Reality Check

2010 Goal Tracking:

Writing progress: major rewrites to do
Weight progress: sinus infection has me out of the working out mood, but maybe tomorrow I can try some cardio
Bible in a year progress: I'm starting to really dislike the translation I'm reading, and I think I'm going to have to do some investigating. Also, it's been recommended to me to read a Bible commentary to understand each chapter more thoroughly, so I think I may not worry about a timeline so much, but instead try studying more in depth.

Today has been quite eye-opening. I just met with a fellow writers guild member who was gracious enough to critique my WIP for me. She has technical writing background, and was able to catch things that I never even considered. Things like the overuse of passive voice. WOW... if you could see the markings on the first page alone. Incredible. She suggested doing a search for the words "was, were, have," etc. and take them out. It really does help the story flow so much better. "Was dripping"... change it to "dripped." Why do we need all the extra words? Use action verbs wherever possible, she said. I have a very difficult time with this, and I think it may take me an entire month just to fix all of those.

She also helped me with some formatting that I'd never heard of but needed to know. Widow and orphan controls? I had no idea there was a name for when Word just steals a line or two from one page to put it on the next. You can stop this default by going to Format/Paragraph/Line and Page Breaks tab/uncheck Widow Orphan Control. She also mentioned that there should be 25 lines per page, but I can't figure out how to set this. If anyone knows how to do this on the 2003 MS Word version, please let me know.

I'm axing about 3 chapters completely, adding one or two to make up that length and to control pacing, reworking some dialogue... basically, a whole lot of work. BUT - the end result will be that much better for it.

That's why critique partners and groups are so vital! We are soooo involved in our stories, that we just don't see the big problems with it. And the parts we were questioning, if they are also questioned by someone else, there's your confirmation that you have to tweak it, or take it out.

Another much needed reality check for me today, and I'm excited about the changes coming!

TGIAlmostFriday

2010 Goal Tracking:

Writing progress: another 1000 words for my WIP
Weight progress: took today off
Bible in a year progress: no assigned reading for today

Today was pretty good, despite my sinus headache/sneezing/etc. But I just took some medicine for PM so I should be feeling pretty good here in about 20 minutes.

I got to see my best friends today. We chit chatted, saw Young Victoria (GREAT movie by the way), and ate a little appetizer. One of these friends knew I wrote a book (and is actually reading it for me), the other, had no clue. The knowing friend made me tell the not knowing friend, because she thought that just wasn't something you kept from best friends. So I finally spilled, and all's well. And she offered to edit, which I'd be all for (especially because she scored PERFECTLY on the pre-SAT grammar portion back in the day), but I'm too embarassed. hahaha. I know that sounds silly, but it did confirm something to me. I have a lot more editing to do, because if I'm not ready to show her, I'm not ready to show the agents.

And my friend who is currently reading my WIP for me had some interesting things to say. I asked her about it, she took in a deep breath. Not a good sign. Then she surprised me. She said that she was impressed with my writing - had no idea I could write like that (which I wasn't sure I should take offense to or not - I didn't). While it's not her genre, AT ALL (she's more memior, politics, literary fiction), she was entertained...until a couple of chapters in and I lost her. She tried to explain what she meant in the two minutes we had to discuss it, but I can't wait to talk to her more at length. While I'm not looking to be literary fiction at all, I don't want to be corny. Sometimes it takes another (thankfully honest) person to point this out. Better her telling me this than an agent! So as soon as I got home, I ripped apart the section she was talking about and now I'm totally lost. Confused. Back to the drawing board. I'm threatening to rip out the whole chapter. hahaha. It's complete crap. I need my book to flow...it needs to match itself. So, guess what I'll be doing this weekend?! YOU GUESSED IT! REWRITES!!

Happy almost Friday everyone. I'm off to enjoy the land of cold and flu PM.....

Haiti Earthquake

2010 Goal Tracking:

Writing progress: 1000 words today for Still Loving Ghosts
Weight progress: strength training, and 20 minutes of cardio, many more calories GONE
Bible in a year progress: Genesis 30-32, Psalm 12

I promise I won't make a habit out of posting more than once a day, but this was on my heart. You've all heard about the devestating earthquake in Haiti by now. But this hits me particularly hard because I've been sponsoring a girl named Dana there for over four years through Compassion International. I'm not sure if her area was affected, and Compassion International currently has no way of getting in touch with their projects. The CI group from the Dominican Republic is on their way there now to see what they can learn/how they can help. I'm very concerned about Dana and her family because just this past summer, her mother passed away, and several months ago she wrote to tell me they moved to a large city. I'm not sure which city, but I'm hoping for the best until CI gets official word and contacts me. If you're interested in donating to CI's relief fund, you can do so HERE. A simple $35 gives food and supplies to a family for a week. This amazes me. When was the last time I cost less than that in one day?

My prayers go out to Dana and her country.

My First Blog Award!

My first blog award ever!
Thanks so much to Kimberly for the Honest Scrap Award! I’ve always seen blogs with awards lined up along the sides and now I actually know where they come from! I’m still very new to this blogging thing, and I still smile when I see that I’ve gained another follower! This online world is incredible. I feel so supported out here where people just like me are trying to do what they love. Kimberly was one of my first followers (and Kristi, too! – if Kimberly hadn’t of awarded you, I’d be sending this your way!), and there is a special place in my heart for the ones who took a chance on me first! So, thanks!!
I did some investigating on this Honest Scrap business, and here’s what I found.

The Honest Scrap Award Rules

• Present the award to seven bloggers whose blogs you find brilliant in content and/or design or who have encouraged you.


• Tell those seven people that you have given them the Honest Scrap Award.


• Share ten honest things about yourself.

I'm going to take a little time in picking out people to pass them along to (most people I follow already have a ton of awards, so I have to research carefully!), but in the meantime, here are ten honest things about me!

1. There is a birth mark on the back of my head that grows the blondest hair you’ve ever seen.
2. I once thought about becoming a meteorologist – too much physics and math. Boo! I really just wanted to chase tornadoes. I guess I’ll settle for watching Storm Chasers on Discovery and eagerly anticipating this rumored TWISTER 2!
3. I used to coach figure skating until I transferred to Texas A&M Junior year. No ice rink in College Station, though they built one right before I graduated. While I miss skating, it did jack up my knee pretty bad. Lol.
4. I get a little TOO happy when I’m wearing a scarf that I knitted and someone comments on it.
5. Music was my first love, and I’ve been in several bands. My latest venture, Autumn Tree, is on again, off again, but we do still have a song up on Myspace. My friend, Lesleigh, and I wrote that song a couple of years ago, and that’s me on background vocals! I still listen to it sometimes and dream of touring the country, singing in little coffee houses and clubs.
6. Having said that, with nearly every project I write, I am usually inspired to write a song along the theme/emotions of the story as well. For my novel Between the Letters, I have almost half a song worth of lyrics that just poured out after writing the climax of the story. Part of me wants to finish and record the song to sell along with the book if I ever get it published! I know, I know. But if movies have soundtracks, why can’t books? Seriously.
7. I’m an only child and I’ve loved every minute of it. I was certainly never ignored, but I learned how to entertain myself. I really think that’s why I am the way I am. While I do enjoy a good gathering of friends, I love to be by myself, creating something – writing, painting, whatever.
8. I was also home schooled for a couple of years. I tend to believe this is why my mom and I have such a strong bond (people often ask if we’re sisters – yes she looks super young), and also why I have a strong love for reading. Thanks mom!
9. My allergy to grassy things gets worse every season.
10. And finally, I have the bestest hubby in the world. We met when we were 18, and I knew pretty quickly he was something important. We started officially dating when we were 20, engaged at 22, married at 23, and here we are with a house and two beautiful boxers! Josh is sweet, respectful, a great friend, and HANDY! Why hire someone to renovate when Josh is around? I am extremely blessed. :-)

That’s me in a nutshell. Thanks again to Kimberly for my first blog award ever!

Teaser Tuesday and Still Loving Ghosts part 2!

2010 Goal Tracking:

Writing progress: nothing to report
Weight progress: Cardio: 46 minutes; 526 calories GONE!
Bible in a year progress: Genesis 27-29, Psalm 11

As promised, here is the second half of chapter 1 from Still Loving Ghosts. Again, it hasn't been edited too much, so I can't promise there aren't any mistakes. And sorry about the formatting - I really wish it kept my paragraph indents. If anyone knows how to do this, please let me know!
If you missed the first half (I should say third, because this is about 2/3 of it here), it's in last week's Teaser Tuesday. You can't have one without the other. ;-) It is a bit lengthy, so start it when you have about 5 minutes to finish it. Enjoy!

*Removed for editing

Muscle Monday - Workout Plan

2010 Goal Tracking:

Writing progress: wrote a few paragraphs for SLG; agent spreadsheet tweaking
Weight progress: ouch!
Bible in a year progress: Genesis 24-26, Psalm 10

Well, my personal trainer (I feel so cool saying that – if only I could also throw in “You’ll never believe what my chef made for me” also! lol) emphasized the importance of cardio in my first session. I asked her about what I posted last week: cardio vs. strength training first? And she said its always a good idea to warm up about 5 minutes on a cardio machine, strength train, and then do your full-out cardio. Or you can alternate days if you have the time. Not only because of the reasons that Brad explained, but because strength training is MENTAL. You have to figure out weights, count reps, and concentrate on posture and breathing. But with cardio (she has me on a version of the elliptical machine for my knee’s sake) you can just go and go without thinking much; watch TV, jam to music, etc. If you do cardio first, you’re too tired to get a great strength training session in.

Click HERE to read what Jillian Michael’s, trainer on The Biggest Loser, says about cardio. If you don't want to read it, it basically says you can lose 3.5 pounds a week by eating right and doing 2 hours of cardio a day. Pretty crazy! Don’t know who has time for that, but if I get desperate enough, I’m willing to try an hour before work, and an hour after work. I may need to start investing in audio books!

I’ll leave you with the workout regimen from my first personal training session. In my next session (today, actually), I’m going to learn a completely different set of things, but this is a great place to start. Maybe for those of you in need of a PLAN in the gym, this can help! And if you don’t have a gym membership, a 5lb and/or 10lb set of free weights and a balance ball are GREAT to start toning those muscles. We can DO IT!

Cardio machine of choice: 30 minutes, 3 X’s a week. For my age (26) and resting heart rate, I need to keep my heart rate up between 140-160 for 20 minutes.

There are very specific ways of doing each of the following, and I’m finding it a bit difficult to figure out how to explain them, so if you haven’t done them before, I suggest looking it up, or have someone show you the proper ways and postures to avoid injury and work the muscles meant to be worked. The weights for these listed are obviously for girls ;-).

Core: Plank – 2 sets of 10 reps; 4 second hold
Core: Balance ball crunch – 2 sets of 10 reps; hold 2 seconds – don’t pull up with neck; use upper abs
Legs: Balance lunges – 2 sets of 10 each side – instead of lunging forward, raise free leg knee up then lunge behind (This bothered my knee a bit, so I think I will discontinue)
Legs: Extensions – 2 sets of 12; 10 pounds – one leg at a time
Legs: Press – 2 sets of 12; 70 pounds – don’t lock knees
Chest press – 2 sets of 12; 25 pounds
Back row – 2 sets of 12; 30 or 40 pounds
Shoulder press – 2 sets of 12; 10 pounds (I know that seems light, but it’s so not. Try it and you’ll see what I mean. This is the one where you raise the arms above the head.)
Bicep curl – 2 sets of 12; 30 pounds
Triceps – 2 sets of 12; 25 pounds

And here is a personal hint. After attempting this full workout, do not watch any hilarious television for several days. Because if you’re as out of shape as I am…. The first night after I did this, I watched Modern Family. I was laughing so hard I had to wrap my arms around my stomach and suppress tears.

I’ll see y’all tomorrow for Teaser Tuesday, and the rest of Still Loving Ghosts’ chapter 1!

Agent Query List

2010 Goal Tracking:

Writing progress: agent list
Weight progress: keeping with the schedule!
Bible in a year progress: Genesis 21-23, Psalm 9

After months and months of research and weeding out, I've finally got my agent list together for queries! I have all their information organized on a spreadsheet and ranked according to what they're looking for. My "high" priorities include the agents seeking both women's fiction and young adult, because I'm pretty sure I will write YA sometime soon. And JUST IN CASE I'm able to snag an agent for Between the Letters, I'd like them to handle YA also. I have a top ten that for one reason or another I got particularly attached to during the research process, two of which I'm alsmost positive I will get a little teary if they don't request sample chapters. I figure I'll try these 10 first, then work my way down the list every couple of weeks or so. What really irks me is that almost every agent requires something different for the query. Some just want the query letter, some want that plus a full synopsis, some need you to actually MAIL it to them and include a SASE even though that doesn't even gaurantee you a response.... And ALL of them have that very discouraging disclaimer - "We accept very few new clients so that we can focus on the needs of our current authors." Well, at some point, SOMEONE has to add a new client.

I have one more (hopefully) major edit of Between the Letters, and should be ready to query by end of January/beginning of February. And my birthday is in February, so how cool would that be to get a full manuscript request by then?! (Wishful thinking, yes, but it's my birthday so I'll wish what I like, thanks. lol)

And about this agent list of mine...there are only 63 of them. Am I being too picky? I've read that I shouldn't stop until i get 150-200 rejections but, where is everybody finding all of these people to query???
Maybe my condition that they must represent both women's fiction and YA is keeping the number down? But that's something I shouldn't really compromise on, or else I'll either have to talk this hypothetical agent of mine into selling a YA project, or switch...

What have/are you done/doing about the research stage. What standards do you look for? WHERE do you look?