I spent some time working on my Golden Heart entry today. It was the first time in a long time I’ve looked at my synopsis. Upon reading through it, I had two thoughts:
— This is good. I may be more ready to submit this baby than I thought.
— The synopsis is quite possibly better than the manuscript itself.
How does that happen? Well, the story is the first one I completed, written back in 1998-99 and rewritten sometime in ’03 or so. The synopsis was written later than that, when I entered a contest — I’ve forgotten which one.
The bigger question may be, “How do I fix it?” I’m open to suggestions.
Perhaps it’s just that I’ve been reading and re-reading the manuscript for a week or more now, trying to cut it from 71,000 words to 60,000, whereas I read the synopsis for the first time tonight.
I sure hope so.
“Julie & Julia” inspired me to start a blog of my own. I’m sure I’m not the only one. How many people have rushed home after seeing that flick, eager to share their thoughts with the world — or at least the blogosphere?
Actually, this isn’t my only blog. I have a weight-loss blog at Blog to Lose, and I just branched out with a weight-loss blog here at WordPress.
But as I sat there, watching poor Julie struggle with a directionless life and a milestone birthday, I realized I’ve been stagnant myself.
I’ve known since second grade that I wanted to be a writer, you see. As I got older, I realized a writing career isn’t exactly practical. In my high-school-age wisdom, I decided to go into journalism because I could still make a living with my writing while I was trying to sell my first novel.
Well, I’ve been out of college for 15 years and … there’s still no novel of mine gracing the shelves. I’m pushing 40, and I’ve been muddling along as a journalist — making a living writing, yes, but not in the way I had in mind. I figured that by now, I’d have at least one novel sold. Best-case scenario, I was going to be the next Danielle Steele by 30.
Today, it hit me: Blogging has helped me lose weight, so why can’t it help me get published?
Between the support I get from Weight Watchers and my friends at Blog to Lose and SparkPeople, I’ve lost 60-ish pounds. (I have at least 15 more to go, but that’s another story.) If I spend as much time writing romance as I do with my weight-loss endeavors, I can’t fail!
So here we go … follow me on my quest to be published by 40. My first rule: No online time for the day until I’ve written at least two pages (or edited two chapters, depending on what I’m doing that week).
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