the contemporary romance version of a SuperRomance. My DH and I met nearly 24 yrs ago, had a whirlwind romance and got married after six weeks! The real work didn't begin till after we said our vows. But we had one mutual goal, one plan, from which we never veered: we started our family when we became a couple. Neither one of us had great family backgrounds, I on my own at 16 and he without a dad early in life. But we were determined to have a strong family. Our family may not be a big one. But it is a strong one.

I wonder why some people fail to see that family requires effort? 

Woohoo--Kiss Scene Attacked

Well I've been tackling a myriad of issues with the story this past week--a little in the AM and a little in the PM. AM I work on the MS and PM the query and/or synopsis. Given my health and all the doctor visits, I feel pretty pleased about my progress.

The kiss scene is addressed and changed. Not perfect. But my hero is not a sleaze anymore (at least not to me). I went through the first chapter with a great judge edit and then I hit it today with my own spin. Worked out well--I had distanced myself from it so it was easier to tackle.

I woke up with a lot rolling in my head re: this book and a tag line for the 4th book's query. Figure I may as well start laying down the groundwork for the next pitch/query now. Any rate, have an idea for a scene at the end so I jotted that down in scrivener. And then I wrote down and saved the tag. Then I worked on the kiss scene--yeah to sexual tension, not actual action. 

All and all a productive week for me. Whew.

Wow! My Query is Shaping Up

I have learned something very new about myself when it comes to query letter writing. A little bit a day makes the pain go away. That and an amazing set of CPs!!! I have been plunking down stuff for a week now, editing, revising, adding, subtracting, and generally mulling. I learned that queries, if mulled in the shower, also reveal themselves to me in moments of brilliance in the shower. 

Hmmm? What is it about me and the showers? Whatever it is, it works.

I sent off my first attempt at anything reasonable to my CP and a new writing accountability partner. And I got good feedback. That is the second thing that is important about this whole process for me. I need the feedback. What is working? I have the idea. But that's my strength. My weakness is in execution. I can come up with the framework, but I need a bit of tinkering. 

Did I mention I love my CP?

I'm happy I have something to work with and can use to send out to publishers. 

The Dreaded Synopsis *gulp & gasp*

The morning stunk. Period. 2 hours at the doctor, blood work drawn, unreasonable weight gain in a month (argh and double argh), and general distraction of follow up phone calls about all the above. Bottom line: I am being tested for everything that can cause my immune system to drop lower than the deepest well and cause me to bloat up like a beached whale. Seriously, I think the only thing I wasn't tested for was ingrown toe nails. Sheesh.

So, no chapters completed this morning. 

And after a brief battle with myself, and a few nudges by an accountability partner, I edged into the synopsis. Yuck and yuck and yuck.

First, the synopsis I sent out with the GH reflects a completely different ending -- one based on another dear CP's influence of losing it all (love my romantic suspense friends LOL). Second, I incorporated something new and it is not in the synopsis (I really don't want the scores now that I am at this point--again). Third, I realized I have bits of wonderfulness in it, but after reviewing my craft corner notes from a wonderful author in my writing chapter, I need to redo a lot. 

BLECH.

Sigh. Gasp. Grunt. And Groan.

But I did a bit of cutting and pasting--tossing and revising--hunting for index cards--review of the facts, just the facts madam--and now I know I need to go back in with the lessons I've learned and revise again to my heart's content. 

The good that came out of all this is that I like my new version a lot better so it'll be easier to write the synopsis. Plus, I am in revise mode in the mornings so the story is fresh in my mind and that will help me write the synopsis. And finally, I managed to clean up all my files on the computer for this story so it will be easier to revise and write the query/synopsis for the novel.

Sigh. Gasp. Grunt. And Groan.

Tomorrow I am praying I have a good writing day. I want to have zero interruptions in the AM so I can work diligently on my revision. I am not picking up the phone, even if it is the lab reports, until after 12PM. I can call back for that info. And In the PM, I will continue tweaking my query and my synopsis. 

Baby steps. Baby steps.

Oh, how I wish I could leap instead of crawl to the finish line.

As soon as my health is up to par, I am celebrating with a full day of writing!