Blog Trek

Letting Go, and Knowing When to Do So.

I'm about to find out how much I have or have not missed the cold of a Massachusetts winter.  The high on Sunday is projected to be in the 30's.  One of the lows I saw posted on my homepage for the next week mentioned 18 degrees.  Not quite the minus 18 degrees I saw when I looked at the outdoor thermometer one morning in Worcester, but low enough to make me very glad I took my heavy, ankle-length woolen coat into the cleaners at the end of last week.  I dragged that coat around through all my moves since leaving Boston, only wearing it one Christmas for the annual office bash at the Sportsmen's Club while we were experiencing an abnormally strong cold snap, and on my trip up to New York for New Year's.  However, since the coat was still in excellent condition, is in a style that doesn't date, and kept out most of the elements and didn't fall prey to moths, it arrived with me in Portland and will be put back into use.

Some of my clothes last many years.  Others barely a season.  Sometimes it pays to spend a lot of money on an item, and sometimes it doesn't.  I know there's probably an analogy to life or writing in there somewhere, but I'm not going to look for it.  I'm only going to congratulate myself for not throwing out my winter gear, unpack my Sorel snow boots and sub-zero gloves, and wish I had kept that brand new snow shovel I got rid of when I lost the outdoor storage in Highland Park.

Being a bit of a pack rat pays off.  But you have to know where to draw the line between items that may well come in useful in the future and things that should go to another good home after a rest period in Goodwill.

Maybe that's the writing analogy--knowing when to keep and continue to work on that half-finished story you just found at the back of the filing cabinet, or when to consign it to the shredder. 

When I left Highland Park, I shredded my first novel.  It had resided in the bottom of the closet for years.  I would never want it to see the light of day after I pass from this mortal coil, even should I become a famous writer and my children could use the money.  It wasn't worth the time and energy I would have to spend researching, rewriting and cutting all those needless words.  There were passages and even chapters that were salvageable, but oh, so much more that was not.

I didn't need it as a crutch anymore--I had long passed the stage when I needed to see a completed novel of mine that I could hold in my hands and marvel over--I had two published novels that are easily visible on the internet any time I want to look at them.

I didn't even hesitate as I commanded them to the shredder, except to hope that the sheer amount of pages didn't burn out the motor.

I'm Signing at West Hollywood Book Fair

I'll be signing CDs, book marks and postcards of "All That Glitters" in the Sisters In Crime booth at the West Hollywood Book Fair this coming Sunday, September 28 from 2:00PM-3:00PM.  Here's the link for the fair: http://www.westhollywoodbookfair.org/

It looks like a fun place to be.  Let's hope the weather is kind.  There was nowhere hotter than the IWOSC booth at the L.A. Times Festival of Books in the spring. 

"Indelible" update

Summer is almost over.  I decided to take down my door decoration of spring and summer flowers.  The fall spray of leaves and berries took its place.  Smaller and much less colorful, it reflects the season, except for the infernal heat that doesn't seem able to take the hint.  I think it was hotter today than last week.  I can only hope it's Indian Summer a month or so early.

I'm continuing the work on "Indelible's" second draft.  This has been a challenge and a half--taking a manuscript, throwing out the second half and then meshing my writing, which improved greatly in the intervening time, has made things harder, but revising the plot really caused issues.  Not throwing out the baby with the bath water has resulted in a fine balancing act.  Things are definitely coming together, but each chapter presents a challenge all its own.  I know the end result will be a hybrid thriller/suspense/mystery with psychological overtones as both protagonists struggle through a minefield of obstacles, attempt to resolve old issues, and keep themselves and each other alive during the process. 

I'm planning to take a vacation once I complete this draft.  I will have earned it, and I'll need the chance to clear my head before going back in to finish the third draft and write the synopsis.

Another Manuscript Sold

I'm ready to celebrate.  "All that Glitters" has found a home, and has a pub date of 2008.  I need to sign the contact before I give all the details, but the week I spent on a marathon of inputting and revising paid off.   My tendonitis resolved and my frenzied work at all hours of the day and night did, too.  Sometimes being under a strict deadline works better for me than taking my time with the revisions.  I originally had 322 pages, but when I got to page 312, I found a much better way to end the novel than the first time around.  With time comes clarity, and I always like to be able to take some breathing space before plunging back into revisions/a subsequent draft.

"All That Glitters" is a romantic mystery/suspense with comedic overtones.  I wanted to prove I could stretch, and also to prove I could write in my favorite genre: mystery/suspense.  It never hurts to throw in a complex relationship, either, just to muddy the waters, and complex would definitely describe this couple's relationship.

Even better on this one, I get to celebrate with Vikk while I'm in Houston at the end of this week.

Surviving the Mini Crisis

Well, I'm officially exhausted.

I came home yesterday (Nov 30,) walked the dog and booted up.  Of course, the first thing that happened was that my free trial of Office expired November 30th.  So, I had to pay for the full version or plan to go back out and scour the local stores for a better bargain (not happening.)

I followed all the directions.  I paid.  I returned to start work, and was told the file path did not work.  I went into a meltdown.  It was now 6:30PM.  I decided to shut down and reboot.

Good decision.  Whatever glitch couldn't find the filepath evidently decided to go bother someone else.  I was back in a working mode, Word fully operational.

At that time, I realized I was past being hungry, and had gone into hypoglycemia.  I headed for the kitchen, where I managed to find enough of this and that to make something resembling a meal.  I decided to watch a rerun of CSI while eating, because it never hurts to do some research on a few body parts, crime scenes, etc., etc.

At 7:30PM, I suddenly had a thought.  The publisher was closing to submissions on Dec. 1.  Was that EST, Pacific or anywhere in between?  I threw the dirty dishes in the sink and headed back to pound on the synopsis. 

At 8:45PM, I completed whatever I was going to do to that synopsis.  I then had to reformat the entire partial to conform to that particular publisher's specifications.  There were many.  I was occupied for quite a while.

At 9:30PM, I had done everything I was going to do (chapter numbers had to be spelled out?!)  Then I discovered I had to zip the files before sending them.  I had never zipped a file in my life.

I downloaded a trial of the software.  Then my own trial started.  I was fried, and the instructions provided were many pages long.  I have perceptual difficulties even when I'm not fried (as I blogged in an earlier entry, I once put a microwave cart together backwards, using the directions.)  I attempted to do what the instructions were asking, but it was impossible.  I had another meltdown.

At 10PM, I finally figured out what to do minus any instructions, through trial and error.  I attached the files, printed out the cover letter and hit send.

Do I know if I met the deadline?  No.  Did I ever find out if it was EST, Pacific time or anywhere in between?  No.  Did I attempt to cover my butt?  Oh, yes.  I mentioned the fact that it was 10PM Pacific time where I was, and that was when I sent the submission.  I grew up in a household where I was forever being accused of either doing something, not doing something, or attempting to do something.  I am the Master of Covering My Butt.  Vikk knows this.  She also grew up with an English mother.  Apparently, this is something that is done in all households where there is an English mother.  I have a sneaking suspicion both Vikk & I have raised children who also Cover Their Butts.

Now I wait.  But I was able to work through 2 crises, 2 meltdowns, learn a new program, or at least enough to use it in a crisis/meltdown mode, and covered my butt.

I rolled into bed at midnight.  It was worth it.  I checked off another goal for 2006--submitting another partial.

Tomorrow I return to ROSE TATTOO.  It'll be a pleasure.  The pressure is off for a while.

Meeting and Exceeding Goals for 2006

I've almost completed the revisions on the partial, including 47 pages and a 6 page synopsis.

As soon as I hit send (which had better be tomorrow or I'll have missed the Dec. 1 deadline,) I will have met yet another goal for 2006, which was to submit another manuscript for consideration.  I had hoped it might be ROSE TATTOO, but it's not ready for Prime Time yet.

I'm actually very pleased with the progress I made on my "To Do" list this year.  And I even managed them while juggling the responsibilities of managing my Aunt's affairs, which certainly weren't factored into the original game plan.  If I include those 2 bumps in the road of life, I actually have more than met my goals.

Now I have completing ROSE TATTOO as top priority for my writing goals of 2007, and I'm hoping I'll be able to meet that goal and include a new one for submitting it. 

I'd better stop blogging and get back to the pending files in Word.

Putting the Fun into Research

I've figured out why people so love to write mysteries.  It's not for the thrill of the plotting, it's for so many other reasons, and many of them turn out to be entertaining as well as informative. 

For instance, from one critique group member, I discovered how to drop the magazine of a Glock, insert a new one and jam it home, all one handed.  From another, I got a possible solution to the dilemma of the airbag opening on impact after I sent my protagonist through a pair of gates.  Of course, when I looked on the Internet at a schematic of the car in question, I discovered it was filled with airbags (plural) on impact, and I now have a bigger problem to solve.

The fact that I am getting such great input and advice from the critique group, not to mention the seemingly endless supply of information from the Internet, makes research so much more, well...just plain fun. 

Holding Up

I met with several members of AWG last Monday evening.  One of the topics of discussion involved how some movies hold up well years later, while others don't have the same shelf life. 

Books are the same way.  I just finished emailing Vikk about a couple of things and told her a couple of my manuscripts are outdated.  One was a Golden Heart Finalist, but things have changed radically since I wrote it, including one of the settings, which used to be a total slum, but has now been revitalized into a high rent, desirable area, and the rules of engagement regarding the male protagonist's profession have also radically changed.  The other manuscript was an uncompleted storyline about ballooning in New Mexico, and would definitely need a research trip before thinking about finishing it.

Even T.V. shows suffer from the same, stark reality that other mediums do.  We talked about the original STAR TREK last Monday, and how dated it now looks.  Old movies either look amusingly dated or downright ridiculous. 

I came home for lunch and caught a scene from a black and white that had a woman sitting on one of those beds that could sleep an entire dormitory.  She wore a fur (look out for PETA!) trimmed negligee and had a maid in full uniform, including a fluffy cap, and had a cup of coffee in her hand.  At the end of this bed was a curved couch ready to seat as many people as the back row of Yankee Stadium.  On cue, in came a gaggle of women, all dressed to the "9's" and wanting information on some event.  They brought friends and dogs, and one even turned up in a riding habit, although she did have the grace to leave her horse in some other location.  I shook my head and flipped the channel.

I guess some works are supposed to be entertaining at the time and then discarded by future generations, but perhaps one of our jobs as writers is to keep the idiosyncrasies of the time to a bare minimum and strive for timelessness.  That way, our legacy won't be something amusing and dated.

Separating a Good Read from a Great Read

Vikk & I were emailing back and forth about some of the finer points of writing and the patience of writing instructors.  I had recently written the first draft of a scene that wraps up one sequence in ROSE TATTOO.  I ran it past the critique group, who had some comments about various aspects, including a suggestion from our resident philosopher on the female protagonist not going for the knee jerk reaction, but being more subtle in her exposure of a trusted friend as a manipulator and a coward.

My discussions with Vikk about how beginning writers tend to keep everything on a superficial level had left me thinking about the consequences of not delving deeply into characters' emotions.  Loreena McKennitt's soulful celtic reditions were playing in the car while I brainstormed various scenarios.

And then I had some sort of an epiphany about everything in general.  A writer can glide right over the surface of the characters' emotions, but it doesn't matter what plot devices are thrown in to satisfy the appetite of the readers, the book will be incomplete--like an unsatisfying meal.

Writers have to go where many people don't want to--they have to delve deep into the characters' emotions.  They have to figure out what makes these people tick. What flaws are hidden deep in their psyche that affect everything they do in their lives, from relationships to career decisions.

In that scene I wrote, my female protagonist finally takes the helm and saves the male protagonist's life.  She has to make a total commitment to the male protagonist and in doing so, reject her former mentor and friend, humiliating him and stripping him of his disguise for herself and for the reader.  Her very mixed emotions will carry this scene and bond her with the reader.  It isn't about the backdrop, the reactions of the secondary characters or even those of the male protagonist, who has to depend on the female protagonist to save both of them when he is rendered physically unable to do so himself.  It is about the female protagonist's emotional depth and stability.

I have to make that connection with the female protagonist.  I have to walk in her shoes--see what she sees--feel what she feels.  I have to experience that soul-baring moment when she rejects her mentor and believes that the male protagonist, who has lied to to her in the past, is telling her the absolute, unvarnished truth. 

That's what separates the good read from the great read.  That's the level I have to achieve with ROSE TATTOO.

The end--or not.

I completed my first round revisions of The Sweetest Song yesterday evening.  Today I printed the entire manuscript, because I'm an old-fashioned girl and I need a hard copy.  I have found that when I revise on the screen, I have to scroll back or forward to make sure I haven't got similar words or phrases within pages of what I just added or deleted.  I have to be able to flip pages, view the entire page at a glance and generally put my hands all over the manuscript.

Perhaps it's because I'm very visual.  Perhaps it's because I have a bad memory, although I would beg to differ with anyone who slaps that label on me.  Sometimes, it's just the look of the page that I have to see:  is it too dense, dialogue light or even, does the dialogue differ in size from person to person?  Are my paragraphs short enough.  Do I need to condense or consolidate any of them? 

And my own particular vice:  do they all sound different?  (I get carried away with the movie script running along in my head, and although to me they all sound completely different, sometimes on the page I am told they do not.)

I cut a fair amount, but then I found places where I needed to add, so the manuscript really hasn't changed much in its length.  Now I need to grab my trusty red pen and read straight through from beginning to end, so I know the continuity is correct, the motivations are consistent and well-established, and that I haven't made any glaring mistakes that somehow managed to slip past me in previous or even this draft.

Then it'll be ready to wing its way back to the editor.  I'm sure she'll find things I hadn't even thought of, but that's an editor's job, after all.