I am beginning to think the universe has a strange way about it that I will never understand. Sometimes you think you can grasp the way of things, but then something comes up and makes you do a double-take and you wonder if you ever really knew anything at all, or if it was all just trickery--smoke, lights and mirrors. But you don’t really mind so much, because in the end the way it works out is the way it should be. And that the universe knew this in advance, in its own strange and funny way, is of some comfort. Since it seems like someone should know what they are doing, and that someone apparently isn’t me.
But meanwhile, back in the strange little world I live, I have taken in a second viewing of 3:10 to Yuma and determined it was even better the second time around. Which leads one to think that perhaps the third viewing will be even more spectacular. And since I like to test theories, there is only one way to find out. I see another trip to the theatre in my near future.
Revisions: They are coming along much better than I anticipated. I am relatively on target with my word count, timing of when I want this finished, and the scenes seem to be gelling together and no tufts of hair being ripped out in the process.
Eyeball Surgery: Preliminary consultation is booked for October 2nd. Can’t wait. A lot of people are nervous about surgery to the eyeballs, and with good reason. It isn’t like you have an extra set of corneas kicking around. But I know a whole ream of people who have had the surgery including my boss, my mother, close friends, etc and all have told me it is the best thing they have ever done. And given that I like to stay active and play sports and my contacts are not behaving as they should be, this is the best option for me. And oddly, as a kid when I first started wearing glasses, I always had the sense that one day I would see just fine without them again.
New Additions: My brother has informed me that he and his wife will be adding number three to the brood in early March. That brings the total of nieces and nephews to five. And all five and under. We’re overrun with munchkins in Boyceland. It's just a matter of time before they take over.
Weight Loss: Still plugging away. I'm losing about 1 lb a week and for a total of 7 lbs so far. Just 7 left to go before I hit the goal weight. It's getting darker in the evenings which means my outside walks will have to be curtailed soon, so I picked up some yoga DVDs to help get me through the winter.
Looking forward to: In My Wildest Fantasies – Book I in Julianne MacLean’s new Pembroke Palace series. Look for it in bookstores this November. This series is going to be awesome!
The outline scene sheets are done. Tomorrow I am going to slap the post its on the storyboard, give it a quick review and by Tuesday I'll be buckling down and starting the revisions. I can't wait to get this book done and out. I feel like I've been working on it too long and it's time to get it in the can.
In other good news, I found out the other day that Brimstone finaled in the historical category of the Toronto RWA Original Golden Opportunity Contest, so that was a nice piece of news to pick up when you're in the middle of revisions. The submission now goes to Leis Pederson at Berkley for final ranking and I'll hear in mid-October where I placed.
Our chapter meetings start up again next weekend (coinciding nicely with softball playoffs so Sunday should prove a rushed day to get from ball field to meeting on time). I'm looking forward to getting back into the regular groove of meetings and finishing up my last 4 months as El Presidente. After four years on the executive I'm ready to kick back and let someone else handle the job next year!
The weight watchers is going great. I've lost 6 lbs so far, just 8 lbs to go. This points thing is so easy it should be illegal.
And just 5 days until 3:10 to Yuma!! It's getting great reviews (quelle suprise) and I can't wait to see it. But for today, I am off to the Atlantic Fringe Festival to check out a thing with a medium. Should be interesting.
I’m not sure which I dislike more – doing the dreaded synopsis, or trying to nail down internal and external conflict so it makes sense and carries through the entire story. As of yesterday, I was leaning heavily towards the conflict.
As homework for Day 2 of Shelley Bradley’s Storyboarding class, we had to fill out our Conflict Grid. Great, I thought! Something to make the process easier. Um, yeah. Three hours and several clumps of hair later I was on the verge of tossing my entire book into the nearest bonfire. Luckily, I didn’t strike a match, blow torch or anything similar with flames shooting out of its end. I kept reminding myself that getting this nailed down would prevent much revision later, and if I was having trouble filling it out, maybe that was a good indication I needed to seriously look at my original conflicts.
So I continued to hammer away. And hammer. At some point the only hammering was my head on the surface of the table, but hey, I was still hammering. I finally finished last night but wasn’t entirely happy. I had changed my heroine’s personality and it just didn’t fit. She was too cynical. So was my hero. It didn’t work. My heroine was supposed to be open minded and accepting in the face of my hero’s cynicism. So I went back in and fixed a few things this morning and now I feel better.
The exercise was hard. Brain-twisting, headache inducing hard. But it was worth it. And I can definitely see how this will help down the road. Better to fight with it in the beginning than get two drafts down and realize – oh-oh, Houston, we have a problem. Which is sort of the situation I am in now.
Needless to say, I am really enjoying this course. I think the whole process will definitely help me work out the majority of my plot problems and conflict issues before I start writing. Oh happy day. Because if I can do that, I can write more. Fewer drafts, less time, more output. Yippee!!
And speaking of yippee! There is a very, very good chance that I will be bringing home a new beagle pup at the end of September. I’ll keep you posted as the situation develops and pictures are available. Actually, I have pictures now, but I’m not sure which one will end up being the one I take home, so we’ll wait and see. Don’t want to jinx things! Although I have started stocking up on supplies when I see them on sale. I now have toys (the all important Kong), leash, collar and neutralizing spray for accidents. Next up - crate and baby gates.
And the weight watchers thing is still proving easy to use. Two days and two pounds down. Granted it won’t continue to be this easy, but since I just need to drop 13 lbs to get to my goal weight, two pounds is enough to induce a happy dance. Which, if I can keep up for an hour, will get me three more points...
I spend more time revising than I do actually writing. Each time I start a new manuscript, I think - This time will be different. This time I’ll get it down in two drafts. But invariably by the time I finish the second draft, I realize major revisions are needed. And why? Up until now, I wasn’t quite sure, but I think I’ve figured it out.
I don’t take enough time to plot out my GMCs for each character.
Oh, I tell myself I do. I slap stuff down on paper and say, ‘there, see – GMCs are done’. But I never really, truly think them out. I'm way too anxious to start writing, so I make a good play at it. I skim over the surface and think – yup, sounds good. But I don’t look at the big picture in detail. And inevitably the GMCs I had worked up are never strong enough to support the whole story. And by the end of draft two this becomes glaringly obvious and I can no longer deny it.
At which time I end up back at the drawing board with a great story that’s missing a key ingredient. Like making cookies and forgetting the chocolate chips. Sure, it tastes good, but wouldn’t you rather have the chocolately goodness? Of course you would.
Luckily, I figured out what was missing for Brimstone. And of course, it changes things drastically. Well, okay, not drastically, perhaps that’s a bit too melodramatic. But it changes things significantly. My characters’ thinking changes, why they are doing things changes. Why they are avoiding other things changes. What I thought was a major plot point isn’t. And what I thought would be a minor plot point should have been front and centre starring in the show.
Thankfully, everything is fixable. And most of my scenes still work with minor tweaking. A line taken out, a new one inserted. Things like that. A few scenes will be removed altogether (I must kill my little darlings...) and new ones inserted in their place. It will be a process, but one I’m familiar with. After all, Outlaw Bride took six drafts to get right.
And one thing that will make this easier? This week I am taking part in an on-line course given by Shelley Bradley (aka Shayla Black) on Storyboarding. So far, I like what I see. Anything that helps me cut down on the amount of drafts I have to do, I am all for. The course runs from Mon-Fri and couldn’t have come at a better time! I’m feeling much better about my 3rd draft and the manuscript in general.
And speaking of feeling better, I borrowed a friend's books from Weight Watchers and decided to try and follow the Points thing to see if I could rectify the whole weight thing before it got out of hand. So far so good. This program is freakishly easy to follow. I went out and bought groceries and loaded up on foods that had 0 or 1 point so I could eat lots without going over my alotted points. Which was great, because I felt satisfied, not starving like I worried I would. At first I freaked out when I did the whole points calculation. I'm only allowed 18 pts on a non-workout day and 21 pts if I workout. But by eating low point foods, I'm fine. Who knew...
By the end of the day yesterday I had enough points left over to enjoy a tea and treat at Starbucks. Hey - any program that allows me to eat chocolate has my vote.
I've been making progress with my writing this week. I've reached the big love scene, which was part of the plotting issue I was having. There were two places I could have had it happen, and trying to figure out which worked best proved a bit of a headache, but I think I've got it in the right place now. However, since I was experiencing a bit of a roadblock with my writing, I did what I normally do in cases like that. I moved upstairs to the couch with my Alphie and my notebook. The first part of the scene I wrote on the Alphie. When I started to blank out though, I switched to the notebook and that's what I've been working on for the past two days. My work is slower, but it makes me think more about what I'm putting down which in this case works better. I feel like I've stopped running in sand though and am back on solid ground.
I am also in the last day of the pedometer challenge - whew! It was beginning to feel like this day would never get here. I'll be happy to return to my regular 5.5K walk in the evenings instead of walking every spare minute I was upright. Oddly enough, I haven't lost a bloody pound, but my legs feel as solid as tree trunks and I swear to God you could bounce a quarter off my ass. So I tell myself I'm merely exchanging muscle for fat.
Unfortunately, after all that hard work, I don't think I'm going to win the challenge. Each of our offices across the country sent in their office averages and top three highest steppers. My office was in the lead, and the top spot for individuals was a close race between me and another lady in Ontario. Unfortunately two days ago I learned a guy in our Mississauga office apparently had an average of 30,000 steps a day. I went back to the sheets that were sent out. How had I missed that? Turns out I missed it because the Mississauga office never reported their totals either time the sheet went out. And now, with only 4 days left, there was no way I could catch up to overtake 30,000 steps. Which was disappointing. It would have been nice to have had that information back on the 13th when the first totals went out so I at least knew what I was up against. Some suggested that now I could at least kick back and relax. If I couldn't catch up with him why kill myself trying. Oddly the thought never even entered my mind. I figured, if I was going down, then I was going down swinging, and I upped my daily totals from 23,000 steps on average to 28,000 steps. I may not catch up to him, in fact I know I won't if his total really is 30,000 steps, but damned if I'm just going to roll over and die without at least trying.
In other news, I finished Susan Elizabeth Phillips book, Match Me If You Can last night. As some of you might recall I had tried to read it before after finishing Ain't She Sweet and loving it. But I couldn't get into Match Me. So I tried the book on CD, thinking maybe that would help, but, well turns out books on CD aren't my thing. Then I read Natural Born Charmer. And I loved it. So, I decided to try Match Me again. And I'm glad I did. It was great. So great that I don't even know why I couldn't get into it in the first place. Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind. Have you ever had that happen? Pick up a book and not be able to get into it, and then go back and read it later and have it be the best book you've ever read?
And so that is what I've been up to this week. Walking, reading and writing. Although I just picked up the first season of the HBO series Carnivale on DVD from the library, and now that I'll have my evenings back, I'm going to kick my feet up and watch the circus freaks. After reading Water for Elephants (awesome book!) I'm obsessed with the Big Top.
I've been a bad blogger. I spent most of the week on the coach writing on my Alphie. Not actually writing per say, more like transferring every last note or scribbled scene idea I had on Brimstone from my notebook onto the alphie. It looked like I was diligently at work. In truth, I think I was procrastinating. No, I know I was procrastinating.
I wasn't sure quite how to rebuild the scenes I had lost to the Great Computer Crash of May 2006. And I knew things had changed so much of what I had written needed to be redone. But I froze. The book was working so well up until now, what if I mucked it all up in the third act?? Ruined everything I had accomplished so far? I'm not ready to jump in and write new scenes! AHHHH!!!
So after my little mini-meltdown, I told myself to start off slow. Sit down and just hash out one scene. Which I did. Then decided it was pure crap. I read it over today for the first time and was pleased to discover the scene worked perfectly fine and needed only a little wordsmithing, but at the time it felt like crap. So I grabbed my notebook to see what scenes I had lost that might be saved longhand. The love scene. Great. Whew. I typed it up. Then I typed up every other scene I had written longhand but not yet used. I had no idea exactly where these scenes would fit in. They were random, ideas that popped into my head at odd times that I just threw down on paper. I have a file folder full of them. I pulled out the ones that I thought I could use and into the Alphie they went.
Then I spent another morning finishing my critique partner's manuscript and making notes on that.
Then I ran out of things to do.
Today, I had to face the computer. I had to open the notes I and start constructing and reconstructing. The more I read of the notes, the more Act III began to evolve in my head. I stuck scenes in, made indications what scenes I needed but didn't have yet, began to feel a little better.
I have a four day weekend coming up starting this Friday. My goal is to do 7-10 pages a day. I have someone I met randomly who is giving me free of charge a knitting machine and a bunch of yarn on Friday, the running clinic Saturday, and then a 5K race on Sunday. So maybe 10 pages a day might be a bit much to expect, but I'm going to expect it anyway.
Meanwhile, the great Pedometer Challenge continues. As of yesterday I was over 33,000 steps ahead of my nearest competitor. Last night, I dragged the treadmill from my writing room to in front of the TV. The competition is goin' down...
I have reached the end of my pages for Brimstone. The ones that were typed up and saved on my hard drive before the Great Computer Crash of May 2006. The rest of my first draft pages were lost in cyberspace. Or rather destroyed in the hard drive reformat, gone forever. I have my notes, of course, and I have about 30 pages of the lost pages printed off, unfortunately these pages were reworked significantly and the rework was—you guessed it—sucked into the dark side where all lost pages go to die.
So now the hard work begins. The reconstruction. I’ve plotted it out. Realized I have about 120 pages left to keep my manuscript at the 400 page mark and lots of things left to accomplish. This should be a challenge.
And speaking of challenges, the Pedometer Challenge at work is going great. Well, actually great may be overstating it because a lot of the pedometers kept resetting themselves which meant people were losing their step count. We seem to have overcome this problem for the most part. I have people checking in throughout the day to log in their count instead of just doing it once a day. And some of us have splurged and bought our own pedometers where the reset button is protected and not jutting out where you can easily hit it by accident and reset things.
I haven’t reset mine by accident yet, but I went ahead and bought a protected one anyway just to be on the safe side. And within our office, I am as of Day 2 in first place. Me and another guy (We’ll call in TreadMan) in our office are going head to head and so far I keep eeking out about 1,000 more steps than him. I have a system down – walk dog in morning, walk around the office as much as possible, walk on lunch hour, then do my 7 or 10 K walk when I get home. Plus I keep the pedometer on in the evenings at home when I’m generally racing around doing housework, etc. To date I've logged in over 42,000 steps in two days.
My boss is training for a marathon he runs mid-month, but his counter kept resetting itself so we don’t have an accurate count of what he did. He’s buying a protected pedometer today at lunch so by tomorrow I should have a good idea of what I have to do to keep up with him. Grow another set of legs perhaps... But it isn’t all bad, because we are doing a department challenge and my boss is on my team and TreadMan is on the other team. My goal for the challenge is to finish Top 10 country-wide and to beat TreadMan.
This weekend is our Writers’ Retreat down at White Point Beach. We leave Friday and finish up on Sunday. We have a great agenda planned and I can’t wait!
Yesterday was the second week of the running clinic. This week, I couldn't hold back. I told myself to go at a slow pace, stick in the middle of the crowd, but my competitive spirit came roaring to the forefront and all I could think about was seeing if I could do better than last week, if I could keep up with the head of the pack and not pass out.
Thankfully there was no passing out. In fact, I was barely winded by the end of it. There were about six of us in the front of the pack, but one by one the others dropped away until there was just me and this other guy. I knew I could have passed him, except for one slight problem...I have no sense of direction. If I had been out front, I probably would have led the team down to the waterfront and then all over Hell's half acre before we found our way back to the store. So I played it safe and stayed a couple of steps behind him. He did glance back at one point and give me a strange look. His girlfriend was a little further behind me, third in line. I think he thought it was her breathing down his neck.I bought my new running shoes yesterday too. What a difference a good pair of shoes make. They were more than what I usually spend, but then again, I'm not usually running and I'm not willing to wreck my knees for the sake of a cheap pair of shoes.
All in all, I'm loving the running. It's so exhilarating and I feel really pumped, like I accomplished something and had fun doing it. This is a far better workout for me then just walking on a treadmill. I like the idea of doing something where I can push myself to go further and do better. Makes it more of a challenge.
Today, my friend Christine came by while her daughter was in gymnastics and we went for a run. It was sunny and warm, a nice change from the crappy weather of late. Coach Christine had us running 3 minutes, walking 2 for the 5.5 K loop. All totaled, we ran 3.77 K of the route. I didn't start feeling it until the last bit, but not enough that I had to stop.
Soon, I'll be doing a 5K without breaks and hopefully taking part in the Johnny Miles Race in June.
I woke up today in an awesome mood. The inflammation that has been flaring in my pooch appears to have finally been banished. And after about $700 in drugs and diagnostics what did the job? A $10 bottle of prednisone. Go figure. And to top that off, the snow is all but gone save for a few scattered embankments on the side of the road. The past three days have been sunny and relatively warm. I've managed to get out for a run and a walk and today another run is scheduled. My friend, Christine, is training for a half marathon--the little keener--and she has offered to take me out running on Sunday. Should be fun. My own personal trainer.
The writing is going great. I'm finding lots of places where I can cut and blend and so far, knock on wood, I am on track with my word count. This in itself is a major accomplishment that has never been seen before. Breaking the story down into three acts and assigning page counts to each is making this process much easier. And I've noticed something as I'm doing this. Each book I approach in a different way. With every new manuscript I seem to try a new 'system'. There is the one staple that never changes - outline first. But then I veer off and each book seems to end up with is own way of evolving. One I did the hero's journey. Another I did the First Draft in 30 Days method. Another I did GMC and scene caps. Now with Brimstone it's the Three Acts but this was first fleshed out with extensive backstories, GMCs, and timelines. And so far, this book seems to flowing the easiest. Although I think that might also be due to the fact that I feel such a passion for this series that even the hard days don't feel like a huge struggle.
Does anyone else do that? Create a different system of writing the book with each new manuscript? Or do you each have the same system you follow each time?
By the way, on a totally unrelated topic, I have found a new place which I think is similar to myspace, but I'm not entirely sure having never been on my space, but it's called Facebook. Check it out. I think you can just type in my name to get my profile to pop up or you might have to set up a log in first. Not sure.
The deed is done. I, along with my co-worker and cohort, Jane, have registered for the Running Room’s Learn to Run Clinic. It runs (haha, no pun intended) from April 7th to June 20th, finishing just in time for the Johnny Miles Marathon, which coincidently takes place in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia -- my hometown.
The Bluenose Race takes place on May 20th here in Halifax and I am going to sign up to run the 5K in it. If I do a little pre-training before the clinic starts I should be ready to run a 5K by May 20th. My hope is to run the 10K for the Johnny Miles and then, on the prompting of my friend Christine, maybe attempt a half-marathon by October.
Apparently I have completely lost my mind.
Funny. I don’t miss it at all.
Crazy as it sounds, the idea of physically pushing myself beyond where I’ve been (not to mention competing) gets my blood pumping big time. Running is one of my favorite things, even though most of the running I’ve done up to this point has been sprinting and not distance. But distance is something I’ve always longed to do. I kept telling myself someday. Then I hit 40 and realized, hey, time’s a-wasting! And to be honest, somehow the idea of doing this after I hit the 40 year mark feels like even more of an achievement than if I had done it 10 or more years ago.
A little while ago I picked up a work-out DVD called Budokon: The Beginning Practice (or Booty-Kon as I like to call it). I was suffering Tae Kwon Do withdrawal and wanted a work out where I could kick and punch things to keep my form up until I could get back to my regularly schedule belt collection. It was a good workout, a mix of yoga and martial arts kicks and punches. Then I decided to amp it up and got the next DVD, Budokon for Weight Management. I watched it, but never actually did it. The weather turned warm and I spent my workout time walking the 5K loop every day. The DVD sat on my shelf.
Then today I took it out and decided to start mixing it into my workout. I want to start back to TKD in October to get my blue belt, and I'd prefer not to spar with the black belts without getting back into fighting shape to some degree. Walking 5K is one thing. Dodging back fists to the head while trying to get in a spinning side kick is a whole other skill set.
Anyway, I pull out the DVD and give it a go. The yoga proved more challenging than I anticipated. I could feel my muscles stretching, cursing me for letting my flexibility lapse. After twenty minutes of that I felt energized if a bit wobbly knee-ed. Then onto the martial arts kicks and punches. No prob, I think. I used to do this in my sleep. I used to be able to out-kick black belts (okay not all of them, but some -- I'm a fast little bugger when I need to be).
Yeah. Uh, not so much any more. My reflexes have slowed. Understandable given I've been sidelined for two years, but still. You forget that when you go to do it. Twenty minutes later I was thinking a white belt could have wiped the floor with me. Well, maybe not a white belt. But definitely a yellow belt.
Still, I have to say I loved it. I really, really miss my Tae Kwon Do. My work used to pay for a gym membership and I used mine to get a year's worth of TKD, but when they stopped that benefit (argh!) I just couldn't swing it financially. Also I found because it takes 2-3 classes a week to stay in good fighting form, it took up a fair bit of time, and in the summer I didn't feel like going as much. But I'm anxious to get back. My plan is to hopefully rejoin come October for six months. That should give me time to get my blue tip and then blue belt, if all goes well. I was ready to get my blue tip when my last membership ran out. So I just need to get up to speed and remember the pattern sequences and then hopefully I'll be ready to test.
If I start in October and go six months, that will take me up to March, at which point I might take another running clinic (maybe the 10K run clinic), which then takes me into softball and race season from May to September. A good mix to keep me from getting bored.
I know some people hate to work out, but I think if I had the time, I'd play sports every day of the week. It's way more fun than working. Maybe I should have been a personal trainer...
I am beginning to think the universe has a strange way about it that I will never understand. Sometimes you think you can grasp the way of things, but then something comes up and makes you do a double-take and you wonder if you ever really knew anything at all, or if it was all just trickery--smoke, lights and mirrors. But you don’t really mind so much, because in the end the way it works out is the way it should be. And that the universe knew this in advance, in its own strange and funny way, is of some comfort. Since it seems like someone should know what they are doing, and that someone apparently isn’t me.
