Work In Progress Wednesday

Still working away. I have more critics coming in on Encoded Secrets and have had a blast getting back into The Black Orchid. I'm also working on some blog changes that should take place at the beginning of 2012. (Wow, that's weird to type). :)

Work In Progress Wednesday

I was able to attend the Northwest Writer's Retreat this past weekend and finished another revision on Encoded Secrets. I'm really excited about it and am waiting to hear back from some fellow writer's on whether or not I made it work. So in the meantime I'm working on some critics and picking up where I left off with The Black Orchid and Anya's Trek. Stay tuned for more! I'm also going to be adding a tab with descriptions of my works soon.  Happy Writing! :)

Work In Progress Wednesday

 So, I've been messing with my blog settings and now I think my settings are crazy. Oh well. Work on Encoded Secrets is going really well. I'm almost through and have cut close to 13,000 of the 15,000 words I need to get rid of. Kind of an interesting process. Hopefully we'll be up and querying with it soon!

Work In Progress Wednesday

It's amazing what happens when you cut scenes from your work. Blood, sweat, and tears go into it and then with the click of a button it's gone. It may be better for the story, but it doesn't make it any easier. :)

Work In Progress Wednesday

Okay people, what do you think? Be honest. Did I get your attention or just confuse you?

Chapter 1

A metallic thump, thump came from the front door. I shot it an evil look, licked the bitter tang of pickle juice off my fingers, and switched the phone to my other ear. “Yeah sure Jake. More later. Gotta run.”

“But—”

I hit the end button, cutting off Jake’s protest and set the phone in its cradle as I slide the pickle jar in the fridge. I’d never understand Dad’s logic of hanging onto a landline rather than graduating to a cell phone like the rest of the universe. Too easy to track your location, he’d say. “As if a landline can’t be traced,” I mumbled.

The thump, thump, thump sounded a bit louder the second time. “I’m coming. I’m coming,” I muttered and quickly reset the tripwire on the fridge door. “No wonder I never have anyone over,” I told it and shut the door. “No one would survive.”

Three steps later, I peered out the hidden peep hole Dad installed just to the left of the door frame. The porch light illuminated a uniformed officer rocking on his heels. I squinted but couldn’t make out a partner. That’s strange, I mused. They usually come in twos. Then again it’s happened before.

The virtually silent door swung open and the officer froze with his hand extended. I opened the security door and waited for him to speak. “Georgina Blackinsworth?”

“That’s me.” I folded my arms, waiting for whatever news he had to tell me. A list of previous incidents similar to this ran through my head. I half wondered what Dad had set in motion again, hoping it might be something other than the usual and perturbed he would actually make me go through it the night before my birthday.

He scratched his head and shifted his weight a few times. “Uh, we just got word that your father . . .” He glanced at the ground and back up again, like he was trying to remember. “Kent Blackinsworth has been killed in a car accident.”

My heart sunk. Come on Dad! I thought. How about something different for a change. I’ve heard this one a million times already. I focused past the officer, into the too warm, dark night. No police car. No partner. Not the standard procedure for informing someone a family member had just been killed. It had to be another drill. I shifted mental gears to play along and shrugged, leaning against the door frame.

The police officer cocked his head. Apparently he didn’t expect me to react that way. I briefly contemplated breaking down in tears and wailing hysterically, but Dad would kill me if I responded that way. That’s not according to protocol, he’d remind me, and then I’d have to do it over again tomorrow night. Not something I wanted to deal with.

The officer cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m sorry to say we haven’t found his body yet. The fire was pretty hot and all, but we did manage to salvage his wallet.”

Work In Progress Wednesday

So I'm a little late on this post. I'm still working one paragraph at a time and riding the up and down roller coaster of life. I wish there was more to say other than my latest focus has been to try to eliminate most of the 'ing' and 'ly' words. It really does make for a stronger sentence. And now the baby's biting my knee. Guess it's time to go. :)

Work In Progress Wednesday

You know, I'm learning to be happy with the time I'm getting to write. I'm also figuring out how to make it the most efficient writing. The book Writing Tools has really helped me do that. This week I've been focusing on 'ing.' The more of the 'ing' words I get rid of, the smoother and stronger the sentences are. The book explained the reasoning behind it is because and 'ing' ending adds an extra syllable to the word. It makes sense and I've had fun applying it. It's been fun to see that progress.

So Encoded Secrets is with readers now and I'm working on The Black Orchid one sentence at a time. Happy Writing!

Work In Progress Wednesday

I have to say, I'm really seeing the value in outlines. I'm also seeing the value of letting go of things I've become attached to in a story. If I had listened to some good advice awhile ago I would have been done with Encoded Secrets now, but I didn't. I couldn't see how it would work, but now I'm thinking I didn't want to see how it would work because I was too attached to what I had already written. It's been a good learning curve and hopefully I will continue to apply what I've learned. I'm still looking for a couple more volunteers for my alpha reading group for Encoded Secrets. Anyone interested?

Work In Progress Wednesday

So I think I'm finally back into the swing of things, hopefully. :) I'm figuring out how to get writing time in and making good progress on the revision for Encoded Secrets. In fact I'm to the point that I really should find an alpha reading group. Anyone interested?

I've also gotten some good plotting ideas going for The Black Orchid. Writing life is good.

Treasure Hunt/Work In Progress Wednesday

Well, I'm only getting about 10 to 30 minutes a day to work on my books. I guess that's better than nothing and I'm doing my best to keep a positive attitude about it. If anyone has any suggestions for how to make my little writing time more productive, I'd love to hear from you!

SUMMER TREASURE HUNT RULES:

You can send in one entry for each day’s prize, or only for those prizes that strike your fancy. The rules are simple:

(1) Go to the website or blog indicated for each day, find the answer to the question for that day, then email the answer with your name and AND MAILING ADDRES to jdipastena@yahoo.com. I promise you will not wind up on any mailing lists. This is only to facilitate the receipt of your prize. All entries will be deleted at the end of the contest.

(2) Please send a separate entry for each day and type the day you are entering in the subject line. (Such as: Summer Treasure Hunt, June 1; Summer Treasure Hunt, June 2, etc).

(3) Deadline for each day: Midnight PST

(4) The winner will be contacted and announced on the day following the deadline.

All winners will be draw by www.random.org.

You do not have to wait until the designated day to enter. You can start sending in your entries right now, or begin entering at any point along the way. And check back here each day between June 2^nd – July 1^st to read the names of the winners.

If you have any questions, please email Joyce DiPastena at jdipastena@yahoo.com.

And now…let the treasure hunt begin!

June 22

SPONSOR: Joyce DiPastena

PRIZE: Autographed copy of Loyalty’s Web (sweet medieval romance), by Joyce DiPastena

QUESTION: How do people win Joyce’s “Light Bulb Award”? (HINT: Answer is found in the right hand column of the blog)

WEBSITE/BLOG: http://jdp-news.blogspot.com

OPEN TO USA

WINNER:

ANSWER:

Treasure Hunt/Work In Progress Wednesday

Wow. I think I've written a total of a chapter in the last week. Somehow I need to get a grip on time and scheduling. Hopefully the summer will slow down enough for me to be able to do that. Ha, ha, ha. :) Happy Writing and Treasure Hunting!

SUMMER TREASURE HUNT RULES:

You can send in one entry for each day’s prize, or only for those prizes that strike your fancy. The rules are simple:

(1) Go to the website or blog indicated for each day, find the answer to the question for that day, then email the answer with your name and AND MAILING ADDRES to jdipastena@yahoo.com. I promise you will not wind up on any mailing lists. This is only to facilitate the receipt of your prize. All entries will be deleted at the end of the contest.

(2) Please send a separate entry for each day and type the day you are entering in the subject line. (Such as: Summer Treasure Hunt, June 1; Summer Treasure Hunt, June 2, etc).

(3) Deadline for each day: Midnight PST

(4) The winner will be contacted and announced on the day following the deadline.

All winners will be draw by www.random.org.

You do not have to wait until the designated day to enter. You can start sending in your entries right now, or begin entering at any point along the way. And check back here each day between June 2^nd – July 1^st to read the names of the winners.

If you have any questions, please email Joyce DiPastena at jdipastena@yahoo.com.

And now…let the treasure hunt begin!

June 8

SPONSOR: Cheri Schmidit

PRIZE: Autographed copy of Fateful (YA paranormal romance), by Cheri Schmidt

QUESTION: Who is the prince of darkness? (HINT: Click on “April” under Blog Archive in the left hand sidebar and read the April 12, 2011 post)

WEBSITE/BLOG: http://cherischmidt.blogspot.com/

OPEN TO USA ONLY

WINNER:

ANSWER:

Summer Treasure Hunt/Work In Progress/Mary Kay Sale

This is a triple post! First off, revisions for Encoded Secrets are going really well. I think I've come up with a better hook for my query letter. "When Georgie's dad disappears yet again, she

is determined to find him while treading through a deadly family legacy." What do you think? Anyway, I'm still plotting out The Black Orchid too. I'm hoping my little one will give me some longer naps soon so I can really get working on them.

Second, this month's Mary Kay Sale (I know, I haven't done them in awhile, but I'm asking for forgiveness *grin*) is anything to do with the sun. On my website there is a tab marked Body and Sun. Anything under Sun Protection is 20% off. Now, if you're a follower of this blog, you get 5% off your entire order. Order by the 5th of the month for an additional 10% off your sun protection items. Order by the 15th for 5% off. So you have to potential of 35% off the Sun Protection and a guaranteed 5% your entire order just for following my blog.

Now here's the summer treasure hunt info: Don't forget, each participate would love you to follow their blog. :) Have fun and happy digging.

SUMMER TREASURE HUNT RULES:

You can send in one entry for each day’s prize, or only for those prizes that strike your fancy. The rules are simple:

(1) Go to the website or blog indicated for each day, find the answer to the question for that day, then email the answer with your name and AND MAILING ADDRES to jdipastena@yahoo.com. I promise you will not wind up on any mailing lists. This is only to facilitate the receipt of your prize. All entries will be deleted at the end of the contest.

(2) Please send a separate entry for each day and type the day you are entering in the subject line. (Such as: Summer Treasure Hunt, June 1; Summer Treasure Hunt, June 2, etc).

(3) Deadline for each day: Midnight PST

(4) The winner will be contacted and announced on the day following the deadline.

All winners will be draw by www.random.org.

You do not have to wait until the designated day to enter. You can start sending in your entries right now, or begin entering at any point along the way. And check back here each day between June 2^nd – July 1^st to read the names of the winners.

If you have any questions, please email Joyce DiPastena at jdipastena@yahoo.com.

And now…let the treasure hunt begin!

June 1

SPONSOR: Canda Mortensen

PRIZE: A $25 Amazon gift certificate

QUESTION: What is the title and artist of the Princess song on Newbie's playlist? (HINT: Scroll to the bottom of the blog and read “Newbie Teaser”. Match the number of “Princess” with the same number on the Playlist box (you may have to scroll down the playlist to find this, too). It will give you the title and artist.)

WEBSITE/BLOG: http:candamortensen.blogspot.com

OPEN TO USA ENTRIES

WINNER:Melissa Brockett of Utah

ANSWER: "With You" by Chris Brown

Work In Progress Wednesday

I'm posting this a bit later in the day that I would have liked, but I'm almost positive the baby's cutting teeth since he's been really abnormally fussy the last few days. Anyway, work on The Black Orchid has slowed, but I'm still plotting in my head. Instead I've focused on Encoded Secrets more and here's what I've learned. I just cut 10,000 words from it and I don't think I'll miss them. I took a class at the LDStorymakers about not being married to your words and scenes. Sometimes they have to go and I now have to agree. I just find it interesting that it's taken me this long to figure out that some of those scenes, although they were fun, weren't necessary. Gotta love the learning curve!

Work In Progress Wednesday

I've decided to back off on the queries for Encoded Secrets for now. There are some things I can do to make it better, so that's what I'm going to do. Still having fun with The Black Orchid. It's amazing how the process goes. This week is a matter of balancing time. I wish I had a writing tip, but seeing as writing isn't happening like I want it to, I'll have to come up with one next week. Happy writing!

Work In Progress Wednesday

I have to apologize for the lack of a post last week. Wednesday came and went before I realized it. But I have a good excuse. I was at the LDStormakers Conference. Wow. It was fantastic. I learned so much and have a new found motivation to continue getting better. Also, I think I may tweak this post to a Work In Progress Writing Tip since the submitting process takes time and there's not always something to report. This way I'll share what I've learned in the last week or what has and hasn't worked in the past week. What do you think?

Anyway, I got lots of good feedback on both The Black Orchid and Encoded Secrets. Can't wait to get started!

Happy Writing!

Work In Progress Wednesday

I had a concert last night and forgot to post. Sorry! The packet I sent off to the agent . . . I got a reply. She's not offering representation *pause* gotta save the baby from rolling into the bird dropping paper *unpause* but gave me some feedback as to why. So the question of the day is What makes it so you connect with the voice of a character? Discuss. Have a good one!

Work In Progress Wednesday

So I just realized it's Wednesday and this post is late. Oh well. Life goes on. I got of my submission packet for Encoded Secrets this week. Now we wait and hope for good news. I've taken a different approach to The Black Orchid and reworked the beginning. I like it. How do you feel about a story told from two different people's views with the chapter indicating who's speaking?

Work In Progress Wednesday

This is going to be short again, but I do have some exciting news. Along with some more rejections, I had one agent ask for the full manuscript for Encoded Secrets. So I'm busy putting that submission packet together and still sending out a few queries here and there. Needless to say, work on Black Orchid is not happening as fast as I'd like it to, but we'll get there!

Work In Progress Wednesday

Still working away. I got another rejection and will be sending out more queries this week for Encoded Secrets. I'm up to chapter 5 in The Black Orchid. Nobody said anything about the name so I'm assuming people like it! :)

Work In Progress Wednesday

So I'm still querying and researching and everything else with Encoded Secrets. I'm also making good progress on the first draft on my new book. I think I might title it Black Orchid. What do you think?