Well, since its been a month since the last post, I thought I would give an update on what is going on in my life.

I have completed the online class from Margie Lawson, Defeating Self-Defeating Behaviors.  Great class.  I learned a lot about myself, and why I sometimes self-distruct.  I now have some tools for overcoming those behaviors, most of which I have utilized at some point in the past.  I will probably have to re-read the lectures and redo the assignments eventually, but for now, I think I am doing ok.  I write most every day, which makes the day go better, and I have learned to think more positively. 

In fact, I have overcome my fears enough to enter my current WIP into the Pacific Northwest Writer's Association Literary Contest.  I edited (and edited, and edited) the first 23 pages of the manuscript (MS), and created a five page synopsis for the contest.  My poor critique partners were tasked with reading it over and over while I polished it.  I was a neurotic mess when I sent it off yesterday, but I feel much better now.  According to my critique partners, it will be a strong contender.  I'm crossing my fingers.  If I final, I will have to go to the PNWA conference July 30-Aug 2, 2009.  I will likely go anyway, even if I don't final.  I need to get out and network more with other writers, agents, and editors.  I can't write in a vacuum anymore, not if I want to be published.

 

A word about the synopsis (a summary of the major characters and plot points of the book.)  When I finished the first pass on the entry, I moved onto the synopsis.  I had written one when I first started my WIP, but it's now a year old, and roughly 15 pages long, and so out of date as to be almost unusable as anything but a rough reference guide.  I decided I needed a completely new synopsis that would reflect the story as I have it now.  I tried for two hours to get something down on paper.  I was spinning my wheels.  Frustrated, I bagged it and ran myself a hot bath.  2hrs and a hundred pages of Jane Austen's Emma later, I hauled myself out of the tub.  And the Girls in the Basement clunked me on the head with an idea.

Rush, rush, rush, I sat downstairs and wrote 5 pages of synopsis longhand.  It came out all of a piece.  In the morning, I rewrote it, and sent it off to the Moxie 4 for critique.  See.  Give the Girls enough time, leave them alone, and they will come up with something.  Thankfully, it was something "right."
 

Also, in the past month, I took a trip to California to attend the funeral of my cousin, Doug.  Doug had spent the last 35 years as a quadriplegic, and had been in decline for the last year.  He accomplished so much in his brief time here on earth: lawyer, husband, adoptive father.  He found ways to overcome his disabiltiy, and gave others hope, inspiration, and direction.  I celebrate his new freedom; may he now have wings.