Betrayed

And by such a close friend, no less. It seems, that in these final two months of pregnancy, my one joy, my saving grace, my coffee, has turned it's back on me. Yes, that's right. For the first time in my life I find that I can no longer drink coffee.

I drank it through horrible, intense morning sickness. It was the first thing I ordered after delivering my babies. I drink it hot on chily fall days and iced on warm summer days. But now, it seems that even half a cup makes my heart race so horribly that even I must admit defeat. Must turn to another beverage.

And so, reluctantly, I lift a glass of tea in cheers on this bleak day....

Synopsis, anyone?

So, I've been reading through the archives of Janet Reid's blog (she has a Miss Snark-ish feel, for anyone else still in withdrawl, though it seems her beverage of choice is whiskey, not gin...) Anyway... she lists a few things that you, author and prospective client, should have at the ready when you are querying. One of these is a synopsis.

I've done lots of research on writing queries, but advice on synopses seems to elude me. Can anyone point me toward some great tips? It seems like synopsis length requirements vary widely by agent. And I'm still not sure if they just want a couple of pages saying: First this happens, then this, blah blah blah... or if it should be more of a table along the lines of:

Chapter One: two sentences summarizing chapter one
Chapter Two: ditto

I know some of you have written these!! Any words of wisdom?!

Thanks!

A new way to procrastinate

As if Library Thing and Frugal Reader weren't enough, I've know discovered Goodreads. You can list the books you've read, write reviews, connect with other readers and authors - so much fun when you've read all your e-mail, your bloglines, and you STILL need some way to put off rewriting that really tough sentence. ;)

Editing Update

I'm about 1/3 of the way through the edits now. I wanted to push hard last night, but the consensus among those who love me is that I need more sleep. Which doesn't speak well of my sunny attitude. ;)

So, hopefully I'll be working on my book during daylight hours in the days to come with a little help from my friends. I bet the book will even benefit from my increased wakefulness!

It's week 31 now of the pregnancy - 63 days to go. The kid's packing on the pounds. This is when I typically fall apart... so I'm basically right on schedule!

And Happy Halloween to you, too!

Well, it's over. The marathon Hallowe'en session is over.

I got the little red headed princess off to her Reformation Day celebration. The archery comepetion was a big hit - bobbing for apples not so much "I'd have to get my face wet! I mean there were towels, but c'mon." That's my girl. ;) Also, apparently the feast of chicken legs et al was not a complete success either. She's never had a drumstick because I can't stand them. And neither can she it seems - "Mom, did you know the meat is slithery?!" Ewwww.... fortunately they had lots of candy. ;)

The little monkey went with me to volunteer that morning, take the princess to tennis (and yes, inc ase you're wondering, you *can* play tennis dressed as a Renaissance princess) then we scarffed down some pizza and headed to the masquerade party at church.

This is where the little monkey and I were separated. Yes. I left her in the church nursery. She likes the nursery. She plays ring around the rosy and kitchen and trains and loves it. Except last night. She did not love it. When I picked her up, this is the conversation we had the ENTIRE ride home:

her - I played with kids!
me - you did?
her - then I called "mama?! mama?!" (this is done as a reanactment with her putting her little hands to her mouth and calling all around the car)
me - you called for me?
her - yes but mama all gone. I cry. Tears fall on my face. Tears fall off my face. I call "Mama?! Mama?!" But mama all gone.
me - I'm sorry honey.
her - I hold mama now. I hold mama's neck. Daddy!!! Stop the car!
me - Why is daddy stopping the car?
her - So I hold mama's neck!
me - Just wait, we'll be home soon.

This played on a constant loop for about 20 minutes, with a brief interlude where she reminisced about her other recent horror, getting carsick with Daddy and throwing up in the car.
her - I throw up!
me - yes, you threw up
her - I go like this "cough" "cough" "cough" (again with the reenactment)
me - I know, I'm so sorry.
her - I threw up on my car seat.
me - yes, it was terrible
her - I threw up on my WIGGLES SHIRT!
me - yes, I'm sorry, we're washing the shirt
her - mama all gone

and so we went back to the previous loop...

and I am very happy that today is the first of November. ;)

Go Go Go!

A big shout out to all the Nano-ers this month. I hope your first day is off to a great start!!!!

4 more chapters!

I got 4 more chapters typed in. It would have been more had I not become obsessed with fixing my blog layout. Ah well! I am now officially 1/4 of the way through typing in the edits.

It's midnight and I'm off to bed before all the craziness that is Hallowe'en/Reformation Day begins.

My little Renaissance princess needs gussying up in the morning. ;)

Also - what is your take on a female (let's say... me) writing a male POV character. I've been hashing out an idea for the next book, and I think the protagonist needs to be male - it's just more interesting to switch things around to his POV. Anyone have examples of that being done well or poorly in contemporary literature?

Crazy layout

I apologize for the crazy spacing - I'm trying to figure out how to make the posts not overlap each other. I finally got *that* to happen, but sadly now have these awful gaps. Stay tuned as I hone my css skills!

Also - made the switch to Arial. It's less atmospheric, but easier on the eyes, I think. ;) Let me know if you disagree or have any advice on what value to change to the the spacing on track. Muchas Gracias!

Robin

Editing update

OK, for some reason I can't figure out how to get the word count meter to display properly in my sidebar. I've done it successfully in other templates, but not this one.

So... you'll just have to put up with my boring text based updates. ;)

I got three more chapters typed in tonight. Did I mention this was going slooooowly. How is it that it took me less time to edit them than it does to type them? I'm thinking it has to do with having to actually get on the computer and thus wait till little monkeys are sleeping.

Alright - off to bed - I'm going to be miserably tired in the morning!

Tales from typing in edits...

Here's a tip.

If you do a find/replace and say, hypothetically, change every instance of "Vince" to "Vance" because you're a dork and couldn't keep the name straight the first time through... you'll end up coming across words such as "conVance" in your manuscript.