Willamette Writers and a New Beginning

Last Friday I attended the Willamette Writers Conference. I did two group pitches with agents and spoke to a film producer about a possible film idea. I wasn't my normal grounded self and was more withdrawn than I'd like to be.

I did see Jina and Tom from my critique group which was really fun and poor Gina Harris had to endure my awful pitch but other than that I'm glad I went. The best part for me was the last little bit of Irene Radford's workshop. Irene is a prolific author who has published the Dragon Nimbus series and Merlin's Guardians. She talked about production writing and told that her first draft is plain ugly. She said she doesn't worry about the holes but leaves blanks and notes to herself until the story is down. Then as she edits she fills in the blanks and cleans it up.

I want to try this. She also said that she likes to have three different projects at three different stages so that she doesn't get bored. She has one that she is editing, one she is creating and another that she is researching. Then when she hits a tough spot in one, she can switch to another. Helpful advice. I've been so linear.... but she doesn't have kids home. Still, I hope to be her.

Lastly, I have decided to join another blog because I don't have enough to do. www.pushingpastthepounds.blogspot.com is our new site and I'm chronicling the weight loss journey I should have gone on last year and the year before that. Oh, well, I think I'm taking a sound approach. We'll see how it turns out.

This week is the last week before I've got the birthday onslaught. George's is on Mon., Greg's a week later, Camron the week after that, then Anna two weeks after. Then school will be here. I'm not ready!

Last Minute Amazon Contest

So... I finished my book "An Angel in the Family" and am waiting to hear from the publisher. As I think about my year and look at past sales, I know I need to spend more time beefing up my platform. All is good.

But then... I hear about the Amazon Breakout Novel Contest and I'm pumped. I got this idea for a story at the Willamette Writers Conference and I think I can flesh it out. Is a full novel in 33 days possible without totally stressing out your entire family?

Well I'm going to try. From now until February 2nd I'm in writing jail. Will I make it? Today I'm two days into it and have 7,124 words. But are they good???? Wish me luck.

Willamette Writer's Conference, Close to Heaven

This weekend I went to the Willamette Writer's Conference and it was WONDERFUL! Going in, I didn't know a soul and even forced my husband to accompany me to registration, so I'd have someone to talk to. That totally backfired because they had pitch practice and I was lapping it up like honey while my DH was so bored he couldn't see straight. We left early and I was suddenly fine with being with these kindred spirits for the next three days.

I learned so much that my head is still reeling. I found out that there is something called SECOND BOOK SYNDROME. It is really common when someone who has had their first book published to struggle with their second because their first was written without a deadline or even the expectation of being published. The fear of failure and the stress of wanting to do better on the next one can squelch the little bit of creativity you have and leave you defunct.

It was a relief because I'm struggling with my next book. I'm 2/3rds of the way through it, have the synopsis complete but have been incredibly frustrated trying to keep it real and intense. I found out why.

I learned about only having 3 beats of dialog and stating the central conflict in the first scene which has to be some essential truth. Each scene needs to increase the central conflict. Some editors even said when the pacing is off, they write out the proportions of exposition to action to make sure it isn't too fast, losing the reader, or too slow, boring him to death.

Well, with all the tools I've picked up I'm ready to plow ahead. My goal was to have the manuscript complete before the end of summer. That's three weeks and counting. I hope I make it. But I'm so seriously grateful for the incredible efforts of writers far more advanced than me. (I know, they hate superlatives and adjectives, too- I'm in trouble.)