So, I'm having this wierd experience where I don't want to read any books (particularly romance) because I would just hate to read something better than what I can do. Is that warped or what? Off to work on book.
posted by Carolyn @ 6/30/2004 08:12:00 AM Permalink
So, inching up to 85K. But mostly, I think I need to give the whole thing a rest and try to come at it fresh. Right now, the whole ending seems stupid. On the other hand, if I go in to other parts and lay the groundwork, the ending hopefully won't seem so dumb. sigh.
posted by Carolyn @ 6/29/2004 09:58:00 AM Permalink
Edged up to 84.7K, but the ending was (is)a bigger mess than I thought. Plus I came across a sex scene that didn't serve any purpose whatever, other than being sex, so it had to go. I got most of it pasted into other scenes where the parts seem to be happy enough. I guess. But then I realized that portions of the ending made no sense whatever, particularly the big "surprise" at the end. Which seemed stupid and contrived to me. I just got working on it now and made some progress, but it's too late at night to continue, because this is going to take some work. Simple. Keep it simple. I keep telling myself that, but I keep making things way more complicated than they should be.
posted by Carolyn @ 6/27/2004 11:05:00 PM Permalink
So, I'm at 84K+ which is good, but I ended up making some changes to the order of things and significantly reworking the back end, which means, at the moment, I think I have made things worse. But, I was working really fast so of course some of the changes are thin and unsupported by previous work. sigh. It's just a darn shame that I am not one of those brilliant writer types who just writes great stuff from the get go. I don't know why it takes me so long to see how certain things need to be fixed. In fact, I end up worrying a lot that the really fantastic thing to do is just sitting there, flashing in neon colors only I am too stupid and fixated elsewhere to see it. sigh.
posted by Carolyn @ 6/27/2004 10:31:00 AM Permalink
At last! I have queries out to agents. And what a pain. First, I had to decide who to query (same old thing about how many rejections I feel I can take at a time) and since one of them is like an undergrad with a 2.3 gpa applying to Harvard Law, I can safely chalk that one up to postage spent. Which leaves the others as heartwrenching rejections that I have the honor of paying for. But, at least they're in the mail. Now I get to stress about it. It's just that I hate rejection, I take it so personally, which, I'm sure, makes me unique among writers.
posted by Carolyn @ 6/23/2004 04:36:00 PM Permalink
82+ Seem to be doing OK. Got in the last set of paper edits, made some changes. Redid a key chapter that I thought was good but actually was not as tight or focused as it could have been. Now it's better, but I'm going to have to go over all the rest of the supposedly good chapters and do the same thing. Darn.
posted by Carolyn @ 6/20/2004 10:01:00 PM Permalink
81.5K Some good things have developed. Couple of good ideas that seem to have worked. I've had to rewrite the back part of the married scene because that turned out to be all wrong. When I read through it, it was really rough and inconsistent both internally and with everything leading up to the chapter. I have some concerns about the middle parts that feel boring, but I may have fixed that today. GML and King actually conspire a bit because King will do anything to protect the girls, even at the cost of PE. It seemed like a great thing when I wrote it. In subsequent scenes that little bit really added to the tension. Oh, King is leaving them alone, well, is GML going to make his move? Of course, it's quite possible it will not seem so great later, but we'll see.
posted by Carolyn @ 6/19/2004 11:15:00 PM Permalink
OK. 79.5K Am doing a paper read-through. No word from jenn c which means it sucks? Uh oh. Anyway, things going OK. Am anxious to get material out to agents, but would like to hear from jc first. Reading a lot. Read some truly wretched short short historical romances. One was good, but the author is famous and talented. The rest, well, I eventually gave up slogging through them. Interestingly, these had basically no hot scenes, and it occured to me that 3 or 4 trad Regencies packaged together would have been much better reading than most of these stories and they wouldn't have had egregious boners of fact and vocabulary. Just because you dress your contemp heroine in a Empire style gown and give your hero a cravat does NOT mean you wrote a Regency. Rant over.
posted by Carolyn @ 6/15/2004 08:25:00 PM Permalink
No change in amount because I sent the 1st 5 chps off to Jenn C to read for me before I send out agent queries. Today I haven't done any work. Just reading and futzing around. I'd like to let the work sit for a while anyway so I can come at it fresher.
posted by Carolyn @ 6/12/2004 07:30:00 PM Permalink
77.8K Going OK. I think there's a flat part toward the middle beginning, and I'm not sure new chapter no 2 works as I hoped. At least the 1st new chapter is now in the right place. I think I may need to let the older parts sit. I can't tell if they're boring or if I've read them too often lately. Anyway, I'm tired and 5am is just too early. sigh.
posted by Carolyn @ 6/09/2004 10:26:00 PM Permalink
OK, a really long post just disappeared. Very irritating. I am too tired to rewrite the whole thing. Here's the highlights:
posted by Carolyn @ 6/08/2004 10:39:00 PM Permalink
74K. Didn't realize I'd gone so long without a post. Doesn't seem right, actually. Be that as it may, the synopsis is done and vastly better than it was. I have one agent query letter pretty ready to go. The Heir is coming along. I don't have the proper distance at the moment, but I do have a handwritten list of things I need to do. I was freaking the other day because I'm only at 70K words and how on earth would I add 80 pages when the story seemed basically done? Then I realized I had a couple of major threads unaccounted for, oh, say, like the murder and Pansy's lack of social skills. So getting that done will help push me to 80K I think and at that point, pulling everything together will probably take care of things more or less. Today, I ended up splitting two chapters in two. They were too long. Anyway, the hot parts are increasingly hot, the good parts getting there, and I'm seeing more ways of working the characters. But, as I said, I don't have the proper distance yet to know whether or not maybe the whole thing just sucks.
posted by Carolyn @ 6/06/2004 04:49:00 PM Permalink
71.7K So I'm going along. Parts I like. Parts are not so good. But the evil uncle did some things that will I think be a very effective foil. I reworked one scene today where every one is talking about one thing but referring to something completely different, and then it echoed wonderfully in another scene. I hope it holds up on re-read. At this point, its the small things that make huge leaps in quality and interest. I need to send Nonnie the revised synopsis. Which I will go do now. Plus Jenn C offered to read the MS and I may send it off soon for her to read just to get her reaction.
posted by Carolyn @ 6/01/2004 10:04:00 PM Permalink
Liz Maverick
Jennifer Ashley
Sandy Schawb
Patti O'Shea
Marjorie M. Liu
Megan Frampton
Kristin Nelson
Miss Snark
Dystel & Goderich
The Rejecter
Evil Editor