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Synopsis Writing Is Hard!
Today, I spent the afternoon writing the synopsis for the third novel, which I finished this week. It’s out to the beta readers, and I already got back one good report. YAY! Now, logically, you’d think that if one has completed three novels and has a rip-roaring start on the fourth, then one could certainly produce a five to seven page synopsis. After all, you wrote the damn books, you’d say, surely it’s not that hard to sit down and tell what they’re about. Well, you’d be wrong. Synopsis writing is really, truly hard! I sweat bullets over writing a decent synopsis. How much of the story do I include?…
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Guest blogging today…
…at the Bettyverse. Come on over–we’re talking about being a lefty, that’s handedness, not politics…
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Awesomeness Abounds…
…and I’m completely jacked up! Lucy March has set up a CafePress store with Bettyverse gear! Items include t-shirts, mugs, tote bags, messenger bags, and best of all, for me at least, jammies! Woot! I ordered them immediately and am picturing myself hanging out in Bettyverse pink plaid flannel pants and a cute tee while I create brilliant works of romantic fiction. I’m fairly certain anything Bettyverse-related will have magical properties and thus, set my creative juices flowing. In case you don’t know, this is out-of-character. Generally, I object to wearing anything at all that has words emblazoned across my considerable ta-tas, but hey, it’s the Bettyverse! For the Betties,…
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Wherein Nan and Husband Pay the Piper
So, today was the day we got the boat out of the water for winter–much harder than putting it in, I’ll tell ya. We did get to enjoy a small ride up to the Beach and back down to the Point where we waited for our storage guy to come trailer us home. He dropped the boat on the trailer in the driveway of the cottage and then it was our turn. Holy Mary, Mother of our Lord! First, we scraped algae off the pontoons–a wicked nasty job. Just FYI, algae stinks. Then we worked with a scrub brush and a couple of different kinds of cleaners and the power…
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Guest blogging…
…at the Bettyverse, today, Mes Amies. I’m on my favorite rant…if you visit here regularly or know me at all, you’ve heard it before, but come on over anyway and join in the conversation. Love to hear your viewpoint! Maybe you can change my mind… 😉
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Autumn…
…is my favorite time of the year, even though I’m often restless and sad in the fall. It’s an ending in so many ways, particularly this year. We’ll be taking the boat out of the water this coming weekend and then probably closing up the cottage in the next two weeks. So our next couple of lake weekends will be busy with scrubbing the boat and getting it to storage, packing perishable items that can’t stay over the winter so we can take them home, storing linens, and winterizing. The saddest thing is leaving our new friends. It’s odd, but all summer, the lake has felt like our real life…
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Rejection and Reflection
Okay, so yeah, I’ve visited this topic before and I probably will again, but it’s my forum, so just deal. Got another rejection yesterday–this one of the second novel, which I will admit is not as strong as the first one or the third one or the fourth, for that matter. Editor said, “…the first chapter, especially, was built on a number of coincidences that made the plot difficult to buy into.” Hello? It’s romance–all the plots are difficult to buy into. That’s why we read them! We’re writing escapism here, not gritty reality. If I were going to veer off-course and write what really happens, our heroine would be…
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Come on Over…
…to Chick Lit Writers today! My fabulous critique partner Sandy James is talking about writing older female characters–women with more experience that bring vibrancy and attitude to a story. She’d love to hear your viewpoint and so would I. One of the novels my agent is currently submitting for me is about a 37-year-old woman who rediscovers a lost love. Do you like reading about heroines who are over forty? Do you believe romance still blooms even if you aren’t twenty-one and starry-eyed? Come on by and talk to Sandy about being as old as you feel. You could win a copy of her newest novel, TWIST OF FATE, due…
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Autumn at the Lake…
…begins and ends with leaves. Gorgeous, colorful leaves everywhere–in the lake, on the road, on the docks, and particularly on our deck! Husband used the leaf blower on Saturday morning and within an hour, the deck was covered again. The umbrella, the table, the chairs, even our car became repositories for orange, red, yellow, and crispy brown maple leaves. The good news is that we can blow or sweep them out into the yard and the yard guy picks them up. Too bad we don’t have him down home–we are the ones who pick up leaves there. Personally, I’m totally into the whole someone else does the yard work thing…
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A Good-Hearted Woman
That would be me, mes amies. I not only passed my heart scan, I totally aced it! Zero hardened plaque in my coronary arteries. I was amazed, frankly, but thrilled. All three of us, Mary, PJ, and I left the Heart Hospital with good reports. So how did we celebrate? Lunch, of course! And at my new favorite French restaurant, where the ambiance reminds me so much of Paris. The most important thing about the heart scan is that I now have more peace of mind about the whole dying young like my mom thing–probably dumb because I could drop over dead tomorrow. The heart scan is no guarantee that…