This Week in My World

-I’m at 7,000 words for my new novel.
-I haven’t critiqued anybody else’s work.
-I just read my first blogs.
-I started reading a Janet Evanovich novel. Not YA, I know.
-I learned that all the boxes I packed during the first week of summer to move from one building in my school district to another, will now be moved back. I’m switching buildings and grade levels just a few days before the new year begins.
-My allergies have been beyond annoying. Consequently, I’ve been beyond wiped out and have slept for a few hours each afternoon. Not productive. Fortunately, my kids have been exhausted right along with me and actually took naps for the first time in what seems like forever.
-I finally wiped up my floors. And cleaned toilets.
-I gave up and bought box meals for the kids to eat. Or not. But at least the prep time was 40 seconds, not 40+ minutes. I had peanut butter toast. And a glass of wine.
-That’s it.
-Happy weekend. And for you fellow teachers-Happy New Year!

Relaxation

I have nothing of interest to report, not that I have in the past. Not that I'm ever writing to anyone besides myself. A journal, more than a blog, I guess.

So far the weekend has been a weekend of indulgences. Last night my husband and I watched the movie Ghostwriter and enjoyed it. Today, instead of wiping up my grotesquely gritty floors I read,and finished, Linger. In between chapters I slept, got food for my children, changed diapers, picked up toys, and...that's about it.

I finished the book, moments ago, and am full. Fully content, fully satisfied with the story, character and writing. Full with a familiar feeling of sadness at its completion, the finality of turning a novel's last lonely page. Full of aniticipation for the third novel that I'll have to wait until next summer to crack open and indulge in.

Dinner menu: teriyaki steak, potatoes, carrots %succesfulness: 75% (one child, having had no nap, conked out, midplay, on the living room floor before making it to the dinner table...this has never happened before. Dinner was delish. He really missed out, poor thing!

Oh yes, I mean, Oh NO...not another ADVERB!

Adverbs...avoid them. Why? To SHOW and not tell. Let's practice. Why? I need to.

She ran quickly around the lake.
She sped around the lake. (See, the adverb was not really needed.)

She laughed loudly.
She guffawed.

(See...use a more specific verb. Word choice. Less repetition. Repetition is bad. It's why my manuscript was 116,000 words. When I'm pretty sure it would be better at 80,000.)

She shrugged apologetically.
Wanna help me with this one?

Lesson of today: revise and lose the adverbs.
TTFN

Dinner Menu for tonight: PIZZA NIGHT % of successfulness: TBD

I have a new PROTAGONIST!

Sadly, I am taking a break from Dawn, Lawrence and the gang. Their revisions were giving me headaches so I needed something fresh. Just for a little bit. I promised myself I would never forget them and will make sure their story is completed to my satisfaction someday. I will.

BUT. Last night I started a new novel. I am several thousand words in and LOVE IT! It's not fantasyish so I am having zero mental block issues. AND I learned something that I took with me to this new novel. I wrote my queryinfo (not a real word) first. SO when I finish it, I won't get sidetracked/bogged down/fixated on any extraneous information/details/conflicts.

SO.

I'D LIKE TO INTRODUCE:

Shelby Harris
Seventeen year old with crappy friends just looking for her place to fit in
a midst people who don't like her for who she is
while holding fast to who she wants to be
learning that there is always more
to learn about oneself

I REALLY LIKE HER AND ONLY WISH IT WOULD BE SET UP FOR A SERIES SO I DON'T HAVE TO SAY GOODBYE AT THE END. of my new YA contemporary romance novel.

maybe someone else will like her too (y'know like and agent...or a publisher...and eventually the ya reading public!!!! there i go getting ahead of myself again.

off to write chapter 5. ttfn

Dinner Menu: leftover chicken stirfry, mini cakes w/whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries
% of successfulness: 65% (adults only plus a little chicken and a little dessert)

IN CASE THERE'S ANYONE OUT THERE WHO CAN HEAR ME....

Want a chance to win $100 in FREE books? Go here to enter (and check out a great blog)!

http://stiryourtea.blogspot.com/2010/08/free-money.html

And even if you don't (I think you should), who IS your favorite fictional character? I'd love to know.

COMMENTS, ANYONE????

it all began when i became a teeny bopper-- for the second time

Two summers ago my husband and I rented the movie Marley and Me. It made me want to stay home part-time with my kids. It made me want to write. So by the end of the school year I found a way to teach part-time, stay home with my kids in the afternoon, and every time I took a drive my mind wandered. I thought about things to write about.

Last summer, a year ago this past week to be exact, a girl in our Bunco group handed me three of the four books in the Twilight series. I read those and bought the fourth and finished them all in three days. Then I was sad until I realized I didn't need to be because I could just read them again. And again. (I don't care how many of you think she is not a good writer. Blek. I fell in love with the books and the characters.)

Once I saw the movie (and that, sorry I didn't like very much) three times (and kinda formed a tiny crush on Taylor Lautner-ew I know, I'm old)I started to wonder why I was becoming obsessed. Then my husband and I rented 17 Again and I kinda developed a smidgeon of a crush on Zac Efron (That one went away by the next morning though.). Then I knew. I was becoming a teeny bopper all over again. Yikes!

And THEN, one night my husband had to work really, really late (until like 4 in the morning) so I stayed up and drank wine and ate peanut butter toast and (gulp) watched Twilight until it dawned on me. I called my husband, a little (hiccup)giddy, and announced that I knew why I was so obsessed with all things teenish. I WANTED TO WRITE A TEEN NOVEL. It just all came together for me. Kinda. The only thing left to do was to figure out what to write the damn thing about!

Easy peasy, right?

Tonight's Dinner Menu: BBQ ribs on a stick, baby red potatoes, cooked carrots
% of successfulness: 40% (adults only...fatty ribs, blek)

OMS (Oh My Sugar cookies and cake)

DID YOU SEE WHO COMMENTED ON MY BLOG???? How I wish very, very much that I had figured out how to blog by August first!!!! Oh well.

I loved WriteonCon.com!

I stumbled on an entire world I didn't know existed: a world of writers. I had no idea so many writers existed and that so many were trying to get published and that getting published was going to be so hard AND, most importantly, how wonderful and supportive writers are!

I had no idea I would rewrite the beginning of my story 50 times (so many in fact that I think I forgot what happens in the middle and at the end!)and have at least 25 versions of a query letter. BUT I did and I do. And someday I hope to muddle through all the text, the necessary stuff and the really-needs-to-be-cut stuff, and get to the middle and the end so I can rewrite that 50 times too. MAYBE then the query will actually be easier to write. MAYBE then the MS will be worthy enough to submit.

OR I'll just write the sequel, make it a stand alone, and begin again.

SO...as I was saying, I loved writeoncon.com and am excited for its future and loved all the posts I read, the critiques I got and the people I connected with. Thanks to the other attendees and to the ladies who put the whole thing together!

Tonight's Dinner Menu: teriyaki/parmesan cheese steaks on the grill, potatoes, carrots, onions on grill, whole wheat dinneroles
% of successfulness: 85% (no carrots for the two year old)

Cut, Cut, Cut

I'm not even halfway through the manuscript and have just totalled up my cut words: 15,ooo! Solstice is now a 100,000 word novel. But I'm sure there are many more words to be cut, so who knows...maybe it will end up being as short as my initial goal was: 60,000. So sad in a way. Just trying to stay focused on the story and cut repetitous words and unneeded dialogue and scenes...obviously lots of those!