Revisions

Whoohoo! Another round D-O-N-E!!! Now my plan is to start tomorrow and read through the entire thing ONE more time to make sure my t's are crossed and my i's are dotted. I've got a list of things to follow through the novel and make sure everything unfolds the way it should. I expect to be finished with this by Friday night and I'm mailing it on Saturday!!! (I did tell the editor I'd mail it to her around the end of summer.) I'm so psyched!

But no rest for the wicked. Over Labor Day weekend I need to buckle down and outline my revisions for my Scottish contemporary so I can send that off to the editor that requested it. More on this next weekend.

Life In Connor World

I haven't done any writing since I finished the synopsis and partial. I took Thursday off to move more stuff from my old place to the new. Then yesterday, after a week of actually working at the day job and various trips moving, I truly was too tired to think. So I watched the Patriots last night and a few hours of Criminal Minds. And I fell asleep on the couch!

Today will be a busy day. I've already cleaned up my living room/dining area. Now I'm off to work for a couple of hours in the old place packing and cleaning. Then I'm going to run a bunch of errands. Then I'm going to work on revisions for Chapters 4 & 5. Tonight my parents will arrive with the van (driving from RI) and more of my furniture!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Danger's Gone!

Yes, it's true! I FINALLY finished the synopsis and I have e-mailed the agent the requested material! Whoohoo! Now it'll be onto the rest of the book. I'm actually thinking I could probably finish it by the first weekend in September. I'll post an actual deadline probably over this weekend. For now, at 12:48 AM, I must go to bed. That alarm starts screeching at me in about 5 hours.

And I Couldn't

Bad Lexi! I fell asleep on the couch last night. I'm cruising the internet and sending e-mails now. (Read this as PROCRASTINATING.) I absolutely plan to finish a halfway decent synopsis draft tonight before I go to bed no matter what time it is. I intend to be finished with this request tomorrow so I can get back to revising the rest of the book!

UPDATE: 8:05. I'm working! And it's SOOOOO much easier than I thought it would be. After all, who knows my story better? AND writing this synopsis is giving me MORE ideas where I can tighten the story!

Danger Ahead!

The manuscript revisions are coming along so well!

It's that crappy synopsis that's throwing me for a loop. I had an awesome synopsis, but the story changed. I'm thinking to just scrap the whole thing and rewrite the synopsis with the revisions in mind.

Or maybe I'll just go to bed early since the 1st day of school was draining!

Okay, no. Can't do that. Must work for another hour or so. MUST MAKE PROGRESS! My 1st of 3 deadlines is just around the corner and I don't want to miss it!

I think I can, I think I can....

Technology And Such

Spent part of the morning working on Danger and finished revising the partial. Whoohoo!

Spent another part of the morning fiddling with my internet service and getting the computer frozen. No whoohoo.

Spent 5 1/2 hours at school gearing up for the first day tomorrow. Whoohoo!

Spent part of that time (about an hour) organizing lesson plans for the 1st 2 weeks and LOVED what I had. Whoohoo!

Spent the last fifteen minutes before I left school swearing at the computer when I lost all the lesson plan work I'd done. This better not be an omen of what my year is going to be like!

Heehee...I'm In!

All hooked up, tons of food and awesome neighbors! I've been busy moving today and now I'm setting up my office. Of course, that's the most important room! My new home is 2 floors and two balconies. I've got plenty of sunshine peeking through and a very competent air conditioner. I'm in limbo right now because the stuff that's still at my old place needs a place to be. BUT my mom & stepdad are driving from RI next week with furniture that used to be in my grandparents' house. (I'm the type of person that would rather have an eclectic mix of furniture with stories for each piece than a fancy matching set that just came from the store. Hhhmmm, maybe this is why I love reading historical romances????) I switched to Internet through my cable company and I can't get over how much more competent this digital stuff is compared to my old dial-up. I'm having so much fun! But now I'm off to find homes for some of my knickknacks and then I'm going back to my Danger revisions. I've made a good chunk of progress today while I waited for the cable guy. I'll keep you updated.

Stay Tuned...

The next post I give you will be from my new home! In the morning, I'll be moving and unpacking with the aid of my brother and his family. Then I'll be doing a big grocery shopping for my new digs. Then the cable, internet and phone will be hooked up tomorrow afternoon. While I wait for the installer (who's coming between 1 & 5), I'll be working on revisions. (Well, probably some unpacking too.) I'll post when I can! Oh, and then Sunday I'm hoping to start posting some of my vacation pictures from my work computer (since my home computer chews up the CD and refuses to spit it out in a timely manner!). Have a great weekend!

Still A Student Myself

See what I learned in teacher school today! Click here!

Just Like Jill

For those of you familiar with Jill Shalvis, you'll appreciate this. For those of you who aren't familiar with her, well why not? Jill is one of my favorite authors who happens to have "I Love Lucy" moments WAY more than any human being has a right to, and she often shares those with us via her blog. Today, on the first day of staff development for the new school year, I took a page out of her book.

I decided to wear a skirt, to pretend to be a professional for at least the first few hours of my school year. We had meetings and meals and good times catching up with each other. Some of us also had to move school supplies out to our portable classrooms.

I wanted to take everything I could so I wouldn't need to make another trip, so I packed up the dolley (sp?) and proceeded to maneuver it around the halls of the main building. I got to the door that led to the parking lot and yanked my load through. My left foot decided to fall off the ramp. I fell backward, banged my head, my butt and my elbow. My skirt? FLEW UP. And guess who was behind me? Our new custodian. A nice guy who jumped to my aid, asked if I was okay and offered to pull me to my feet. Since I've gained a chunk of weight (that another coworker pointed out), I didn't want to hurt him so I just took his help getting to a sitting position. While my cheeks heated and I fiddled with my skirt, our nice custodian repacked the dolley for me with all my boxes and bags. He was nice enough not to look at me as I struggled back to my own feet. He did ask again if I was okay and he waited until I walked away with my load.

Tomorrow I think I'll wear jeans.

Sunday

Well, I managed to get my CD out of the computer and I didn't break a thing! Still no chance to post my vacation pictures. Maybe next week? I'll keep you updated.

I started working on my stuff for school and it turned out I had done a lot more than I'd thought. So, I don't have to stress as much today. I'm going to spend a couple hours working to get myself back in the school mood. Then I'll also take some boxes over (and maybe get some help from a friend emptying my storage unit) and I'm actually going to work on my Danger revisions! There's no time like the present to get started. CP Cat and I have talked about what needs to be done and how far my story has come since the 1st draft. I now feel ready to tackle the final round of revisions so I can send this requested puppy out the door!

What're you up to today?

And Today...

I can't even get the CD out of the computer. I need to walk away before I break something.

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties

I can't get my photo CD to work on my desktop computer. I'm going to try later to use the laptop and start posting pictures from my trip. If I don't start posting pics today, you'll know why.

Stay Tuned...

Since I'll be busy with my move, getting ready for school and finishing up my last round of revisions on Danger, I thought it would be a good time to start sharing my vacation pictures. I'll post a few every couple of days (beginning tomorrow) starting with the first leg of my journey in Berlin. Now, where did I put that photo CD?

And STILL More...

Three more trips from the storage unit to the house today and two more big boxes of "books to keep." Then I decided to pack the books in my current place to move them because there really can't be many, right? Um, yeah, suuuuuure. And you know what's worse? There are a lot more books I want to keep than books to give away. I've got a bigger place now. I should be able to find space for all of them. I'll let you know how it goes.

Honey, I'm Home!

It's HOT here in Austin! It's averaging around 100 degrees with very little rain in sight. And guess what I get to do? Move! I bought a place and now I get the fun times of unloading my storage unit and setting up house and home. I've already done 3 carloads of boxes and met one of my neighbors (who seems very nice). I decided to take a lunch break and then I'll tackle actually unpacking some stuff.

OH! Speaking of unpacking, guess what I've found in my storage unit? 2 boxes of books I knew about and...THREE more I'd forgotten! All the boxes say "Books to Keep" on them, but you know what? I can't keep all those! I have tons where I am never mind all the boxed ones. So I'm going through them and making a pile for donating. I'm only keeping the ones I really, really want to keep. (Like the ones I still think about, those I'd like to reread and those signed by the author for me.)

Needless to say, I'm not writing or revising right now. I am reading, though, to keep Caitlin happy until I get back to revisions. I've got my Austin RWA meeting tonight and our guest speaker is Christie Craig.

The Morning After...

Ten pounds overweight on my luggage.

Brain hurts.

Eyes tired.

No computer work for me today.

Be back tomorrow. Must go pack a second carry-on.

D-O-N-E!!!!

Whoohoo! Celebrate with me! I finished Danger only minutes ago.

Next up, flying home tomorrow and switching to my Scottish village and revising Fractured Paradise for a short while until Danger comes back from the CPs. I will NOT start work on a new suspense. I won't. I promise.

So Close Now....

As of right this second, I've got 42 pages left to revise! I surpassed my goal for the day and if I'm lucky, I'll get through a significant chunk between now and when I go to bed! Working like a dog today so I can party tomorrow, my last full day in RI. I'll check in later!

Pluggin' Along

Okay, I've got 2 days left for Danger revisions now. I've been making progress and I LOVE what's appearing on the pages, but today I have to buckle down and get through around 60 pages. I know, that's a lot, but I'm hoping it will start to go easier this afternoon since I'll be heading into the last 1/3 of the book, which should be closer to "ready." No time to procrastinate! I'm even logging off the Internet so I can totally concentrate. And right now no one else is in the house. I've learned over this trip what it's like for those of you who have families. I'll be at the kitchen table typing away with my earphones in and family members will start conversations with me and ruin my concentration. Sheesh, how do you people get any work done with other people in the house???

Kill All Your Babies

I see now how important it is to kill all my babies. I've got scenes, sentences and phrases that I LOVE in this book, but with my revised heroine & hero motivations, my original words of wisdom no longer fit. So, chop, chop! In the end, I'm realizing what I've cut wasn't that masterful and the new product is a thousand times better for my story. And no, I'm not keeping the snippets because they're specific to these characters and they don't work anywhere else in the manuscript. Back to it!

Workin' It Wednesday

Well, I didn't make it through both Chapters 3 & 4, but Caitlin and I strutted our way through those 2 difficult scenes in 3! I got all the way through Chapter 3. I don't know how much work 4 will need, but I'm planning to push myself to get through 4 & 5 tomorrow. Now I'm off to get my beauty rest!

Banging My Head Against The Wall But It Feels So Good!

I've been working since about 10 this morning and I'm still on the same 4 pages. Yes, you read that right: F-O-U-R pages. I've cut, added, rearranged and changed the same two scenes ALL DAY. But I am making progress. I shifted points of view and opened one scene up to a whole new interpretation that will work to strengthen my hero's character arc. I may not get all the pages done today that I wanted, but I will work through these two scenes until Caitlin and I are satisfied!

Day 2

I got through about 12 pages, but this was great because I hadn't planned on getting anything done today! I ran errands and then spent the afternoon and early evening with an old college friend. So I figured any pages I worked through today would a plus!

I did want to share this tidbit of info. I was rereading a scene I'd originally thought was really suspenseful and important. Tonight I decided to cut it down to the bare bones and only use what was absolutely necessary to move the story forward. What made me decide to do this? As I read the scene, I kept getting up to do stuff in the kitchen. If I'm bored, there's no hope for my readers!

Day 1

Okay, I admit I'm a little sad NOBODY stopped by and gave me encouragement or a rundown of their weekend. But I'll forgive you all because Caitlin and I managed to get a HUGE chunk done and I'm so very pleased with it!

Monday Memo

Good Day, people! My weekend of celebration was wonderful. I visited my best friend and partied for her birthday. Yesterday I raced to finish Carla Cassidy's Heiress Recon and L-O-V-E-D it! Great book! Great time and I've decided Carla Cassidy must be an auto-buy for me from now on! Her talent reinforces why I want to write for Harlequin Intrigue. And on that note, I'm starting my next round of revisions for Dance Away, Danger. I'm expecting to read through it this week, make sure it flows and all my latest updates make sense. I need to check my characters' motivations and make sure my hero and heroine are sufficiently motivated to fall in love. I intend to send this puppy to my CPs at the weekend, so let me get busy. I'll keep you updated! In the meantime, feel free to leave words of encouragement or share stories from your weekend activities.

Party Time!

Whoohoo! Another round of revisions on Danger are D-O-N-E! I'm going to relax the rest of today (well, and celebrate being so close to finished!) and then tackle one more peek at the entire thing starting tomorrow. Have a great weekend!