Thursday, April 06, 2006

Slooooow Going

I'm stuck on this one scene. I suppose I could just rough it out, leave it and come back to it later, but it's such a pivotal scene that I don't want to do that. I keep telling myself to just slow down and take it bit by bit, but I think part of me is in too much of a hurry that it keeps pushing me to speed it up. I'm determined to finish my first draft by the end of April but I still have about 100 pages to go (which naturally shoots me over my word count, but I'll fix that later).

Our chapter has started giving incentive prizes for goals. After each meeting we put our goals into a database and by the Friday before the next meeting we have to log in and say whether we finished the goal or not. If we do, our name goes into a hat and we draw for a prize. Being the competitive beast that I am, I can't not do everything in my power to complete the goal and give myself a chance at the gift certificate up for grabs.

Plus, I really want to start in on the revisions of The Outlaw Bride, so I can start querying agents. Then I have to finish up my second draft of D&B if I want to have it ready for the Golden Heart in November.

But despite my need for speed, this morning I did manage to slow it down and things seemed to go a lot smoother. I didn't make a lot of headway as far as page count, but I did add some layers to what I already had.

Oh, and the book I ordered--The English Country House, A Grand Tour--came in. It's in awesome condition and I can't wait to find time to just sit down and peruse it. The photos are awesome. I wish I could just crawl into them. Sigh...someday I'll get there to visit those houses in person...someday...

3 comments:

Tess said...

I hear you on those pivotal scenes - they can be killers. But you're taking the right approach, slow but steady!

And cool on your chapter's goal challenge :-) Sounds both fun and motivational.

Good luck!

Melissa Amateis said...

I definitely need to order that book - payday is tomorrow and I've got it in my cart at Amazon.com!!!

The only advice I have for your scene is to just blow through it now and get it done, then go back and rewrite. That way you have something to work with.

Rene said...

I feel your pain on the pivotal scene, been there more times than I care to think about.

I love the book, it is awesome. Perfect for those scenes.