Friday, July 08, 2005

Blurbs, Pitches & Other Horrors

First off, let me say, 9:30 AM meetings should be abolished. I need at least three cups of coffee in me before I can coherently carry on a conversation of any level of intelligence, let alone stay awake in a boardroom. Although the fact that they keep the room at subzero temperatures helped a little. At least until the hypothermia set in. Thankfully it lasted only a half hour. The hypothermia may take a little longer to recover from.

I spent my writing time this morning working on my Story Evolution worksheet for D&B. It’s coming along great. I’m loving the First Draft in 30 Days. The story evolution worksheet makes it so easy to keep the conflict going and ensure there are no lulls in the story. Although this time, I’m going to try to write a book that stays within the 400 page range. I’m getting tired of writing beyond that and then realizing I have to cut 100 pages. Hopefully the scene capsule sheets which I’ll start working on this Sunday will help me keep this under control.

So far I seem to be on track with the outline and it looks pretty good that I’ll have it ready for Reno. Which then means I have to come up with a pitch for the editor/agent meetings. I hate this. I have a hard enough time condensing the story down into a 5 page synopsis. Trying to shrink it even further to a blurb is the equivalent of trying to get blood from a stone (reminds me of my bank account that way). Everything I write ends up sounding stupid, or worse, like something you’ve read a hundred times over. I never know which elements I should include and which I can leave out without taking away key story threads. I get an idea in my head and then go to write it down but halfway through it’s like the idea evaporates and I can’t remember what it was about it that was so great. I think the idea may leak out my ears. Perhaps I should try stuffing cotton in them or some drastic measure like that.

I have two weeks before Reno and I still have to do a final read through of The Outlaw Bride and cut 100 pages then send it off to HQN. I have to insert excerpts from my manuscripts onto my website. I have to finish my outline for D&B and have the premises for the remaining three books of the series ready in case they ask about them. I need to clone myself. Perhaps I should put that one at the top of my list.

I need a vacation.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you're going to be one busy lady! Good luck with all that. I still haven't found my copy of FDi30D, but I know it's around here somewhere. Lucky for me, I've got all the worksheets as templates in my computer. Might have to start completing those worksheets for Jackson's story.

Anonymous said...

Definitely sounds like a busy time! Good luck cutting. You could send some of those pages my way...

Anonymous said...

Reno is sneaking up, isn't it? Good luck getting everything done! I'm intrigued by the First Draft in 30 Days...yours is the second blog that's mentioned it today. Would you recommend it?

Kelly Boyce said...

Hi Amy - I would definitely recommend FD30. It's definitely helping me outline my new manuscript in record time, which is good with Reno fast approaching! It's easy to use and I like that you can pretty much tailor it to your own habits as well.