Saturday, February 11, 2012

Doing the Writerly Thing

Nothing too exciting to write about, but the mood struck me anyhow. 

Worked a little in the morning at the cafe.

Creative barista is creative

Yeah! Booksigning!!


The posters for the March booksigning have been handed over to the out-of-town folks by my most excellent friend Mary Ann.




I sorted the animals. 
What, doesn't everyone have huge pet beds in the living room?
Sorted animals










They promised us snow, but it never materialized.  We do however have ferocious winds and cold.  22 degrees (minus 5 for you folks who think in Celsius.)  I have stacked up the firewood for a long evening.


I am not writing on the Pax manuscript just at the moment.  I'm trying to understand the next contract.  Eventually I will give up and just sign the thing.

I'm going to go back and move the first Pax/Camille dialog into her viewpoint and out of Pax's.  This is not just a 'When all else fails, try changing the viewpoint' kinda thing.  There's probably some reasoning behind it. 

This whole first third of the manuscript is just a plotting mess.  

20 comments:

  1. Sounds like you had an extremely fulfilling day, in the grand scheme of things. Stay toasty my friend!

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  2. Anonymous9:05 PM

    Well, when you have a great dane, the dog bed takes up a good portion of the living room. Good luck on your POV problem. The last time I asked that very question, my CP told me to give them each a shot.

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  3. It was a pretty good day, all told.

    I went out to walk my dog this evening and discovered my recycling bins stacked up behind the car. Generally, they live next to the garage door.

    My only explanation is that they blew away in this off-and-on again gale we're having and some kind soul recognized them and retrieved them for me.

    One of those things I will never know. Life is just full of mystery.

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  4. Hi Ella --

    One does not so much own a Great Dane as co-share a house with one. They are noble animals.

    They have a BIG dog holding down the fort at Meeks Street in my books. Wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't some Great Dane involved.

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  5. Aha! So Pax is the next story. (I wasn't sure.) It'll be fun to see how he reason's out his fateful night. I can't imagine plotting stories within stories but you've mastered it. :)

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  6. Hi Margaret --

    I'm finding the Pax plot line somewhat intricate because there's a lot of other stuff going on in the fictive universe that does not directly affect his story.

    All somewhat complicated, this. I don't recommend it. Can't seem to help myself from doing it though.

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  7. I'm forever having to ask myself: WHAT makes this scene uncuttable? OK, move it to the end of the scene from wherever obscure location I stashed it. What's the latest I can arrive to this scene and have it make sense? OK, cut everything before that, even though it's the bulk of the snappy repartee. Who has the most at stake in this scene? OK, throw out everything and rewrite the whole stinkin' scene over in their POV. Consider making another sandwich. Advance one scene and repeat. Here's a sympathy ARGH.

    ARGH.

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  8. I love all the Easter eggs -- thinking of that scene in TSL in which Pax is toasted at Meeks Street, and Galba tells him he won't "burden" (or similar word) him with certain information. Hmmmm. But I can see why these would be hell for the writer.

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  9. Oh Grace --

    It's exactly like that. And there is the dread Leaden Dialog -- a certain sign that I'm doing something wrong and I have to retrace my steps to where I went off on a tangent.

    Toss a whole scene out and write it again. Somehow make it work.

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  10. Hi Annie --

    When I wrote that I did know Pax had been a French agent all along. I knew Galba was aware of this, and knew this little problem was being worked out.

    Still not quite sure what actually happens to Pax after that night, you understand ...

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  11. Anonymous10:53 PM

    Have fun at the booksigning! I wish ya'll had done this while I was still living in Charlottesville :)

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  12. I think it's going to be great fun. It's actually two panels, discussing crafty and writerly issues.

    One's on the uses of research in Fiction -- That's me, Lauren Willig, Cathy Maxwell and Deanna Raybourn. The other is 'Everything I Need to Know in Life I Learned from Romance Novels'. That's Kerrelyn Sparks, Katharine Ashe and Pamela Palmer.

    Worth a drive if you're withing a stone's throw. Folks foolish enough to move away altogether though . . .

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  13. Christine10:08 AM

    Congratulations on all the AAR reader awards! The Black Hawk pretty much swept every category it was eligible for including best romance and best couple! Loved that Justine was recognized for a "Kick ass" heroine!

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  14. Hi Christine --

    Oh, thank you so very much. I can't begin to tell you how I felt when I saw that.

    So many people must have liked Black Hawk. I had no idea.

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  15. No book signing in Montreal anytime soon? :-(

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  16. I have bought pet beds for my cats but they never use them, why should they when that is what I got the couch for? or other chairs, or... congrats on the Black Hawk awards. Well deserved. your books help me relax so much.

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  17. Y'know ... I just wish I could go to Montreal. That is such a beautiful city. And a liveable city. I just loved it.

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    Replies
    1. I hope you can visit soon! It's a great place to walk around in.

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  18. Hi Carol --

    Yes. They sleep on the couch. They sleep on the dog beds. The cat sleeps way up on top of the pile of boxes I have packed for moving.

    For a cat, the house is just one bed after another.

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