Archive for the ‘Bethany & Cody’ Category
Sometimes, all it takes is a little shove to get moving again. I received one today, courtesy of one of my NARWA sisters.
Jacqui Jacoby was a guest blogger over at Seekerville. The topic? Surviving the Abyss. In it, she told the story of her lost year of productivity, sacrificed to the health gods because of a still-unidentified virus.
Now, I’m no stranger to lost productivity. In fact, until about a year ago, I may well have been the queen of thinking “I need to write” and then doing absolutely nothing about it. But I’ve picked up my pace lately, and am now entering contests, submitting queries and — most importantly — writing almost every day.
At least I was going like gangbusters until recently. The last month or so, since I hit my goal of writing 100K words by NARWA’s November meeting, I’ve been slacking again. I’ve only written about 8,000 words through most of June and into July.
Part of it is because I’ve been trying to get back into the swing of weight loss, and for some reason, I can’t seem to strike the right balance between the healthy lifestyle and my writing life. When I’m focusing on one, the other falls by the wayside.
I’ve also been in limbo: I’m waiting for responses to queries and results from a contest I entered. I’ve started work on a brand new story (Bethany and Cody’s tale), but it hasn’t yet taken off. (I think it’ll help once I get them out of Chicago and onto the island, but before I can get them to the island, I have to do at least a little research — and I’ve been putting it off.)
But Jacqui’s post today gave me the nudge I needed to do some writing. I realized how important it is to take advantage of every opportunity. So while I was at lunch today, I handwrote about a page and a half — and now I’m raring to get back to the computer to start writing again.
Thanks, Jax. I needed that!
Isn’t that what they call it when you’re doing a lot of thinking but not much writing? 😉
I’ve been mulling the plot of Bethany & Cody’s story (tentatively titled “Trouble in Paradise” … like that hasn’t been used before! Thank goodness titles aren’t copyrighted.). I need to get them out of Chicago and onto that island paradise, but I don’t want to do it too soon — I have 90,000 words to work with here!
I’ve also been thinking about Meg & Matt. If I’m going to enter it in the GH in the “category romance” category, I still have to rework the beginning to throw them together on Page 1 (not Page 6 or wherever they meet right now.
Yes, even though I still love my current first line, it’s time to think about chucking it. The next few pages are all backstory explaining how dear Meg finds herself pregnant and alone at 32.
Why so much thinking? Mainly, I’ve been trying not to think about the copies of “Blind Date Bride” floating around out there. I know I’m in for a long wait. These things move at the speed of Heinz ketchup pouring out of the bottle — only fair considering how long it took me to finish the story in the first place.
More thoughts floating around in my brain involve a couple of blog posts I want to write. They should be fun, so stay tuned.
I was enjoying a nice, quiet get-to-know-you lunch with my characters when Bethany dropped a bombshell.
Even in “Blind Date Bride,” I knew that Beth was different. She’s the one who tried to get Kari to get in touch with her inner tramp, and who told Kari, “Keep a man happy in bed and he’ll keep you happy out of it.”
Yes, my Bethany LOVES sex. She’s been around the block so many times the sidewalk was named after her. (It bothers her a little that she’s had more partners than Cody, even though he’s 3 years older, but it bothers her more that he’s more content to cuddle than burn up the bedsheets.)
While I was jotting notes about their appearances and history, Beth revealed something surprising. Scratch that: It went beyond surprising and landed smack-dab in the middle of astonishing land.
It turns out Bethany had her first sexual experience at 14 years old. Wait — that’s not the surprising part. At 16, her mom kicked her out of the house for trying to seduce her stepfather. (It didn’t happen … it was all in mom’s head, but it still left Bethany estranged from her mom and kid sister.) She moved in with her aunt to finish high school, then went off to college, where she met Kari (and spent a lot of time on her back, staring at frat house ceilings).
I have no idea what to do with that tidbit. Where does it fit into the story? Will she reconnect with mom? Will she finally realize that there’s more to a good relationship than great sex? (I think she has to … and in the realization, sex with Cody will go beyond great to soul-shattering.)
Anyway, nothing Cody has come out with is all that surprising. It’s not that I find him boring … in fact, he’s shaping up to be one of my favorite heroes (right behind Mike James and Damien). But so far, he’s pretty tame. There is something in his past, alluded to in Kari and Damien’s story, but so far, he’s mum about what it is.
A counselor for at-risk teens, he’s working long hours (which concerns Beth because he’s sometimes — often — too tired to get busy) in part to save up for an engagement ring. He believes actions speak louder than words (and thinks spending the day shopping tells Beth he loves her). Above all, he likes being comfortable, which is why he’s often content to cuddle. Even in high school, he wasn’t one of those guys who was always trying to get some.
I probably need to get to the bottom of that before I get too far into the story.
Right now, I’m in Chapter 3. And, to borrow a catchphrase from McDonald’s, I’m lovin’ it … surprises and all.
Forgive me for not blogging lately … It’s not that I haven’t been working, let me assure you.
Most of my long weekend was spent on my new WIP, which is now in Chapter 3. Did I mention that there might be something to writing a synopsis first? 😉 I thought a lot about my plot before I started and came up with a summary of about three pages.
I also took some time to perfect my query letter and synopsis. This morning, I sent out a handful of queries … including one to my Dream Agent. I just wish that “I want to puke” feeling would go away. I always feel that way when I’m sending out queries: excited, but slightly nauseous.
Anyone else feel the same way?
On another note, I need to get busy writing a synopsis for “Beauty and the Ballplayer.” That was the other goal I said I’d accomplish before the next NARWA meeting — and since it talks so long for me to do one of those things after the fact, I’d better get started.
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