Down in the bayou...

Hope everyone had a peaceful or decent holiday weekend. Nothing accomplished here except maybe a few additional pounds. I made a deal with Mr. Chelle and bet him if I could lose a certain amount of weight he'd have to quit smoking. Well...of course he's trying to feed my face at every opportunity he has. *sigh* We had several cookouts with his friends/co-workers and took little man on a swamp tour.


The tour was alot of fun and little man got to hold a baby alligator and feed them marshmallows. It rained on us for a bit and even though the boat was covered...my back and butt was fair game. So yes...I walked around a bit looking as if I'd peed my pants. Oh well, the things we do for love. I also got 6 inches chopped off my hair when we were back home last week. It was nice not to have my mop laying on my neck as we toured through the humid bayou. Our tour guide had been raised in the back bayou and was a hoot.

What I loved the most though wasn't the staged bayou cabin or corny cajun jokes...or little man's huge grin as he watched the alligators jump up to devour the chicken legs the guide hand fed to them. It was the scenery. The majestic moss draped cypress trees.


My piddly little digital camera can't do them justice though. But my writer's brain wandered along the slow ride through the swamp. I thought of history and what it would've been like to slide among the moss and mosquitos over two hundred years ago, listening to a man's deep cajun accent as he told me his family history.



What a wonderful ride...


Back to the real world and my manuscript. My well was refilled this weekend and I'm so ready to dig deep into my main character's motivation for being a bad boy.

Challenge

I'm throwing down the gauntlet. One of my crit partners has encouraged our group to join in a fun challenge put together by a writers group. It's pretty similar to NaNoWriMo where you write a novel in a month. KiWi Writers has made their challenge a little more flexible. 50,000 words written in a month. Doesn't matter if it's one book or three. It's the Southern Cross Novel Challenge 2009, or SoCNoC for short. What matters is that you've got a 50,000 word goal from June 1 until the 30th of June.


Southern Cross Novel Challenge




I'm signed up...are you game? Let's do it!!

Fork in the Road

I'm back in Louisiana safe and sound. Tired as all get out...but back on a schedule. Kinda. As much of one as I can seem to stick to anyways. I was working on my chapter yesterday and realized I was a little lost. Once upon a time, I had a four book series outlined and a basic plot down for each book. When I decided to put the first book I was working on to the side because of the similiar plot in a current pubbed book, I chose book number three as my next work-in-progress. For some odd reason I changed the plot. *sigh* But knowing what I do about the line I'm targeting and what the editors have been buying...I'm a little lost as to which direction I should go.

I guess today will be spent going over both plots with my critique partner. She targets the same line and might have more clarity and distance from what's in my head. She needs to WAKE UP so I can pick her brain!!!!! LOL. I'll use this "free" time to get my thoughts together so I can figure out how to present both options without confusing the crap out of her. Maybe I should FedEx her some super strong coffee.

How is everyone?! I hate missing in action and wondering what everyone is up to. Hope you guys are having a productive week so far;)

Should be sleeping...

I've got a long drive coming up today. I should be sleeping in this morning. But nooooo. I'm wide awake. *sigh* I finished mapping out where I want to go with this first chapter. I just need to go in and do the dirty work. Layering in the dialogue and details. I know alot of us struggle with our beginnings. Hopefully mine will be original and the perfect hook. Yeah, ok. I WILL be optimistic. At least until it's time to send to my crit partners. LOL.

How do you write? Huh? Well...when you attack a blank page, do you outline your chapter? Do you start with dialogue first? Or do you write a clean first draft without having to do much layering? My approach varies. This chapter was a little harder for me for some reason. I had to outline what I had in my mind as to what I wanted to happen. I'll start out this morning with layering in dialogue, setting, action and emotion tags. I've had chapters that just flowed right and was a decent first draft. But this time it seems I had to do more on the plotting before it flowed. Are you pretty consistent?

OMG! I just thought of something...I'll be driving until about midnight tonight. Which means I'll miss the Grey's Anatomy season finale show tonight. I need to call and have someone at home set the DVR for me so I can watch it when we get up in the morning.

Ok. Off to do laundry and start packing. Hope you guys have a great day!

I told ya so!

We're leaving to take a trip home this weekend to Oklahoma. They've been having a cool spell making the start of summer a little easier to slide into. I was actually looking forward to going home to escape this muggy, oppressive heat in Louisiana. No such luck. Oklahoma is predicted to get into the high 80's this weekend. And this area of Louisiana is getting a cold front and rain. *sigh* Figures. I jinxed myself by whining about it. At least Mr. Chelle's job here is almost finished and we're moving on in a couple of weeks. My teen is almost out of school for the summer and I'll be having to find things to entertain the boys. I'm sure we can find some fun to get into in Tennessee;) Watch out...here we come!

Ok. Deep breath. Focus. No more whining because it's time to get back to work. I was working on my chapter yesterday and hero whispered in my ear again and distracted me. How could I not listen? He revealed something else that happened when he was a wild child and gives me more insight as to why he hates his father. So I just kept typing the entire time he spilled his guts. Today...I get to cut and paste his rambling into my rough synopsis file and try to figure out where I was at in the chapter.

Coffee made...first cup down...go!

Have a productive day guys;)

Hot and sultry...

Whoever it was that said summertime in the South was sexy and sultry needs to be shot. Seriously. It is hot as hades here. Good gracious people. 91 degrees with 94% humidity. I'm melting. Wilting...whatever. I may be a Southern girl, but enough is enough. I used to say I was born a 100 years too late and would have loved being a Southern Belle. Not. Can you imagine...summer in Louisiana or Alabama...yards and yards of cloth, petticoats, stockings. Forget the dainty umbrella and fan...get this spoiled brat an electric airconditioner. And I want my sweet tea with LOTS of ice. I'd definitely be one of those girls in the romance novel that is caught skinny dipping in the lake or river. Add my mouth and independent streak to the mix...and I'd be a spinster at 40 for sure.

It sounds like everyone's short term goals are doable. Keep at it!! Can you hear me cracking that whip? We're headed back home on Thursday so I'm pushing to do what I can by the time hubby gets off work Thursday afternoon. Next week when we come back to Louisiana, we're taking little man to see the alligators. I definitely need to make sure I'm getting up at 5am with Mr. Chelle so I can get my words down for the day.

Okay guys...back to work!! Have a good one;)

I'm baaaack...

...to torment and tease! I've truly missed you guys. I got my computer cord back on Thursday but spent that time catching up with little man's homework. I also had to finish up a beta read for a very talented YA author from my OKRWA chapter. *sigh* But I'm more than ready to get back into the swing of things.

My short term goal is to finish my rough synopsis for my new story. I've had some really cool chats lately with my heroine. Her character will hopefully inspire my hero to get his mojo back and get out of the pit he'd dug for himself. And I need to work on showing some love to a few of my crit partners.

Did everyone have a great weekend? My guys spoiled me rotten. The only decision I had to make this weekend was what I wanted to eat. I didn't have to lift a finger...no cooking or cleaning up...all weekend!! Woohoo!! We swam with little man yesterday and hubby grilled some of the best chicken he's ever made. He's pretty handy when it comes to cooking. Nothing exciting but plenty of down town...my favorite thing to do.

But it's time to crack the whip. Back to work;) Now that the work week has rolled back around...what are your short term goals?

Ack!!

I am officially stuck in no computer land. Little man destroyed my laptop charger and the battery died. Hubby's boss man asked me to help fix his email program and I thought I'd give it a try. I almost killed HIS poor computer. So we were almost stuck without any computers or internet access. I tried to download a new anti-virus program but the operating system was too old. I updated his version of XP and installed the new software and the computer crashed. And yeah...I panicked! But fortunately I was able restore his system...about the time he decided to buy a new computer. Hopefully I won't screw it up tomorrow when I install the software. *sigh* I also went online and bought a new charger for my laptop. Hopefully I'll be back online by Wednesday or Thursday. Try not to miss me too much. Haha. :)

So no new progress on the chapter. Nothing to report. I'm not one to write down thoughts and it almost seems as if I've shut my writer's brain off. I might need a bit of a kick start to get it going again. I hope everyone had a great weekend!