I thought I was making good progress in getting my manuscript ready for the Golden Heart competition. I’ve edited 80 pages, trying to dig deeper into the minds of my characters and getting rid of a lot of “he said, she said” tags, replacing them with action tags instead.
I’ve even succeeded in making good, ol’ dependable Brad a little less boring — at least I think I have.
So I’ve been hard at work and I thought I was getting the job done. Then I read today’s entry over at the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood. Now I’m not so sure.
Am I choosing vivid enough nouns and verbs, instead of relying on adjectives and adverbs? Sometimes.
Does each scene end with a hook? Well, maybe. I want to keep reading … but that may be because I know what’s coming up next.
Do my characters’ speech and interior monologues sound natural and appropriate to their backgrounds, interests, etc.? I certainly hope so, but I’ve never given it much thought.
Do their speeches take gender into account? God, no. Do men really speak in shorter sentences than women? I didn’t know that.
Do the syntax and paragraphing creatively showcase my voice and make it distinctive? Hmm. I just write and my voice shines through — I hope.
Have I used short paragraphs to speed up the pacing? Ha! I have that one covered. As a journalist, I’m used to writing shorter paragraphs.
Is my synopsis short and concise, focusing on the hero and heroine’s GMC? Short, yes. GMC? Not so much, considering the story was until recently short on that.
There’s so much to think about — more than I realized. I really do have my work cut out for me.
Happy birthday, self. This is going to be your year … to enter the Golden Heart contest, to start seeking an agent, to get serious about your writing career.
You never intended to be pushing 40 and not have a published novel under your belt. When you were in high school, you thought you’d have hit it big by at least 35.
Well, sweetie, that mark passed you by three years ago. Now you’re 38 and it’s past time to get back to work on that elusive goal of getting published.
You, my dear, are a romance writer. You’ve tried writing other types of stories, but the romance always creeps in. Better yet, you write romantic comedy. Sure, the experts say there’s not much market for that right now … but in today’s world, we all could use a good laugh. And your stories provide that. So get to work! Get them out there so others can see them!
The only thing holding you back is yourself.
Love, Arlene
I want to know why I seem to get more writing done at Starbucks than I do in my own home.
I guess it’s the distraction factor. At Starbucks, the TV is not on (though there is music), so I don’t get sucked into the lives of those poor hapless guests on “Jerry Springer,” and there are no dogs running around trying to sniff my keyboard every five seconds, so I’m not constantly yelling at them to behave.
Plus, there’s no Internet to distract me from the real reason I turned on my computer. I have gotten better about working first and playing later, but I still let the siren’s call of Facebook get the better of me from time to time.
With the Golden Heart deadline looming and lots of work to do, I have a feeling I’m going to be spending a lot of time at Starbucks. I know I’ll be there Wednesday. It’s my birthday, and some of the gals from NARWA are having a write-in for me.
I can’t wait!
As I get more involved in rewriting Brad and Erin’s story, I’m finding less and less time to blog — both here and on my other blog.
I guess I should take that as a good sign, eh? 😀
Today, I had a pleasant lunch (complete with sinful dessert) with a writer friend from NARWA. We’re both entering the 2010 Golden Heart (in different categories) and met to talk about our progress.
I passed along some of the tips I got in my critique, because they seemed to apply to her manuscript, too.
It’d be fantastic if we both were able to final in the contest … but I’m not counting on it, especially since I’ve never entered before. I’ve heard some people enter for years before finally getting the call that they’ve finaled.
Guess it’s a good thing that I’m still relatively young. I still have long years of writing ahead of me!
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