Chapter 10

Had to rip out a lot of chapter 9 - ultimately the scene with Sean and the reporter simply didn't work - but I'm now nearly finished with Chapter 10. The narrative is currently 117 pages long and it's about to hit the 1/3 pivot point.

Chapter 9 is FINALLY done!

2284 words.

Happy birthday to me! ;)

11:30 Sunday night

I've been sitting here awhile futzing off, but it's time to get to work. Had an incredibly busy - but nice - weekend that included going to DM with Bill and staying in a hotel, visiting my mom and Bill's dad, shopping for new shirts, my 30 year high school reunion, seeing Brave, a whole pile of errands and - maybe - coming up with a name for the kitten.

I'm thinking Trouble. Because she's ornery. ;)

And, oh, my 48th birthday is tomorrow. :)

Anyway, I'm back onto the last scene in chapter 9, where Sean decides to track down the fungus.

Cover me, Dano, I'm going in!

It's the solstice

Chapter 9 is kicking my butt. I've written and ripped more words than I care to admit, and it's screwy. I know what happens, what Sean needs to learn, to *do* but it just keep going splat. It's very aggravating and I can't move the story forward until he does these things, but he doesn't want to and we just keep splatting.

Grr.

Otherwise, things are regular-busy around here. Someone has her very first cold - mostly runny nose and an occasional cough, no fever - and it's making her kinda cranky, poor kid. She really hates having her nose wiped. We're down to 4 cats. Laura had her wisdom teeth out and has been home all week because she doesn't feel good either. Bill's back at the local posty office, mostly sitting around bored, sometimes transferring vehicles between post offices, or delivering rush packages. I've sewn, a little, but nowhere as much as I probably should, considering we're halfway to Christmas. I'm bloated, my legs at least, because of heat - it happens every summer. Sigh. Been trying to budget, to cook more, to clean more, all the while glowering at chapter 9.

I'm about to rip out Sean's second interview on his front steps for the 4th or 5th time. Gak, I hope I can get it to behave - or at least be interesting - this time.

Update:

Chatted w/ a friend at Forward Motion about the scene and totally redid it from scratch. MUCH better now. 684 words so far (probably for the night because it's almost 12:30 and I still have to do dishes, clean the kitchen, and get to bed, sometime yet tonight. ;))

Go Spore!!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Yesterday was a busy one, so many things to just get done. I took the old synopsis for Morgan and reworked it, rewriting a lot, and cut it from eight to six pages while keeping in most of the details and subordinate characters (like Trish and Ranger). Today, I trimmed it further to just under three pages and it contains only Morgan, Nick, Darcy and Libbey. Super streamlined. A few teensy-tweaky line edits and it ought to be ready to go!

So, tonight, I'm back on Spore! Just settling in - it's quarter after 10 - and will re-read chapter nine before I begin nine.

Go Spore!! :)

An update before settling in to work.

It's been a crazy couple of days.

There are two separate but similar agent contacts in progress.

First, Lisa (L.J. Cohen). She loved Spore and sent it to her agent (at The Knight Agency). Her agent didn't rep my kind of stories, but she really liked Spore, so she's sent it on to another agent in the agency. I haven't heard anything since, but I'm quite hopeful.

Second, Catie (C.E. Murphy) contacted her agent (at Donald Maass Literary Agency) about her (Catie) talking to a specific agent there about me because she, too, loved Spore. Her agent said sure! Catie told her all about me, and, today, I sent this agent a query letter via email. I'll probably know next week if she wants to see either, or both, books.

In the letter, I described Spore and Morgan's Run, and said I had synopses for both, because I *thought* I had. But my only synopsis for Morgan was from before I'd written it (aack!) so this weekend I'll be writing that synopsis.

I'm feeling incredibly happy and, dare I say, excited about all this. I've been needing to make a change, been stuck in my happy little rut a long time, and this just feels RIGHT, ya know?

If both agents decline to take me, Catie suggested another agent who handles books like mine, and I still haven't heard back from Juliet (I'm kind of thinking she'll email me Mon or Tues) and I'll follow wherever her nudges lead.

After that, I don't know yet. But it seems like I have quite a lot of options already. Despite the shock of all this on Wednesday, I'm feeling really optimistic.

It's time. Time to move forward, time to get back to work.

Writing at Tanya's today

Tanya owns Mrs. T's Merchantile, a quilt shop in Vincent Iowa. I hang out there quite a lot. Today, I'm back in the restaurant, writing.

Well, mostly talking to Tanya, but writing a little.

Today's opening line:  Mindy listened to their tale and examined the pictures on Sean's computer. "It's not possible," she said, staring at the open flower-thing.

Just finished Chapter 8 - I've written about 775 words here at Tanya's.

The last sentence of Chapter 8 is: Mindy took a breath, and responded.

And, really, it's a much more moving sentence than it might seem. ;)

On to Chapter 9!

Chapter eight sucks

Truly it does. It just sits there, un moving. Boring. Dullsville.

Might be ripping out quite a lot tonight, I dunno.

Starting in for the evening, it's 10:58 pm.

11:42 - Changed the deputy's answer to Mare's question right before last night's words began. It's going better. :)

Don't want to publicly post my first line of the night, but the last line is: She smiled, nodding and looking relieved. 


Wow. That's an exciting line. ;)

My antihistamines are really kicking in. I'd better get to bed.

Final word count for the night: 436

See you tomorrow!

Finally settling in

Kinda busy day. Went grocery shopping, babysat, and made Loaded Baked Potato Soup from scratch for supper (which took quite a lot more prep time than I expected) then Bill and I went out to get iced teas (I know it's dumb, but McDonalds has the BEST brewed iced tea, I just love it, and, yes, I ALWAYS have it totally sugar free - sugar is gross) but by the time we got back, Bill's wrist was acting up and he was cranky, and I don't like him being cranky, so I spent some cuddle time with him before he had to go to sleep. Then I came downstairs to be door-woman for the pets, etc, sat down at the computer, did my regular 'check email, twitter, etc' maintenance and now, at 10:23, I am FINALLY alone, relaxed, in a quiet house with everyone - and every pet's - needs all handed.

TV's off, Spore's writing mix (mostly Justin Timberlake and some LMFAO) is playing in iTunes, and it's time to get to work.

Partway through the first scene in chapter 8. Did a little clean up, now it's back to new stuff.

Tonight's opening line - They open? Mindy turned, hands fisting against her belly, as someone knocked on the door.

Ending - Todd turned, eyes dark, and he took a step toward Mare. "No. Sean's uncle. Paul Casey. How do you know Mindy Harris escaped, too?"

723 words total for the night.

Writing. And some screwing off.

Spent most of today wasting time online - I do that far too often - but tonight I managed some words despite feeling really scatter-brained. Finished a scene in mid Chapter 7 (decided to stick with Sean's POV and maybe alter it later), and started on Chapter 8 for a total of 774 words.

Opening line of the night - Smirking and shaking her head, Mindy glanced at Sean and Mare. She returned her attention to the television as the reporter closed with comments about the news trending on Twitter and a new Facebook page called Zombie Apocalypse Is Now. 

Ending line of the night - "That's actually kind of pretty."
"Yeah, they are," he said. "Even before they open."

Not as many words as I wanted, but I'll keep 'em! :)

Last night's opening line, and metrics

"Of course you can. I can't imagine how awful this must be for you. C'mon. Let's get you something to drink."


Total word count - I was rather upset about other things - was 826 words. I'm going to have to completely rip out most of them and redo the scene from Sean's POV to Mindy.