Keep the ball rolling...

So I saw a tweet that the editor who picked me was reading synopses today and I realized I forgot to mention... I got my synopsis sent in with a few hours to spare!!

I started out with 3 pages thinking how in the world am I going to make this a little longer and make sense and ended with 6 pages and needing to cut it down a little.  I hope it made sense.  I liked the hook I came up with for the opening paragraph. 

The murder of her father had sent Thea James on a journey of running and hiding.  The years away have made her strong and taught her the importance of faith, love and most of all family.  Now it’s time to go back to where it all began and bring the truth to light.  It’s time to go home.  The only catch is getting there alive.

Now I sit and wait to find out what the editor thought of it.  I'm a little worried about the premise of the story.  I have a man and a woman on the run together.  (The editor I'm working with likes hero and heroine on the run plots)  I even threw in a blizzard.  (She is fond of  storms and natural disasters too.)  All those things are good, but the story still has to make sense.  I had to have shown in my synopsis that the hero and heroine have conflict and a good reason to not just fall madly in love on the first or second page. 

I'm not sure if I did that.  Plus, I'm not sure about the whole princess plot line.  I about second guessed myself out of that one, then in the end decided to go with it after all.  It's what was calling to me I guess. 

Now I'm on a journey of trying to write the rest of the story.  I tried to make up a little outline of the story today and realized I really only had enough for about ten chapters.  I really need to have about fifteen.  I guess I'm going to have to get wordy. 

This is also my first attempt at writing suspense.  I have to say my hat is off to every romantic suspense author out there.  Keeping a balance of suspense and romance is very tricky.  When I first started writing the synopsis I was so totally focused on the suspense part of the story, I nearly forgot there had to be another part of the story that wasn't totally dependant on the suspense.

The heart of the story after all is a romance.  Romance... A man and woman who are fighting their conflicts to get together and live happily ever after in the end.  Put them in a ton of danger and have someone who is determined to kill them or do them serious bodily harm and you have an exciting story.  Not that I'm saying the suspense can just be tossed into the romance and have it work.  They all have to twist and turn together - like one big jigsaw that makes a beautiful picture in the end.

So... easier said than done?  I'm working on it.  We'll see what happens I guess.

First thing I have to do is get my first three chapters whipped into shape.  My hero and heroine have met.  They don't particularly like each other much yet, but need each other for the big story goal.  The heroine is about to have her life threatened the first time... but pancakes first I think.  Or maybe a hamburger and fries... She's hungry and is about to tell the hero why she hasn't eaten in a few days...

Now back to work.  I've got a life to threaten after all. 

Trust Yourself!!

After a long drive yesterday, and a lot of prayer, begging and pleading for a clear focus on which direction to go with this story - I've started to realize I really just need to trust myself and go with it.

Deep down I knew that anyone I could think up to ask for advice on my writing would tell me that very thing.  I just wasn't ready to believe it yet.  I'm not sure I'm ready to believe it now, but I am ready to write and the rest of it is going to work out.

I've spent so much of my writing life so far asking everyone else what they think of my story ideas, seeking approval or affirmation that what I'm doing makes sense or is something that someone besides me likes.  I think a lot of writers are that way, we want people to like what we do after all.  People won't buy the books if they don't.  But, if we are constantly trying to do what everyone else wants, somewhere along the way we lose our original spark of an idea that made the story ours.

That's my bit of depth for today. :) 

I have today to finish my synopsis and a lot of pages to catch up on with my writing.  Thankfully I have a lot of ideas in my head for scenes and a lot of notes jotted down in notebooks.  If I can just keep focused now, it will be all about finding the time to write and then the editing of the jumbled words after.  

Daytime burn

At least I have finally given myself permission to write pages of crap.  If you could see the way some of my writing starts out you would probably be shocked.  It's especially funny when I don't even know the characters names and I write scenes that say -  The heroine walks over there.  The hero does this.  The bad guy does that.  I have a lot of that written that I'll have to go back and fill in with prettier sounding stuff.  

That night

My drive yesterday did give me an idea for a future story.  People were burning fields all over yesterday and the sky was filled with smoke.  With writing suspense stories right now, my first thought was... what if they found a dead body after all the burning was done...? 

On the way home at night it was beautiful the way the night sky was lit up in reds and pinks.  You could see the sky glowing for miles and miles.  I took a few pictures but my photography skills don't really show how pretty it was.  

So today it's back to work.  I am going to get this synopsis done... a few run throughs this morning just to get all the facts in there and then polish it up this afternoon and make it sparkly.  

What is everyone else up to today?  Whatever it is - have an awesome day out there!  

Struggling...

I'm struggling with my writing.  This last week has been crazy in my head.  Trying to wrap my mind around the current story I'm working on is driving me nuts.  I have all these ideas in my head for scenes, but until I make up my mind for sure which direction I want to go, it's impossible to really make progress writing. 

I haven't shared yet, but last week I found out my first page was chosen to move on to the next round in the Killer Voices competition through Love Inspired Suspense at Harlequin.  My dream publisher.  The only dream I have ever had for my writing. 

Ever since I wrote my first word my dream has been to sell a book to Harlequin.  A few times I have been 'this' close, but I've always let life and my fear get in the way.  Every time I start to write again I tell myself I'm not going to let anything stop me this time.  Yet here I am struggling so much with this story.  Not because I don't have the ideas, but because I keep second guessing myself.  It has to be PERFECT.  If it's not perfect no one will ever buy it... no one will ever like it... or you.  That is my brain on writing. 


Basically, I have two ideas.  The idea I started with and another idea that I keep wondering if the editor would like better.  My first idea is about made up royalty.  I know the line does some royalty stories, so it could work, right?  That's the thought that keeps going through my head.  It could work... but what if they'd like something a little different.  Instead of a princess on the run, how about just a regular person.  A regular woman on the run might be a little easier to 'sell'... maybe a princess is not what they'd be looking for.  Maybe, maybe, maybe...

It all boils down to my brain trying to come up with the perfect idea that has the best chance of actually being loved by the editor.  Part of me already knows I just need to write the story that is in my head and trust that it will all work.  Easier said than done.  I want this so bad.  I want my dream. 

So... I have until Monday to write my synopsis for the next round.  I have a very rough draft of it, but some major struggle going on to finish it when I haven't convinced myself which story idea I'm going with... and which hero to put in that story. 

At least I've finally named the poor guy.  I think...

Wishing the best of luck to all the other writers who are also moving on to the next stage.  Good luck with all those synopses!  ( I looked up the plural. :) so hope that's right.)

Back to struggling...