Monday, May 26, 2008

Cinderwriter Moons Van Full of Chaperones!

Yes, you read the title correctly!  After chaperoning my daughter's second grade field trip to Chinatown, a mini-van full of moms dropped me off at the end of the alley behind my house.  As I took off jogging down the road, my pants dropped off my body and fell to my ankles.  I am not making this up.  As I unsuccessfully tried to snatch them back up, I turned around to see if the van was still parked behind me.  To my absolute horror it had not moved!  Praying that the passengers in the van or the people walking in the alley could not see me, I backed up and hid behind an enormous community mail box and remedied the situation.  I was completely mortified.  Thank God I was wearing my plain, boring chocolate brown Body By Victoria underwear, and not the Victoria's Secret undies that say "Sexy" across the bottom! Dear Lord.   I promptly snuck into the back of the house and called my husband to tell him the tale.  Here is the dialog:


Carl:  Hysterical laughing for many long agonizing minutes


Cinderwriter: Large sigh.


Carl: "Well, at least it did not happen in front of the bus while the entire second grade watched"


Cinderwriter: "Can we move tomorrow?"


Carl: More laughter


Cinderwriter: mumbling  "No sex for you for a year."


Carl: Stops laughing.


I can just hear the whispers of rumors now: "Major Wooten's wife was streaking through officer housing!".  By next week it will be: "Major's wife does a strip tease in full daylight for van of  lesbian stay at home mothers!"


Next Field Trip I will shoot for a Wet T-Shirt Contest among the Chaperones.  

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Oh, please organize my stuff!

I entered my first contest last week.  It was the Golden Claddagh sponsored by the Celtic Hearts RWA online chapter, of which I am a mostly lurking member.     It was quite a rush, pushing the send button.  It was not as terrifying as when I pushed send to e-mail my first query.    Looking back on the last couple of weeks, I realize the contest taught me quite a bit.  

Organizing your drafts, is one of the most important lessons I learned.  As a beginning writer, I never realized how confused you could get over one small manuscript.   Internal Dialog: Ok which one of these versions had the steamy bathtub scene, and which one had the underwater lovemaking session?  Oh, crap!  Did I delete the sword fight?!

I purchased a writing software program months ago called Scrivener, but had not used much of it since.   It places note cards on a cork board with scene details, and then when you click a card, you can type in the scene.  When it comes time to send in a sample of your work, you just pick your scenes and copy them into a virtual binder and export it as a text file, word file, or whatever you need.  All your scenes are still intact, you just pick and choose what you want to put in your manuscript and where you want to put it.  This allows easy rearrangement with only a little revision on transition. I highly recommend it if you own a MAC.  If you are a PC user, there may be a good counterpart out there.  

This week I plan to move all my scenes out of Word and Pages and into Scrivener.  Don't ask me why I am using two programs, I have no idea.  Newbies mistake I guess.  Once all my scenes are in place, I could become a contest junkie!  It is so exciting to have the prospect of having my work read by an editor instead of sitting in a slush pile.   Happy Writing! 

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

My First Contest

What I am reading: I'd tell you I love you, but then I would have to kill you.  by Ally Carter
What I am working on: HFB

Accomplishments for the week: Well, last monday I sent in my first query for my children's book, Gramma's Lake House, but I have not heard anything back yet.  I check the e-mail several times a day, but there is nothing there.  I know they are so busy and realistically it will take several months to hear anything.

This week I am working on my very first contest entry.  I paid for entry into The Golden Heart, thinking Hey - I will be done!  WRONG!  I was not nearly done, and I was rewarded with a very polite disqualification letter.  When I read that letter it was a very humbling moment.  I am not sure what I was thinking, attempting NaNoWrMo and Golden Heart while my hubby was TDY (Temporary duty.) He was gone for four weeks, came home for three, and then was gone for 10 weeks.   

I digress.   Here I  am getting ready for my first contest entry. I am entering HFB, but I have several different beginnings, so I am toying with which one I will eventually go with.   Funny, but I think one of my beginnings may actually morph into another story.  I will have to see how the first one finishes. The contest is the Golden Claddagh and it is sponsored by the Celtic Hearts RWA online chapter.  I am a member, a lurking one at best.  The judge in the final round of the historical division iEsi Sogah  of Avon/Harper Collins, so being chosen as a finalist is a must!  I would love to someday be an Avon Lady!  The finalist will be notified around July 1st. 

I will let you know how it goes.