The Mommy Track

Wednesday was all about my babes. Not a stitch of writing. Which makes me feel intensely guilty, hence why I am posting this when I should be sleeping. I just...should have written today.

But there was the Children's Museum (where I got to show off my skills at face painting and making animals out of clay) and then my boys fave restaurant Sweet Tomatoes, and then we came home and played a few rounds of Dinosaur Dominoes before HubbaBubba announced he wouldn't be home until late so there would be no evening write.

I'm always saying you don't have time to write, you make it. Yet today, I didn't make time. I did have a great day (save the uber-late Hubba). Got to chat up Karen, hang out with my cousin, and laugh with my boys. Except for BabyBoy's bathroom incident. That was NOT funny.

I know that when I turned in my career keys and opted to stay home with my boys, I was officially on the slow moving mommy track. In the slow lane since I wasn't even trying to balance work and kids. But now that I am working again, albeit on my own schedule, I feel guilty when I don't. When I am pulling off to the shoulder instead of moving on.

I'm glad I have the flexibility to take days like this - even though being beaten at dominoes by a three-year-old is hard on the ego. But I also wish I had more support to work. I wonder...daycare gets something obnoxious like a dollar a minute when you are late picking your kids up...so he owes me...$145 so far. That ought to cover a lot of postage and contest entries! ;p

Writing a book with Trish, step 3

SETTING

So I have my hero & heroine, now I need a place to put them! After a while I'm going to stick them here. It's a private island in the middle of Lake Shastina. I can't write those secluded tropical islands very well...so this one is in the Northwest.

This prestigious 10,000 sqft mansion sits on top of a 75 acre private island. At the base of Mt. Shasta, in Lake Shastina in Northern California.


I know just how to work in the sunset and the pool. Now, outside of the house I need...


Heather's bedroom (the pink is a surprise since she dresses for work in black) & Curtis' bedroom (all black and white, which he hates).




Then comes the office.
And the church she runs away from.

Phew.
I think I have this one in the bag!

Talk Pirate To Me!

Ahoy, god day e'eryone, gar! Let's have some fun, shall we? Tis' Talk Like A Pirate Day, gar! Do your worst...

Argh, gar! Whar's me PepsiOne?

The lo'ely editor called and helped me work through the worst o' my issues with Just One Eve. By jo'e, I think I''e figured this one out, shiver me timbers! Whar I was thinkin' I'd have t' pull characters, she helped me see how t' just highlight them diffarntly. So...tis' still my story, just focused more.

Thank goodness for editors who will hold your hand, e'en when they should be goin' home because it is late in London and they have a cold. She literally talked t' me until she lost her 'oice.

Ahoy, i'm off t' sit on my dungbie and get some work done!

Ahoy, translate your own text int' Pirate-speak with the Pirate Translator!

HER CINDERELLA COMPLEX : 27,916 / 60K (46.5%)

Stops and Starts

Stories come to me in big streams, huge deluges of words and actions that I have to race to get on the page. It's fantastic...unless I can't write. I know I won't be able to get the sparkle of the idea back...and it is frustrating as all get out when I am plotting a story.

When I am just writing, letting the story flow...it is so much easier to deal with interruptions. If I don't get down this scene, another one will come to me. It's less stressful one the writing side, more taxing on the business side. Will the lovely editor like this book? I have no idea, since I have no synopsis, no idea where it is going.

HER CINDERELLA COMPLEX :: 26,469 / 60,000 (44.1%)

On the other hand...I am percolating her suggestions on JUST ONE NIGHT, and have recruited the help of one of my Diva friends to help decipher what my editor saw in the synopsis, because she repeatedly said she liked it, but I couldn't hear what it was she liked because she had issues with so many key elements.

(insert long sigh here)

Someday I am going to have this writing thing figured out and act professionally, i.e. keep my mouth shut about my frustrations. Until then...I'll look forward to tomorrow, when I get to write the first yummy scene of Cinderella. In a pool...

Layering Your Novel - Cherry Adiar workshop

My local RWA hosted a workshop with Cherry Adair this weekend. She is one funny chica! She has no pretensions, fully admitting very little separates a NY Times best seller from a pre-published author. She had some great pearls of wisdom I thought I'd pass along:

• If you have been working on a book for longer than 9 months, you are working on the wrong book. That book is dead. Move on.
• Never hang around waiting for a sale or rejection. Get to work on the next book.
• The best humor comes from voice, not jokes.
• Publishers not only want a good writer, they want a prolific writer. The quicker you write, the better chance you have at selling. A competent writer who is punctual will get the slot over a fantastic writer who is slow and unreliable.
• Be very careful who you tell your story to. Our subconscious needs to tell the story. Every time you tell it, it dilutes it in your brain.
• Start scenes as late as you can, and end them as soon as you can. In other words, know what point you are trying to make, make it, and get out.

HER CINDERELLA COMPLEX: 25,644 / 60,000 (42.7%)

Wanna Write a Book With Trish?

I am seriously crushing on Trish Wylie. Besides the obvious reasons (brilliant author, cute accent, grand dame of the Pink Heart Society), she's always doing helpful workshops and lessons on her blog. Right now, she's holding our hands and walking us through the writing of a book! No, I am not kidding.

Day 1 (Wednesday) we found our hero. Huge surprise she chose Hugh Jackman. Because she doesn't like him at all.
Day 2 (Thursday) we found our heroine. Rosamund Pike got the nod.

There is plenty of time to catch up. Go ahead, get started on your next novel.

I just started on the book I refuse to plot. Maybe my editor will like this one better than Just One Night redux.

Curtis:
Heather:
I'm not plotting, just making sure I know my 32-year-old real estate developer (Trump, but sexy) & his 23-year-old personal assistant (Angelina without the confidence and with 20 extra pounds). He's sick to death of playing the media darling, she started drooling when she started working for him and has developed a full-on case of lovesickness. So when he asks her to get the media off his tail by marrying him...what choice does she have? Everything is great, except for HER CINDERELLA COMPLEX.


HER CINDERELLA COMPLEX:
23,403 / 60,000 (39.0%)

The Results Are In!!

Well, kinda. My lovely editor called with her opinions on my synopsis blitz. There was some good news, kinda.

I sent off four stories:

• Just One Night - Heiress tries to be anonymous for a night, and it doesn't work.
• Redesigning Henry - Personal trainer tries to pay back a friend, by making him into her perfect man.
• Only Fitting - Fashion designer can make anything, except a life for herself.
• Everybody Loves Rachel - Rachel knows exactly what she wants from a man, and she won't compromise.

Just One Night got the nod... except... the syno I wrote and the story in my head are two very different things. We chatted it up and realized...I can not write a syno. The joy. Anyway, she explained what she liked about the syno (great meet, good structure) and what she didn't (the ranch, father, best friend, liver transplant, and beard all have to go). So...now I'm starting over with the title and a first scene that is fun, but doesn't have enough motivation.

What was wrong with the others? I didn't put strong enough motivation or conflict in my synos. Oh, and dentists & chubby guys aren't sexy.

Off to percolate for the weekend, and see if I can come up with a new story, titled Just One Night. What of Her Cinderella Complex? I refuse to syno it. I'm not any good at synos anyway, and I like not knowing what happens next. For me, once I syno the story is static, hence why I am so flustered over having to re-do the Just One Night idea. I'm completely infelxible once I have the story mapped. Until then, bring on the penguins.