Save The Cat and UP

Today, I took my daughter to see Disney/Pixar's UP. Man, those people know how to write a movie. They do everything right. The animation is great. The story does exactly what it's supposed to do, when it's supposed to, without falling into the no no's that befall other movies. Magic.

The opening set up in UP is done almost completely without words. It moves fast enough to keep the movie from getting bogged down. Our hero achieves his goal and once he does, realizes the moment is empty. As a writer, I saw all the things we're taught to do done masterfully. And as if that's not enough, there are lots of quirky, funny moments that make the audience laugh out loud. Brilliant.

I came home humbled and inspired.

Now, you're wondering what Save The Cat is all about. Blake Synder's book on screenwriting is on my nightstand as is his sequel. I'm a huge fan of movies. That's why I took to Michael Hague's workshop. I need structure or else I don't accomplish what I need to do. Save The Cat shows me how to establish that structure in my WIP. Yes, I'm writing a book, not a screenplay, but thinking in terms of a screenplay works for me.

This morning, I dropped my WIP into Blake Synder's Save The Cat framework and came up with a few reasons why I'm stalled. Forward progress ahoy.

And speaking of ahoy, we sold our old boat. Yippee! We are now the proud owners of one boat. The god of the sea likes us, I think.

Today's goal: 2 contests entered
Yesterday's goal: Layout ATT according to Save The Cat
What I'm grateful for: Help and inspiration from the movies
Quote: "Every single character must change in the course of your story." -Blake Snyder, Save The Cat

Winter Rose Final Judge Comments

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the final judge’s comments from my 2nd place finish on the Winter Rose. She didn’t disappoint.

The first thing I’ll share is the last thing she wrote. She thought my heroine was well-developed. You have NO idea how much that pleased me. I love rich characters. My heroine is a work in progress and I’ve gotten to know her better since I submitted the entry to the Winter Rose Contest.

The other thing she said is that she liked the premise (YEAH), but didn’t think it was unique enough to stand out on the YA shelf amongst the other paranormals. That might sound like a huge downer, but I agree with her that as a paranormal it’s not going to stand out. That’s okay. I’m not writing it as a paranormal. I would never enter it in a paranormal category of a contest. I’d define it as a YA novel with a dose of mystery and a smidge of paranormal.

This is a story about transformation and growth. Kiera’s truthseeing ability is just a fun twist. She sees her familiar world in a new way and must deal with what she learns. I’m not trying to write a paranormal, I’m trying to write a great book with a catchy idea. As for the premise not being unique. I haven’t seen any other book like it.

As this pictures shows, sometimes what you see is all about your perspective.

Today's goal: 1000 words
Yesterday's achievement: 1200 words
What I'm grateful for: Feedback that tells me I'm on the right track
Quote: "Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats." -Howard Aiken (1900 - 1973)

Let's go bigger...

Perfect Union. Isn't she pretty?


So, last week, Erik called me. He had his eye on a new boat. A bigger, better boat. 4 feet bigger and 2 feet wider.

Now, the thought of threading an extra 2 feet into our slip is daunting, but having an engine we can actually find replacement parts for sort of makes me want to do a happy dance. And four extra feet in length and two more in width, it makes me grin. I was impressed with our 27 footer. Imagine what we can do with all that extra footage. Can you say party boat?

Below we have an oven. Why do you need an oven on a boat? Well...we'll find a use for it. We have a booth with a table (not just a bench with a folddown table like in the old boat. We have a place to store wine bottles. No more rattling in the "liquor" cabinet.

It desperately needs some cleaning, but we're really good at that. I can't wait to get her in the water and see how she goes.

Update:

We took her out tonight. She's seaworthy. The engine purrs instead of chugs. I can't yet tell you how she goes under sail because we haven't gotten them up yet. Too busy cleaning. Oh, we're bust-a-gut pleased with our new purchase. I think the word is giddy. Silly smiles all around.

Another final for my Truthseeing Teenager

Adventures of A Teenage Truthseer finaled in the 2009 FIre and Ice Contest. I get to go to a party at National! Whoohoo!

I attended the North Chicago Spring Fling last year and wasn't able to final in last years F&I so I'm super excited to final this year.

Motivation to work. Something I sorely needed after a dry writing weekend.

2009 Winter Rose Contest Second Place Finish

I'm as pleased as I could be to announce that Adventures Of A Teenage Truthseer took 2nd place in the 2009 Winter Rose. I can't wait to see the final judge's comments (if any) and see how it did in round one judging.

I'm starting to think about my next round of contests with it and could use the feedback.

Channelling my inner teenager

As much fun as I'm having with this YA, I have to say that my heroine's voice is all over the place. Sometimes she's a dramatic seventeen-year-old (funny, flirty and a touch wry.) Sometimes she me trying to be a seventeen-year-old (dry--as in old and dusty, not humorous--and too thoughtful for her years.) Sometimes she's seventeen and her voice is a little darker than the book's tone (serious stuff is happening around her).

Since I'm trying to get the story down, I'm not stressing the artistic fine points right now. And every once in a while, she gives me gold.

I guess the important part is having fun. Something that makes the writing of a story a lot more enjoyable.

I scored my agent and editor appointments for National yesterday. I was totally freaked out about getting in and lining them up. In many cases there were only 6-11 appts per agent/editor. And getting on line was a major pain. Imagine my surprise to see how wide open it was. The major players (single title aquiring) in the publishing biz were all taken up, but there was lots of agents open. That's where I thought I would have the most trouble. Instead, I had quite a few of my top picks to choose amongst.

How about you? Are you going to National? Did you get who you wanted to pitch to?

Today's goal: 1000 words
Yesterday's achievement: Got my Molly entry off
What I'm grateful for: my editor/agent appts
Quote: "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing." -Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

The Christmas Bargain finals in Touch Of Magic

I'm very excited about this final. The Christmas Bargain is my perfect contest book. There's nothing particularly controversial about it. The hero is charming. My heroine has a little more depth these days. It's a classic plot line. I have a great villaness. I really think Francine sells the opening. She's the girl you love to hate.

I hope the final editor likes it as well.

Meanwhile I got back my comments from Bound By Duty from Four Season. I'm glad I put it aside. I'm absolutely stuck for what to do with it. I feel as if any fixes will require me to jump through a dozen hoops and it will become so convoluted that the story will be ruined. So, for now, requested or not, it's on permanent hold.

Letting go

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a control freak. I have a really hard time handing over control to other people. You're probably wondering what I'm doing anywhere near the publishing biz where the only thing you can control is the product you produce.

I bought Donald Maass' new book The Fire In Fiction. After attending his workshop last fall, I'm a fan. I believe in the whole tension on every page idea. I read a lot of unpublished writers and that is something most of them haven't yet mastered. I'm looking forward to discovering many pearls of wisdom in the coming weeks.

Work progresses on the YA. I'm learning to let go of the perfect first draft. When I get stuck, I use brackets and make notes. It's going to be an ugly first draft, but it'll be done. The second draft will flush out those scenes where there's only dialog, or where I haven't completed the action. Polishing comes in the next few drafts. At least, that's what I think will happen.

Oh and the last bit of letting go. I cut my hair today. I wanted to donate it and lopped off twelve inches. That wasn't the hard part. What happened next is where I let go. I basically let the stylist go at it. It's short. It's cute. And I'm glad I didn't try and control the outcome.

Today's goal: Haircut
Yesterday's achievement: 1000 words
What I'm grateful for: Wash and wear hair
Quote: "If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough" -Mario Andretti (1940 - )

Journaling in your character's POV

Have you ever done this?

I'm reading James N. Frey's How To Write A Damn Good Mystery and this is what he suggests. It's rather cool. I'm going to do all the characters in the book from the heroine to the villain and all the secondary characters in between. I've already done the hero of my YA and found out some truly interesting things about him that would never have surfaced in the normal writing of the book. Now I'm working on the heroine's arch nemesis. She's going to start out a little stereotypical, I'm afraid. But her character is fascinating with little insecurities all of her own. And she's got some good stuff too. Can't forget to make the bad guys a little nice. And make the nice guys a little bad.

I also got sidetracked a little this weekend with a new YA story idea. This always happens to me. I can't write them fast enough. To avoid getting completely derailed, I'm going to journal in my main character's POV and hopefully once I get the idea out of my head and onto paper that it will simmer down. I think sometimes I'm afraid of forgetting the new idea so I think and think and think about it.

Today's goal: 1000 words on something
Yesterday's achievement: 1000 words on Truthseer
What I'm grateful for: Sunshine and 70 degrees
Quote: "I had a monumental idea this morning, but I didn't like it." -Samuel Goldwyn (1882 - 1974)