Posts Tagged "Hermitage"

• One Hundred Days of Write-itude

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  The Romance Writers of America conference is in less than ten weeks! I wasn’t planning to attend this year, but after finding out that AN INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE is a finalist for a Golden Heart award, I immediately changed my mind.

  So, I’m going to DC, where I intend to meet the other lovely ladies I’m becoming acquainted with online, attend some great workshops and retreats, sightsee in our nation’s capital, and party my heart out until the awards ceremony. But, there is much to do before I get to Washington; while finding a dress and obsessing over shoes will take some significant thought, the main focus is trying to finish the first draft of Madeleine and Ferguson’s story. Obviously, I hope that I sell MARRIAGE and that all my wildest dreams come true, but I’m not holding my breath — and I think I’m on to something special with these characters, so I would like to have a finished draft in time to submit to the 2010 Golden Heart in December.

  This is doable; I’m about as far with them right now as I was with Amelia and Malcolm last year, so finishing by December is feasible. It just won’t be easy, given the demands of the day job, my summer travel schedule, and all the little things that seem to conspire against me.

  My hardcore writing was supposed to start today, but instead I did five loads of laundry, reread segments of a great book (Robin McKinley’s CHALICE — a nice blend of old-timey high fantasy, romance, and beekeeping), and talked to my parents for Mother’s Day. But, starting now, I’m recommitting to my hermitage; spending the next hundred (or, hopefully, only seventy) days holed up and working on Madeleine and Ferguson’s story should give me something complete enough that I can start working on the second draft after the RWA conference. I will either return elated and eager to get back to the book, or despondent and in need of a distraction, so having something to edit will be key.

  You can tell by the length of this post that I’m procrastinating No more of that — it’s time to get back to business!

  
  | Books | Hermitage | Procrastination | RWA Nationals | Sloth |
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  Posted 10 May 2009, 6:52 pm

• Rereading AN INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE

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  I procrastinated as long as I could this morning (albeit with useful distractions, such as changing the sheets on my bed and cleaning my kitchen), but I spent the rest of the day rereading the entire manuscript of AN INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE. I had not read it all in its entirety since I submitted it for the Golden Heart contest in December; after the deadline, I spent a couple of months relaxing/seeing friends/working on my query letter, and then submitted to a few agents in February. I was hearing back from them at the same time that I heard back from the Golden Heart — and while I’m thrilled to be a finalist in the Regency category, I haven’t had the same luck with agents.

  The verdict after a reread? I’m really happy with it overall, particularly with the last two-thirds of the book. But, with the space and distance of a few months spent doing other things, there are a few pieces that leap out to me and begged to be changed. In particular, there are a couple of scenes that I love — but that I should have rewritten when I did second-draft rewrites of everything else, because while I love the idea of the scene, the style no longer fits the stronger, faster style of the rest of the book.

  So, I’m not in despair mode; I’m actually pretty satisfied with what I have, and I’m confident in my ability to fix the pieces I’m not satisfied with. It will require a couple of cuts, a couple of new scenes, and a couple of rewrites of existing scenes — but I’m setting a goal of being done by mid-May so that I can start querying again before the madness of summer hits in earnest.

  Now I’m off — I’m having dinner at a friend’s house, which is a welcome respite from my hermitage, even if I took the unusual route of buying dessert (tiramisu cake from Whole Foods) rather than making it myself due to a) time constraints and b) a lack of ingredients already in the house. Theoretically I should buy some groceries, but the book comes first. Have a lovely weekend!

  
  | Dreaded Rewrites | Hermitage | Writing Process |
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  Posted 11 April 2009, 7:10 pm

• Work is the Devil

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  Actually, work is not the devil; I’m very fortunate to have a job in these “troubled times,” as newscasters like to remind us hourly. But, my day job is rather demanding, and it’s all the more difficult to stay focused when all I want to do is write. I persevered today, staying in the office for ten hours and then working at home for two hours beyond that, but I’m hopeful that I can get caught up enough that I will not need to do anything for the day job this weekend.

  In other news, I read this interesting stat on Publishers Lunch, from USA Today: Stephenie Meyer accounted for sixteen percent of total sales for the books they were tracking on their bestseller list. Sixteen percent! That makes my Golden Heart nomination look like a Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes invitation. I shall never get to sixteen percent market share unless I focus on the book — so this weekend is going to be spent in hermitville. I have a birthday party to attend tomorrow night (at a country/western bar with line dancing, which should be interesting), but beyond that, I’m going to hole up with Malcolm, Amelia, and the dozen felt-tipped pens that I bought tonight and figure out what, if anything, I want to change before submitting to agents again. It’s not the most fun weekend in the world, but if it gets me a step closer to Stephenie Meyer territory, it’s worth it.

  
  | Hermitage | The Day Job |
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  Posted 9 April 2009, 10:41 pm