WIP

Okay, Here Goes, My Lucky Seven Post…

Posted by on Apr 11, 2012 in WIP | 5 comments

This is how much I love Kimberly Brock. I am posting some of my novel-in-progress and you are the first ones EVER to read anything from my novel, I swear. Okay, I swear a lot so that doesn’t hold much water. I promise you are my first! (Ha, never thought I would say those words…again.) Keep in mind this 2nd draft material. Which to any non-writers reading this, that means it still sucks and it has a long way to go before it gets not sucky. These are the seven sentences seven lines down from the top of page 77. (Hey, I have a page 77! I was sweating there for a moment.) “Ya...

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Finding My Fire Without Getting Burned…Again

Posted by on Dec 29, 2011 in Revision, WIP | 16 comments

It’s a new year and I am trying something “new”. It’s actually just an old method for novel writing that I have sorely neglected. When I began my novel a few years ago, I first began with a rough outline. I got about halfway through writing the outline when my itchy fingers took over. No longer able to sit idly by, they started hammering away at my story. As the words appeared and began to string along something resembling a plot, my characters came alive but then quickly threw me for a loop. They led me off the planned route. I took a wrong turn, or a right turn....

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What’s Your Point of View?

Posted by on Jun 27, 2011 in Craft, WIP | 13 comments

My novel is set in third person as of right now. But I am wondering whether it is the right one. Would first person be a better way to convey my MC’s complex emotions? Or would it limit the expanse of my story? I’ve always thought that only the freakishly talented and veteran writers have free passes to the summit of First Person Peak while the rest of us schleps have a long (required?) hike up Third Person Trail. The reason I have been thinking a lot about it is because most of the novels I have been reading lately have been written in first person. Is first person the best way...

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Focusing On The Pura Vida

Posted by on Apr 20, 2011 in Aspirations, Daily thoughts, vacation, WIP | 12 comments

  Ticos (what Costa Rican’s call themselves) have a great saying: Pura Vida. It means living a pure life. I guess it’s their version of aloha. It means many things but the mostly it is their attitude toward living. And it’s on every damned t-shirt, bumper sticker, and billboard you lay your eyes on in case you forgot what you were in Costa Rica for. I planned a “laid back, easy going, playing dead” kind of vacation last week. My version of Pura Vida. But that all changed after I watched a particular movie on one of our flights to the Coast of Riches.. I...

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Time To “Simma down, now.”

Posted by on Jan 24, 2011 in Craft, WIP, Writing process | 6 comments

As I let my first draft simmer, I am going to be studying until my eyeballs bleed, er…I mean reading some tried and true writing recipes. I’m hoping to find the right ingredients to get this novel ready for another taste test. Right now, the story is still raw and not at all appetizing. My plot is “eh.” It needs more layers, a variety of flavors that keep the readers smacking their lips. The structure of my story is about as sturdy as a first timer’s souffle’. And my characters are still a bit on the bland side. Think dry toast. This novel was an...

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My Version Of TGIF

Posted by on Jan 21, 2011 in WIP | 6 comments

Thank God it’s finished! Finito, terminado, finis, FINISHED!!! I finished the first draft of my first novel yesterday afternoon!! As I wrote the last word, I sat there a bit stunned. I did it. I actually did it. I was alone (except for my faithful fuzzy companions) which was okay. It was a moment that needed solitude. I took a deep breath, laid my pencil down, smiled to myself, and then shared with my Twitter friends what I had just done. Then the tears welled up and I wept. I cried because I did something to completion. Well, not total completion, obviously. I still have a long...

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