Posts Tagged ‘NARWA’
This time, I mean my Golden Heart entry — all 246 pages of it, plus the disk with my full MS on it. I dropped it off at the post office sometime between 11 a.m. and noon.
It felt like such a momentous occasion. I was so darn proud of myself I had to call the Boyfriend right away and tell him it was done.
It wasn’t until I drove back across town that I had a moment of panic. Did I really put the disk with my full MS on it in the box? I know I did … because if I didn’t, where is it? Not in the car … So I’m sure it’s right where it’s supposed to be — on its merry way to RWA HQ.
I had some credit on my Picazzo’s loyalty card, so I treated myself to one of my favorite lunches — a slice of pizza and caesar side salad. Delicious! And the momentous occasion of entering my first Golden Heart competition deserved to be celebrated.
So celebrate I did. Now, on to the next project: Trying to catch up on my NaNo word count. I should be able to make good headway this weekend, because I’m not working. Not only am I not working, but I also have a NARWA meeting — and I always get fired up to write when I go to those.
My problem is that I usually have to head back home and go to work … and by the time I get home after a long day/night at work, I’m too tired and/or have lost that motivation. Not this time. A weekend stretches before me with just two commitments: the meeting Saturday morning and Boyfriend time Sunday evening.
20,000 words, here I come!
That’s how much my Golden Heart entry weighs. It’s 36 pages of 6-page synopsis and 210 pages of the first 42 pages of my MS.
How do I know how much it weighs? Easy — I put it on my trusty kitchen scale. (I knew there had to be a use for it besides weighing food!)
I have decided it’s time to let my entry go. I can’t read through it one more time without going absolutely bonkers. Besides, If I hang onto it much longer, I’ll be paying extra for express shipping — and since the Boyfriend is fronting me the money to pay for the mailing, he’d appreciate it if I didn’t have to do that.
I felt an enormous sense of accomplishment after printing out those six copies. I called one of my NARWA friends and told her that it was done. She’s still working on her entry (in a different category).
As an aside, my Brother laser printer works great. I bought it a couple of years ago, fairly cheap. At the time, I had an iMac still running on OS9, and it was one of the few printers that was OS9 compatible. I’m glad, because my pages look beautiful — much better than they would on an inkjet printer.
I plan to head to the Post Office either Thursday or Friday, depending on when the Boyfriend gets me that money. My next NARWA meeting is Saturday, and I have the weekend off.
Now, instead of devoting it to finishing the GH entry, I can concentrate on upping my NaNo word count. I managed to break 14.5K today, but that’s still low compared to everyone else.
I saw a link to this contest over the weekend and decided that since it’s pretty much what I’m already working to compile for the Golden Heart, I might as well go for it.
For the Ohio Valley RWA “Enchanted Words” contest, I need my synopsis (check), the first five pages of manuscript (pretty much as done as they’re going to get) and a query letter.
Query letter? Oh no! I know I need one of those to start looking for an agent, but I don’t have one yet.
Wait! That’s not entirely true. Last spring, NARWA had a hands-on query-writing workshop as a follow-up to Brenda Novak’s talk on query letters. I frantically dug through all the half-full spiral-bound notebooks in the house and car until I found it: My query letter.
Remarkably, it was pretty much finished — and not too bad. I spent some time this morning reworking it, and my contest entry is just about good to go.
Still working on the GH entry. A friend of mine self-imposed an Oct. 31 deadline so she can do the NaNoWriMo without the GH hanging over her head … I decided against doing the NaNo this year because I won’t have time — but I want to do it in 2010. (Last I heard, she was formatting her entry. More power to her.)
My work week starts today, after a four-day weekend. I’m also gearing up for a busy week with NARWA. Thursday is our board meeting, and Saturday is plot group.
I can’t wait! I love the chance to talk with other writers, work toward making our chapter better and get inspiration to keep writing away.
I got a few more pages edited yesterday — up to 120 of 213 now. But I’m wondering if I should forget the rest of the book to go back and polish the first 50 or so pages that will be judged for the Golden Heart.
Then again, they do want the whole thing … so I should revise to the end and THEN polish some more.
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