March 4

Love this date- It's so active. I was told that yesterday's date was a square root day- 03/03/09- and there won't be another until 04/04/16. Funny how people think of dates.

So far the great race to finish the book is on. My fingers grow numb. My bum is even numb-er. But the story is going. By the end of today I will have written 100 pages in 5 days. Only 100 pages to go after that...

Sure, it's daunting and a teeny tiny voice in my head screams nooo, you can't dooo it. But I sit down and write-one page at a time.

I do panic sometimes. Like last night as I was trying to sleep...I thought about that second proposal I sent out in January-for a single title Regency set historical... if I get a request for a full on that- I'll have 300 pages to write. Maybe when I'm done with this book, I should start in on that... I don't want to make a habit out of the 20 page a day rush... It really is a little too much.

February 3-Synopsis

Today is synopsis time, which if you have been following me the past year, you know I hate to write. Why do I hate to write it? 1) I'm verbose- I've noticed that I make a long story longer-even in friendly conversation. Because I think all the details are cool. Synopsis are the very opposite of that condensing 500 pages of story down to 5 or less. 2) I've been told in rejection letters that I've lost projects based on my synopsis. In other words, my past synopsises have not properly communicated the "fun" or "cool factor" of my work, which causes every synopsis to be suspect. 3)I've taken several synopsis classes, on-line workshops, etc. and according to my test readers, all it does is make it worse. 4)The synopsis is what sells the book to the publisher's marketing people and thus help the editor justify contracting said book. I find it difficult to prepare a proper pitch without knowing what the marketing people are looking for at that moment in time. Example: I might have a runaway bride- Marketing says "eh, nothing new." What is new about it is that she's stolen a space ship and heading for Pluto... Marketing says-"We don't do Pluto stories any more since it's no longer a planet." But there's camel with a hat-"Wait!" Marketing grins. "We can work with a camel with a hat." (Thanks to Joelle for allowing me to use her camel-whether she knows it or not. :)

Hmmm, see I am verbose. My point being that's a lot of pressure... Okay, all right. I'm off to work up a first draft. Cheers!